Montblanc Summit 3 Review: Unmatched Luxury, Halfbaked Smartwatch
Montblanc Summit 3
RRP $ 1,290.00
"The Montblanc Summit 3 is a beautiful and highly desirable luxury smartwatch that runs the latest WearOS 3 software, but is let down by the short battery life and basic fitness tracking."benefits
Unpleasant
The more I wear the Montblanc Summit 3, the more I consider it one of the most important smartwatches of recent times. Excellent statement right? No doubt. So let's find out why.
It's Google's first non-Samsung Wear OS 3 smartwatch, runs Android and iOS (unlike Samsung's latest version), is a well-known Swiss luxury brand, and while it's expensive, it's not outrageous. Being important is one thing, being a good smartwatch is another. Can it do both?
Montblanc Summit Theme 3Perhaps, like me, you associate Montblanc with beautiful writing instruments and luxurious travel accessories rather than watches. When thinking of Montblanc watches, the first things that come to mind are the traditional and more classic travel and dress watches. Everything is changing, however, as the company introduces some interesting new models - such as the beautiful Iced Sea diver's watch and the 1858 GMT - that seem to be heading in a new and more modern direction.
The Summit 3 fits perfectly. It's a great combination of modern technology and sophisticated watch design, but because it doesn't draw much inspiration from Montblanc's historic models, it looks modern and stylish. It is made of titanium with a stainless steel bezel, winding system, pushers and case and a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal on the display. Inside the box are a rubber strap and a leather strap, giving you the freedom to choose a more sporty or casual look.
By the way, it looks great. The satin titanium exudes class, the polished steel parts glisten in the sun, and the flat sapphire crystal is beautifully clean. Although the materials are similar to those of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, they couldn't be more different in the treatment of those materials or in the design that surrounds them. This is a true luxury smartwatch and is something very special to wear. It is also light enough and comfortable to wear overnight, and the elastic strap won't make you sweaty or uncomfortable.
The large serrated crown - a Montblanc brand - makes it easy and comfortable to use, and I like the fact that it has a button inside rather than the whole crown which is a button. The buttons on the sides look nice, but they snap a little when the crown button is pressed. The 42mm case size is modest, as is the 14mm thickness, and I think it fits well on my 6.5in wrist. It's a fairly masculine design, however, and that, coupled with the case size, means those with smaller wrists might find it overwhelming.
Its natural competitor is the 42mm Tag Heuer Connected Caliber E4, which is only available in stainless steel but with a ceramic bezel. It's sportier and more modern than the Summit 3, as you'd expect from the brand, while the Montblanc smartwatch is slimmer and more understated. The screen is the same size and looks just as bright and colorful. Personal watch preferences initially oriented me more towards the Tag Heuer, but the Summit 3 changed that.
I don't wear very elegant watches like the Summit 3 and they have to be special enough to distract me from other watches and chronographs, but the Summit 3 really won me over. It reminds me of wearing the Longines Record on the weekend, even if it is totally different from my usual choice and I like how it is. The mix of Montblanc tradition, modern design and high quality materials makes the Summit 3 extremely desirable.
Montblanc Summit 3 Wearing OS 3 softwareThe design of the Montblanc Summit 3 will amaze watch lovers, but it is the software that excites technology enthusiasts. Samsung exclusively loaded (officially or not) Google's Wear OS 3 software onto its Galaxy Watch models, making Montblanc the first company to run them without the Samsung UI.
Wear OS 3 is new and sadly quite familiar at the same time. The initial sign-in process is new, as you don't use the Wear OS app to sign in (in fact, iOS requires you to completely uninstall the Wear OS app before pairing) and instead rely on the Montblanc Summit app. This is a big change for manufacturers with Wear OS 3, which gives them complete control over the watch, from the app to the software on the watch, meaning anything can be branded. For example, all Montblanc watches available in the app.
The watch's controls are mostly the same as ever, with a swipe to navigate menus, buttons to select options, and a rotating dial to speed up Wear OS Zip. The rotating crown works throughout the system and is much more integrated than similar models running Wear OS 2. The top button shows recently used apps, while the bottom button launches the Montblanc Fitness app, but can be overridden with a ' alternative in settings.
Scroll the tiles to view relevant information, including calendar, weather, step count, heart rate, blood oxygen, and sleep data. The layout and options can be customized in the app. Other apps can be downloaded from the Google Play Store, you can control your phone's music from the watch, notifications are displayed in a list accessible with a simple swipe, and quick settings are displayed when you search from the home screen swipe down .
Design highlights for me include thin, gray, and oblong buttons in app menus and notifications, as well as easy-to-click quick settings controls, clean fonts, and overall design consistency. The speed and fluidity of the operating system will also not disappoint you. Wear OS 3's design is attractive, clean, and modern, and passing app control and build process to the manufacturer also makes it more consistent. It's also faster to customize your smartwatch, another improvement over Wear OS 2.
