The world of wearables is increasingly populated by more than valid alternatives, often tempting the end user with the promise of a thousand functions, which later turn out to be untrue and/or in any case non-functional. The BlackShark company, famous for its gaming phones, has thus decided to bring to the attention of sports lovers and beyond, a device that stands out for its rugged style, a smart soul and lots of character. Today we are therefore talking about the new BlackShark GS3, which has finally landed on the tech market and can be purchased directly from the brand's official shop on the AliExpress platform.
Let's start immediately by analyzing the look of this rugged sportwatch, which although it may seem rather imposing to the eye, the weight seems like a novice, as it contains just 62 grams. The style of BlackShark GS3 certainly brings to mind what we have seen in the past with Casio's G-Shock series but also Amazfit's T-Rex.
The strap is made of soft and flexible silicone, delicate and comfortable on the skin, with a breathable design obtained from the presence of many holes to better adapt the watch to every type of wrist and therefore optimizing the breathability of the skin during intense activities that involve a heavy sweating. In reality, the package also includes a second loop-type braided nylon strap, for better comfort in more classic situations. Good materials and good construction, of which we can also appreciate the double loop to better adapt the closure of the strap to avoid the "flag" effect in addition to the metal buckle. Finally, I would like to point out the presence of a quick release which makes it easier to find replacement straps, with a 22mm pitch.
The body is made of rigid plastic (a polymer specifically designed to withstand all weather conditions) with a convex exterior to reduce the risk of damage to the internal components following impacts and falls of the wearable. Even more significant is the effect given by the insertion of 4 small screws on the case which recall the buttons made of metal with the knurled engraving, in order to facilitate recognition.
The buttons located on the right profile allow us to move within the main menus offered by the BlackShark GS3 and specifically, the upper one turns on the display, enters the clock menu or returns to the home page. If pressed 3 times consecutively, we can change the layout of the system menu ranging from the classic list to others in icon style. The lower one only allows you to enter into the monitoring of sports activities while the central one is actually a digital crown, so it allows you to navigate simply by rotating the button within the interface. Each of the buttons does not invoke any particular function if held down for a long time.
Naturally we can also move within the clock menus via touch which can be performed on the 1,43 inch AMOLED display at 60 Hz, protected by highly resistant glass against impacts and equipped with anti-fingerprint treatment, resolution 466 x 466 pixels and maximum brightness of 600 nits, but unfortunately not equipped with a self-adjusting sensor. Truly priceless color definition and excellent overall quality, which can be perceived a lot with the countless watchfaces made available by the companion app. To wake up the display we can do it directly with the physical buttons or via the wrist rotation gesture which is quite precise.
In any case, among the functions of the BlackShark GS3 linked to the display we also find the Always On Display, which can be set to two different watch styles, such as analogue or digital. It's a shame that the AOD doesn't go hand in hand with the watchface installed and above all that it contributes to a sudden drop in the integrated battery, a 390 mAh unit that recharges via a dedicated wireless base in about 2 hours. But apart from that, autonomy is one of the many strong points of this wearable which, according to the company, reaches up to 21 days of use with a panorama of use that takes the form of around 30 unlocks of the display by rotating the wrist , receiving 150 notifications and running for 30 minutes every 2 days. In reality I estimated around 18 and a half days of autonomy, obtaining a discharge of 6% per day, receiving over 220 notifications, around 10 manual releases and cardiac activity and SpO2 monitored 24 hours a day but also around 5 sports activities monitored with GPS of around 40 minutes each. Excellent results, which can only improve or worsen based on the individual settings that you decide, such as the use of the AOD, cardiac monitoring, sporting activity, etc.
