Honor Earbuds 3 Pro and Watch GS 3 announced - thermometers in your ears?
Over the years, we have seen a growing number of sensors coming with our peripherals. From heart-rate optical sensors to ECG and SpO2, you can expect that everything that could have been placed in a wearable device has already found its way into it. Honor is here to prove you wrong. In their latest presentation for MWC 2022 in Barcelona, the company revealed two new wearables with exciting sensors. We are talking about Honor Watch GS 3 and the Honor Earbuds 3 Pro. Let us see what is so special about them!
TL;DR
- The Honor Watch GS 3 and the Honor Earbuds 3 Pro will be available later this year.
- Prices begin from ~$259 (229 Euros) for the Watch and ~$223 (199 Euros) for the earbuds.
- The Honor Watch GS 3 features dual-band GNSS, while the Earbuds 3 Pro a thermometer!
MWC holds quite a few surprises for us every year. This year it is no exception, and Honor has decided to add some odd innovations to their new devices. So aside from the huge cameras of the Magic4 Pro, the former Huawei company has added some interesting stuff to their wearables.
As for the availability, since Honor completely cut ties with Huawei, there are hopes that the devices will become more available outside of China and the announced Eur prices are encouraging. But as things stand now, there is no reason to believe that the devices will be available in the US market any time soon.
Honor Watch GS 3: Homage to mechanical wristwatches
The new Honor Watch GS 3 is a premium smartwatch with new A.I powered capabilities in a traditional watch body. The body of the device is a stylish design with stainless steel and a low weight of 44g at 10.5mm.
The color selection is equally elegant as the design with Midnight Black, Ocean Blue and Classic Gold.
The Honor Watch GS 3 features a new eight-channel PPG sensor for optical measurements that, alongside the AI Heart Rate Monitoring Engine by Honor, that claims to provide with increased data accuracy by filtering out the noise.
- Relevant: Read our Garmin Venu 2 Plus review
With supposed support for over 100 different workout modes, the device poses to be a serious competitor for the best smartwatches of 2022, something assisted by the aggressive pricing of ~$259 (229 Euros). The strongest features of the device are the admittedly powerful GNSS support for L1/L5 Dual Band that allows for a claimed 167% better position and the 1,000 nits display.
Honor Earbuds 3 Pro: Now with a thermometer
The Honor Earbuds 3 Pro surprised me the most during the presentation from Honor. The title may spoil the oddest feature of the new Apple AirPods 3 competitor, but I will get there in a second. Pricing is okay for the features at ~$223 (199 Euros) but availability is not known yet.
First and foremost, the Honor Earbuds 3 Pro is a true wireless earbud set with dual drivers with hopes of better audio reproduction. The drivers feature an 11mm dynamic driver and a high-resolution tweeter. This theoretically would provide better sound reproduction over conventional drivers but at this price range, similar features can be found from the competition.
The Honor Earbuds 3 Pro also bring Adaptive ANC to the table that adjusts to your environment for better sound isolation. The Ultra mode is for noisy environments of around 46dB like airplanes and buses. The General mode is for your day-to-day activities around 30dB, while the Cozy prefix will be ideal for libraries and other quiet rooms.
Lastly, there is an independent mode for calls that selectively cancels the most disturbing noises from your environment. Or so Honor claims. We will have to review the device to say for sure.
All of these are definitely impressive on paper, yet Honor went the extra step and added a thermometer inside the device that measures your temperature with a ~0.3 Celsius accuracy. This is great news for people who need to constantly monitor their temperature, whether during workouts or work-related activities. Now pulling a temperature gun to your forehead every time can be quite an annoyance but if the claims can be verified, then with those buds you won't have to pull the trigger again.
Battery life is within the industry standards with 24 hours of total playback. The presented charging speed is good, with five minutes of quick charging providing two hours of playback.
What do you think? Do you like the new wearables by Honor? Would you buy them if they become available in the US?