However, Summit 3's software is limited and sometimes problematic. I had trouble logging into my Google account and it accepted a wifi network. It's not without some weird bugs, the worst being some random crashes. I'll come back to iOS compatibility after a while, but it's not very good. Some features are missing, particularly in the accessibility menu. There's no way to adjust the vibration intensity, no setting for how long the buttons are pressed, and since the watch doesn't have a speaker, there's no voice control and no Google Assistant either. The only option available is zoom.
There are flaws that need to be ironed out, the accessibility is disappointing, the lack of a speakerphone and Google Assistant is disconcerting, and it can be a little tricky to use when using apps like the Play Store. Wear OS 3 is an improvement over Wear OS 2, but it's unclear whether the flaws seen here are part of its unfinished nature or the choices Montblanc made.
Montblanc Summit 3 is a fitness and activity trackerThe back of the Summit 3 has a heart rate sensor, blood oxygen sensors and it also measures your stress levels and tracks all your workouts using dedicated apps on the watch. Why is the clock in italics? Because you can only do this on the watch, as none of the Montblanc fitness functions sync with the Montblanc app on your phone, so all data is saved and displayed on the small screen. No maps, no easy-to-sort historical data, nothing.
Also, the Montblanc fitness app does not sync with other platforms. So, if you use Strava, you need to download and use it separately. It's not affiliated with Google Fit or Apple Health, so there's no way to keep track of all your activities and health data in one place on your phone. This means adding an additional suite of applications that duplicate what's already available from Montblanc.
This is a huge bug that actually undermines the usefulness of Summit 3's well-designed health monitoring features and requires you to download other add-ons. It is still unclear whether this is a consequence of Wear OS 3 and the advent of associated brand programs or a decision by Montblanc. This may be fixed in a future software update, but this is the situation with the model we tested.
And the accuracy? It has the same calorie burn as the Apple Watch Series 7 but has a higher average heart rate. During my workouts, I've seen it record much higher (and unrealistic) numbers than the Apple Watch, so that's to be expected. Amazingly, when you select the "Other" training mode, it still records distance and speed even when I don't leave the living room during training and the little icon showing a person lifting weights.
All of this means that the Summit 3 is not a smartwatch for the fitness enthusiast. It lacks the capabilities of the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, the simplicity and accuracy of the Apple Watch Series 7, and lacks the special programs and modes that golfers would appreciate such as the Tag Heuer Connected Caliber E4.
Montblanc Summit 3 with iOSThe Montblanc Summit 3 works with Android and iOS, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone with an iPhone. That's usually the case anyway, as the Apple Watch integrates better with iOS for more features, but technically most third-party smartwatches can be used with iOS if you really want to and don't mind looking at things like Google Maps for renounce. I connected the Summit 3 to several Android phones and an iPhone 13 Pro on which it was a horror show.
abominable? Oh yeah. The 20MB Google Fit app took about 20 minutes to download when connecting to iOS, then another 10 minutes to set it up as it was very slow. After doing that, I noticed that the battery had reached around 50% in its herculean effort to give me a fitness app that syncs across multiple platforms. Also, this was my second attempt to install the program as it was not being downloaded for the first time.
To live with, the Summit 3's software stutters and freezes when connected to iOS in a way that is almost entirely absent when connected to Android. Unsurprisingly, Samsung chose not to release the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 5 with iOS, because if they worked like the Summit 3, people would take them out immediately. Even after restoring and trying iOS again, I had the same experience.
Montblanc Summit 3 performance and batteryEquipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 4100+ processor and 1GB of RAM, the Summit 3 is a modest Android phone. However, the range of the WiFi is quite limited, certainly less than that of the phone, and the smartwatch cannot receive calls. The screen is magnificent with its high resolution of 416 x 416 and a size of 1.28 inches.
Battery life isn't great. In the few weeks I tested the smartwatch, it didn't last more than a full day, and even with minimal use, like no GPS or exercise tracking, it dropped below 30% most nights. Training tracking also gives it a serious kick, as a 30-minute workout drains (at least) 12% of the battery each time.
It is very important to charge the Montblanc Summit 3 battery every day. Just under an hour is enough to use the practical wireless charger, which can be used as a stand or as a vertical charger for use at the bed.
Montblanc Summit 3 price and availabilityThree Montblanc Summit 3 models are available, all priced at $ 1,290 or £ 1,105. The difference in the titanium finish: the standard titanium version seen in our photos, the black titanium version and the two-tone model with gray titanium case with black stainless steel bezel.
While the Summit 3 isn't cheap at all, it's the cheapest way to wear a Montblanc watch on your wrist (along with the older Summit Lite) and it's also much cheaper than its main competitor in the world of luxury smartwatches, the Tag. Heuer Connected caliber E4.
Montblanc Summit 3 is characterized by luxury, attractiveness and cutting-edge technologyI love the Montblanc Summit 3's fantastic design and the direction Wear OS is taking, but the handling of activity tracking is a disappointment, the lack of functionality is an issue, and the short battery life is disappointing. Everything works acceptably, the design is great and all the tools are available, but it doesn't quite deliver what it promises.
If we only look at the design, build quality and beautiful presentation, the Summit 3 will be one of the best and most desirable smartwatches for an Android phone. However, the technical side isn't as good as we'd like, despite the latest software and a decent (if not new) processor.
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