CMF Watch 3 Pro Review: Nothing's Budget Smartwatch Grows Up

CMF by Nothing's third smartwatch costs Rs 7,999 and is genuinely one of the most capable budget wearables in India right now. The biggest upgrade is the dual-band L1+L5 GPS - it locks satellites in seconds, not minutes, which makes a real difference if you run outdoors. Route accuracy was reliable through my two weeks of testing in Delhi, even in narrow lanes and under flyovers where budget GPS usually fails.

The 1.43-inch AMOLED display is impressive. At 670 nits peak brightness, you can read it in direct sunlight without any struggle. Colours are punchy, text is sharp, and the 60fps scroll makes the whole experience feel smoother than the price suggests. The auto-brightness works well too.

Health tracking covers heart rate, SpO2, sleep, stress, VO2 max, and a unique Active Score that summarises your weekly activity as a single number. The SpO2 readings I checked against the Apple Watch Series 11 were within a percentage point. There are 131 sports modes and an AI Running Coach that builds personalised 8 to 16-week plans - features you usually pay twice as much for.

Battery lasted about 7 days with Always-On Display on and daily workouts - decent, though well short of the 13-day claim. It charges quickly though, hitting around 20 percent in just 10 minutes.

The main trade-offs are the interchangeable bezels that made the Watch 2 Pro stand out are gone, swim tracking is not supported, and the RTOS means no third-party apps. For most people buying in this price range, none of those are dealbreakers. The CMF Watch 3 Pro is a confident, well-rounded smartwatch that earns its price rather than just competing on it.

The Watch 3 Pro looks noticeably more grown-up than its predecessor. The metal body gives it a weight and rigidity that you do not usually get at this price. It sits at just under 52 grams depending on the variant, which means it does not feel heavy on the wrist but there is enough heft to remind you it is there. The case edges are flat and angular on the Dark Grey, giving it a sharper silhouette compared to the softer curves of the Light Grey.

The soft-touch silicone strap is comfortable for all-day wear, including through Delhi's May heat, and I had no complaints after extended use. The straps are still removable, which is good because it opens up third-party customisation options down the line, and I am not a fan of the silicone one that comes in the box.

One thing worth calling out upfront is the interchangeable bezels that made the Watch 2 Pro feel like a modular, personalised product are gone. That was genuinely one of CMF's differentiating features and I would be lying if I said I did not miss it. The older model let you swap in different bezel rings for different looks, which gave budget buyers something premium brands charge a lot more for. Dropping that in the Watch 3 Pro trades customisation depth for a cleaner, more unified design language. Whether that trade-off works for you depends on how much you valued that original hook. For new buyers, this probably will not matter.

The crown sits cleanly on the right edge and is satisfying to press. The build overall passes what I would call the 'bus strap test' - it does not look embarrassing when you reach up and it gets noticed.

The 1.43-inch AMOLED panel with a 466x466 resolution and 91 percent screen-to-body ratio is genuinely one of the best displays you will find in this segment. Peak brightness tops out at 670 nits, and in my experience outdoors in direct sunlight, it held up well. I could read notifications and check heart rate data without squinting or tilting the watch, which is more than I can say for several competitors at this price.

Colours are punchy without being oversaturated, the blacks are deep as expected from AMOLED, and text stays crisp even at smaller font sizes. The 60fps refresh rate keeps navigation smooth and avoids the janky scroll that can make cheaper smartwatches feel unpleasant to use.

Auto-brightness works well in practice. The watch does not aggressively dim in indoor settings and it bumps up quickly when you step outside. The Always-On Display option is usable without killing your battery too fast, more on that in the battery section.

Over 120 watch faces are available through the Nothing X app, including animated and interactive options. The AI-powered Watch Face Studio lets you generate a custom face from a prompt, and you can also set photos or short videos as your watch face, which is a genuinely fun touch. I spent longer than I should have making watch faces for no particular reason.

This is where the Watch 3 Pro puts in most of its work, and mostly delivers.

Heart Rate and SpO2

CMF has upgraded the optical heart rate sensor with a new chip that captures more granular blood flow data. According to CMF, readings are up to 7 percent more accurate during exercise and 3.6 percent better at rest compared to the Watch 2 Pro. In my testing over two weeks, the heart rate numbers looked reasonable and consistent. There were no wild spikes or obvious errors during workouts. SpO2 readings were close to what I got from the Apple Watch Series 11 on parallel testing — within a percentage point or two, which is good enough for everyday wellness tracking.

GPS: The Headline Feature

The dual-band GPS with L1 and L5 support is the Watch 3 Pro's biggest technical upgrade and it genuinely shows. Previous budget smartwatches with single-band GPS can take a minute or longer to lock on, especially in dense urban areas. The Watch 3 Pro locked satellite signal in under 10 seconds on most of my runs around residential areas and main roads. Route accuracy on maps was reliable. I did not notice any major drift or shortcut that GPS sometimes takes through buildings.

