great Wear OS watch for a great price

At the beginning of the year, Mobvoi introduced its TicWatch Pro 3 GPS watch. We also tested them for you some time ago and finally came to the conclusion that That is one of the best Wear OS watches on the market. But now Mobvoi is trying to shuffle the cards with another model. TicWatch E3 because they offer very similar equipment as their more expensive little brother. They differ mainly in design and lack a secondary display. But that’s exactly one of the things that didn’t inspire us on the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS, so it might not be a major problem for this watch. But where the reality is, we will describe it in today’s review.

Contents of the TicWatch E3 review

Package contents

The TicWatch E3 watch comes in a smaller paper box, which also describes all the key features. The manufacturer mentions the presence of a microphone and speaker, Google Pay support (our service should be available this year) and Google Assistant, built-in GPS or Google Play store. At the same time, the Snapdragon Wear 4100 chipset (which will be discussed later), a 2.5D display, IP68 certification and various sensors and training modes are also mentioned.

After opening it, the watch itself will look at you and look no further than the charging cable and brochures. There are no adapters or replacement straps.

Quality of workmanship and appearance

The TicWatch E3 can be reminiscent from a greater distance (also tested by us) of the Xiaomi Amazfit Nexo, but they are not that thick. The body of the watch is made of plastic, which tries quite well imitate aluminum. We even thought for a moment that the watch was aluminum. Of course, there are two control buttons on the side, which you move through the system wear OS. The strap is then silicone, which is especially suitable for exercise. If you would like, you can exchange it for a leather or a Milan move.

Overall, the watch affects us minimalist impression and it doesn’t offend us in any way. On the contrary, they look good. As with the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS, we need a bit criticize the haptic, which is not bad, but does not have on some competing watches. So if you are switching from Apple Watch, for example, you will definitely get used to it for some time. We don’t get the standard with TicWatch E3 either MIL-STD-810G. The watch then weighs 32 grams (without a strap), which is a very good value and after a while you won’t even know you’re wearing them.

TicWatch E3 vs. TicWatch Pro 3 GPS

As mentioned in the introductory paragraph, TicWatch E3 differs from TicWatch Pro 3 GPS in several ways. First of all, it’s a design where the E3 relies more on minimalism, while the Pro 3 GPS wants to evoke emotion. Subjectively, we like both pieces, but if we had to choose between one, we would probably reach for TicWatch Pro 3 GPS, mainly because of the bezel. In addition, they offer a second energy-saving display and generally better battery life.

Another benefit of the more premium TicWatch Pro 3 GPS is undoubtedly the AMOLED display, which is brighter and offers a 60 Hz refresh rate, which is quite a high number in the field of smart watches. This makes it look a little smoother.

Hardware and system

So it covers the front 1.3 ″ LCD panel with a resolution of 360 x 360 pixels with 2.5D curvature. We did not mind the absence of the AMOLED panel and the readability in direct sunlight is still very good (in the case of the maximum set brightness). So here we will go a little against the current and we will not Mobvoi using this type of panel to criticize. There is also a mode Always-On.

The currently most powerful chipset for the Wear OS watch is ticking in our womb – Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 in combination with 1 GB RAM and 8 GB storage. As mentioned in a previous review, this chipset takes the watch with the Wear OS to another level. Older chipsets are starting to run out of breath (logically, when they are several years old) and in some of last year’s Wear OS watches we encountered jams. You can forget about it with TicWatch E3. The system is unusually smooth, agile and there are no torn animations or other inconveniences. The user experience is at a very good level and can match the best that currently wearable electronics generally offer.

On the contrary, what is starting to run out of breath is the Wear OS. In the last review, we praised the system and the words from it also apply to TicWatch E3. You have a lot of customization options, thousands of downloadable apps from Google Play, and apps directly from Google that work great in most cases. But without an update, the system is too long for our taste, which will hopefully change soon. Google recently introduced Wear OS 3, which will offer a lot of new features from gestures through a redesigned navigation center to much better tuning.