OnePlus Watch 2 review: Amazing Wear OS battery life, annoying software issues

OnePlus ventured into a whole lot of new segments during the last 18 months, and whereas there have been teething points alongside the best way, the merchandise in query have all been nice. The OnePlus Open specifically continues to be a powerful foldable, and the Pad and Pad Go are first rate mid-range tablets that ship a great worth.The lacking piece of the puzzle is wearables, and OnePlus has a chequered historical past on this space. The producer rolled out the OnePlus Band in the beginning of 2021, and it was only a rebranded OPPO Band with restricted software program options and poor battery longevity. The OnePlus Watch launched a couple of months down the road, and it too was half-baked — it did not have any third-party app integration, the software program was laughably unhealthy at launch, and it did not have fundamental options.OnePlus is trying to redeem itself in 2024 with the introduction of the Watch 2. The Chinese producer says it went again to the drafting board to design a wearable from scratch, and on the outset, the Watch 2 is extremely intriguing. It is powered by the Snapdragon W5 and runs Wear OS 4, nevertheless it additionally has a BES2700 chipset that facilitates RTOS.The dual-chip system is attention-grabbing because it provides the Watch 2 the most effective of each worlds — you get the facility and flexibility of Wear OS, and the effectivity that is inherent to RTOS. To that impact, OnePlus is touting the most effective battery lifetime of any wearable, stating that the Watch 2 will final 100 hours between costs.While that is OnePlus’s first effort at a dual-chip design, its mum or dad firm OPPO went the same route two years in the past with the Watch 3 Pro, utilizing the W5 chipset alongside an Apollo 4 Plus module. That smartwatch by no means made it outdoors China, and it ran ColorOS as an alternative of Wear OS, nevertheless it served as the muse for the Watch 2.Did OnePlus lastly crack the wearable puzzle, and is that this the shining second for Wear OS as a complete? I switched out the Apple Watch Series 9 for the OnePlus Watch 2 for every week, and this is what I consider the smartwatch.OnePlus Watch 2: Pricing and launch date(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)OnePlus unveiled the Watch 2 at a launch occasion at Mobile World Congress on February 26, and the smartwatch will go up on the market globally beginning March 4. The Watch 2 retails for $299 within the U.S. and $399 in Canada, and will probably be out there on OnePlus’s web site in addition to Amazon.OnePlus is rolling out launch gives till March 31 the place it should provide $50 off the Watch 2 once you commerce in any smartwatch in any situation on its web site. In India, the Watch 2 will likely be out there for ₹24,999 ($301) — the identical as what it sells for in North America.OnePlus Watch 2: Design(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)OnePlus at all times had a powerful design basis, and that’s mirrored within the Watch 2. The smartwatch has a chrome steel chassis that appears each bit as elegant as the most effective Android smartwatches, and OnePlus says it used the identical styling because the OnePlus 12. The 47mm case is massive by any watch customary, and it positively grabs consideration. What I like is that the design is according to the digital camera island on the OnePlus 12, and it is evident that each units have the identical design identification. (Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)The Watch 2 is out there in Black Steel and Radiant Steel shade choices, and the latter specifically pairs very nicely with the Flowy Emerald variant of the OnePlus 12. The asymmetrical button configuration on the facet is impressed by classic vehicles, with OnePlus utilizing a rotating crown on the prime and an motion button under. The button is used to launch exercise modes by default, however it may be personalized.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)I used to be intrigued by the presence of a crown, however it’s purely for aesthetics, and you’ll’t truly use the digital crown to navigate the interface. That’s clearly a missed alternative, and I might have favored the flexibility to make use of it to scroll by way of apps. The chassis has a brushed metallic design that appears nice, and the bundled band is made out of normal fluoro-rubber.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)The band would not fairly have the identical high quality because the chassis, nevertheless it secures by way of a metal buckle, and there is loads of adjustability. On the topic of bands, OnePlus is not rolling out any customized choices, however because the watch makes use of customary 22mm lugs, you’ll be able to simply swap out bands and use your individual with none points.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)What is not so nice is the sizeable bezel across the display screen, and though you get a big 47mm case, the watch has a 1.43-inch display screen. While most manufacturers have two totally different sizes, the Watch 2 is bought in a single variant with a 47mm case, and it’s designed for giant palms — it virtually makes the 45mm Series 9 look small.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)The Watch 2 has a great heft to it, and would not really feel gentle — not like budget-focused smartwatches. The casing is available in at 49g with out the band, and the band provides one other 31g, bringing the entire to a really manageable 80g. The watch has 5ATM water resistance in addition to an IP68 score, and it conforms to the MIL-STD-810H customary for sturdiness.Clearly, sturdiness is not an issue with this smartwatch, not less than relating to the chassis itself. OnePlus did all the proper issues with the design, and the Watch 2 finally ends up trying stylish and distinctive — if a bit massive and ponderous.OnePlus Watch 2: Display(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)OnePlus outfitted the Watch 2 with a 1.43-inch AMOLED panel with a decision of 466×466, and the 326ppi pixel density is greater than enough on a smartwatch. The display screen has good brightness ranges, and I did not see any points even beneath harsh daylight.