The Redmi Watch 3 Active: A Decent Budget Smartwatch with Ambitious Fitness Claims
The Apple Watch may be the gold standard for smartwatches, inspiring desire and a hefty price tag, but its success has led to a flourishing budget smartwatch market. Brands like Xiaomi have recognized this opportunity, leveraging their smartphone expertise to deliver capable wearable technology at more accessible prices. The latest offering, the Redmi Watch 3 Active, is a health-focused smartwatch priced at a tempting Rs. 2,999. While budget smartwatches often struggle with fitness tracking, the "Active" moniker suggests the Redmi Watch 3 Active aims to surpass the limitations of its peers. This review will delve into its performance, unveiling whether it truly lives up to its name and delivers a fulfilling fitness and health tracking experience, alongside the core functionality expected from a budget smartwatch.
Design and Specifications: A Simple Yet Functional Aesthetic
The budget smartwatch sector prioritizes feature-rich offerings with attractive price points, often impacting design choices. The Redmi Watch 3 Active, true to its price bracket, adopts a plain and simple design. While it may not have the distinctive elements or prominent logos that define some premium smartwatches, this simplicity may appeal to those seeking a more subtle and unobtrusive aesthetic.
The watch features a glossy exterior that blends seamlessly with a 1.83-inch color screen. However, thick borders surround the screen, which can be somewhat distracting, particularly when viewing watch faces with lighter backgrounds. One button is strategically placed on the right side of the watch, functioning as a control center for power, app drawer navigation, and screen activation from standby.
For ease of use, the screen can also be activated using a lift-to-wake gesture—turning your wrist to face you, similar to traditional watches. Furthermore, double-tapping the screen or covering it with your palm quickly turns it on or off, respectively. A customizable screen timeout feature allows you to set a specific duration for the watch to enter standby mode.
The underside of the Redmi Watch 3 Active features a sole logo positioned above the optical sensors that facilitate heart rate and blood oxygen tracking. Beneath this sits the charging contact point for the magnetic charger, requiring a USB Type-A port for connection. While convenient, a power adapter is not included in the package. The removable and replaceable straps can be easily disengaged at the bottom of the watch.
The Redmi Watch 3 Active is available in two color options: Charcoal Black and Platinum Grey. While the review unit was the Charcoal Black variant, the Platinum Grey option might be more appealing to those seeking a more distinct and eye-catching appearance. The default strap, which is both comfortable and waterproof, serves as an excellent complement to the smartwatch’s 5ATM water resistance rating. For connectivity, the Redmi Watch 3 Active utilizes Bluetooth 5.3, supporting Bluetooth calling when paired with your smartphone. A built-in speaker and microphone ensure clear communication during calls.
Software, Interface, and App: A Seamless and Familiar Experience
Budget smartwatches often struggle with compatibility across different smartphone operating systems, but the Redmi Watch 3 Active excels in this area. It is compatible with both Android and iOS, utilizing the Mi Fitness app. The app manages the connection between the smartwatch and smartphone, facilitating voice calls, notification synchronization, and fitness data transmission.
During the review process, with the Mi Fitness app installed on a OnePlus 9 Pro, the smartwatch seamlessly connected to the smartphone. The app boasts a clean and intuitive interface with dedicated widgets for activity, sleep, steps, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, and more, offering comprehensive insights and analytics. Users can initiate workouts directly from the app, with outdoor workouts even incorporating mapping features, relying on the smartphone’s location data as the smartwatch doesn’t support location tracking. Device settings and basic tools can be easily adjusted, highlighting the app’s simplicity and functionality.
As is standard with most smartwatches, the Redmi Watch 3 Active offers a diverse selection of watch faces. Beyond the three default options, a large collection of downloadable watch faces is readily available, though the organization seems somewhat random. The app allows users to store up to two additional watch faces, alongside the three default ones, enabling customization and frequent replacement. While many options may not appeal to everyone’s taste, a few decent picks are interspersed among the collection.
Performance and Battery Life: Meeting Expectations with a Few Caveats
Most smartwatches, regardless of price, offer basic fitness tracking capabilities. However, the accuracy and usefulness of the data often fluctuate across budget devices. The Redmi Watch 3 Active, despite its "Active" moniker, adheres to the general trends observed in this segment. While over 100 tracking and sport modes are available, designed for tailored tracking performance, many of these are highly specialized and difficult to assess for accuracy.
For the review, the focus was on tracking the basics: steps, heart rate, and blood oxygen. During a 1,000-step test, the Redmi Watch Active measured approximately 1,060 steps, revealing a 6 percent error rate. This rate is comparable to other smartwatches in its price range but falls short of the superior accuracy achieved by high-end devices.
Heart rate tracking, particularly during movement, was inconsistent. The readings often appeared too low or fluctuated wildly. Reliable heart rate readings were only achieved when standing still or sitting with a steady arm. Similar observations were made with blood oxygen tracking, both of which were compared to the Apple Watch Series 7 for accuracy assessment.
Sleep tracking proved to be extremely basic, only providing a general idea of time spent asleep. The specific details within sleep tracking seemed lacking in detail and accuracy. Overall, the health tracking features might offer a general overview, but lack the consistency required for accurate and reliable health data.
General performance on the Redmi Watch 3 Active was satisfactory, with the basic user interface and apps functioning smoothly. While the screen, though not as sharp or vibrant as some competitors who utilize OLED displays, was still bright and suitable for the price point.
The smartwatch consistently delivered around seven days of battery life under extensive use, including daily workouts, occasional sleep monitoring, and active call usage. Battery life can be further optimized by disabling continuous call connectivity and minimizing the number of calls directly answered on the Redmi Watch 3 Active itself.
Activating the Bluetooth connection for calls was straightforward through the Bluetooth settings. Even with the connection active, answering a call on the paired smartphone instead of the watch ensured audio redirection to the appropriate device, with the Redmi Watch 3 Active activating only when directly answering a call on the smartwatch itself. Call quality was functional for short calls in quieter environments. Longer calls or calls in noisy environments presented challenges due to the soft audio and might require switching to a smartphone or earphones.
Verdict: A Reliable Choice for Budget-Conscious Smartwatch Buyers
While the Redmi Watch 3 Active markets itself as a fitness-focused smartwatch, its actual fitness capabilities are not groundbreaking. However, this limitation doesn’t diminish its overall value as a smartwatch. It competently handles notifications, calls, and basic functions. Moreover, its design and feel are pleasant, its screen and software are satisfying, and its battery life is impressive.
Ultimately, there are no glaring drawbacks, but the Redmi Watch 3 Active doesn’t necessarily stand out from its peers. If you’re searching for a reliable and long-lasting smartwatch under Rs. 3,000, the Redmi Watch 3 Active presents a solid and trustworthy option from the reputable Xiaomi stable.
