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Of all the smartwatches released in 2024, the one that impressed me the most was the OnePlus Watch 2. The company introduced a watch that was feature rich, looked really nice, and had an unheard of battery life.
Fast forward to February 2025 and the announcement and launch of the successor.
The OnePlus Watch 3 picks up all those same beats as the OnePlus Watch 2, including a really beautiful and classic style, incredible battery life, and impressive exercise/fitness features.
But it also adds a few subtle and thoughtful improvements I'll be happy to point out, alongside some of the things I wish would've changed from last year's model. Let's examine 3 of the biggest hits, and 3 of the biggest misses, from the new OnePlus Watch 3.
OnePlus Watch 3: Pro #1 Beautiful Design
In a world where smartwatches can look slabby and inelegant, OnePlus successfully channels the aesthetic of a beautiful timepiece into the digital era.
I received the Obsidian Titanium model for review from OnePlus, but I would've been equally happy with the Emerald Titanium model, as they both are stunning. The biggest improvement to the physical design is adding a function to the rotating crown, which now allows you to scroll through menus to navigate your device (unlike on the OnePlus Watch 2, which was a glaring omission).
Even the texture of the crown has subtly changed to create a different tactile experience. Pair that with the narrow bezels on the very large 1.5-inch display, whether you're swiping or swivelling your way through your watch navigation, it's just a great experience. Plus the Wear OS widgets and video watch faces further enhance the aesthetics, so you can customize that display to give you the exact info you want with a glance at your wrist.
OnePlus Watch 3: Pro #2 Health/Fitness
The technology that we have strapped to our wrists with any brand of modern smartwatch is truly remarkable. We can monitor so many data points to help us live our most healthy and active lives.
The exercise functions, variety of workout types, and granularity of metrics for those specific workout types with this watch is great. But to be honest, I'm mostly just doing stuff on the treadmill and with dumbbells, so I personally don't have enough variety in my routine to truly benefit from exercise tracking for things like tennis or hiking, but I do like it can automatically detect some of the most common workout types, and it has a dual-system GPS that gives you more accurate mapping, particularly in dense urban areas, where buildings might obstruct the signal between the watch and satellites.
The bigger story is the health system improvements. Through the OHealth app, you'll be able to take a 60-second health check (this feature is coming later this year). Crucial metrics, like your vascular age, mental wellness, sleep quality and more, are used to provide a picture of your overall health. 30-day patterns are monitored to create baselines for you specifically, so you have a better sense of whether or not any readings are outside of the norm.
I'm 38 years old, and I am trying to do a better job of paying attention to my heart health, so knowing the potential stiffness of my arteries (vascular age) is something that I'm interested in paying attention to. Also, when trying to stick to Zone 2 training on the treadmill, I appreciate being able to see my heart rate so easily and clearly on the watch's large display.
In order to get more accurate heart rate readings (and blood oxygen levels, too) OnePlus changed the type of back cover glass to improve the light efficiency on their optical sensor and improved the layout of the sensor array to further enhance accuracy.
Side Note:
There IS an ECG analyzer on this device; however, this feature is not available to customers in Canada and the United States.
One Plus Watch 3: Pro #3 Amazing Battery Life
The most mind-blowing feature of the OnePlus 2 watch was the battery life, and that continues to be a major selling feature of this device.
I put mine in Smart Mode as soon as I got it (a week and a half ago). This minimizes some background tasks, doesn't have an always-on display, and flags apps that are draining battery (including specifically how much they impact battery life - e.g., Hey Google will cost me half a day of battery life overall).
I didn't feel limited in Smart Mode, but I DID feel invincible because I went days and days and days without throwing this thing on a charger!
For comparison, the OnePlus Watch 2 had up to a 100-hour battery life in Smart Mode. The One Plus Watch 3 has 120 hours (and 16 days in Extreme Battery Saver mode, but basically nothing works in a way most people would want it to in Extreme Mode, so we won't dive deeply there).
This is made possible through a dual processing architecture. There's a Snapdragon W5 chip to power performance and keep Wear OS working as you'd expect, paired with a BES 2800 processor to maximize efficiency. Additionally, the battery borrows some tech seen on the recent OnePlus 13, opting for a NanoStack battery, which is a lighter, denser construction with a faster charging time.
