I needed to like the OnePlus Watch 2. It lasts for days (sure days, plural) on a single cost. There are two customizable buttons for programming shortcuts of your selecting, much like the Apple Watch Ultra’s Action key — which I hope Apple finally brings to its cheaper watches. The colourful AMOLED sapphire crystal show is giant sufficient to comfortably see full well being graphs and maps of my outside exercises. And there are many well-liked apps to select from for the reason that watch runs on Google’s Wear OS 4 platform.What’s to not love, proper? That’s what I believed.But for all of the issues I like in regards to the OnePlus Watch 2, it has many shortcomings. Among the most important is that it is available in just one dimension, that occurs to be means too giant for my wrist. I needed to transfer the watch greater on my wrist so as to get correct coronary heart price measurements throughout exercises.The OnePlus Watch 2 is lacking key options which have turn out to be commonplace on many smartwatches, similar to fall detection, ECG monitoring and interval monitoring. The firm solely ensures software program assist for 2 years, which is shorter than the assist timelines that Apple, Google and Samsung provide on their watches.
7.5/ 10 SCORE OnePlus Watch 2 Pros
Long battery life
Beautiful display
Customizable shortcut buttons for shortcuts
Smooth efficiency
Cons
Only is available in one giant dimension
Only two years of software program updates
No fall detection
Heart price accuracy could be iffy
The OnePlus Watch 2, which launches on March 4 for $300 (roughly £240 or AU$465), feels focused at a particular viewers: Runners and sports activities lovers who need a huge display and lengthy battery life. That’s not a nasty factor, but it surely means it is probably not the fitting watch for everybody. And buyers who do fall into that camp will probably admire the extra holistic well being readings you’d get from a Garmin watch as a substitute.Read extra: Best Smartwatches Watch this: OnePlus Watch 2 Review: A Big Battery, But Falls Short in Other Ways
08:37 OnePlus Watch 2 has a premium design and helpful buttons The OnePlus Watch 2. Lisa Eadicicco/CNETIf the OnePlus Watch 2 weren’t so giant, I’d love its design. The stainless-steel casing appears to be like elegant, particularly when paired with the grey band I’ve been utilizing. And whereas it is on the thicker facet, it is not the chunkiest watch I’ve worn. But I can not get previous the dimensions of this watch. It occupies virtually your complete width of my wrist and stands out from a distance, which can be a plus if you’d like a watch that makes a press release. However, I choose watches which are extra refined and understated, which the OnePlus Watch 2 positively isn’t. Watch this: OnePlus Watch 2 Review: A Big Battery, But Falls Short in Other Ways
08:37 The OnePlus Watch 2 is not the one watch I discover too giant; Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 Classic is across the similar dimension and appears simply as awkward on my wrist. Thankfully Samsung a minimum of gives the usual Galaxy Watch 6, which is available in a smaller 40-millimeter dimension, as a substitute. The OnePlus Watch 2 on somebody’s wrist. Numi Prasarn/CNETThere are two buttons alongside the facet of the watch: a high button that features as a house key, and a backside button primarily used as a exercise shortcut. Both buttons are customizable, which supplies quite a lot of flexibility relating to navigation with out being too sophisticated to recollect. The house button will at all times take you backwards and forwards between the watch face and your apps when pushing it as soon as. But you may change what occurs if you press it twice or lengthy press it, with the default lengthy press being set to the Google Assistant. For the multifunction button, you may change the specified motion for single and double presses. I left the one press choice programmed to the exercise app since I wish to rapidly document outside walks each time I am going exterior. I modified the second to the alarms app, which I discovered helpful for setting my morning alarm earlier than mattress.My solely grievance is that I initially saved mistaking the house button for a digital crown just like the one on the Apple Watch and Pixel Watch as a result of it has the identical form. I instinctively needed to twist it to scroll via my lists of apps and notifications, though nothing occurred after I did. The OnePlus Watch 2 has a sapphire crystal show and is rated for IP68 water-resistance, which suggests it ought to be protected when submerged in water. The AMOLED display appears to be like colourful and sharp and supplies loads of area for studying textual content messages, viewing my earlier evening’s sleep graph and reviewing the route I took throughout a stroll. Like the Pixel Watch 2, the black bezels framing the display are considerably noticeable. But for the reason that OnePlus Watch 2 has such a big show, I did not thoughts this as a lot as I did when utilizing Google’s watch.OnePlus Watch 2 battery can final for days Changing and enhancing watch faces on the OnePlus Watch 2. Lisa Eadicicco/CNETThe spotlight of the OnePlus Watch 2 is its lengthy battery life. OnePlus says it may well final for 100 hours when utilized in “smart mode,” 48 hours with heavy utilization and as much as 12 days in energy saver mode. I have never had time to place these claims to the take a look at but since I needed to cost the watch to put in a software program replace.Still, I’m impressed by what I’ve skilled up to now. I’ve been in a position to get about three days of battery life out of the watch, which might be lengthy sufficient to take it with me for a protracted weekend with out bringing my charger. That’s far longer than I normally get whereas carrying the Apple Watch Series 9 or Google Pixel Watch 2, each of which final for a couple of day and a half between expenses. OnePlus attributes that battery life to the truth that the watch makes use of two totally different chips, every of which handles totally different duties. There’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 chip for operating Google’s Wear OS software program, and a BES 2700 chip for background exercise. But OnePlus is not the one one beating Apple and Google in battery life. The Garmin Venu 3 lasted for nearly every week in my testing, and the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 might final for 2 days earlier than needing a cost, in response to my colleague Mike Sorrentino.
