It’s the worst kept secret of smartwatches: They may be smart, but my word, do their batteries tend to suck.
I’ve owned a number of smartwatches in my time, and no matter how much I love using them, eventually, I get tired of dealing with lackluster battery capacities. That’s why, in the past, I’ve always found myself returning to fitness watches instead, or dabbling in smart rings. Smartwatches are … well … smart — but they lack the stamina to really go the distance. And it turns out, no matter how much I’m dazzled by smart tech, it’s always a daily charge that kills the experience for me.
That was, until I tried the OnePlus Watch 3. The OnePlus Watch 3 has, single-handedly, fixed my biggest problem with smartwatches going back years and years, and in the same fell swoop, ruined all other smartwatches for me.
The OnePlus Watch 3 can go the distance
Quite simply, the OnePlus Watch 3 is stunning smartwatch, and I’ve never used an Android smartwatch quite like it. Compared to the Android smartwatches I’ve used before — the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic and 6 Classic — the OnePlus Watch 3 is a cut above. It’s faster, the display feels more responsive, and controlling is more intuitive. This is partly because it’s the largest Android watch I’ve ever used, and the extra screen real estate makes using it much easier than the smaller sizes I’ve used before, but it’s also true that WearOS is just so good with a rotating crown. While I still really like the Tizen operating system Samsung uses on its watches, the OnePlus Watch 3’s rotating crown is far superior to the Classic’s rotating bezel.
So yeah, I like the OnePlus Watch 3. But I’ve liked a lot of smartwatches before, and it’s never stopped me from going back to fitnwess watches. So what makes keep wearing the OnePlus Watch 3? In short, it’s the fact I can keep wearing it, and don’t have to take it off to recharge it all the time. The battery life is phenomenal, lasting around five days between charges with everything but the always-on display turned on. Before this, I was using the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, which needed charging every single day. Only needing to charge one or twice a week is a very welcome change.
Additionally, and unlike our reviewer Andy Boxall, I actually quite like the OnePlus Watch 3’s charging puck. Sure, it’s plastic fantastic, and clearly cheap, but I love the fact that it plugs into any old USB-C cable. I’m tired of carting around special cables with their own special ends for each special smartwatch, and it’s hard to fault being able to slip the puck into my pocket and charge the watch wherever is convenient to me.
Hard to fault, but not impossible. I do worry about losing the puck. It’s small and non-descript, and it’s very easy to imagine it slipping into a niche and disappearing forever. In addition to this very minor worry, I’m not sure about the watch’s size. I like how easy it is to navigate and read, but it’s definitely big in a way that most watches I wear aren’t. But even though it’s large, it’s not heavy, and it’s never been uncomfortable to wear — so this, again, is very minor.
The OnePlus Watch 3 is a great smartwatch, but all things considered, it’s not that much better than most of its competitors. It’s simply that it does it does everything that little bit better — and that wouldn’t be a huge advantage, except for the fact the battery is a lot better. And that really does make a big difference.
Other smartwatches need to last longer
I knew the OnePlus Watch 3 would be great even before I used it, but I wasn’t prepared for it to show me how far other smartwatches need to go to catch up.
Despite my words, I’m no stranger to watches with batteries that last. My first smartwatch experience was the Pebble Steel, which I still believe to be one of the finest looking smartwatches of all time. That watch would last for several days on a single charge, but even during its time, lacked a number of the “smart” features that would come to define the smartwatch. It had notification mirroring, basic media controls, and a small number of apps, but it’s barely something you’d call smart today.
Fitness watches became my go-to after this, starting with the Polar M430 and moving on to other similarly sporty options. Fitness watches, on the whole, have a much longer battery life than most other wearables, with most managing multiple days between charges, and some lasting well over a week on a single charge. Of course, they sacrifice a number of smart features, including app support, but most will include notification mirroring and media controls from your smartphone. They’re the least smart of smart wearables, if you will.
In fact, it was only when I bought a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic that I truly experienced everything a smartwatch had to offer. But, it was hampered by a truly terrible battery life. Daily charging? I wish — my watch generally needed a top-up before the day was out. The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic had a better battery life that lasted a day and some change, but I still got caught out multiple times when I forgot to charge in the morning and ended up with a dead watch before lunchtime.
My point is that, for over a decade, I’ve been taught that smart features and battery life exist on opposite ends of a single scale. Want a watch with all the smart features? You’ll probably need to charge it every day. Fine to sacrifice some features? Ramp that battery life up!
That was my experience. Up until the OnePlus Watch 3. And all of a sudden, I realise I can have it all.
How am I supposed to go back to using a Galaxy Watch 6 Classic now? Heck, how am I supposed to go back to using a fitness watch? Whichever way I go, I feel like I’ll be missing out. Before, I was happy with my decision because I knew I couldn’t have my cake and eat it. But now, here I am, using a smartwatch that somehow manages to be smart without needing a daily top-up.
The OnePlus Watch 3 has shown me that a better world exists, one where I don’t need to constantly choose between features and battery life. And other manufacturers seriously need to catch up, because OnePlus is leaving them in the dust.
