Mobvoi TicWatch E3 vs. Amazfit GTR 3 Pro

You wouldn’t have difficulty finding a feature-rich smartwatch in the under $200 category nowadays. They’re a dime a dozen. But it can also be hit and miss. Here, we take a look at two leading options in this space, the Mobvoi TicWatch E3 vs. Amazfit GTR 3 Pro to see which one might be a better fit. They both come in at around the same price and offer similar features. But there are some reasons you might be swayed to one versus the other.

Mobvoi TicWatch E3 vs. Amazfit GTR 3 Pro: The aesthetics and basics

First, let’s consider how these two smartwatches look. 

The Mobvoi TicWatch E3 has a rounded face made of polycarbonate and glass fiber with two function buttons on the side, resembling a standard wristwatch with a large bezel around it. It comes in one finish, Panther Black, and has a 1.3-inch screen that is slightly smaller than the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro’s screen, with a resolution of 360 x 360, which is much lower than the Amazfit model as well. 

It’s lightweight and slim in design, and while it’s made from plastic, Android Central’s Chris Wedel says in his review that it is still a “lovely, textured dark metal-looking grey” versus the dull black you might recall from previous versions. You can swap out the flexible band for another if you want to update the look and color: it’s easy to do using the quick-release strap. 

You can customize the look of the screen on the Mobvoi TicWatch E3 as well by choosing from a multitude of watch faces. Running Google’s WearOS, this smartwatch includes access to familiar services like Google Maps, Google Assistant, and Google Pay. You can also download third-party apps to it, like Telegram, Strava, Spotify, Lifesum, and many others. 

It’s water-resistant with a 5ATM rating and offers about two days of battery life per charge, a massive difference when compared to the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro, which offers up to 12 hours (though this varies based on usage, which I’ll get into below). You can, however, leverage the Essential mode on the Mobvoi TicWatch E3, which kicks in whenever the battery is below 5 percent. This will display only the most important stats until you have time to recharge. Wedel says swapping to Essential mode typically gave him an extra day of limited use. But even in GPS mode, however, the Mobvoi TicWatch E3 only offers about half the battery life as the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro.

With the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro, which comes in a comparable Infinite Black, you get the same rounded face and two side buttons. One of these, however, is a classic navigation crown that you can use to cycle through apps and features, receiving haptic feedback as you select things. With a curved glass screen and durable aircraft-grade aluminum alloy body, it looks a bit sleeker than the Mobvoi TicWatch E3. Android Central’s Harish Jonnalagadda says in his review that the minimalist aesthetic gives it an elegant look. 

The Ultra HD AMOLED screen is 1.45 inches in size and boasts 480 x 480 resolution with a 70.6% screen-to-body ratio, so you get a nice, big, bright screen. Interestingly, despite having a much larger screen, the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro is ironically the smaller watch of the two. It runs on Zepp OS, so you won’t get the same Google integration. But you can access tons of features like weather, calendar, clock, compass, flashlight, and more. You can’t download third-party apps, but Jonnalagadda says the interface is easy to navigate with no lag or stutter, and it’s intuitive. 

In addition to standard watch faces, from which you can choose among more than 150 of them with a matching always-on display, there are also 15 animated watch faces, 23 editable watch faces, and you can even upload your own image as a background. 

The Amazfit GTR 3 Pro is also water-resistant (5ATM) but the battery life is where the real difference lies. You’ll get up to 12 days with light use, but even with heavy use, it’s still six days, which is a marked increase compared to the Mobvoi TicWatch E3. If you use continuous GPS, this drops to 35 hours. There is a battery-saver mode as well that will let you use it as a basic watch for up to 30 days. 

Both can receive notifications from a connected smartphone and capture detailed information about your health, wellness, and activity, which we’ll delve deeper into in the next section.

Mobvoi TicWatch E3 vs. Amazfit GTR 3 Pro: The specs

Before getting into how these two smartwatches operate, let’s look at the bare bones specs.

There are a lot of similarities between these two watches when it comes to features, but some major differences in areas like screen size, resolution, and battery life.

Mobvoi TicWatch E3 vs. Amazfit GTR 3 Pro: Sports, fitness, and health

When it really comes down to it, what we want to know is: how will these smartwatches help me with my training, activity, health, and wellness? Both have compelling features. Both offer 24/7 management of your health and wellness, tracking activities, stress, heart rate, sleep, and more. Both track all the usual sports and activities plus some unique ones. 

The Mobvoi TicWatch E3 comes with the ability to track more than 100 unique and common exercises and activities in all. Some of the uncommon ones you’ll find include roller skating, frisbee, tug of war, and skateboarding. But keep in mind that this is mainly for your own logging purposes: you aren’t going to get rep counts or specific guidance or stats while doing these exercises and activities. 