Support covers GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, and QZSS in addition to GPS, so the watch draws from five satellite systems simultaneously. For runners who have previously been frustrated by budget GPS that loses accuracy the moment you run through a market lane or under a flyover, this is a meaningful improvement.

Sleep Tracking and Active Score

Sleep tracking is improved thanks to higher-frequency heart rate sampling and better motion detection. It picks up short naps, identifies sleep stages more accurately, and has a new high-precision mode for deeper overnight analysis. The high-precision mode is opt-in, which is the right call since it draws more battery.

Active Score is a neat addition. It combines heart rate data with MET values to give you a single weekly activity number, with 100 as the target aligned to general fitness guidelines. It updates after each session. It is a simple way to track whether you are staying consistent without obsessing over individual workout metrics.

Fitness Tools

The custom running coach feature generates an 8 to 16-week training plan based on your current fitness level, running goals, and recovery data. It includes structured sessions like tempo runs and intervals, and adapts in real time. VO2 max tracking and recovery time estimates are also there, which you usually see only on watches costing two to three times more.

131 sports modes cover almost everything you can think of — HIIT, yoga, hiking, cycling, badminton, even rowing. Smart auto-detection recognises seven activities including walking, running, and cycling, which means you do not always have to manually start a session.

One gap worth mentioning: water sports like swimming are not supported. For most people this probably does not matter, but if you swim regularly it is something to factor in.

CMF has not just padded the spec sheet here, the software additions are genuinely thoughtful.

ChatGPT integration lets you ask questions, plan your day, and get quick answers right from the watch using natural language voice prompts. It works through the Nothing X app and responds quickly enough to be useful. I used it to get quick summaries and recipe ideas a couple of times. It is novel, not a gimmick, but also not something you will need everyday since it's not in our natural instincts.

Note that ChatGPT integration is only available on Nothing OS phones. If you are using a Samsung, Pixel, or another Android device, you lose this feature. That is worth knowing if you are willing to use this feature often.

Essential News delivers curated morning news updates to your wrist based on topics you choose. Voice recording with automatic transcription synced to the Nothing X app is another one I found genuinely useful for quick note-taking on the go. AI-generated watch faces from text prompts are a fun addition that most people will use once and tell their friends about.

Quick replies support up to 140 characters, and Bluetooth calling works with two MEMS microphones and AI noise reduction. Call quality is decent in quiet rooms, acceptable in mildly noisy settings. The watch can sync up to 30 contacts.

The watch runs on RTOS rather than Wear OS or another full OS like WearOS. That means app support is limited - there is no third-party app ecosystem here. What you get is what CMF ships. In exchange, battery life is significantly better and the interface stays snappy. That trade-off makes sense at this price point.

The Nothing X app is clean, well-organized, and covers everything you need - health dashboards, GPS workout maps, sleep data, stress trends, VO2 max progress, watch face management, and notification settings. It integrates with Google Health Connect, Apple Health, and Strava, which is useful if you are already tracking fitness across multiple platforms.

Gesture shortcuts like a wrist flip or double shake let you trigger actions without touching the screen. These take a day or two to feel natural but are genuinely useful when you are mid-workout. The watch interface itself is responsive and smooth, with the 60fps display making navigation pleasant.

CMF claims up to 13 days of typical use and 10 days of heavy use. In my two weeks of actual use - with Always-On Display enabled, continuous health tracking running 24/7, one workout session per day averaging about an hour each, and a handful of Bluetooth calls -- the watch lasted about 7 days before needing a charge. That is solid. It is not the 13 days CMF advertises, but that number is based on conservative usage with AOD off.

Charging is quick for the category. A full charge takes about 99 minutes, and I found that a 10-minute top-up before heading out gave me roughly 20 percent battery, which is enough to get through most of the day if you forgot to charge overnight.

Power saving mode can stretch the battery to 60 days, though obviously with very limited functionality. The watch is also IP68-rated, so sweat, rain, and accidental splashes are not a concern.

The CMF Watch 3 Pro is confident in a way that its predecessors were not. It no longer needs the gimmick of a swappable bezel to get attention. The hardware is strong, the display is excellent, and Nothing has picked the right software features to differentiate without cluttering the experience. Dual-band GPS at this price is a big deal for the Indian market, where most runners and fitness enthusiasts are still spending north of Rs 15,000 to get reliable route tracking.

It is not a perfect watch. The battery life requires realistic expectations, swim tracking is missing, and the RTOS ceiling will eventually matter for some users. But as an everyday health companion for someone in their 20s or 30s trying to stay active without overspending, the Watch 3 Pro is hard to argue with. Nothing has made a smartwatch that earns its price rather than just competing on it.