See the OnePlus Watch 2’s Giant Screen and Striking Design
See all photographs Note that battery life will at all times fluctuate, relying on how you utilize the gadget. Certain options, just like the always-on show and GPS monitoring, will drain the battery sooner.During my time with the watch, I principally left the always-on show turned off aside from throughout exercises, which normally final for about 30 to 45 minutes. I additionally used GPS to trace outside walks that normally final for round 10 minutes throughout my commute to work. Otherwise, I’ve been utilizing the OnePlus Watch 2 to verify notifications, browse my well being information and observe sleep in a single day. The watch additionally expenses rapidly, going from 29% to 85% in simply 20 minutes even after I solely had a tiny 5-watt energy adapter useful.Sleep and exercise monitoring with the OnePlus Watch 2 The OnePlus Watch 2 displaying an inventory of exercise choices. Lisa Eadicicco/CNETWhen it involves sleep, exercise and well being monitoring, the OnePlus Watch 2 falls in an attention-grabbing place. It has extra to supply than a funds smartwatch however not every thing you’d get in a premium watch. Case in level: It can measure metrics like potential respiration disturbances throughout sleep, consists of sensors for measuring blood oxygen and has dual-frequency GPS for extra exact location monitoring — a function that is unique to the Ultra mannequin in Apple’s lineup. I examined the dual-frequency GPS by monitoring a brief stroll via an underground subway station, the place it is sometimes tougher to get a sign. The OnePlus Watch 2 efficiently logged my transient stroll and displayed the outcomes on a map, however so did the Pixel Watch 2. I’ll have to check the OnePlus Watch 2’s GPS in numerous environments to see if that dual-frequency GPS brings significant enhancements over different watches. But the OnePlus Watch 2 is lacking some fundamentals I’d anticipate from a watch at this worth, like fall detection and interval monitoring. It additionally lacks temperature sensing, which has turn out to be extra frequent in wearables lately. There’s additionally no choice to take an ECG, so it might be a non-starter for many who are primarily eager about a smartwatch for preserving a more in-depth eye on their cardiac well being. While a $300 watch could not have all of these options, it is cheap to anticipate a minimum of a few of them — notably fall detection and interval monitoring — at that worth. A map displaying a route that I took throughout an outside stroll recorded on the OnePlus Watch 2. Lisa Eadicicco/CNETThose who’re most eager about logging exercises with their watch won’t thoughts these omissions, particularly for the reason that OnePlus Watch 2 has loads of train choices. It additionally has devoted modes for sports activities like badminton, operating and tennis. My first few occasions exercising with the OnePlus Watch 2 had been irritating. I felt like I used to be pushing myself laborious, however my coronary heart price was solely within the 130s each time I regarded down at my wrist. I in contrast it with a Polar chest strap coronary heart price monitor to see if it was my creativeness, and certain sufficient there was an enormous hole between the 2. Installing a software program replace and shifting the watch somewhat additional up on my wrist in order that it match extra snugly appeared to repair the issue. After making these modifications, the OnePlus Watch 2 was solely about 5 to seven beats off from the chest strap, which is extra typical of a smartwatch. Read extra: The Biggest Questions to Ask Before Buying a SmartwatchEven when efficiency improved, nonetheless, the OnePlus Watch 2 was gradual to catch as much as my chest strap briefly intense intervals throughout a exercise. That could also be a difficulty for many who choose interval or HIIT coaching. Other watches I’ve examined had been extra correct out of the gate with out a lot fuss, they usually had been able to catching up with the chest strap extra rapidly. But throughout relaxation intervals, the OnePlus Watch 2’s readings fell inside 2 to 3 beats of my chest strap. I had the same preliminary expertise with sleep monitoring, though my outcomes had been rather more constant after adjusting the watch’s match and putting in a software program replace. Once these modifications had been made, sleep length and sleep rating outcomes from the OnePlus Watch 2 almost matched these from my Oura ring. A graph displaying sleep monitoring information on the OnePlus Watch 2. Lisa Eadicicco/CNETThe OnePlus Watch 2’s lengthy battery life offers it an enormous benefit over the Apple Watch, Pixel Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch as a sleep tracker. Since I did not must cost the watch nightly, I used to be in a position to observe a few nights’ value of slumber to