Intro

The Amazfit Active 3 Premium is a $239 smartwatch that combines a stainless-steel case, sapphire glass, AMOLED display, built-in GPS and broad fitness tracking in a light 38g design. In this Amazfit Active 3 Premium review, we test whether its premium-looking hardware, Zepp app and sports features make it a compelling value alternative to Apple, Samsung and dedicated running watches.

It is best suited to everyday exercisers who want a good-looking smartwatch for workouts, sleep tracking and daily wear without spending flagship-watch money. The compromise is that its software experience, app selection and GPS consistency do not yet feel as polished as more established premium ecosystems.

Design, Display and Everyday Comfort

If you’ve not heard of Zepp Health before, you’re not alone as this writer was also unfamiliar, however this is a company with some serious health-wearable chops being known for pioneering high-value biometric tracking, proprietary AI wellness algorithms, and building Xiaomi’s early Mi Band hardware and having shipped over 200 million wearables worldwide. Numbers that certainly aren’t to be sneezed at!

The Active 3 Premium is the newest member of that family. Featuring a 45mm stainless steel smartwatch that dresses itself up in materials you’d normally expect to pay a lot more for. It’s built around a 1.32-inch AMOLED display, topped with sapphire glass for scratch resistance, and packed into a case that weighs a genuinely light 38 grams. If your week swings between desk work, a lunchtime run along the harbour and dinner with friends who’ll clock a cheap-looking watch, that’s a decent starting point.

The watch sits in Amazfit’s “Active” line, aimed at people who are relatively new to structured fitness tracking rather than the ultra-committed, chasing-every-metric crowd. It’s a smart niche to sit in, and on paper the Active 3 Premium ticks a lot of boxes: a sleek, city-friendly look, a genuinely useful set of training tools, and a price that undercuts most of its direct rivals by a fair margin.

The interface itself was easy enough to figure out and to pair with the Zepp app, however it felt noticeably lower-rent than other more premium brands such as Suunto, Apple or Samsung. Controls are via a four-button setup that works alongside the touchscreen. 

Having physical controls is a welcome touch for outdoor workouts or rainy morning commutes where sweaty or wet fingers make touchscreens less responsive. However, in day-to-day tactile feel, the overall assembly feels noticeably lightweight, which does remove any “luxury” feel suggested by the “Premium” naming. The included silicone strap is comfortable and easy to rinse after a run which is super useful. 

Fitness Tracking, GPS and Workout Performance

The touchscreen is responsive and doesn’t stutter when you’re flicking through widgets, and Active 3 Premium has thrown in four physical buttons which is a nice touch that makes it feel more like a proper sports watch than a fashion piece pretending to track your steps. Navigating menus mid-run, when a touchscreen can get fiddly with sweaty fingers, is a lot easier as a result. There is one downside however, which is that the lightness of the piece can make it feel a little cheap on the wrist, a contrast to its overall appearance. 

The trade-off for that sleeker footprint is a slightly thicker bezel around the display which does take a small amount of shine off an otherwise pretty great screen. It’s also genuinely bright enough to read on a sunny footpath without squinting, super handy for any outdoor-biased timepiece. It’s comfortable for all-day wear, sleep tracking included, and swapping the strap is simple enough that it wouldn’t take much effort to dress it up for evening wear too.

Zepp App, Smart Features and Ease of Use

Things get a bit more mixed once you pair it with the Zepp app. To be fair, none of the core health and fitness features feel watered down for this “budget” model, you’re still getting continuous heart rate, sleep staging, blood oxygen, stress tracking and the newer ‘BioCharge’ readiness score, pulled from the same upgraded sensor found in Amazfit’s pricier watches. The data is laid out clearly enough, and if you just want a general read on how your sleep or recovery is trending, it does the job without needing a manual. Setup as well was nice and straightforward. 

That said, this is also where the experience feels like it’s still catching up. The app store isn’t in the same league as what you’d get from an Apple Watch or Wear OS, so don’t go in expecting a deep library of third-party apps or especially polished watch faces. Payment support isn’t available everywhere, and while GPS is respectable thanks to six-satellite tracking and a redesigned antenna, it stops short of the dual-band precision you’ll find a rung or two up the price ladder. None of this is a dealbreaker by itself, but stack it all together and the software does feel like it’s a step behind the hardware.

The touchscreen is responsive and doesn’t stutter when you’re flicking through widgets, and Active 3 Premium has thrown in four physical buttons however this writer found that navigating menus mid-run, was fiddly and riddled with random vibrations. Also tested alongside a competitor sport-watch, there was a 300m discrepancy in the overall distance, and a few seconds off on the timings which was unexpected. 

Conclusion & Verdict

Taken on its own terms, the Amazfit Active 3 Premium is a solid, well-built smartwatch that mostly does what it sets out to do. It’s not going to win over anyone hoping for the polish of a top-tier ecosystem or the GPS precision of a dedicated running watch, and there were a few moments testing it where the software felt like it hadn’t quite caught up to the hardware’s ambitions. It’s a dependable pick rather than a thrilling one, more the kind of watch you’d happily point a friend towards if they’re just getting into fitness tracking and don’t want to blow the budget finding out whether it sticks, rather than something we’d tell a more discerning buyer to rush out and grab. Go in with those expectations, and there’s a genuinely good, wallet-friendly watch here that doesn’t look like just any old fitness tracker.

Amazfit Active 3 Premium Pros and Cons

What we are ADDICTED to: 
Bright, sharp AMOLED display that holds up well in direct sunlight
Free offline maps with turn-by-turn navigation. Light and comfortable for all-day wear.
What we could be more ADDICTED to: 
App store and watch face selection feel a bit thin next to Apple or Google
Battery life is solid rather than outstanding, especially with GPS switched on a lot. Usability mid-excerise requires some practice

The Amazfit Active 3 Premium is available online with an RRP of $239.00

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