This is all to say that the OnePlus Watch 3 battery life outperforms every other major competitor (by a lot) in the premium/ultra smartwatch world.
One Plus Watch 3: Con #1 Chonky size!
For many people, having a BIG watch is part of the device's personality. If this is something you search for in a wristwatch, then maybe this won't be a con for you. But in my early testing, I was shocked by how often I was clunking into things with my watch.
The display is big, but in a good way. It makes it easy to see and type on. The watch doesn't necessarily look too much thicker or larger than your average smartwatch, but after most recently testing the Pixel Watch 3 and Apple Watch Series 10, I felt like a lanky teenager who went through a growth spurt. I was smacking this thing against every door handle and counter I passed!
By day 3, I became more aware, and stopped smacking this watch into everything I came near, but it was certainly a thing for me at first. At the end of the day, I suppose this is a testament to the resiliency of the titanium bezels and 2D sapphire crystal glass, because it handled some pretty tough smacks and continues to look brand new.
OnePlus Watch 3: Con #2 App Experience
Instead of having a dedicated watch app, you set up and customize the OnePlus 3 through the OHealth app, which seems strange.
OnePlus (wonderfully) lets you dig deep and customize the colours, widgets, and features of the watch. For the everyday use and initial set-up, it feels like this experience deserves its own app, but instead it gets a tab within the OHealth app.
The waters get muddy, because to change your fitness goals, you'll do that through a subtle menu in the devices tab, not in the fitness or health tabs within OHealth. Maybe I wouldn't have noticed this, had I not been paying so much attention to the improved experience using OxygenOS 15 on my OnePlus 13. With the latest phone OS update, they really smoothed out and simplified the user experience on a device/OS level.
But jumping into a centrally important app for the OnePlus 3, OHealth, it just didn't feel as intuitive or fulfilling as other touch points I've had with my OnePlus hardware.
OnePlus Watch 3: Con #3 Timing
It's ironic, to call out timing on a smartwatch, but here I go! The OnePlus 3 is in a marketplace where many people have already chosen their favourite watch.
This is too bad because I think a lot of people are going to end up missing out on a great smartwatch, simply because they've already had a few years to grow with their Garmin or Samsung or Withings watches, depending on whether they're an outdoor adventurer, tech aficionado, or health fanatic.
The thing is the OnePlus Watch 3 brings ALL of those 3 pieces together and does so with a very elegant design and with a killer battery life.
So, I feel like I'm doing my part, in terms of spreading the word that this is a GREAT smartwatch, I just hope people will do a bit of shopping/research when it's time to upgrade instead of just buying the newest version of the last watch they had.
Is the OnePlus Watch 3 worth it?
The OnePlus Watch 3 is a phenomenal smartwatch for Android phone users.
It took every great aspect of the OnePlus Watch 2 (which was leaps and bounds better than the not-so-great original OnePlus Watch) and further refined the experience, taking it from really good to really great!
There's a learning curve, in terms of realizing you don't need to have a scheduled time to make sure your watch and charger spend some quality time together. There are no consequences if you don't charge this for a day or two (or five).
OnePlus Watch 3
The OnePlus Watch 3 improves on the company's previous flagship watch by adding a wrist temperature sensor to support advanced health metric tracking, bringing nagivational capabilities to the rotating crown, and adding another 20 hours of battery life to an already battery-rich device. It includes a more advanced GPS system that improves accuracy, particularly in dense urban areas. And it can provide a vascula health assessment. The watch comes in two finishes and is available to order now.
Style is subjective, but I really love the looks of this watch. I'm also excited that OnePlus has a "Nordic Blue" band to match the OnePlus 3, even though that's not an option for a strap when you buy the watch.
This Watch sits in the class of devices like Samusng and Apple's Ultra models, rather than their standard smartwatches (and it's much more robust than the loveable Pixel Watch 3).
For exceptional battery life, futuristic health monitoring, and keeping the price point for a feature-rich smartwatch relatively low, this is an easy smartwatch to recommend for anyone considering an upgrade.
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