verify I used to be staying on observe and attending to mattress on time. But once more, for the reason that OnePlus Watch 2 is noticeably giant, it is not probably the most snug smartwatch to put on in a single day. I admire that OnePlus supplies a sleep rating to evaluate the standard of your sleep, in contrast to the Apple Watch, along with providing different much less frequent options, like loud night breathing monitoring.What’s actually lacking from the OnePlus Watch 2 is big-picture evaluation that ties metrics collectively to offer extra context about your wellness. Garmin, Oura and Google’s Fitbit every have their very own model of this, and it is an effective way to see how your sleep and exercise have an effect on each other at a look. Samsung can be engaged on the same function referred to as My Vitality Score, which is able to finally roll out to the Samsung Health app. The OnePlus Watch 2’s easy interface and efficiency The OnePlus Watch 2 runs on Google’s Wear OS 4 and has entry to the Google Play Store. Lisa Eadicicco/CNETThe OnePlus Watch 2’s dual-processor setup makes for quick and easy efficiency. Everything from launching apps to swiping via tiles and scrolling via notifications felt mild and fast. Since the OnePlus Watch 2 runs on Google’s Wear OS 4 software program, apps like Google Wallet, Google Maps, YouTube Music and the Google Assistant can be found on the watch by default. You even have entry to the Google Play Store, which means you may have a big selection of third-party apps to select from. That offers the OnePlus Watch 2 a bonus over different watches that run on their very own working programs (like Garmin’s) relating to the “smart” facet of smartwatches. Setup can be a breeze because it helps Google’s Fast Pair system. The Pixel 8 Pro I’ve been utilizing to check the OnePlus Watch 2 acknowledged the watch virtually immediately when turning it on.The draw back, nonetheless, is that OnePlus solely commits to 2 years of full software program assist, which is lower than a few of its rivals. Samsung supplies 5 years of software program updates for its Galaxy Watches, whereas Google gives updates for a minimum of three years from the Pixel Watch’s launch.Navigation is easy and can really feel acquainted when you’ve used one other Wear OS smartwatch. You can cycle via tiles that present bits of information just like the climate, your exercise and your stress stage by swiping left or proper from the watch face. Pulling down from the watch face enables you to entry fast settings, whereas swiping up from the underside of the watch face reveals your notifications. Unlike different smartwatches such because the Pixel Watch and Apple Watch, OnePlus does not require two separate apps to handle the watch and look at well being information. It all lives within the OHealth app, which is split into three tabs: Health, Fitness and Devices. The OnePlus Watch 2 alongside the OHealth app. Numi Prasarn/CNETThe Health tab serves as your predominant dashboard wellness information, like traits associated to coronary heart price, sleep stress and blood oxygen. You may discover your exercise historical past and each day exercise progress on this tab.The Fitness tab enables you to log runs and walks in your telephone, which appears redundant since most individuals will probably be recording their runs and walks on the watch. And then the Devices part enables you to handle your watch faces, tiles notifications and different settings. It’s handy to have every thing multi functional place. But as I discussed earlier, I want the OHealth app had extra traits and insights that tie collectively your exercises, exercise, sleep and wellness readings reasonably than simply serving as a hub for all that information. OnePlus Watch 2 total ideas The OnePlus Watch 2 is simply too huge for my wrist. Lisa Eadicicco/CNETThe OnePlus Watch 2 has lots going for it, but additionally comes with some compromises which are laborious to miss. While I really like the watch’s lengthy battery life, vibrant display and useful shortcut buttons, it is just too giant for my wrist, and I think about I’m not alone in feeling that means. I additionally needed to fiddle with the best way the watch match greater than I’d have appreciated to get a dependable coronary heart price studying throughout exercises, and the watch is lacking some well being and security options that now really feel commonplace in 2024. If you need a huge display, lengthy battery life and loads of exercise choices, the OnePlus Watch 2 is perhaps for you. But when you’re OK with giving up entry to the Google Play Store and may stretch your funds, you may most likely be happier with a Garmin smartwatch. The Galaxy Watch 6 and 6 Classic are additionally compelling options for many who need a related expertise with extra well being monitoring options, however on the expense of battery life.