- It looked like a real watch
- A circular watch face
- I could use standard straps with it
- Has a clear and readable screen
- I could change the watch face
- It counted my steps and had a heart monitor
- It had a weather app, stopwatch, etc.
- Find my phone app
I loved that Gear S3 Classic, it felt comfortable on my wrist, I got a nice brown leather strap for it, I was happy. There was only one things I didn't care for, the battery life. I had to charge the Gear S3 every night. When I first had it maybe it would stretch to two days of use but later, after using it for more than two years every day, I had to charge it every night.
One day my Gear S3 stopped charging. I was very sad...
Amazfit GTR
As a gift I was given a brand new Amazfit GTR smartwatch. If you look at the specification and the much lower price you might think it isn't much of a replacement for the Gear S3. However, the GTR did in fact, as the name suggests, amaze me!
The best feature of the GTR is the battery life. They state it can go 24 days on a single charge, I had more than 40 days after my first charge! Perhaps I'm not a heavy user and I did not use always-on but even so, no one can deny that the battery life is impressive. Comparing to the Gear S3 the battery life on the Amazfit GTR is out of this world. It's a strange feeling when after two days you check the battery life and it says 98% full!
There was one thing strange about the battery life though. When I got to 30-something percent, the watch died. I had to charge it. I'm not sure what that means, perhaps the battery life indicator is not calibrated well? In any case, it's probably wise to charge the phone when it gets to around 40% just to avoid a surprise. This isn't a big negative because remember, you will get weeks of usage from this watch, it's still remarkable.
 |
| Amazfit app on my smartphone showing the watch battery at 78% after 17 days! |
The GTR comes with a USB cable and a small magnetic dock that attaches to the back of the watch with a magnet. Once you have it the right way around, it connects firmly and it easy to use. It's not as classy as the Gear S3 dock but it works well and it is much smaller.
Features
The Gear S3 definitely had more features than the GTR. However, for me, I do not miss those extra features. The GTR does have the basics and that suits me fine. All those points I listed at the beginning of this article, the GTR can do them all. It's a beautifully classic design, a sharp screen, it feels great on the wrist, the strap that's included is really nice because it is a leather (I presume fake) with a silicone backing which is very soft and comfortable.
The health features of the GTR are good enough for me. I don't run, I'm not serious about fitness so I can't tell you how well it performs in those areas. I can tell you for me, with my need for a simple step counter and heart tracker, it does the job. The GTR reminds me when I have been sitting still for more than an hour, in a similar way that my Gear S3 used to.
The app for the GTR on my Android phone works well, the Bluetooth connections works seamlessly (better than the Gear S3 in fact, it would sometimes fail to reconnect after a disconnect).
On the downside there is no way to download new or additional apps to the GTR. I don't miss this functionality (the Gear S3 could do this) because the GTR has the basics, which are fine for me. For example, there's Find my Mobile, Weather, Stopwatch, Count Down, Timer, Torch, Event Reminder, Alarm and a Music app to control the music playing on your smartphone. The GTR doesn't have a speaker, you can't play music directly, you can only skip tracks, etc.
Something very helpful is the ability to have notifications on the smartwatch. This works very well. You can't reply to a notification as you can with the Gear S3 and other fully featured smartwatches, but with the GTR, for me at least, I am happy, it's enough. After all, when I had the Gear S3 I never replied from the watch, I always took out my phone, it's the same with the GTR.
Whatsapp messages are visible on the GTR. With Telegram I'm notified but I don't see the message itself. But I think this was the same with the Gear S3, perhaps it's a restriction of Telegram.
Watch faces
The watch face of the GTR can be changed. This is perhaps the most important feature of a smartwatch in some ways because it means you have many watches in one! I can't get bored, if I do, I change the watch face. The Gear S3 had so many watch faces to choose from and it was super-easy to switch back and forth. Unfortunately this is a weak area for the GTR. You get just three watch faces on the GTR as standard. One of them can be replaced with a new watch face you select and download from the app on your phone. It also takes a long time to download (a minute perhaps) to your watch. This means that selecting a watch face is more of a serious decision than it was on the Gear S3. The choice of watch faces for the GTR on the app are limited too, there are nowhere near as many as the Gear S3 has.
