Amazfit GTR 3 Pro review: High-end aspirations

(Pocket-lint) - The Amazfit GTR 3 Pro is simply a smartwatch with a mid-range terms constituent that intelligibly has high-end smartwatch aspirations. It sits beauteous astatine the apical of Zepp Health's wearable household successful presumption of features and design.

Building connected the GTR 2, which launched successful precocious 2020, the Pro offers sports modes aplenty, Amazon Alexa integration and its ain offline dependable assistant, positive the instauration of an app store with the accomplishment of a caller Zepp OS smartwatch platform.

Building a much fully-fledged operating strategy for its watches seems to beryllium a determination that Zepp wants to physique much susceptible smartwatches without making a bigger dent successful your slope balance. Has it managed to execute that present with the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro?

Design and display

• 22mm removable straps
• 46mm case,10.6mm thick
• Waterproof up to 50 metres
• 1.45-inch AMOLED display, 460 x 460 resolution

The GTR 3 Pro features a good-sized 46mm case, sitting 10.6mm heavy disconnected the wrist, which is made from an aluminium alloy that comes successful metallic oregon achromatic colour options. On the close broadside you'll find a crown that you tin press-and-twist to scroll, alongside a azygous carnal fastener to connection a shortcut to favoured feature. Other than that, it's a precise streamlined look.

Flip it implicit and you volition find immoderate plastic, which is besides wherever you'll find Zepp Health's latest BioTracker 3.0 sensor, capable to present metrics based astir bosom rate, humor oxygen and besides capable to seizure breathing complaint and somesthesia readings.

You tin besides spot that the 22mm strap attached to the lawsuit is removable via a precise elemental pin mechanism. That strap comes successful either leather oregon a much exercise-friendly fluoroelastomer. We had the erstwhile option, and it's harmless to accidental it's a bully prime leather strap with a classical ticker buckle and capable holes successful the strap to marque definite it should acceptable astir wrist sizes.

On the surface front, the 1.45-inch AMOLED show is punching supra its value - it's larger than you'll find successful the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, for illustration -  and it's bright, colourful and susceptible of displaying heavy blacks. Plus there's the enactment to acceptable it to enactment connected 24/7 - conscionable beryllium prepared to spot the artillery beingness to get a deed erstwhile you bash though.

In presumption of durability, there's tempered solid connected that surface to marque it amended resistant to scratches - and we can't accidental it suffered immoderate harm successful our clip with this watch. You're not getting immoderate rugged subject modular level of extortion similar you'll find connected the Amazfit T-Rex Pro, however, but it is swim-and-shower-safe acknowledgment to 5ATM water-resistance rating.

The GTR 3 Pro ticks each the important boxes. There's fewer places to responsibility it arsenic acold arsenic however it looks. It mightiness beryllium bully to person a fewer lawsuit and strap combinations to take from, but astatine slightest you bash person the enactment to power things up successful the strap department.

Software and performance

• Works with Android and iOS
• Zepp OS adds app store
• Built-in euphony player
• No third-party apps

The GTR 3 Pro runs connected Zepp OS, a caller operating strategy built by Zepp, which entails assorted revamps to the idiosyncratic interface and the instauration of an app store. Like erstwhile watches, there's nary disclosure of the benignant of processing powerfulness onboard present - though we recovered show successful wide to beryllium fine. Swiping done screens is creaseless arsenic is launching antithetic modes and apps.

Speaking of apps, the caller app store is lone accessible from the Zepp companion app close now. It's decidedly connected the basal broadside and there's conscionable 1 app retired of the tiny clump we recovered that brings immoderate third-party integration to power astute location devices from your wrist. It's present implicit to Zepp to person developers to bring immoderate big-name apps to the enactment due to the fact that there's not overmuch present close now.

Outside of apps and immoderate caller interface animations, you're getting the quality to presumption notifications, and marque calls utilizing the onboard mic and talker (when paired to your telephone implicit Bluetooth). There's a euphony subordinate with 2.3GB of storage, which lone works by adding euphony you ain from your phone. If you inactive usage your telephone to watercourse music, determination are controls disposable that bash enactment good with third-party euphony apps similar Spotify.

Zepp Health retains the offline dependable adjunct it introduced connected the GTR and GTS 2, which gives you hands-free power of cardinal ticker features similar starting a workout oregon launching the euphony player. There's besides Amazon's Alexa present too, which doesn't instrumentality agelong to setup and volition tract the emblematic Alexa dependable queries.

The cardinal things you're truly missing connected the smartwatch beforehand are the quality to respond to notifications, marque payments, and a much afloat stocked app store. The parts that bash marque the chopped enactment well, but intelligibly there's country for betterment and for immoderate halfway features to turn to go much useful.

While the ticker bundle remains intuitive and mostly unchanged, the Zepp app has been fixed a spot of cleanup - and it was needed. There's a batch going connected wrong of this app and it needs to beryllium a much user-friendly spot to walk clip in. It's inactive not rather there, but it's decidedly a measurement successful the close absorption successful helping you afloat recognize what this ticker is really susceptible of.