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)The panel is roofed by a layer of two.5D sapphire crystal, and it ensures a great stage of resilience in every day use. I wasn’t in a position to put it to the take a look at within the week I used the Watch 2, however I’ve little question that may change.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)You get 19 watch faces put in out of the field, and so they’re strictly common. You get restricted customizability with the included watch faces, and apart from having the ability to change the colour — made harder by the dearth of a crown — you do not actually get a lot. The always-on mode is first rate sufficient in its personal proper, fortunately, and you’ll set up your individual watch face from the Play Store or use Facer, and I went with the latter more often than not. (Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)The solely downside is that when you use a customized possibility like Facer, it drains the battery fairly considerably, to the purpose the place you do not get over a day’s price of use. This in the end limits the customization potential of the smartwatch, so when you like utilizing customized watch faces, know that you’re going to be restricted to the identical battery life as most Wear OS smartwatches. OnePlus Watch 2: Hardware(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)The key differentiator with the Watch 2 is that it makes use of a dual-chip design, with the Snapdragon W5 dealing with Wear OS duties, and the 12nm Bestechnic BES2700 working RTOS and all of the sensor logging and exercise monitoring. The interface is fluid — as you’d think about with the {hardware}  — and you do not actually discover the switchover between the BES2700 and W5. OnePlus likens the dual-system design to a hybrid sports activities automobile that has a battery-powered motor that augments a standard engine, however that analogy is essentially flawed. If something, the Watch 2 is extra like a Nissan Leaf with a V8 within the boot that kicks into motion sporadically. (Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)The Watch 2 has an accelerometer, gyroscope, optical coronary heart price sensor that may be enabled to run 24/7, SpO2 monitoring, geomagnetic sensor, ambient gentle sensor, and a barometer that tracks elevation adjustments. The marquee addition right here is dual-band GPS, and this allows you to use the smartwatch on out of doors runs.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)RTOS does a lot of the heavy lifting in every day use, like dealing with notifications and incoming calls, and monitoring exercise all through the day. The default Smart mode provides you the flexibility to entry the Play Store and set up third-party apps, and that is when the W5 is useful. There’s a Power Saver mode that solely runs RTOS, so you do not get the flexibility to entry third-party apps — the W5 is disabled on this mode. You nonetheless get notifications and name alerts, however you are restricted to utilizing the default OnePlus apps constructed into RTOS. Using this mode helps you to prolong the battery by as much as 12 days, however in real-world use, you will seemingly get every week’s price of use.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Rounding out the {hardware}, the Watch 2 has 32GB of inner storage together with 2GB of RAM, and if you wish to, there may be the potential of placing songs domestically on the smartwatch and streaming them to Bluetooth earbuds.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)The largest draw back is that there is not an LTE-enabled model of the Watch 2. OnePlus says it made the choice to not launch a mobile model as gross sales of those fashions are normally decrease than that of the usual Wi-Fi variants, so there will not be one sooner or later. That’s a letdown contemplating a lot of the smartwatch’s rapid rivals provide an eSIM variant, and this places it on the backfoot.OnePlus Watch 2: Software and real-world use(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)In only a week of use, I bumped into a whole lot of points on the OnePlus Watch 2. OnePlus dug itself right into a nook by being overly bold with its dual-OS system, and it needlessly makes issues sophisticated. (Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Let’s begin with the notifications. The smartwatch principally does a great job mirroring notifications to your wrist, however there have been a number of cases prior to now week the place I might get a buzz from an incoming notification, nevertheless it would not truly present the notification — I needed to pull up my telephone as an alternative to see the message. (Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)I take advantage of DND on my telephone all through the day as I do not like getting disturbed whereas writing, however I turned it off as I used to be testing the watch and wanted to see incoming notifications. But I nonetheless have my regular DND schedule that kicks in at night time, and on all different Wear OS watches I examined, the schedule was robotically set to what I’ve on my telephone. But the Watch 2 fails at this, so I had notifications buzzing on my wrist even after my telephone went into DND — I needed to manually toggle DND on the smartwatch.In the same vein, the watch would not enter sleep mode by default, and I recount three cases within the final week the place I obtained up as a result of the display screen lit up in the midst of the night time. This is a function that almost all different smartwatches provide as customary, so I do not know why OnePlus has so many points getting the fundamentals proper. Before you ask, there isn’t a approach to set a bedtime schedule on OHealth, so I resorted to manually switching on sleep mode at night time.