CMF Watch 3 Pro review: minor improvements for this deceptively simple smartwatch | Stuff

Introduction

Nothing’s budget-minded offshoot might not be your first thought when shopping for a fitness-focused smartwatch, but some important annual upgrades could help the CMF Watch 3 Pro stand out from more basic exercise bands and trackers.

Faster GPS, better battery life, and more accurate heart rate tracking are the headline additions – all areas the outgoing Watch Pro 2 (no, I don’t know why CMF swapped the number placement around either) was pretty good at already. But fans of that watch might be miffed that some features haven’t stuck around.

The price has also climbed up, putting this $99/£99 watch among tougher competition than its predecessor. Having worn one for the past few weeks, I’m convinced it has more appeal than the old model for a certain crowd – but also that picking the right colour plays an even bigger role now than it did before.

Design & build: simply does it

After a big styling shift last time out, CMF has played things much safer for the Watch 3 Pro. The circular smartwatch is still marvellously minimal, only now it fills a lot more space on your wrist. The larger screen isn’t nearly as dominating as the original, square CMF Watch – but there’s no question those with smaller arms might find it that little bit bigger than they were expecting.

As before, the different colour options have different combinations of bezel and strap (which all use tool-free lugs and a common 22mm fitting for quick swaps). The Light Grey version gets a softer, more bulbous outer case, while the Dark Grey goes for a flatter one. The Orange model adds numeric markings to the mix, which creates a more purposeful look.

I think my Light Green review unit looks the cheapest of the lot, unfortunately. It’s not quite on the level of something you’d pull from a Christmas Cracker, but it’s definitely a like-it-or-loathe-it look. All versions have an aluminium frame and matching digital crown, but a plastic lower case. It feels very much like a $100 wearable.

And unlike the outgoing Watch 2 Pro, once you buy the Watch Pro 3 you’re locked in to your chosen design. There’s no swapping out the bezel for a different one here, which is a real shame. It’s not like the change has resulted in better waterproofing, either: the IP68 rating returns from last year, but CMF says not to wear it while swimming, in saunas, or even while taking hot showers.

I appreciate the rotating crown being able to scroll through menus with a twist, but it’s small enough to be fiddly. I largely swiped the touchscreen instead.

Screen: size matters

At 1.42in, the CMF Watch 3 Pro’s screen has grown a fair bit. It fills much more of my wrist than the old model’s 1.32in panel did, and while the 466×466 resolution hasn’t changed between generations so sharpness isn’t quite as high, even smaller fonts and icons looked legible to me at arms’ length.

Bezels are that bit skinnier than before, too. While the casing doesn’t completely obscure them, the mostly dark interface means you’ll barely notice they’re there. I was happier to use full-colour watch faces here than on the last-gen Watch, and there are plenty to choose from. The AMOLED panel delivering perfect black levels certainly helps.

Brightness has been boosted, but not by a huge amount. Daylight visibility is just OK, with strong sunlight washing things out enough I needed to create shade with my other hand to see everything clearly. I can’t fault the touch responsiveness, though, and the few colours that are dotted throughout the UI have plenty of punch.

Having a built-in speaker of any kind in a sub-£100 smartwatch is a treat, and this one works well enough for making or taking calls. It’s not especially loud, but speech comes through pretty clearly.

Interface: X marks the spot

New watch faces aside, not a lot has changed on the UI side between this CMF Watch and the previous one. It’s still super-minimal, with a straightforward layout that puts notifications, quick controls and full-screen widgets a swipe away from the main screen. It’s also one of the few Nothing products left to use its original dot matrix-style icons, though not everywhere – it makes some widgets feel disjointed from the rest.

The app list opens with a press of the crown button. There’s a decent selection here, with familiar smartwatch fare like timers, alarms, a calendar, weather reports and a voice memo recorder. That’s handy, as there’s no app store for adding more later. It can also wake your phone’s voice assistant, remotely trigger its camera, and read the headlines to you via the new Essential News app. The latter uses AI to condense sources into soundbites, and its accuracy is up for debate. After testing the functionality I can’t say I ever used it again.

