I’ve been testing out the CMF Watch 3 Pro for the past month as part of the Community Review Program - shout out to @Deepanshu_Saini_ for this program and for inviting me!
A bit of background first: I’ve been a smartwatch user since 2020, but I focus on core features and longevity - it’s not something I upgrade yearly. My current smartwatch is a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, which is about on it’s last legs as the battery doesn’t even last 12 hours anymore.
That brings me onto my first point - the battery life for Watch 3 Pro is insane! I’ve only had to charge the watch 3 times this month, which is a big selling point for me. I went for a weekend away and didn’t even take the charger, as I knew I wouldn’t need it.
Core features
It of course does the standard things every smartwatch does - like step and health tracking - but now it has a few more features over the previous gen. I enabled auto workout detection, which has reminded me a few times to start tracking my walk properly instead of just my steps. I also enabled the movement reminder, which lets me know when I’ve been sitting too long - something I struggle with as a WFH developer and a feature I enjoyed on the Galaxy Watch. I do wish it was more customisable/smart though. You can’t change the activity time, so it sometimes told me to move around when I’m trying to relax before bed. And it even told me to move around while travelling 70mph down the motorway 😆
You can receive notifications for basically every app, if that’s something you’re into, or customise which apps you want notifications from (though why this app list isn’t in alphabetical order, I don’t know!) There are customisable quick replies you can respond with if you’re busy. I did find that sometimes notifications left unread from some apps would duplicate themselves, which I’ve reported and hope will be fixed soon! I also wish there was a way to customise the notification timeout. Sometimes, by the time I’ve raised my wrist, the notification has dismissed itself. It’d be better if the timeout was based on when the watch face turns on, rather than fixed at when the notification is received.
I’m not into running, so I didn’t get to try out the new AI running coach, but it seems like a fun feature for those looking to get into running.
I did however test the health tracking during strength workouts. Those tracked well, and showed me a good summary of time spent, calories burnt, heart rate and gave me some activity points to motivate me on.
Connectivity
The connection to the Nothing X app has been perfect. I’ve had no disconnections or log outs like I’d experienced when testing the original Watch Pro with the old CMF Watch app. There are third party integrations such as Strava, but this isn’t something I use personally.
Extra features
I tested out some of the additional features for this generation - one of which was new wrist movement gestures. I found these quite intuitive, especially as you can customise what a gesture does depending on which screen the watch is currently on. You’re not restricted to selecting a single gesture. For example, I rotated my wrist to open the music widget (which now has a much nicer design), then rotated again to toggle play/pause.
I also like that there’s a camera control - I’m not sure if that was on previous generations, but I do miss the gestures Samsung have on their camera app while using Nothing OS, so having a shutter on your wrist is another solution for a similar outcome.
I tried to use the new Watch Face Studio feature to generate custom watch faces a number of times, but I got a “server busy” error. I’ve reported this too, hopefully they can fix it soon.
Wishes
Coming from the Galaxy Watch 4, I didn’t find that I missed many features with Watch 3 Pro. I could quite easily make the switch over, especially with the enhanced battery life. One thing that seems to be missing is Essential Space integration. While you can interact with ChatGPT on the watch, and there’s a separate reminders feature in Nothing X, I couldn’t find a way to add notes to Essential Space or add/receive reminders from Essential Space either. It just seems a little strange considering we have the Essential Key on both Nothing and CMF phones.
Conclusion
Well now I’m torn! The Garmin Vivomove caught my eye recently, and I was patiently waiting for black friday to check out deals. But after seeing what the Watch 3 Pro can do at a much smaller price point, I’m reconsidering my options.
If this is your first smartwatch, it’s a brilliant entry point into the world of smartwatches. And if you own a smartwatch a couple of years old like I do, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what you can get out of the Watch 3 Pro.
Let me know if you have any questions!
