Realme Smartwatch Comparison: Watch 3 vs Watch S Pro

Realme Watch 3 vs. Watch S Pro: A Technical Deep Dive

At a Glance: Key Specifications Comparison

Design and Build Quality: Modern Rectangle vs. Classic Timepiece

The aesthetic divergence between these two models is the most immediately apparent differentiator.

The Realme Watch 3 embraces the modern smartwatch trend with a large, 1.8-inch rectangular display housed in a lightweight polycarbonate case. This design philosophy prioritizes screen real estate for interacting with notifications and menus. It’s functional, sporty, and unmistakably a piece of tech for the wrist. The included straps are typically silicone, focusing on comfort and durability during workouts and daily wear. It’s a practical design that won’t feel out of place in the gym but may lack the sophistication for formal attire.

Conversely, the Realme Watch S Pro adopts a classic watch design with a circular 1.39-inch display encased in 316L stainless steel. This choice immediately elevates its appearance, making it a more versatile accessory that can seamlessly transition from a business meeting to a weekend run. The build quality is palpably more premium. It often comes with a high-quality fluoroelastomer strap, which offers a superior feel and resistance to sweat and wear compared to standard silicone. The S Pro is designed for users who view their smartwatch as both a functional tool and a fashion statement.

Display Technology: LCD Clarity vs. AMOLED Brilliance

This is a battle of quantity versus quality.

The Realme Watch 3 boasts a very large 1.8-inch TFT LCD screen. The significant size is its main advantage, showing more text from messages and providing a spacious interface. With a peak brightness of 500 nits, it performs adequately outdoors. However, as an LCD, it cannot achieve true blacks, instead showing them as dark grays, which impacts contrast. It also lacks an Always-On Display (AOD) feature, meaning you must raise your wrist or tap the screen to see the time, a notable convenience omission.

The Realme Watch S Pro features a smaller but technologically superior 1.39-inch AMOLED display. While smaller in dimension, the circular screen is denser (454 x 454 pixels) and offers vastly better image quality. AMOLED technology delivers perfect blacks, vibrant colors, and exceptional contrast, making watch faces and data pop. Crucially, it supports an Always-On Display mode, allowing you to glance at the time and key metrics without any wrist movement. Its slightly lower peak brightness (450 nits) is more than compensated for by the panel’s superior contrast ratios.

Core Functionality and Performance: Connectivity and Tracking

Beyond telling time and showing notifications, these watches differ significantly in their core feature sets.

A defining feature of the Realme Watch 3 is its support for Bluetooth Calling. It has a built-in speaker and microphone, allowing you to make and answer calls directly from your wrist when your phone is within range. This is an incredibly convenient hands-free feature for quick conversations. However, its biggest compromise is the lack of built-in GPS. It relies on connected GPS, using your phone’s GPS receiver to map outdoor activities like runs or cycles. This means you must carry your phone with you for accurate distance and route tracking.

The Realme Watch S Pro makes the opposite trade-off. It lacks Bluetooth calling; you can only receive call notifications and reject calls from your wrist. Its killer feature, however, is the built-in dual-satellite GPS (Sony chipset). This allows for highly accurate tracking of distance, pace, and route for outdoor activities completely independent of your smartphone. Runners and cyclists can leave their phones behind and still get precise workout data. This standalone functionality is a critical advantage for fitness enthusiasts.

Health and Fitness Tracking: A Near-Identical Suite

Both watches are well-equipped for general health monitoring. They continuously track heart rate using optical sensors and offer SpO2 (blood oxygen) monitoring, either on-demand or during sleep. Both devices provide comprehensive sleep tracking, breaking down your sleep into light, deep, and REM stages, and offering a sleep score. They also track stress levels and include guided breathing exercises to help manage it.

Each watch supports over 110 sports modes, covering everything from running and cycling to more niche activities like cricket and yoga. The data provided includes duration, heart rate zones, calories burned, and more. The primary difference, as mentioned, is in the accuracy of outdoor activity data due to the S Pro’s dedicated GPS.

Battery Life and Charging: The Endurance Champion

Battery performance is a key consideration and another area where these models differ substantially.

The Realme Watch 3, despite its larger screen, offers a respectable battery life of up to 7 days with typical use (heart rate monitoring always on, notifications enabled). Heavy use, particularly with frequent SpO2 measurements, will reduce this. The lack of an Always-On Display is a major factor in preserving this battery life.

The Realme Watch S Pro is an endurance powerhouse. Realme advertises up to 14 days of typical use, and it often comes close to that mark. This is achieved through a combination of a more efficient AMOLED display (especially when not using AOD) and a larger battery capacity. Even with the GPS used occasionally, it will easily outperform the Watch 3. Both watches use a magnetic proprietary charging puck, but the S Pro’s superior battery life means you’ll use it far less often.

Software and Ecosystem: realme Link Experience

Both devices are paired and managed through the realme Link app (now often integrated into the HeyTap Health app), providing a consistent user experience. The app allows for watch face customization, notification management, detailed health data history, firmware updates, and more. The interface on both watches is smooth and responsive for core tasks. The Watch 3’s UI is designed for its rectangular screen, while the S Pro’s interface is optimized for its circular display.

Target Audience and Choosing the Right One

The choice between the Realme Watch 3 and the Watch S Pro is not about which is objectively better, but which is better for you.

Choose the Realme Watch 3 if:

• Your budget is a primary concern.
• Bluetooth calling from your wrist is a must-have feature.
• You prefer a large, rectangular screen for reading notifications.
• You always carry your phone during workouts and don’t mind connected GPS.
• You prioritize modern tech aesthetics over a classic watch look.

Choose the Realme Watch S Pro if:

• You want a more premium, versatile design with stainless steel build.
• You are a runner, cyclist, or hiker and need accurate, phone-free GPS tracking.
• Display quality with deep blacks and an Always-On Display is important to you.
• Exceptional battery life is a critical deciding factor.
• You prefer the classic look of a circular watch that can be dressed up or down.