While rugged smartwatches might seem like a dime-a-dozen these days, it’s not everyday that we see something new from Black Shark. That in mind, the brand recently announced the GS3 Ultra, a smartwatch designed for durability and everyday use, and it also manages to pack a ton of other features in the mix as well—let’s take a look!
CHECK OUT: Meet the Terra M, HMD’s New Rugged Phone
The GS3 Ultra features a rugged build with a reinforced metal frame and four mechanical-style buttons, all of which surround a vibrant 1.43-inch circular AMOLED display with a sharp 466×466 resolution. It also gets pretty bright at up to 1,000 nits, so you shouldn’t have any trouble when trying to view the display outdoors. The display is protected by 9H Gorilla Glass, and there’s support for over 270 custom watch faces to keep things from getting too boring; it doesn’t run on Wear OS however, although this might prove to be an advantage especially when it comes to battery endurance.
The watch is also built to handle extreme conditions, with 5ATM water resistance along with an IP69K rating, making it suitable for swimming and harsh environments. Under the hood, the GS3 Ultra is equipped with dual-band GPS and support for multiple satellite systems like BeiDou, GLONASS, and Galileo. Fitness junkies can also access over 160 sports modes, and the watch can automatically detect specific activities such as running, walking, and rowing.
Like most smartwatches these days, health monitoring is a key aspect of the GS3 Ultra, with sensors capable of tracking heart rate, blood oxygen levels, and stress. It also provides detailed sleep tracking across four distinct phases, including REM and deep sleep. Other features include Environmental Noise Cancellation (ENC) for clear Bluetooth calls, and Black Shark says that the watch can reach up to 18-day battery life on a single charge, extending up to 45 days in standby mode. This is a big strength of the watch’s custom OS, unlike most Wear OS devices which can last for around three to four days at most.
CHECK OUT: The NEO 2 is DJI’s Newest Compact Drone, and it’s Designed for Content Creation
The Black Shark GS3 Ultra will be available in silver and black colour options, although Black Shark has not yet revealed the official pricing for the device. With the right pricing though, we reckon that this might prove to be a popular option for buyers especially against the likes of brands like Amazfit and Fitbit, and even some of Garmin’s more budget-friendly models.