There’s also proactive motion tracking that will auto-detect a workout and record your heart rate, calorie burn, and Vo2 Max if you forget to initiate one. You’ll receive an audible notification when you reach a target heart rate or exceed it, ideal while in the middle of an intense exercise so you don’t have to keep glancing at your wrist. Wedel found that the heart rate and blood oxygen monitoring was fairly accurate, in line with other watches from brands like Samsung and Amazfit that he was testing as well. 

Use the TicZen stress monitoring feature to keep an eye on stress levels and the TicHear feature to learn when you are over-stressed. If this is the case, initiate a TicBreathe breathing exercise to help calm you down. It also provides detailed sleep-tracking insights as well as recommendations to improve.

With the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro, you get even more with 150+ built-in sport modes including the usual suspects as well as unique ones like roller coasting, parkour, offroad motorcycle, and dodgeball. Once again, this is merely for your personal tracking purposes, to recall what you did and when (and how high your heart rate went when going on the massive coaster at the amusement park!) 

But you can go back and see which activities yielded the best results, like getting you into your peak heart rate zones or helping you burn the most calories. It will also automatically sense and track eight activities: outdoor running, indoor walking, walking, treadmill, outdoor cycling, rowing machine, elliptical, and swimming. 

Speaking of heart rate and zones, the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro comes equipped with a BioTracker PPG 3.0 biometric sensor to capture data like blood oxygen, heart rate, stress, and sleep. In fact, you can test for key metrics (heart rate, blood oxygen, stress, and breathing) in a single tap and get a result in 45 seconds. The PAI Assessment will provide a score to give you an idea of where you’re at with your general health and fitness levels. 

With PeakBeats motion algorithm, you can check your Vo2 Max, recovery time, training load, and training effect, ideal if you’re trying to work towards a specific goal. If you’re a runner, you’ll love features like Virtual Pacer where you can compete against yourself to beat your last time and try and improve. 

You can monitor SpO2 24/7 or initiate a test at any time, and even receive notifications if your breathing rate is too low when you aren’t asleep. You’ll get continuous heart rate tracking, even while swimming, and can also monitor female health cycles and get detailed sleep analysis and recommendations.

Mobvoi TicWatch E3 vs. Amazfit GTR 3 Pro: What else can they do?

The latest smartwatches like these ones (though both are a few years old now) all come with some added niceties as well. 

With the Mobvoi TicWatch E3, you can, as mentioned, access a wealth of Google features and functions, download third-party apps, and more. The E3 can also pair with Mobvoi’s TicPods true wireless earbuds for hands-free listening. With Google Assistant integration, you can also use voice commands to initiate actions, ask questions, and more. 

The Amazfit GTR 3 Pro does have built-in Alexa voice assistance for controlling smart home gear, playing music, and more. There’s also the ability to use offline voice assistance as well for limited functions, like setting a timer or launching a workout. It can store up to 470 songs in its built-in memory, a nice upgrade from the non-Pro version of this watch. 

It’s also worth noting that the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro has a five-satellite navigation system, so it can pick up signals from supported GPS, Glonass, Galileo BDS, and QZSS satellite navigation, which will make it a preferred option for runners and hikers who tend to travel through more remote locations and need precise location tracking. 

Finally, you can make calls natively from the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro with your phone nearby thanks to the built-in mic and speaker.

Mobvoi TicWatch E3 vs. Amazfit GTR 3 Pro: Which should you buy

When looking at the Mobvoi TicWatch E3 vs. Amazfit GTR 3 Pro, all signs point to the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro being the better option to consider. It’s a hair more expensive (depending on when and where you buy it), but the larger screen size and higher resolution screen alone make it worth choosing this model. 

Add the useful navigation crown that gives it an Apple Watch-like feel, the additional sports modes and automatic tracking, five-satellite navigation system, and tons of customization options with a variety of watch faces, and it's a clear winner. 

When you delve further into crucial features like battery life, the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro comes out ahead once again. It offers significantly longer battery life, even with heavy usage as well as with continuous GPS. 

With that said, if you really want Google WearOS and all the apps and features that come with it, you might prefer the Mobvoi TicWatch E3. It’s still a solid option in the affordable smartwatch category. But if you’re not tied to WearOS, you may have a better experience overall with the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro. 

If neither is your style or you’re looking for something different, consider spending a bit more for one of the best Android smartwatches. You’ll note, in fact, that both these models appear on that list, alongside plenty of alternative options from other brands.