Huawei Watch Fit 3: Design and First Impressions
The most immediately striking aspect of the Huawei Watch Fit 3 is its radical departure in design language from its predecessors. Abandoning the elongated, landscape-oriented “rounded rectangle” shape of the Fit and Fit 2, the Fit 3 embraces a classic, square-shaped case with a crucial distinction: dramatically rounded corners and a sleek, minimalist profile. This shift positions it in direct competition with the iconic Apple Watch, yet it carves out its own identity with a focus on ultra-lightweight comfort and a more fashion-forward aesthetic.
Crafted from a combination of aluminium alloy and polymer, the watch feels premium without being heavy. Weighing just 26g (without the strap), it is exceptionally light on the wrist, making it ideal for 24/7 wear, including during sleep. The right side features a newly introduced rotating crown—a first for the Watch Fit series. This crown provides satisfying tactile feedback when scrolling through menus and lists, and it also acts as a power button. Flanking the crown is a flat, quick-access shortcut button, customizable for instant entry to frequently used apps like workout modes.
The 1.82-inch AMOLED display is a standout feature. It is bright, vibrant, and incredibly sharp with a pixel density of 347 PPI, ensuring text and graphics are rendered with crisp clarity. With a screen-to-body ratio of over 77% and remarkably thin bezels, the display feels expansive and immersive. It is protected by a sheet of 2.5D curved glass that slopes gently at the edges, blending seamlessly into the aluminium middle frame. The always-on display functionality is highly customizable and practical, offering a variety of watch faces that remain visible without requiring a wrist raise.
The included silicone strap is soft, flexible, and features an innovative quick-release mechanism that allows for tool-free changes. Huawei offers a wide array of strap options, including fluoroelastomer, leather, and nylon, enabling users to tailor the look from sporty to sophisticated. The overall build quality defies its mid-range price point, delivering a sense of refinement and durability that belies its featherweight construction.
Fitness and Health Tracking Capabilities
As a dedicated fitness companion, the Huawei Watch Fit 3 is packed with an extensive suite of tracking sensors and software features designed to cater to everyone from casual walkers to dedicated athletes.
The upgraded Huawei TruSeen™ 5.5 heart rate monitoring system forms the core of its health tracking. It utilizes an array of LEDs and photodiodes alongside advanced algorithms to provide more accurate heart rate readings, even during high-intensity workouts where arm movement can often confuse optical sensors. This technology also powers the watch’s 24/7 heart rate monitoring, high and low heart rate alerts, and its sophisticated sleep tracking.
Sleep analysis is a particular strength. The Watch Fit 3 provides detailed breakdowns of sleep stages (light, deep, REM, and awake), offers a Sleep Score, and identifies potential issues like night-time coughing or snoring (though this requires a Huawei phone for analysis). It also includes TruSleep™ 3.0 technology, which offers personalized suggestions for improving sleep hygiene based on the collected data.
For fitness enthusiasts, the watch supports over 100 different workout modes. These range from standard running, cycling, and swimming (with 5 ATM water resistance) to more niche activities like rope skipping, dancing, and even esports mode, which tracks stress levels during gameplay. The automatic workout detection is responsive, quickly prompting to start tracking for walks, runs, and elliptical sessions.
A flagship feature is the new Stay Fit app. This isn’t just a calorie counter; it’s a comprehensive nutritional management system. Users can log meals by simply taking a photo of their food. The AI-powered algorithm identifies the food items and estimates calorie content, macronutrients, and even micronutrients. It integrates this data with your activity and calorie expenditure, providing a holistic view of your energy balance and helping to maintain a caloric deficit or surplus based on your goals.
Other critical health features include continuous SpO2 (blood oxygen) monitoring, stress tracking using Heart Rate Variability (HRV) data, and a women’s health calendar for cycle tracking and predictions. The TruRelax™ feature offers guided breathing exercises to help manage acute stress moments.
Software, Smart Features, and Daily Usability
The Watch Fit 3 operates on Huawei’s own lightweight operating system, designed for efficiency and simplicity rather than the sprawling app ecosystems of Wear OS or watchOS. It is paired with the Huawei Health app on smartphones (available on both Android and iOS, albeit with slightly limited functionality on iOS).
Navigation is intuitive. A swipe down from the top reveals a settings shade with quick toggles; a swipe up shows notifications; a swipe left or right cycles through customizable widgets like weather, activity rings, heart rate, and music controls; and pressing the crown reveals the app grid. The interface is smooth, responsive, and easy to navigate.
As a smartwatch, it handles the fundamentals well. Call functionality allows you to accept or reject calls directly on the watch (the built-in microphone and speaker enable taking calls on your wrist, though it’s best in quiet environments). Notifications from a paired smartphone are delivered clearly, and while you can’t respond to messages on iOS, Android users have limited quick-reply options. The music control widget is essential for controlling playback on your phone, and the watch itself has roughly 4GB of storage for transferring MP3 files to play directly via Bluetooth headphones, perfect for phone-free runs.
It lacks third-party app support like Spotify or Maps, which is a conscious trade-off for its exceptional battery life. The features it does offer are polished and focused on the core use cases of a fitness tracker with smart enhancements. Integration with the Huawei Health ecosystem is seamless, providing deep, long-term trend analysis and health insights within the app.
Battery Life and Performance
Battery performance is where the Huawei Watch Fit 3 truly excels and distinguishes itself from many square-shaped rivals. Huawei claims up to 10 days of typical usage and 7 days of heavy usage. In real-world testing with always-on display disabled, regular workout tracking, and notifications enabled, the watch consistently achieves 8-9 days on a single charge. Even with the always-on display active, it comfortably lasts 4-5 days, a figure that significantly outperforms most competitors.
This endurance is a product of the efficient operating system, the power-optimized AMOLED display, and a sizable battery packed into the slim frame. Charging is via a proprietary pogo-pin magnetic charger that snaps securely to the back of the watch. A five-minute charge can provide a full day’s worth of use, and a full charge from zero takes approximately 60 minutes.
Target Audience and Final Analysis
The Huawei Watch Fit 3 successfully bridges the gap between a basic fitness band and a full-featured smartwatch. It is the ideal device for individuals who prioritize comprehensive health and activity tracking, exceptional battery life, and a sleek, stylish design, but do not require a vast library of third-party apps or the ability to respond to messages at length from their wrist.
It is a compelling alternative to the Apple Watch for Android users and even iPhone owners who value battery life above all else. It also stands as a strong competitor within Huawei’s own lineup, offering the core health features of the flagship Watch GT 4 series in a lighter, more affordable, and distinctly designed package. The combination of its best-in-class battery, robust health suite, innovative Stay Fit app, and undeniable aesthetic appeal makes it one of the most well-rounded and compelling fitness-focused wearables on the market.