Sports and fittingness tracking 

• One-tap measurements tracks 4 metrics
• PeakBeats grooming insights
• Temperature sensor
• 150+ sports modes

Zepp's strategy with however it aims to fto users show their wellness and enactment acceptable is to propulsion a batch of features astatine you and anticipation that astir of them hit. There's tons of sensors, tons of sports modes, and each mode of metrics.

We'll commencement with what you tin expect successful presumption of sensors. Top of the database is an optical-based BioTracker biometric sensor to way bosom complaint during exercise, and powers features similar accent monitoring and caller PeakBeats grooming insights.

Then there's an accelerometer, gyroscope sensors for tracking motion, positive geomagnetic and altimeter sensors for richer biology data. A caller sensor summation is simply a somesthesia one, though based connected our acquisition it's mode disconnected the people for accuracy.

For sports tracking, there's built-in GPS on with Glonass, Galileo, BDS, QZSS outer strategy enactment for much close mapping data. There's a hefty 150+ sports modes with 8 of those modes offering automatic tracking recognition.

In that sports mode, we recovered the acquisition was bully and you person a bully magnitude of information to pore over, but elements similar region tracking for outdoor workouts and bosom complaint monitoring were disconnected the mark. The second falls into the trap of struggling astatine speechmaking high-intensity workouts owed to abrupt peaks and drops successful bosom rate.

New PeakBeats insights fto you amended recognize if you're grooming excessively overmuch and springiness you a amended thought of conscionable however acceptable you are to instrumentality connected tougher workouts. However, these should decidedly beryllium seen arsenic much of a guidance than definitive proposal - arsenic we recovered resultsoverly harsh successful advising excessive betterment clip disconnected the backmost of abbreviated workouts.

As a fittingness tracker, the GTR 3 Pro volition number your steps with a bully level of accuracy, though it doesn't bash overmuch extracurricular of inactivity alerts to marque definite you get disconnected your spot connected a regular ground during the day. When it's clip to spell to sleep, you tin expect to spot a breakdown of slumber stages, including REM slumber and slumber duration. You tin besides seizure breathing prime and it'll adjacent way naps during the day.

While nary of the wellness features connected this smartwatch are designed to observe superior wellness issues - similar an Apple Watch oregon a Samsung Galaxy Watch tin - Zepp seems to beryllium moving successful that absorption and possibly 1 time it'll beryllium packing an ECG sensor oregon beryllium susceptible of monitoring humor pressure. Right now, it can't bash those things though.

What it tin bash close present is things similar show bosom rate, humor oxygen and somesthesia continuously. There's besides features for women's wellness tracking, accent monitoring, and Zepp's PAI Health assessments that's tagged arsenic a well-being diagnostic with regular score. 

A caller one-tap measurement lets you get readings for bosom rate, stress, breathing complaint and humor oxygen each astatine once. While it's utile to beryllium capable to seizure each of this wellness data, it isn't truly utilized for wellness insights and there's not a immense magnitude of enactment action down it sending alerts for debased oregon precocious bosom complaint and SpO2 levels.

Battery life

• 450mAh capableness battery
• 35 hours of GPS artillery life

The GTR 2 was bully for astir a week's usage and that doesn't truly alteration with the GTR 3 Pro. If you power connected the afloat gamut of features astatine your disposal similar continuous bosom complaint and humor oxygen monitoring, past you'll get astir the quoted six days of artillery life. Add the always-on show into the equation and that volition driblet to a fistful of days.

The maximum you tin expect is 30 days, but that means turning to the artillery saver mode, which means sacrificing the quality to usage a scope of features connected a regular basis. 

Zepp has done a beauteous awesome occupation connected its watches of promising awesome artillery beingness if you're readying to marque regular usage of the GPS to way outdoor activity. The Pro offers 35 hours of GPS artillery life, which is really down from the 48 hours promised connected the GTR 2. Despite that drop, those numbers held up successful our investigating and besides clasp up good against dedicated sports watches that beryllium astir this terms - from the likes of Garmin and Polar.

Things haven't changed connected the charging front, with a akin tiny charging cradle utilized to get the ticker from 0-100 per cent successful 2 hours. Unlike Fitbit's smartwatches and immoderate Wear OS smartwatches, you don't person a fast-charging diagnostic to springiness you a speedy top-up if you request it to get done a time with minimum complaint time.

If you emotion tracking stats and crunching the numbers connected your latest outdoor activity, you'll emotion The Gear Loop. Our caller sister tract is present to bring you the freshest news, the astir honorable reviews, informative guides and inspirational question features that screen each outdoor progressive manner pursuits, from oversea to summit. Whether that's moving oregon cycling, wintertime sports oregon h2o sports, The Gear Loop has got it covered.

Writing by Michael Sawh. Originally published connected 18 November 2021.