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It’s been almost three years since OnePlus launched its first smartwatch. Today, at MWC 2024, it announced its second iteration, the OnePlus Watch 2. I have been sporting the smartwatch over the last week or so, and here’s the lowdown on it.
When I strap it on, the watch looks a bit big and bulky on my wrist. Interestingly, it doesn’t feel that way, weighing in at 80 grams, along with the rubber straps. I’ve got the Black Steel variant for review, while there’s Radiant Steel in a familiar OnePlus green hue as well.
Display
The circular display is 1.43 inches across and provides ample space for swiping and tapping across functions. There’s a 60Hz flash rate and up to 1,000 nits of brightness. Built with 2.5D sapphire crystal, the screen is fairly scratch-resistant. Even in bright daylight, I didn’t need to hike the on-device brightness to the max for good readability.
There are two physical buttons on the device—a digital crown on top and a power button at the bottom, which also doubles up as a shortcut to Exercise options.
User experience
My first attempt at pairing the watch was a bit glitchy. The second try was smoother, after taking a break. I played around with watchfaces first, of which of course there are plenty. I settled on a watch face which displayed a host of information, including battery status, step count, calories burnt, weather, and heart rate. A glance gave me all the information I generally look for and track on a smartwatch.
The swipeable carousel on the home screen runs me through most functions I’d need on a given day— calendar, weather, activity goals tracker, sleep and stress. I can add more if I ever need to.
When it comes to sports, it has almost a dozen professional modes and covers more than 100 sports—more than you or I will ever need to try out. What I appreciate even more is the dual frequency GPS-based location tracking which is accurate in showing a close bylane I’m taking parallel to the main road.
I love tracking my sleep stats out of morbid curiosity because I’ve never actually attempted to improve my sleep cycle and overall sleep hygiene. After about 4 days of tracking my sleep, my sleep score was 71—considered an average. I could see the stats for myself and saw that the time I spent in deep sleep as well as my REM cycle was way less than ideal.
Tech specs
There’s a very unique Dual-Engine Architecture powering the OnePlus Watch 2. Two chipsets jointly work together, and can also switch between two entire operating systems. The Snapdragon W5 performance chipset runs Wear OS 4, and the BES 2700 efficiency chipset runs RTOS to handle background activity and daily tasks.
The smartwatch runs on Google’s Wear OS 4 and has 2 GB RAM. It also has about 32 GB of storage space, so I could download extra apps without having to worry about running out of space soon. The OnePlus Watch 2 meets both 5 ATM and IP 68 standards, so you can definitely take it along with a dive or a swim.
Battery
One thing I love about the OnePlus Watch 2 is the battery life. The device packs in a 500 mAh battery. I had it on through a couple of long days of being out and about, and at the end of two whole days I still had about 16 percent battery left. Charging was quick as promised. Worried that I wouldn’t get to charge it fully before leaving for a day full of conferences, I plugged it in before rushing for breakfast. Done and ready to leave my hotel the watch was 90 per cent charged in way less than an hour.
Verdict
I’d say OnePlus has a winner on its hands, especially considering the price tag of the OnePlus Watch 2. I’ve used smartwatches in this price range before, and what I likeed most about the OnePlus Watch 2 is the ease of use, especially if you’re an Android user (and even if you’re not!). Adding to that are all the features you could look for in a fitness and health-focused smartwatch that’s not going to die on you anytime soon.
I got great usage times without ever having to go into power saver mode. The dual-process through is the key to this watch performing seamlessly across functions—something that can get glitchy and annoying in other smartwatches in this price category.
Price - ₹24,999
Pros - Bright, smooth display, excellent battery life, ample health and fitness features
Cons - Can look bulky on smaller wrists
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