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Vivo not only loaned us the V40 5G (here) and the V40 Lite (here), but they also loaned us the vivo Watch 3! This is my first time reviewing a smart watch, but it came at such a right time as I’ve been considering buying a smart watch on my own!
I’ve always been hesitant about buying a smart watch as I feel that it would be severely underutilised, especially with the price tag attached to certain brands. At the same time, I was also hesitant about buying the cheaper range ones as I was worried it would spoil too easily. So, I have been waffling about getting a smart watch for almost a year!
Thus, when Vivo offered to send over their Watch 3 for review, I jumped at the chance as it would help me cement my decision!
The Deets!
Vivo Watch 3 is one of the affordable range of smart watch on the market. Currently retailing at SGD$239 for the Asteroid Black and SGD$249 for the Moonlight White. The watches are certainly cheaper than those smart watches from the higher-end market.
Vivo official Shopee store (here) is currently having a sale at this time of writing! Once the sale is over though, the price would go back up to SGD$279 and SGD$299 respectively.
Before we continue, let’s watch the unboxing!
In addition to the price and the designs, there are a few claims that I look forward to trying! Specifically, the battery life and the water protection.
The 16 days battery life comes with a disclaimer, “All data is based on our technical design parameters, laboratory test results and supplier test data from vivo lab. Actual performance may vary depending on the testing environment, software version, usage habits, etc. Please refer to actual usage.“
However, I will not be testing the 16 days battery life for the Watch 3. Instead, I am testing the 8 days battery life instead. The disclaimer, “8 Days: Continuous heart rate monitoring enabled, continuous blood oxygen monitoring enabled, sleep tracking always on, 100 message notifications per day, 6 voice calls per day, 2 alarms per day, 180 wrist raises to wake screen per day, 30 minutes of Bluetooth calling per week, 30 minutes of Bluetooth music playback per week, 180 minutes of GPS exercise tracking per week.“
I feel based on the disclaimer that 8 days should be more than sufficient for my usage. I’m not much of a music and calls person. Neither am I doing much exercise, lol.
Another feature that I am interested in testing out is the water resistance. While I don’t go swimming, we all shower so that is definitely one feature that I am testing at least once. Hopefully, it works!
The Set-Up
I am using the Samsung Z Flip6 for my phone. To connect to the Watch 3, I had to download the Vivo Health app. Setting up and connecting the phone to the Watch 3 itself was quite straightfoward and easy.
The app itself is easy to use. When you open the app, there’s three “home” screen. The first, “Health”, is basically a summary of everything that you have done that day. The “Devices” page, ensures that you can edit the settings for the devices and the User Guide as well. If you are using more than one device, it would also show up here. Final page, is the “Me” option for your profile.
When setting up the Watch 3 settings, you are able to change which notifications you would receive on the Watch 3 itself. The battery life, watch face and everything else is also on the app page as well.
I do appreciate how easy it is to set-up even though the app/watch and my phone are two different brands. It honestly made me feel like I would continue to choose using the Watch 3 after the review as set-up itself is a positive experience.
The 8-days Test
I started the test on Friday night, 22nd November after I had fully charged the Watch 3. I will only end the test on Friday, 29th November.
Friday night and Saturday was a pretty slow day, so there was not much things for me to update.
However, Sunday was a relatively active day. Here’s the summary of activities that I did that day. The app certainly makes things easy for the user to see their day’s activities.
I checked the battery life on Sunday night and there was a drop to 87%. Battery-life for phone, there was also no significant impact with the constant usage. Things are looking great so far. I dont have much notification but when I do, I do like the fact that I could simply look at the watch and decide if I want to reply immediately or ignore, lol.
Battery-life Test; Final Update
I ended the battery-life test 3 days early, on the fifth day.
Unfortunately, I realised that the strap had caused a reaction on my wrist and I had to stop. This is, truthfully, a user issue and not the strap issue. I have been wearing the Watch 3 almost 24/7 except when I took it off to shower. My skin can be a little sensitive, so that’s definitely a sign that a smart watch is not for me.
The battery life when I ended the review was at 73%. Again, this was the fifth day of usage and the fact that the battery was still more than 50% gave me the inkling that the claim of 8-days average usage should be true.
On average though, my Whatsapp notifications are probably around 100ish. But I don’t often have calls throughout the day, no alarms as my alarms are the kids, my exercise is minimal.
On the other hand, I did not do the shower test because, I chickened out. I didn’t want to be responsible for damaging the watch! However, the watch is still pretty responsive when there were water droplets on it and once wiped away, it works as per normal. So yeah, there’s that!
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, it does seem like the Watch 3 is kind of underutilised when I am using it.
What I do like about the Watch 3 is the fact that the vibration for notifications is pretty strong and does alert me when I have messages and calls. The wrist raises were also responsive so I could immediately check the time the moment I raised my hand.
I also love the personalisation available on the Watch 3. The ease of connecting from the Vivo Health app, the Watch 3 and my personal phone, was a perk that I was pleasantly surprised with.
So, if you’re considering buying a smart watch but without the heavy price tag, I do recommend the Vivo Watch 3. Not only does it look good, it’s easy to use and pairs really well even if you are using a different brand’s phone! You might have to take extra care if you have sensitive skin like me but, other than that, it’s all good!
Will I be buying the watch for myself? It’s on my shopping list, definitely!
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