the best budget smartwatches combines the functionality of a smartphone
and convenience of a watch in one amazing product.
the product we will discuss today is the latest TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra,
which boasts more premium features than any other Mobvoi's wearable up to date,
and certainly there's never been a better time to get one.
in today's video we will check the accuracy of the heart rate, oxygen saturation and the step count of the ticwatch pro 3 ultra,
and also will test its waterproof capabilities, discuss the gps efficiency
and will show you through the practical features of the pro 3 ultra,
which includes a bunch of ticwatch exclusive apps that come pre-installed with the watch - so stay with me.
welcome back - this is Adam - and you're watching #FamilyPopTV youtube channel.
Mobvoi - the company behind the ticwatch brand is known for making small incremental changes and improvements year over year to its product line.
last year i have reviewed the ticwatch gth, an entry-level budget wearable from mobvoi, which been currently upgraded to pro.
pro 3 ultra is no different, thanks to the significant upgrades - we got here one of the best smart wearables currently available.
in the nice looking box we can find the watch itself, instruction manuals and a charging cable.
whilst this is marketed as a rugged smartwatch for adventurers,
the pro 3 ultra has a very premium solid design i truly admire.
the ultra comes in two variants: gps - and this is the model we're testing today, which is only available in black,
and lte - which comes in a more luxurious dark brown hybrid leather.
the materials of the watch feel very durable which you would expect from the military standard 810g specification.
its 47 millimeters casing is made from a combination of stainless steel, high strength nylon and fiberglass,
complimented by a 22 millimeters quick release band, which is made of fluoro-rubber and it's super soft to the touch
it has a decent amount of flex without feeling floppy, and at the same time it feels very durable.
this is so far the most comfortable watch strap i've ever come across on a smartwatch,
and it's exactly the type of material that doesn't feel abrasive wheels working out.
by the way the strap can be switched out for any 22 millimeter strap
i personally like the magnetic straps or leather straps.
there are amazon links in this video description where you can find some good looking alternative straps.
when we flip the watch we can find the hd-ppg heart rate sensors and the spo2 optical sensor and a charging port.
at the side of the case we got two multifunctional buttons and a microphone
at the other side of the case we got a speaker, so you can take calls on the wrist,
and use the built-in google assistant to check the weather, bring up your heart rate measurements, etc.
the non-rotational black bezel maintains a nice reflective quality with numbers etched on it in five minute intervals.
and the display - this is where the ticwatch really shines using clever 1.4 inches full color dual amoled FSTN display,
with a high resolution of 454 x 454 pixels which is protected by corning gorilla anti-fingerprint glass.
i said clever, but what it does in practice? - it switches between the bright amoled to mono low power consumption fstn display,
which not only produce a black and white display, higher contrast and wide viewing angle,
but it doesn't penalize the battery life in a way, that most always-on modes tend to do with any other wear os watches.
the ticwatch dual screen is not just fancy and bright, even in the direct sunlight,
but it's also responsive to touch, even when using it in water.
talking of which, let's drop the ultra to the water, as it has an ip68 water resistant rating,
which does mean it's safe to jump into the shower with it and it's fit for swimming too.
to recap: international standard rating of ip68 means the wearable is fit enough to withstand dust, dirt and sand,
and is resistant to submersion up to a maximum depth of 1.5 meter underwater for up to 30 minutes
as you can see, the ultra is totally fine after being submerged in water.
it's even drain itself of the excess of the water,
this feature can be activated by long press bottom hardware button, and then select "speaker draining".
if your pro 3 ultra gets wet in the rain or after a swim or a heavy workout,
there's no need to insert anything into the openings and you don't need to shake your watch to remove any water that might have got inside through the speaker holes.
as you can see, it literally spits out the water.
all this to prevent moisture from causing long-term issues.
the overall performance of the ticwatch pro 3 has been fantastic.
thanks to the snapdragon 4100 processor and the 1GB of RAM, the watch was fluid and handled all the tasks i threw at it.
it feels smooth, with no lag that i can detect, all touches are recognized and there's no delays between presses and apps opening
while it isn't running the 4100+ chipset that can be found in the new fossil gen6, which we reviewed not long ago,
mobvoi is adding its own hardware to compete with that newer processor and this just works like a charm.
it's certainly smoother than the fossil gen 6.
the ticwatch runs on google's WearOS 2.33 and will get a promised update to WearOS 3 later this year
the setup procedure for the ticwatch pro 3 ultra is pretty straightforward;
turn on the watch - and then the watch will instruct to download the wearOS app on your phone,
and then begins the process of pairing which includes connecting the watch to the internet through wifi
WearOS will then link everything up with GoogleFit for data and analytics,
plus, you'll be using the mobvoi app as well in order to access all the features and settings of the watch.
it was a bit confusing for me at the beginning - why two apps?
but it's the same as you can see in samsung galaxy 4, where you need WearOS app along with the samsung app to unleash the potential of the watch.
there's a bunch of apps to choose from with standard google offerings such as Google Translate, GoogleFit, maps, phone, weather or spotify.
