Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 vs TicWatch Pro 3: What’s new?

• Mobvoi

  Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5

  Our top pick

  The TicWatch Pro 5 is one of the best Wear OS smartwatches on the market today. It packs the latest Snapdragon chipset, the latest version of the OS, new crown enhancements and great battery life.

  Goodness

  • Even better battery life
  • Digital crown
  • The latest Snapdragon processor

• 

  Mobvoi

  Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3

  I also have to think about it

  The TicWatch Pro 3 has been out for a while, but it’s still a strong performer. It still packs in every tracking sensor you could ask for and has amazing battery life. Now the prices are starting to drop, it’s really amazing.

  Goodness

  • Good battery life
  • Very similar functionality
  • Very low price

The TicWatch Pro 5 has been a long time coming, but it looks like it will be worth the wait. The new model is the first smartwatch to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 platform, and it’s the first time we’ve seen Wear OS 3 on the TicWatch, too.

You might be wondering what happened to the TicWatch Pro 4, don’t worry, you haven’t missed anything. Chinese companies often skip the number 4 because it is considered unlucky. So, instead, Mobvoi jumped from 3 to 5.

So, whether you are thinking of upgrading from TicWatch Pro 3, or investing in a TicWatch for the first time, you’ll no doubt be wondering what the difference is. We’ve had the chance to own both watches, and we’ve taken a closer look to see where they differ.

Description, availability and pricing

The TicWatch Pro 5 was launched on May 24 2023 and is available for purchase now at a price of $349.99.

The TicWatch Pro 3 was released in September 2020 with an MSRP of $299.99 and has been available for purchase ever since. It is worth noting that it is now regularly sold below MSRP.

• 	Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5	Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3
  Battery life	80 hours	72 hours
  Customizable Strap	Yes	Yes
  SIM support	No	No
  Show it	1.43 inch dual-layer OLED display	1.4 inch dual-layer OLED display
  CPU	Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1	Snapdragon 4100
  Ram	2GB per	1GB per
  Storage	32 GB	8GB per
  Battery	628 mAh	577 mAh
  Lasting	5ATM & MIL-STD-810H	IP68 & MIL-STD-810G
  Software	Wear OS 3	Wear OS 2
  Health monitoring	Heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, pressure	Heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, pressure
  Dimensions	50.15x48x12.2 mm	47x48x12.2 mm
  Weight	44.35g	41.9g per
  Mobile payments	Yes	Yes

Design and appearance

Both models share similar dimensions, but the overall TicWatch Pro 5 is slightly heavier and larger than its predecessor. The TicWatch Pro 3 has two buttons on the right, which look like crowns, but can be used as buttons.

The TicWatch Pro 5, on the other hand, has a single large crown, with a down button next to it. The main difference here is that the crown of the TicWatch Pro 5 can be used through menus, such as Apple Watchand click to use as a button.

In any case, you get a modest and harmless look in black. We can’t say that there are many models, but they all have adjustable straps, and customizable faces – so you can customize them to suit your style.

TicWatch Pro 3 has features IP68 rating for water and dust resistance, while the TicWatch Pro 5 is rated as water resistant up to 5ATM. So, if you want to use your smartwatch in the rain, the latest version is a safe bet.

The display technology is the same for both models. Both offer OLED touchscreen displays around 1.4 inches in size with a pixel density of 326ppi. The TicWatch Pro 5 offers a slight increase, however, at 466×466 compared to 454×454 on the Pro 3.

Both watches benefit from two-tone displays, which Mobvoi calls ULP (ultra-low power) that are transparent on top of the OLED panel. This means you can check things like the time, date, step count and heart rate without having to turn on the main battery-powered display – giving you better battery life.

Software & Performance

In terms of performance, the main difference between the two models is that the TicWatch Pro 5 has the latest Snapdragon W5+ Gen1 processor, while the TicWatch Pro 3 uses the older 4100 chip. The RAM has been increased to 2GB on the new model, and the storage has been increased from 8GB up to 32GB.

The TicWatch Pro 5 also comes with Wear OS 3 installed, but no updates have been given to TicWatch Pro 3. This is a little disappointing for Pro 3 owners, since the update to Wear OS 3 has been promised for a long time, and there is no sign of it. .

TicWatch Pro 5 offers a more fluid experience when you look at the Wear OS interface, everything feels simple and responsive. It’s still unclear how much of this is down to the new processor, and how much of that comes from software upgrades. But either way, you’ll get the best experience for new models.

Of course, since both watches are equipped with Wear OS, you will have the opportunity to use several models that can run on your watch. Mobvoi’s software options are the same in both models and allow you to monitor all important health metrics including heart rate, blood oxygen level, stress and sleep monitoring.

There is no option to add a SIM card to either device, but all have GPS connectivity and all support Google Pay payments.

Battery life

The superior battery life is one of the biggest selling points of the TicWatch series. Wear OS is known for its high battery life, to the point that popular devices like the Google Pixel Watch can manage a day of use on a charge.

That’s not the case with either of these watches, the TicWatch Pro 5 claims up to 80 hours in smart mode, while the TicWatch Pro 3 claims up to 72 hours. If you switch to the basic barebones mode, you can run up to 45 days on a charge.

We’re still testing the TicWatch Pro 5, but in normal settings, with night time and continuous heart rate light on, we still had battery life after three days of heavy use.

The end

If you want the best, the TicWatch Pro 5 is the way to go. It has long battery life, the latest Wear OS experience, snappier functionality and is easy to navigate thanks to the rotating crown control.

There are other benefits, such as increased water resistance and internal storage for your apps and music.

However, this does not mean that the TicWatch Pro 3 is suddenly useless. It can still do almost everything the Pro 5 can do, and it still offers exceptional battery life for a Wear OS smartwatch.

Now that it’s available for less than its original MSRP, the TicWatch Pro 3 is more fun than ever. If the promised update for Wear OS 3 arrives, it will be even better.