Apple Watch Series 6 vs Ticwatch Pro 3

The most important thing you’d have to know is that when I wear the Apple Watch Series 6, I feel happier than when I wear the Ticwatch Pro 3 GPS.

Such is life. Feelings trump objectivity.

But I am going to write you a review that looks at these two watches objectively, but let’s get the subjective parts out of the way first.

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Why I prefer the Apple Watch

I prefer the Apple Watch Series 6 because its design is just so much better than the Ticwatch Pro 3 GPS.

Apple Watches have always impressed me because they are just so well designed both on their exteriors and their user interfaces.

The Apple Watch Series 6 has a lot of nice customizations you can get for the watch case and strap. If you want a silicone band or a textile Velcro-like strap, you can get it. If you want a watch case in 40mm or 44mm, you can get it. If you want your watch case made of fancy materials, you can get it.

What has always impressed me is how a watch that’s as big as an adult’s thumb can offer so much AND a battery life that doesn’t suck.

When you use the Apple Watch’s Watch OS, you’ll be in for a treat. Everything is colourful and very functional. For example, the watch faces are quite pretty and they can give you much more information at a glance than anything that I have seen on the Wear OS, including on the Mobvoi Ticwatch Pro 3.

That’s not to say the Ticwatch Pro 3 GPS is lacking in this department. Compared to its predecessor, the Ticwatch Pro 3 GPS is slimmer and looks more sleek and modern.

However, you don’t get a choice in design. It’s mostly black with a silicone strap which has some red stitching on it. It’s functional and it works.

Watch faces are a bit less exciting on the Ticwatch Pro 3. Throughout all the Mobvoi Ticwatches I have owned, I found that they generally focus on functionality over design and so the watch faces are generally not as nice looking.

All right, on to the objective parts…

Performance

Both smartwatches are extremely smooth and efficient. You won’t ever have to worry about slowdowns.

This is great news for the Ticwatch Pro 3, which uses the latest and fastest Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 and has 1GB of RAM. This means that everything is activated quickly, including Google Assistant which used to have a short but noticeable pause on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 3100 and older processors.

Traditionally, Apple Watches have always been fast and swift and it’s no different with this one.

Battery Life

The battery life of the Apple Watch Series 6 can’t beat the Ticwatch Pro 3. The latter lasts multiple days when worn 24/7 while the Apple Watch Series 6 is really a watch that’s meant to be worn for 24 hours (for overnight sleep monitoring) and then it must be charged because it won’t make it through the second day.

The Ticwatch Pro 3 achieves this by having two screens — one full colour and another a black and white screen that uses ambient light to illuminate

Messages, emails and calls.

A most important heads-up here: I am reviewing this based from an iPhone user’s perspective, since the Apple Watch won’t pair with anything but an Apple iPhone.

One of the biggest things you’ll sorely miss if you get a the Mobvoi Ticwatch Pro 3 is that you are going to lose the ability to reply to messages, emails and make/answer calls. It’s possible if you’re on an Android, but no other smartwatch can reply to messages and emails except the Apple Watch.

That’s a pity because the Ticwatch Pro 3 does actually put out great speech generated replies.

Nonetheless, on the Apple Watch, you will be able to reply to messages and emails. In fact, you can access your messages and emails just as if you were on your phone.

One of the best things that Apple has accomplished is the ability to view an email that’s rendered properly. On all other platforms that I have tested, including a Wear OS watch, emails are simplified into plain text and so you don’t get any of the formatting. On the Watch OS, you will be viewing the email as if you were on your phone. This is an amazing feature that really helps you get more done on your Apple Watch.

Apple’s speech to text system is very good. I really like replying to messages and emails using speech to text because the alternative is to draw letters out. That won’t do because I’d rather whip my phone out to deal with that.

The Wear OS device’s speech to text feature is also very good. I’d say both Siri and Google is on par with each other as it relates to quality of transcription.

Let’s talk about calling.

I know it looks ridiculous to call on your smartwatch, but it’s a very nice convenience to have for a quick chat.

You can’t do that on the Ticwatch Pro 3 GPS if you are paired to a iPhone, unfortunately. But paired to an iPhone, the call quality is really good.

Siri vs Google Assistant

Both smartwatches come with a voice assistant and both of them are really good.

Siri is a bit better because it’s better integrated in the whole Apple system.

For example, if you asked Siri to send a message to someone, it’ll be able to do so. Google Assistant has the same function when paired to an Android, but sometimes it gets caught up in some errors such as not having permissions to send messages.

For the most part, both systems are able to do basic tasks such as starting timers and checking the weather. But when you are using an iPhone, the superior integration of Siri with the Apple ecosystem really shows (and shines).

For the most part, both systems are able to do basic tasks such as starting timers and checking the weather. But when you are using an iPhone, the superior integration of Siri with the Apple ecosystem really shows (and shines).

Health monitoring and exercise

The Ticwatch Pro 3 has a really impressive suite of health monitoring apps as does the Apple Watch Series 6.

Both smartwatches can function as a heart rate monitor as well as has blood oxygen monitoring. Blood oxygen saturation is one of the most hyped up metric of 2020 with the Apple Watch Series 6’s website displaying this feature very prominently on the Apple Watch Series 6’s landing page.

Google’s Wear OS doesn’t have this by default, but the Ticwatch Pro 3 has this feature added in as part of its health suite. So, here’s how they stack up:

Both have a noise monitoring app — the Apple Watch Series 6’s environmental noise monitoring is better because it’s run continuously while Mobvoi’s TicHearing has to be activated in order to get a reading.

Both have a have a blood oxygen saturation monitoring app. Uh, they’re both OK. I don’t see much use in these features, to be honest, but yes, they can shoot a red light into your skin and give you a reading.

Both have a dedicated app for tracking exercises. The Ticwatch comes with Mobvoi’s TicExercise as well as the typical Wear OS smartwatch suite of Google Fit. With the Ticwatch Pro 3, you’d want to use the TicExercise in order to get information on the power saving screen, but that also means you will be stuck with the small selection of exercises that the TicExercise tracks.

The Watch OS’s Workout app is a bit better. There are more exercise options to choose from.

But the most important thing here is how both watches motivate you to live a healthier lifestyle. The Ticwatch Pro 3 will periodically advise you to get a certain amount of steps per hour if you haven’t hit that number, while the Apple Watch will advise you to stand. The Apple Watch is better also because its system of “rings” that graphically express to you how close (or far) you are from achieving your calorie burning, exercise minutes and standing goals.

The Apple Watch Series 6 is also much better integrated into the iPhone’s Health and Activity apps, while the stats that the Ticwatch Pro 3 gathers goes into the Mobvoi app. The Mobvoi app is OK, but not as comprehensive as the Apple Watch and iPhone combination.

Verdict

I kinda think you should go for the Apple Watch Series 6 if you can afford it. It’s a pricey watch but it’s really well integrated.

The argument for getting a Ticwatch Pro 3 is if you foresee yourself getting out of the Apple ecosystem. The Ticwatch Pro 3 is also my favourite Wear OS smartwatch and it still packs a lot of bang for buck. Its not cheap, but it’s a premium tier watch that’s very well priced.