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)The smartwatch went into hibernation mode one night time, and needed to be restarted to allow Smart mode once more. There’s NFC right here, so Google Pay ought to technically work in all markets, nevertheless it is not out there in India, so I wasn’t ready to make use of the watch to make funds.It would have simply been simpler if OnePlus simply went with Wear OS on the Watch 2. There was no cause to reinvent the wheel, and by chasing outlandish battery life positive aspects, it made issues convoluted to the purpose the place basic items do not work reliably. OnePlus Watch 2: Battery life(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)OnePlus needed to ship a wearable with the most effective battery life, and the Watch 2 is touted to final 100 hours between costs in Smart mode. That’s greater than 4 days, however in real-world use with the always-on mode enabled, I obtained slightly below three days of use earlier than I needed to cost the smartwatch.That’s nonetheless higher than each different smartwatch, and it is simply nice to have the ability to go over two days with out having to cost a watch. Switching to the Power Saver mode boosts that determine to seven days, nevertheless it is not definitely worth the trouble as you miss out on a lot of the options.The watch makes use of a customized charging customary and has 4 pogo pins on the again, however the upside is that it has 7.5W VOOC charging; it takes simply over an hour to completely cost the 500mAh battery.OnePlus Watch 2: Fitness and well being monitoring(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Activity monitoring is among the largest causes for getting a smartwatch, and that is the place issues go south for the OnePlus Watch 2. The smartwatch simply is not dependable at every day step counts or exercise monitoring, and this may very well be right down to the truth that it is the RTOS chip that is dealing with sensor logging.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Let’s begin with exercises. I take advantage of the Series 9 to observe exercise information, and the Watch 2 was off by a margin of 15% at measuring energy burned, and what’s significantly annoying is that it’s inconsistent throughout exercises. It would not log every day exercise accurately as nicely, and there have been cases this week the place it counted 4 hours of exercise towards my hourly stand aim whereas I used to be in mattress. To be honest, different smartwatches do that too, however to not that extent, and nowhere as constantly.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Sleep metrics are off as nicely, with the Watch 2 logging a decrease proportion of time in deep sleep. It is nice at measuring any naps taken through the day, however I would not put a lot inventory into the detailed insights it gives.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)The Watch 2 additionally logs stress, and this function is hilariously unhealthy. I had increased stress ranges than regular within the final three days due to the variety of embargoed evaluations I used to be doing, nevertheless it mentioned my common was 37 out of 100, and that is plain flawed.The solely helpful function is dual-band GPS, and it does a great job plotting your working or strolling course. But for any measurable exercise or well being metrics, the Watch 2 simply would not move muster.OnePlus Watch 2: The competitors(Image credit score: Nick Sutrich / Android Central)The Pixel Watch 2 continues to set the usual for Wear OS, and it prices simply $50 greater than the OnePlus Watch 2 in North America. You additionally get an LTE-enabled model, the watch is noticeably smaller and appears that rather more elegant, and it has all of the options you would ask for. The battery would not final so long as what OnePlus is providing, however you get a elegant design and higher customizability.And when you simply want a value-focused Wear OS smartwatch, Xiaomi has you coated. The Watch 2 Pro prices €269 ($291), and also you get the identical 1.43-inch display screen, a rotating crown that really works, and the Snapdragon W5+ platform with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. The battery solely lasts a day and a half, so that you miss out in that space.OnePlus Watch 2: Should you purchase it?(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)You can buy this if:You want a smartwatch with the most effective battery lifeYou desire a premium designYou want a big AMOLED display screenYou’re on the lookout for dual-band GPSYou need the comfort of Wear OSYou should not purchase this if:You need hassle-free software programYou want correct exercise monitoringYou desire a smartwatch with mobile connectivityI was initially excited concerning the Watch 2’s dual-OS structure, and though it results in class-leading battery life, it’s riddled with points. Ultimately, OnePlus ought to have simply caught with Wear OS, as a result of by making an attempt to combine Google’s wearable platform with RTOS, it made a smartwatch that does not pretty much as good a job at both.While I do not like RTOS basically, I’ll admit that the smartwatch will get loads proper in different areas. The design is elegant, the display screen will get very vivid outside, and the interface is fluid. You are getting a great worth as nicely, and the battery life is best than each different smartwatch out there right now.The OnePlus Watch was the worst wearable I ever used, and whereas the Watch 2 is not wanting software program foibles, it’s immeasurably higher than its predecessor — it is a watch that you could truly use reliably. And if you would like a smartwatch that really lasts three days between costs, there actually is not something higher.