While Nothing doesn’t list the CMF Watch 3 Pro’s chipset, whatever’s inside has enough muscle to make the interface feel smooth and responsive at all times. Animations don’t stutter and watch apps open very quickly.

This watch now pairs to the Nothing X app, rather than the CMF companion used by the last-gen model. It’s equally minimal, but easy to navigate and with all your health and fitness data neatly organised in its own section. You can get surprisingly granular here for a budget wearable, with training load and recovery estimates. I wish it was a little more consistent at uploading saved exercise sessions to third-party sites like Strava, though.

Health & fitness: what more do you want?

The majority of the Watch 3 Pro’s sensors are unchanged from the previous model. There’s still the same accelerometer, ambient light sensor and gyroscope, but the heart rate sensor is all-new. It’s a four-channel optical sensor that’s apparently more accurate across a range of skin tones, and should be consistent no matter how hard you’re working out. That’s on top continuous blood oxygen monitoring, stress measurement, and the usual step and sleep tracking.

In my testing, against a fitness watch costing three times the price and a chest strap, running and cycling records were a fairly close match. Peaks were several BPM different, but the margin was so slight that casual exercisers will be able to trust the data captured. That said, there were some occasional spikes that looked more obviously off; I largely chalk them up to the band being too loose during a particularly strenuous static bike session.

Adding dual-band GPS has really sped things up compared to the old watch, with it only needing around five seconds to get a location lock when starting a workout. Accuracy is largely on the money as well, being far better at getting the side of the road I was on right than the Watch Pro 2 ever was.

There’s an extensive selection of sports and activities on offer here, though some are a little tenuous to stretch the number to 130. Others go into more depth, with running and cycling being near the top. A running coach is on hand if you want to target a specific goal like a first marathon or 10K, with useful advice on pacing.

It’s good to see the sleep tracking provide a simple score as well as more detailed sleep zones, saving you from having to dig too deep into the companion app for a breakdown, but there’s little here to suggest how to get more sleep if you’re struggling to get enough. Apple, Google and Samsung fare much better here, but you’d expect as much given they cost so much more.

Battery life: longer than ever

CMF has equipped the Watch 3 Pro with a 350mAh battery, which is a small but welcome increase over last year’s model. Officially it’ll now last for up to 13 days of regular use – two more than previously. I didn’t quite see that in my testing, which included 24/7 heart rate monitoring and between 30-60 minutes of tracked exercise per day with the screen in raise-to-wake mode.

Still, I managed to go between 10 and 11 full days without having to top up, which is well ahead of what a typical WearOS watch can achieve. Using the screen in always-on mode will sap the battery a lot sooner, with five days being more likely. Even then, a weekend away or a short work trip won’t force you to pack the proprietary charging cable.

This magnetically grips its pogo pins to the rear of the watch, and is largely unchanged from last year. A full charge takes a little over an hour and a half – not the quickest, admittedly, but a 30 minute stint can be enough to add two more days of wear.

The power saving mode has mega endurance, going more than a month without needing to refuel, but you forego almost all of the smart features to achieve that stamina.

CMF Watch Pro 3 verdict

Fitness fans on a budget will appreciate the CMF Watch Pro 3’s GPS and battery life upgrades, even if they aren’t transformational. While swimmers still aren’t catered for, the running coach is a handy addition and general health tracking is comprehensive for an affordable wearable. It hits all the smartwatch beats you’d expect, too.

That said, it’s a shame you can’t replace the bezel anymore, and with the price going up by almost a third, the Watch Pro 3 isn’t the no-brainer purchase its predecessor was. An Amazfit Active 2 costs the same, and personally I prefer its traditional timepiece appearance over CMF’s multi-coloured minimalism. If you’re sold on the design, though, the Watch Pro 3 makes a strong case for itself.

CMF Watch Pro 3 technical specifications