Honor is all set to expand its selection of smartwatches with the new GS model. As opposed to the rugged design of the GS Pro, the Honor Watch GS 3 aims for a sleek look, making it more suitable for casual wear. However, the design does affect the battery life.
With a 3D curved glass and a simply graduated bezel, the body of the watch is made out of 316L low-carbon stainless steel that is 10.5mm in thickness and weighs 44g, with a diameter of 45.9mm.
The Honor Watch GS 3 is available in silver, gold, and black, each featuring a different wrist strap. Both the silver and gold are available with Nappa leather straps, while the black or the ‘Racing Pioneer’ features a durable rubber strap.
The watch has a 1.43-inch AMOLED display with a 326 PPI for sharp graphics (466 x 466 pixels), a fraction larger than the Pro display of 1.39-inch.
An 8-channel PPG module of the Honor Watch GS 3 targets 97% minimum accuracy when tracking the heart rate of a user. With the Honor Health 5.0, the watch features 24/7 blood oxygen tracking and sleep tracking, and over 200 suggestions to improve sleep.
For outdoor tracking, the watch makes use of dual-frequency positioning with support for five major satellite constellations. With 100 sports modes, as well as 10 professional sports modes, the smartwatch has a 167% improved positioning accuracy, and the initial lock is acquired in half the time, as compared to the MagicWatch 2 (2019).
The watch is safe to use in a pool as it is water-resistant to up to 5 ATMs. Other sensors include an accelerometer, gyro, compass, air pressure, and ambient light sensors.
With typical use, the watch promises up to 14 days of normal use or 30 hours with continuous GPS tracking. With only 5 minutes of charging, the watch is likely to last the entire day. While a full charge of the 451 mAh battery takes only an hour.
On the other hand, the GS Pro offered a battery life of 14 days with advanced GPS tracking and a battery life that lasted almost 48 hours.
The watch comes pre-installed with several basic applications including a music player with 4 GB onboard storage, an alarm and timer, a remote camera shutter button, and a feature to decline incoming calls with pre-defined text messages. Additional applications can also be installed.
The watch runs LiteOS on an Apollo4 chipset and features a few China-specific features such as Alipay and a smart card for public transport, as well as NFC.
The watch can be pre-ordered in China. The Honor Watch GS 3 Racing Pioneer model is available for CNY 1,300 or $205. The leather strap versions of the watch are available for CNY 1,500 or $237.