Huawei Watch Fit 3 just dropped: A breakdown vs Watch Fit 2

The Huawei Watch Fit 3 has arrived today, bringing a new iteration of the popular fitness-focused smartwatch series. With a focus on style, health tracking, and workout features, the device aims to be the ideal companion for active individuals seeking a balance between comprehensive health insights and smartwatch functionality. 

Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets

In this side-by-side comparison, we’ll delve into the key differences and upgrades the Huawei Watch Fit 3 offers compared to its predecessor. Let’s dive right in.

Key takeaways

The Huawei Watch Fit 3 offers refined design with its larger display, premium aluminum build, and rotating crown. New health-tracking features like Breathing Awareness demonstrate Huawei’s commitment to a holistic fitness focus. While not a revolutionary leap, the Watch Fit 3 is a solid upgrade for those seeking a stylish and capable fitness-focused smartwatch.

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Jump to

Hardware
Technical specs
Features
Price
Bottom line

Huawei Watch Fit 3 vs Fit 2: Hardware

Look & feel

The Huawei Watch Fit 2 and 3 adhere to the popular rectangular smartwatch design language. However, they differ in build materials. The older device utilizes durable polymer materials (Active Edition) or a combination of aluminum alloy and polymer (Classic/Elegant Editions). In contrast, the Watch Fit 3 offers a more premium feel with a full aluminum alloy construction, giving it a sleeker and potentially more durable design.

Intrestingly, many are comparing Watch Fit 3 to the Apple Watch. The two share an almost identical design. We wouldn’t disagree!

Regarding size, the Watch Fit 3 is slightly more compact at 36.3 x 43.2 x 9.9 mm, compared to the Watch Fit 2’s larger dimensions of 46 x 33.5 x 10.8 mm. This should catering to those who prefer something smaller on their wrist.

The Watch Fit 2 keeps navigation simple with a single side button. The Watch Fit 3 aims to enhance the user experience with the addition of a rotating crown. Turn the all-metal crown to zoom in or out on your app-grid home screen, or to scroll through your app list. You can also use it to adjust the volume. Double-press the crown to switch between apps, and you can keep turning it to navigate your watch screen, even when your fingers are wet.

Display, colour options, water resistance

Moving to the screen, both models boast an AMOLED display, but the Watch Fit 3 takes the lead in resolution and brightness, with 480 x 480 pixels and a maximum brightness of 1500 nits. This ultra-bright touch display with narrow frames occupies as much as 77.4% of the housing area! On the other hand, the refresh of the image at the level of 60 Hz and extremely high pixel density.

In contrast, the Watch Fit 2 offers a resolution of 336 x 480 pixels. The Watch Fit 3 also has a larger screen size of 1.82 inches, compared to 1.74 inches on the Watch Fit 2, providing a more immersive viewing experience with sharper and more vibrant visuals.

Adventurers and swimmers will be glad to know that both the Watch Fit 2 and 3 carry a 5 ATM water resistance rating.This means they can withstand submersion in water up to 50 meters, making them suitable for most water-based activities.

The Watch Fit 2 caters to diverse styles with its Active, Classic, and Elegant editions. These variations offer different strap materials ranging from sporty plastics and silicone to more formal leather and metal options. For now, the Watch Fit 3 is available in Black, White, Pink, and Gold colorways, with the potential for additional strap options across a similar range of materials to give users plenty of choices for customization.

Sensor technology

The Huawei Watch Fit 2 and Watch Fit 3 feature a 9-axis IMU sensor suite comprised of an accelerometer, gyroscope, and geomagnetic sensor. These core sensors are essential for all-around fitness tracking. While the hardware itself might be similar, Huawei has refined the sensor calibration and algorithms over these two years, leading to potentially higher accuracy and workout detection.

Both the Watch Fit 2 and Watch Fit 3 boast built-in GPS, ensuring accurate location tracking for outdoor activities. It’s possible Huawei has implemented a newer generation GPS chip in the Watch Fit 3, potentially offering faster location fixes and improved power efficiency. They also share the same Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity for a stable and power-efficient connection to your phone.