It's not all doom and gloom, I have found some very nice watch faces for my GTR and you can find third-party apps for a wider choice. For third-party watch faces I would warn that sometimes the procedure for adding the new watch face is not as straightforward as you might hope but it is doable. There does seem to be a lively community out there of people making free watch faces, this is encouraging and I'm sure we'll see many more new watch faces from third-party apps and the official one.
Conclusion
At the time of writing (November 2019) I have been using the GTR for a couple of months. I'm very happy so far. Especially for the price, it's more than reasonable when you consider the features and that it looks like such a classy timepiece. The build-quality is excellent, I have the steel version, it looks and feels great. The strap is fine and it can easily be changed for any standard strap. I recommend the Amazfit GTR. Perhaps it's not as well featured as others but what it does do, it does well.
Reviews
Here's a helpful video review I found:
https://youtu.be/jLHcx8-zC0w
Here's a follow up to the above video, after 11 days of use:
https://youtu.be/ca5SrjscO_Y
The above Youtube videos have no connection to me, I just found them helpful and therefore I'm including links to them here.
Disclaimer
This is just my subjective opinion. I have no affiliation to the Amazfit company. I've written this article purely to provide some first-hand real-world information. I am not responsible for whatever you do, your choices are yours to make.
On the downside there is no way to download new or additional apps to the GTR. I don't miss this functionality (the Gear S3 could do this) because the GTR has the basics, which are fine for me. For example, there's Find my Mobile, Weather, Stopwatch, Count Down, Timer, Torch, Event Reminder, Alarm and a Music app to control the music playing on your smartphone. The GTR doesn't have a speaker, you can't play music directly, you can only skip tracks, etc.
Something very helpful is the ability to have notifications on the smartwatch. This works very well. You can't reply to a notification as you can with the Gear S3 and other fully featured smartwatches, but with the GTR, for me at least, I am happy, it's enough. After all, when I had the Gear S3 I never replied from the watch, I always took out my phone, it's the same with the GTR.
Whatsapp messages are visible on the GTR. With Telegram I'm notified but I don't see the message itself. But I think this was the same with the Gear S3, perhaps it's a restriction of Telegram.
Watch faces
The watch face of the GTR can be changed. This is perhaps the most important feature of a smartwatch in some ways because it means you have many watches in one! I can't get bored, if I do, I change the watch face. The Gear S3 had so many watch faces to choose from and it was super-easy to switch back and forth. Unfortunately this is a weak area for the GTR. You get just three watch faces on the GTR as standard. One of them can be replaced with a new watch face you select and download from the app on your phone. It also takes a long time to download (a minute perhaps) to your watch. This means that selecting a watch face is more of a serious decision than it was on the Gear S3. The choice of watch faces for the GTR on the app are limited too, there are nowhere near as many as the Gear S3 has.
It's not all doom and gloom, I have found some very nice watch faces for my GTR and you can find third-party apps for a wider choice. For third-party watch faces I would warn that sometimes the procedure for adding the new watch face is not as straightforward as you might hope but it is doable. There does seem to be a lively community out there of people making free watch faces, this is encouraging and I'm sure we'll see many more new watch faces from third-party apps and the official one.
Conclusion
At the time of writing (November 2019) I have been using the GTR for a couple of months. I'm very happy so far. Especially for the price, it's more than reasonable when you consider the features and that it looks like such a classy timepiece. The build-quality is excellent, I have the steel version, it looks and feels great. The strap is fine and it can easily be changed for any standard strap. I recommend the Amazfit GTR. Perhaps it's not as well featured as others but what it does do, it does well.
Reviews
Here's a helpful video review I found:
https://youtu.be/jLHcx8-zC0w
Here's a follow up to the above video, after 11 days of use:
https://youtu.be/ca5SrjscO_Y
The above Youtube videos have no connection to me, I just found them helpful and therefore I'm including links to them here.
Disclaimer
This is just my subjective opinion. I have no affiliation to the Amazfit company. I've written this article purely to provide some first-hand real-world information. I am not responsible for whatever you do, your choices are yours to make.
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