The OnePlus Watch 2 and 3 both received critical acclaim, especially in regards to its battery life, premium design (sapphire display, and titanium bezel on the Watch 3). However, the most common complaint about both models is their huge size, at 46mm. Even the budget, more lightweight OnePlus Watch 2R comes in the same, massive 46mm size. However, OnePlus had hinted at the possibility of making a smaller watch, and a LTE/5G model. The former has finally came into fruition, much to the delight of smaller wrist people, especially women. However, there were some sacrifices to be made.
Any smaller watch naturally must have a smaller battery too. Despite having almost the same battery capacity as Google’s and Apple’s flagship smartwatches, the 43mm OnePlus Watch 3’s 354mah battery can last up to 60 hours (36 hours in heavy usage) in normal mode and 7 days in battery saver. In comparison, you’re lucky to get 24 hours on any Pixel/Apple Watch, and 36 hours in battery saver. Apple’s largest battery size watch the ultra, at 542mah, gets the same exact figures as the 43mm OnePlus watch despite having a bigger battery than even the OnePlus Watch 2 (500mah). Did I forget to mention Pixel and Apple watches are way more expensive too? The Apple Ultra Watch 2 is $799. Sorry Apple and Google, I don’t need to be charging my watch as often as my phone, or pay the price of phone to get a watch that has slightly better battery life.
So, despite the smaller battery, the 43mm OnePlus Watch is still quite the performer. The other sacrifices made to the watch includes the lack of a sapphire display, which is a bit sad, considering that the smaller watch is only $50 less than the standard size. There’s also no ECG/EKG functionality, not like USA users have ever made use of that feature for the OnePlus Watch 3. The band size is also different, at 16mm instead of 22mm. Some people have complained about that, but if you wanted a smaller watch, why complain if other things get small too? At least it has a crown. I am a small wrist person, but I have found that the standard OnePlus Watch 3 works just fine on me; maybe it’s just different for males than it is females.