I Wore the OnePlus Watch 3 43mm for 2 Weeks — Here’s Why It Might Be the Best Wear OS Deal Right Now

OnePlus has now announced a smaller version of its popular smartwatch – the OnePlus Watch 3. Instead of using the moniker “mini” for this watch, like OPPO is doing for the exact same watch, OnePlus is calling this the Watch 3 43mm, indicating the size. Ironically, OnePlus’ smaller watch is still about the same size as Google and Samsung’s larger watch sizes, which are 45mm and 44mm, respectively.

With this smaller size, obviously, some things have been cut, so how does that affect the experience of using this watch? Well, I’ve been wearing it for the past 2 weeks to find out. And spoiler alert, it’s still a great watch.

There are some design changes between the OnePlus Watch 3 and the Watch 3 43mm. The first change you’ll notice is on the right side of the watch, where there’s no longer that flat edge. The top of the watch is also a tiny bit wider than the rest of the body, which does give it a rather unique look, while still making it look like a regular watch. The rotating crown is still there, and yes it works. It also has the back button on the bottom of that side of the watch.

No typos this time. It does say “Made in China” on the bottom.

All of your favorite fitness and health features, now in a smaller size

Probably the most important aspect of a watch is fitness tracking. While I still believe OnePlus has a bit of catching up here, there are still plenty of great features available on the Watch 3 43mm.

OnePlus has even included a new Pro Running Mode with a professional running coach, helping you to hit your goals and push your body even further. It also has a fat burning evaluation, to help you burn more fat in your workouts.

Heart rate tracking is still pretty accurate. I’ve been wearing the OnePlus Watch 3 43mm alongside the new Whoop 5.0, and heart rate seemed to be pretty much the same across both devices. It’s actually pretty incredible how accurate smartwatches have gotten with tracking your heart rate.

When it comes to sleeping, it does a great job with tracking your sleep as well as naps. As someone that’s worn the Apple Watch for the majority of the last few years, that’s actually a big deal. As the Apple Watch only tracks sleep if you set up a sleep schedule. Which means it does not track naps. OnePlus also gives you a sleep score, and while I’m no scientist to see if these scores are accurate or not, it does seem to be pretty accurate from my knowledge.

The best battery life in its class

OnePlus is known for its battery life now, in its wearables. With the OnePlus Watch 3 lasting about 5 days (officially, OnePlus says 100 hours, which is just over 4 days), and the OnePlus Watch 3 43mm is still quite good despite its smaller battery, coming in at about 4 days in my usage. OnePlus does quote 60 hours of battery life.

This is thanks to OnePlus using the same dual-OS architecture from the OnePlus Watch 2, 2R and 3. Which allows you to get amazing battery life, even over a week long if you switch out of Smart Mode. Charging up is a breeze, and takes less than an hour.

OnePlus is still the only smartwatch maker making a charging puck that isn’t attached to a USB cable, and I love it. Being able to just bring along the charging puck instead of an entire charging cable just for the watch, is really great to have. And if you are using other OnePlus or OPPO devices, you also have the charging brick and cable to charge this watch with SuperVOOC speeds.

The best value in Wear OS watches today

The OnePlus Watch 3 43mm is perhaps the best value in Wear OS smartwatches right now, though there’s not a lot of competition these days. As it’s basically just Samsung and Google.

OnePlus will sell the Watch 3 43mm in Black Steel and Silver Steel colors, for $299 in the US and $399 in Canada. If you pre-order before the end of July, you will get an extra $50 ($70 in Canada) off when you trade-in an eligible device or trade-in any device in any condition. And finally, students can get an extra 10% off.

Where the Google Pixel Watch 3 starts at $349, and the Galaxy Watch 8 is rumored to be priced at over $300, that also makes this the cheapest watch, and it doesn’t skimp out on much of anything.