But as mentioned at the beginning of the review, BlackShark GS3 is a rugged wearable and enjoys 12 military certifications regarding resistance in adverse environmental conditions but also immersion resistance up to 5 ATM (IP69K). The wearable's equipment is completed by the presence of a Bluetooth 5.3 module, 3-axis accelerometer, geomagnetic sensor, but also the independent GPS module with fixes to 5 GPS satellites, BeiDou, GLONASS, QZSS, Galileo, whose reception is extremely precise and the speed of signal acquisition compared to other reviewed models from other brands, also offering up to 20 hours of use in sporting activities. Praise goes to the GPS of this wearable, which proved to be the best in terms of reliability, speed and precision, locking the signal even inside homes.
I mentioned the certification for immersion up to 5 ATM, so much so that among the sports modes to monitor, we also have swimming as well as various water sports, but unfortunately for these there is no GPS localization. However, there are over 100 sporting activities that we can monitor, including cycling, skiing, walking, running and free activity to name just a few, in fact we also find less similar sports such as gaming. One thing I really appreciated is the precision and accuracy of the optical PPG Biotracker sensor, with the possibility of 24-hour heart rate monitoring, positioned on the back of the case. We can also monitor stress levels all day while for the SpO2 value the measurements must be carried out on the spot.
Unfortunately, once training has been activated, the GS3 will not automatically activate the AOD, so as to make the information useful for our physical activity constantly visible, but to view these you will have to rotate your wrist or press one of the wake-up buttons. The integrated GPS allows you to track the route for many activities without the use of a smartphone and this allows greater freedom, detoxifying us from any annoying notifications.
The software that runs this BlackShark GS3 is very similar to other wearable solutions proposed by Xiaomi / Amazfit, finding some interesting functions such as the possibility of managing both incoming and outgoing calls from the watch, counting on the presence of speaker and microphone. We can also query the phone's voice assistant while disappointing was the much celebrated Shark GPT AI function for watchface and voice commands.
Given that SharkGPT only works in English, even for the most basic questions it returns a message that essentially says it can't answer the question. The AI WatchFaces, on the other hand, are nothing more than backgrounds automatically generated by the AI, but in a very simple way, for example by inserting the word DOG (dog, again only in English) but not complex sentences such as dog eating a sausage. In fact a useless function, since we can find any image we like and import it as a customized watchface.
Other functions are not exactly "smart" such as the presence of DND (do not disturb) which is not able to recognize the moment we go to sleep, therefore deactivating the wrist gesture and the reception of notifications, thus avoiding any night-time disturbances , but we must automatically give the command or set a start and end from the app. There is also no shortage of classic functions such as a timer, a stopwatch, the possibility of viewing the weather information for the next 7 days, the possibility of controlling the music playing on our smartphone, setting alarms (directly from the watch), viewing the history of our sporting activities as well as receiving notifications from smartphone apps, to which we cannot respond in any way. Furthermore, when multiple notifications arrive from the same application it is sometimes difficult to read them individually as well as not being perfectly synchronized with the phone, i.e. if read on this they will continue to be present in the watch's memory. Finally, it should be noted that there is no NFC sensor and therefore no possibility of payment with G-Pay or similar platforms.
Although the BlackShark GS3 is quite complete even stand-alone, it would be nothing without the proprietary application, available for both iOS and Android, which allows you to find all the statistics measured by our sportwatch. From here, however, we can refine the wearable's settings as well as change the much-loved watchfaces and retrace the activities carried out by checking the routes on the map and much more, including proceeding with firmware updates, including the GPS.
PROJECTED IMPACT
GS3 by BlackShark is available for purchase directly on the brand's official shop on AliExpress at a price of around 46 euros, a more than honest price if we consider the functions offered, the super resistance to water, shocks and bad weather, exceptional battery life and an excellent ally for heart rate monitoring, not to be underestimated in a sports watch.
Furthermore, the software was found to be reliable and free of glaring gaps and/or bugs. The rugged look is certainly more aimed at the male audience, but if you like the combat look and if the sport you play or the work you do exposes you to "extreme" situations, this is certainly the sportwatch with a smart soul that you can and should aim for.
