Xiaomi Redmi Watch 3 Active – Is It An Excellent Entry-Level Smartwatch?

First Impressions

Before going to the smartwatch’s technicalities and features, let me start with its design and packaging. Xiaomi kept a very simple yet elegant design with the retail box, showing just an image of the smartwatch on the front portion. 

Now let’s get to the unboxing. Opening the box shows the watch with pre-installed straps, a magnetic charger, and some paperwork. 

The Xiaomi Redmi Watch 3 Active comes in two color choices for the strap: Platinum Gray and Charcoal Black. I got the one with the black strap to match most of my dark-colored clothes.

Though it doesn’t have a crown on its side, at first glance, I got some sort of Apple Watch feel because of its rounded corners on its square-like screen.

One thing I don’t like about this watch is the thick side bezels. Using a watch face with a dark background helps make the bezels less apparent.

Build Quality

Talking about the build quality of the Xiaomi Redmi Watch 3 Active, most of the watch’s body is built from plastic materials but it appears to be durable. In my opinion, this type of build is scratch-proof  I’d but I’d still highly recommend getting a protector for the watch’s body.

I also want to mention that the screen is a fingerprint magnet, although it’s easy to clean with just a single wipe of a lint-free cloth.

The rear side of the watch, where the charging contact and sensor are located, has a matte finish. The watch’s frame is also made from glossy plastic, which is also a fingerprint magnet, and on the right side is where you’ll find the home button and microphone.

Another notable quirk of this watch is that it’s very lightweight and I can barely feel it on my wrist when worn. 

The included strap of the Xiaomi Redmi Watch 3 Active feels great. It has a matte finish and it’s detachable, durable, and very bendable. Since the straps are detachable, you can swap them out but Xiaomi isn’t currently selling official replacement straps for this watch but you can get them from third-party brands.

Features

The Xiaomi Redmi Watch 3 Active focuses mainly on health and fitness tracking. 

It offers monitoring for Sp02 and all-day heart rate, sleep tracking, stress measuring, daily step count, and calorie tracking. Another great addition is the monitoring of over 100 sports and workout modes. It ranges from Outdoor Running to Dance and Combat Sports.

One downside to this smartwatch is that you can’t install additional apps on it. It’s not a deal-breaker though as Its built-in apps provide every function you need for a smartwatch.

All the basic features of a smartwatch are here, such as viewing your notifications, making calls, turning it into a remote camera shutter, controlling your music, and even setting up an alarm. 

If you’re planning to get this watch just for replying to messages, don’t even bother. You can only view notifications but you can’t reply directly on the watch.

Responsiveness and Functionality 

The Xiaomi Redmi Watch 3 Active has a large 1.83-inch display with 240 by 280 pixels resolution. It’s very responsive when it comes to tapping, scrolling, and swiping from left to right. Yes! Even with a case. 

My experience with this smartwatch truly feels effortless with its smooth and stutter-free interface.

Also, thanks to its large display, looking at the watch from different angles isn’t much different than viewing it at an eye level. I find the display lacking contrast and saturation but I can’t complain much considering its price.

The display has decent brightness that can go up to 450 nits and is good enough to be viewable whenever I’m outdoors. The raise to wake, cover to sleep, and double tap to wake are also great additions but think twice before turning it on as it consumes a lot of battery.

User Interface

There are also 2 available styles for the watch’s menu: Grid and List Style. I like the Grid style more as it gives a smartphone vibe, plus the different colors of the icons give the smartwatch a more premium look. 

Swiping up from the bottom brings up the quick settings panel while swiping down leads you to the notifications you’ve received. Swiping sideways brings you to the customizable widgets where you can add or remove modules.

Mi Fitness App

Installing the Mi Fitness App, also known as Xiaomi Wear, on your smartphone is a must if you want to set up your watch. This app is available for both Android and iOS devices and with it, you can view your workout details, health data, and many more. 

The smartwatch comes pre-installed with three stock watch faces (which you can’t delete) but I’m sure that this isn’t enough for most users as we want to customize our stuff more. Luckily, the Mi Fitness App offers a vast collection of watch faces for you to install. 

You can download up to 2 additional watch faces because the watch can only support 5. And if you reach the limit, you have to remove one from your downloads. Also, customizing watch faces where you can put a custom image is only available for the Android version of the app and not for iOS but I hope they’ll fix this with future software updates.

Water-Proof?

I tried showering with my Watch 3 Active on my wrist, and I’d say that it’s waterproof. You don’t have to worry about water getting stuck inside the watch as it has a water eject feature. This feature plays a low-frequency beeping sound while releasing water droplets on the watch’s left side.

Battery Life

I have no problem with the Xiaomi Redmi Watch 3 Active’s battery life. Charging the watch fully takes less than 2 hours, and as Xiaomi stated, it can last up to 12 days if not used intensively. 

I’m a raise-to-wake and double-tap-to-wake type of smartwatch user, so the 12-day statement by Xiaomi isn’t really applicable to my usage. With these features turned on, the battery lasts for only four to five days, which still isn’t that bad.

Connectivity

Regarding connectivity, the Xiaomi Redmi Watch 3 Active supports Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity. This helps the watch sync with smartphones to answer calls and receive notifications. It’s compatible with both Android and iOS.

The Bluetooth Calling is also worth mentioning. Most smartwatches have this feature, but does it work as expected? Yes, it does! When you receive a call, the watch will show the caller’s information and you have the option to decline it. You can clearly hear the call without lifting your watch. The microphone also works with calls decently.

With Bluetooth connectivity, you can also use the Find My Phone feature, which makes your phone ring in case you misplace it but it’s completely unusable when Bluetooth is out of range.

Final Thoughts on the Xiaomi Redmi Watch 3 Active

Overall, the Xiaomi Redmi Watch 3 Active is a great option for a budget-friendly smartwatch.

Despite lacking a built-in GPS, it has other cool features that compensate for it. A slight improvement with minor stuff will make this smartwatch a beast but I guess Xiaomi had to tone some specs down to keep up with its very affordable price.

This watch is comfortable to wear, has a premium look, and provides everything you need from a smartwatch. The best thing about it is that it’s affordable. It’s an excellent option for students or someone who just wants to track their daily activity without spending too much.

The Xiaomi Redmi Watch 3 Active is a good competitor with other entry-level smartwatches, and I’d highly recommend it.

This post was last updated on 2023-12-02 / Some images from Amazon Product API & some links may be affiliate links which may earn us a commission from purchases.