Redmi Watch 3 Active Review: Light on the Wrist, and the Wallet Too

The Indian smartwatch market is ever-growing with a sea of options available. While Xiaomi has been playing its part with the Mi Band series, it has been relatively quieter in the sub-Rs 3,000 price segment. Right now, it’s evident that Fire-Boltt, Noise, Boat and more dominate this segment widely. However, with the Redmi Watch 3 Active, the company is trying to be that one unique guy in the classroom. It’s trying to achieve that with Bluetooth calling, health tracking, good battery life, and more at Rs 2,999 — should you buy it? Let’s find out.

Redmi Watch 3 Active Review: Design and build

• The watch frame is available in two colours
• It is entirely made of plastic

With a rectangular frame and rounded corners around the edges, the Watch 3 Active follows the same design philosophy as many other brands in this segment. The watch frame is painted grey with a reflective and glossy finish which tends to carry fingerprint smudges. If that’s not your thing, the Charcoal Black frame colourway might be best. The watch fits both: formal and informal wear.

The right side of the watch has a physical button and a microphone, while the left side is home to the speaker. The physical button is responsive but feels tacky because of the feedback. The underside of the watch is home to a slew of sensors for heart rate monitoring and SpO2 measurement among other things.

The Watch 3 comes with a TPU watch strap in Platinum Grey, Charcoal Black and Olive Green colours. With that matte finish, the green colourway stands out well if you ask us. The locking mechanism of the Watch 3 Active isn’t very straightforward and takes time to get used to. On the bright side, it fits snugly and is very easy to take off. If you wish to buy the bands separately, they are available at Rs 999, else you can also look at third-party 38mm straps.

The entirety of the watch is made out of plastic and despite the 11mm thickness, it barely weighs 42 grams. It comes with 5ATM water resistance, so taking it out for a swim is possible. We took the watch for a couple of showers, and it came out fine, even under hot water.

Redmi Watch 3 Active Review: Display

• It sports a large 1.83-inch LCD display
• The watch has a resolution of 240×280 pixels

The Watch 3 Active sports a 1.83-inch HD display with a peak brightness of 450 nits. Using it outdoors was not an issue, but it can falter under direct and harsh sunlight. Moreover, the watch skips out on auto-brightness, which had us digging into settings for each tweak.

A quick shortcut in the control centre could have been a good way to salvage this.

Considering the price point it comes at, the watch uses an LCD panel with a resolution of 240×280 pixels. The display produces decent colours with good touch response — but the thick bezels somewhat ruin the symmetry. To make it slightly more interesting, the Mi Fitness app has an infinite library of watch faces with vibrant colours, so that should help to an extent,

Redmi Watch 3 Active Review: UI and software

• You can connect the watch to an Android or iOS device using the Mi Fitness app
• The app has an endless list of customisations

The Watch 3 Active performs fluidly for the most part, but we faced minor stutters and lags in the UI when scrolling through a bunch of widgets. These weren’t consistent, so hopefully, a small update can fix this.

A simple swipe up from the home page reveals the control centre. You can find a slew of quick settings here. A swipe down reveals the notification bar. While you can read all the messages, you cannot reply to them using the watch.

Swiping right or left gives you access to the widgets — these are customisable. The app drawer can be used by pressing the power button. You can pair the Watch 3 Active to your Android or iOS smartphone using the Mi Fitness app.

The app has an endless list of customisations. Also, while it does not have an always-on display, its raise-to-wake feature works flawlessly. You also have the option to disable it when sleeping.

Redmi Watch 3 Active Review: Calling and other fitness features

• You can answer calls directly from the watch
• The watch monitors your sleep, heart rate, and blood oxygen levels

While most smartwatches in this segment are purely fitness trackers, the Watch 3 Active does a bit more to stand out. You can make and answer calls straight from the with surprisingly good microphone quality. The speaker could’ve been louder – it’s audible at home or in the office, but not so much outdoors in a busy environment. Our other gripe with calling is the display doesn’t show the name of the caller on WhatsApp calls – ‘dumb’ calls are fine.

The Watch 3 Active can monitor your heart rate, sleep and even record your SpO2 levels. It is able to record health monitoring well, with proper breakdown. It also has the ability to continuously record heart rate, at the cost of battery life.

As for SpO2, it can also notify you when the levels have fallen below a set number — which is a good inclusion. Even though the results are mostly near accurate, we would suggest using proper medical instruments.

The sleep monitoring works flawlessly and with good consistency. The breakdown is also relatively detailed, though it requires you to enable a setting using the app. In our experience, the watch couldn’t record afternoon naps, which is not really a dealbreaker.

As for fitness tracking, you can find multiple workout options categorised neatly. The watch can track running, cycling, football, volleyball, basketball, and more. We tried running and walking with the watch. It can count your steps while also recording the calories burnt.

In most cases, the watch has a tendency to overshoot the step count by 10-15. The Watch 3 Active does not come with an in-built GPS, which meant we had to take the phone with us for every activity.

Redmi Watch 3 Active Review: Battery and charging

• It packs in a 289mAh battery
• The watch takes an hour and 20 minutes to charge

This is where the Watch 3 Active excels the most. The battery life on the watch is quite impressive, lasting up to 10 days with default settings.

With advanced settings such as continuous heart rate monitoring, SpO2, and more — it lasted us about 6 days, which was quite impressive.

The Watch 3 Active uses a proprietary pogo pin adapter for charging. The pins connect magnetically at the back, without much fuss. However, the cable is a bit short, making us leave the watch on the floor for charging. This resulted in us unknowingly kicking it a few times.

It took the watch about an hour and 20 minutes to charge fully from the dead.

Redmi Watch 3 Active Review: Verdict

At Rs 2,999, the Redmi Watch 3 Active gets a lot of things right — especially the basics.

The relatively large display is smooth and responsive, with decent colours. An AMOLED display would have served better but would affect the pricing too.

While most fitness enthusiasts will be happy with the number of workout modes, some may feel that the exclusion of built-in GPS is a bit underwhelming.

Most of the smartwatches or smart bands in this price range tend to skimp out on the calling feature, thankfully this can be seen here — our only gripe here is the speaker output. The Watch 3 Active’s battery life and customisation options are commendable.

Overall, the Redmi Watch 3 Active is a good option for someone looking for a reliable smartwatch in the sub-Rs 3,000 price range. If you prefer an AMOLED display, the OnePlus Nord watch will be a good option but requires you to shell out Rs 5,000.