another big plus is GooglePay, which is fully supported on this watch.
i have made numerous purchases using it as it's so convenient.
in case you're worried about security if using GooglePay, you must set up a PIN or pattern which activates every time you put on the watch,
therefore if the watch was taken from you, GooglePay would not function without it.
i have TicSleep app monitoring my sleep, as the watch is comfortable enough to wear to bed.
however, i couldn't scientifically confirm the accuracy of my sleep,
the pro 3 ultra does a good job with its sleep tracking software,
it's basically able to detect when you're in REM, deep sleep, light sleep and awake.
another two useful apps TicZen and TicBreath can help to de-stress.
there's a new addition to the Tic apps which can 24/7 monitor your heart activity to detect irregular heartbeat - IHB,
and arrhythmia or abnormal heartbeat known as AFib.
talking of which, let's check the accuracy of the heart rate of our pro 3 ultra against the nhs approved medical pulse oximeter and omron medical monitor.
in the first test i'm very relaxed, the readings on ultra 67 bits per minute,
the readings on the pulse oximeter is 65 bits per minute - that's very close.
let's repeat the test - but i'll use omron medical monitor this time.
my heart rate raised, probably from the excitement...
and here we got the readings - 75 bits per minute on both devices!
but that was too easy - i'll do several press-ups to raise my heart rate a bit and then we'll take one more measurement to see if the readings are still accurate
by the way, all of the readings get pulled into TicHealth app and GoogleFit as well as Apple iHealth, if you use an iphone
right, we got here 94 beats per minute on the pulse oximeter,
and the pro 3 ultra shows 95 beats per minute. i'm absolutely happy with the watch accuracy!
let's just briefly check the blood saturation level, known as Sp02;
it takes a while - and here we got the results: 97 percent of Sp02 on both devices,
all these tests gave us the results that were very accurate and consistent - i'm happy with that.
TicExercise has all the modes you would expect from an exercise tracking app, with basics such as running, cycling and swimming,
and more fancy options, such as: beach volleyball or body mechanics and many more.
the ultra can also detect some workout types.
i found this useful when i was out walking and it was quite accurate at knowing that i had started and stopped,
something the other rivals struggled with.
to confirm the accuracy of the step count, i used my reliable manual tally counter, clicking it for each step.
i have done various stride steps, with various speeds, just to make it more difficult for the watch.
here we got: 1984 steps - for my manually counted 2000 steps.
this gave us 99.2 percent of the pedometer accuracy. that's certainly good enough to me.
the watch also shows the average speed, highest and lowest speeds, elevation change, calories burned and heart rate points,
which is more than i would ever ask for.
it also tracks the position of your workouts thanks to its built-in gps feature,
however, for walks and runs it takes a while until the watch would lock on the gps signal.
on several occasions it took from a few seconds to nearly a minute until the watch found the signal.
this is most possibly caused by locking up to a whole host of gnss technology, which is GPS, Beidou, Glonass, Galileo and GZSS.
usually i do not wait for the signal to lock i'm just starting my exercise and then the gps picks up during the walk.
i'm absolutely fine with that, but some people might see it as a major setback,
however, this is something that will be addressed in a future software update.
in nearly a month i spent with the ticwatch pro 3 ultra so far, the battery life was great.
i found the three-day claim to be pretty accurate,
as i regularly got three days of use between the charges with 24 heart rate monitoring running in the background, wi-fi, bluetooth, sleep tracking, notifications and even doing workout or two.
i haven't used it in the "essential mode", which shuts down all the smart performance,
limits you to the FSTN screen and only monitors steps,
but this mode should allow up to 45 days of battery life... this is crazy!
the ticwatch pro 3 ultra has a high 4.4 stars rating on amazon.
let's check out what the owners have to say about the ultra:
- "another stunning watch from ticwatch" - or -
- "great Wear OS smartwatch",
- "glitchy watch" - "looks and feels premium, GooglePay is temperamental, open bank cards about 30% of time"-
- well, i'm not sure about that, i have made several purchases using it and had no issues here.
there's one from italy: - "the best Wear OS smart watch",
there's one from germany: - "there's no better smartwatch".
we got plenty of glowing reviews;
as for the prices - the ultra costs £289 on Amazon UK
or $299 on Amazon US,
across the Europe we could buy the ultra in the price range from 239€ to 299€
Amazon Canada 399$ (canadian dollars),
Amazon Mexico, we could get the watch from $7283 to $10825 mexican pesos,
nearly 36.000 japanese yen
or from 30.000 to 35.000 indian rupees
or from 1129 PLN in Poland.
here you can see how the price is looking for the whole TicWatch Pro series:
so in conclusion - this is a superb and very comfortable smartwatch,
that i can see myself wearing for years to come.
or at least until the next model comes out!
be sure to watch our older tech reviews of smartwatches to pick the best one which is going to suit your needs and your budget.
if you think the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra is the right one for you,
don't miss this out - there's an Amazon affiliate link in the video description, so you could find it there for the best possible price.
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i'll see you next week - that was Adam - and you watched #FamilyPopTV youtube channel.