NFC (Near Field Communication) is included in both the Watch Fit 2 and Watch Fit 3, enabling convenient contactless payments directly from your wrist. Similarly, both devices offer onboard music storage.

Battery life

The Huawei Watch Fit 3 boasts a 400mAh battery, which is more than double the capacity of the 180mAh battery found in its predecessor, the Watch Fit 2. While both devices are rated for up to 10 days of typical use (7 days with heavy use), the Watch Fit 3’s larger display likely consumes more power. The increased battery capacity in the Watch Fit 3 could help to mitigate this difference in display size and maintain similar battery life to the Watch Fit 2.

As far as charging time, a 10 minute quick top-up is enough to keep Watch Fit 3 going for a full day. Leave it on the charger for 1 hour and it will refuel from zero to the brim.

Huawei Watch Fit 3 vs Fit 2: Technical specs

Here’s a detailed comparison table for the Huawei Watch Fit 3 and Huawei Watch Fit 2:

Huawei Watch Fit 3 vs Fit 2: Features

Both the Huawei Watch Fit 2 and Watch Fit 3 are heavily geared towards fitness. They offer the expected features like continuous heart rate monitoring, step tracking, calorie burn estimation, and more. Huawei’s TruSleep technology is present on both devices, promising in-depth sleep stage analysis and personalized insights for better sleep quality.

Watch Fit 3 has the new TruSleep 4.0 feature. It can detect potential breathing interruptions during sleep, analyzing changes in blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), heart rate variability, and heart rate patterns. This could be a valuable tool for identifying potential sleep disorders like sleep apnea. The Watch Fit 3 also features heart rhythm monitoring, including alerts for premature beats and atrial fibrillation (Afib).

Both watches include menstrual cycle tracking and stress monitoring features. With over two years of development time, we can expect the Watch Fit 3 to boast refined algorithms across these health tracking metrics, potentially offering slightly improved accuracy compared to its predecessor.

The Huawei Watch Fit 2 supports a wide array of workout modes, and the Watch Fit 3 expands on this with even more sports profiles for tailored tracking. Both devices feature built-in GPS for accurate distance and route mapping for activities like running and cycling.

Thanks to the Running Ability Index function, Watch Fit 3 will guide you through your running plan comprehensively: it will prepare a personalized training plan based on gender, height, weight, heart rate. The timepiece will help in analyzing the most important information, such as training load, performance and recovery time. This will allow you to get to know your condition better and train even more effectively. 

Smartwatch-type features

Both Huawei smartwatches offer essential smartwatch functionalities like notifications, call alerts, weather updates, music control, and customizable watch faces. Plus you can use them to answer or reject calls via a Bluetooth connection to your smartphone. Or make calls by using the call log or contact.

Huawei Watch Fit 3 vs Fit 2: Price

While the official pricing for the Huawei Watch Fit 3 will likely vary slightly across regions, we can use the Watch Fit 2’s pricing as a reference point. The Huawei Watch Fit 2 debuted at a price of around $150. Considering the more premium build materials and potential feature enhancements in the Watch Fit 3, it’s reasonable to expect a slight price increase. The Watch Fit 3 could be priced closer to $160-$180, particularly if it comes with various strap options like the Watch Fit 2’s Elegant Edition.

Huawei Watch Fit 3 vs Fit 2: Final thoughts

Overall, the Huawei Watch Fit 3 presents itself as a worthwhile upgrade over the Watch Fit 2. The larger, higher-resolution display, premium aluminum build, and the addition of a rotating crown offer a more refined and intuitive user experience. The new Breathing Awareness feature demonstrates Huawei’s commitment to comprehensive health tracking, potentially adding value for individuals concerned about sleep quality.

While it lacks groundbreaking innovation, the Huawei Watch Fit 3 delivers solid improvements in key areas. If you’re looking for a stylish and capable fitness-focused smartwatch with a good balance of features and a reasonable price, the Watch Fit 3 is definitely worth considering. However, if you already own the Watch Fit 2 and aren’t particularly drawn to the design upgrades or the new health tracking feature, you might find the upgrade less compelling.

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