OnePlus Watch Review: Specs, Price, and Features
OnePlus, the long waited smartwatch has finally come to light. OnePlus watch was making headlines since 2015, which got canceled and dragged till April 2021. The brand-new polished wearable is now in the market while competing with the rest of the smartwatch clan with its aesthetic look, fundamental features, and battery life. So, the big question is that did it outsmarted the other players or not. Well, we will let you decide that once you read this article.
What do you know about the OnePlus Watch brand?
OnePlus Technology Co. Ltd is a consumer electronics manufacturer in China. It was founded in 2013 by Mr. Pete Lau and Mr. Carl Pei. The company is majorly famous as a smartphone manufacturer that serves 34 countries all around the world. Currently, Oppo holds most OnePlus shares. The main aim of this company is to provide a high-end quality smartphone at an affordable price.
OnePlus entered the wearable segment by introducing a smart fitness tracker and was quite successful in the Indian market. Considering its success in the smartphone industry and wearables market, the company launched its smartwatch wearable in March 2021. The main highlighting feature of 14 days long battery life stands out OnePlus from the rest of the competitive wearables. However, does that only will help to be an exalted smartwatch. Let us find out.
Before we run into the detailed review of watch specifications, here is a quick snap on the OnePlus smartwatch.
| Network | Technology | No cellular connectivity |
| Body | Dimensions | 46.4 x 46.4 x 10.9 mm (1.83 x 1.83 x 0.43 in) |
| Weight | 45 g (1.59 oz) | |
| Build | Glass front, stainless steel frame, plastic back | |
| SIM | Glass front, stainless steel frame, plastic back | |
| Display | Type | AMOLED |
| Size | 1.39 inches, 12.5 cm2 (~58.1% screen-to-body ratio) | |
| Resolution | 454 x 454 pixels, 1:1 ratio (~326 PPI density) | |
| Always-on display | ||
| Platform | OS | Proprietary OS |
| Memory | Card slot | No |
| Internal | 4GB 1GB RAM | |
| Camera | No | |
| Sounds | Loudspeaker | Yes |
| 3.5mm Jack | No | |
| Communication | WLAN | No |
| Bluetooth | 5.0, A2DP, LE | |
| GPS | Yes, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO | |
| NFC | No | |
| Radio | No | |
| USB | no | |
| Features | Sensors | Accelerometer, gyro, barometer, compass, heart rate, SpO2 |
| Battery | Type | Li-Ion 402 mAh, non-removable |
| MISC | Colors | Midnight Black, Moonlight Silver, Cobalt |
OnePlus Design and Hardware
OnePlus does make a great first impression with its stylish design. Especially the stainless-steel case and Apple watch style band do give a premium look to this. The display has a classic circular design and comes with two functional buttons on the right side of the frame. This design looks very much like Samsung Galaxy Watch 3. The 46mm AMOLED display is a sapphire scratch-resistant glass with a polished stainless steel bezel. The function button has the brand name embossed, which is, however, considerably small to notice. The back of the OnePlus is a plastic covering that covers the casing and all the optical sensors. Users can find the loudspeaker on the left side of the display and the microphone at the bottom.
The watch strap is a spring-loaded bar pin strap giving the users the ability to swap the strap with anything they like. The watch buckle is very much like the Apple Watch Sport Band. However, comparatively OnePlus watch is less tight than the usual smartwatch in the market as it comes in only one size. All in all, the OnePlus limited edition watch delivers a high-quality experience at a lower price of $159. Yet 46mm display is quite sizable and provides good image quality with 326ppi pixel density.
OnePlus Software and Features
OnePlus smartwatch does not hold a solid form of hardware, unlike its software formation. It carries a custom OS named as OnePlus OS, which is very much like the Google OS. One can also point out that the timepiece is an upgraded version of the same OnePlus band OS where the watch includes many of the additional features running. However, OnePlus is only for Android users. Thus, it will not be easy for you to sync your iPhone with the OnePlus. The user interfaces control through the touch screen and the function buttons on the side. Once you long press the function button, it will take you to all those applications that are capable of functioning.
Control Center
When swiping down the home screen, the users can find the control center. Whereas, when swipe up notification bar will appear on the screen. Many users highlighted that these notifications are hardly in sync with the phone notification list. Those already read by users on the phone will still appear unread in the OnePlus watch. However, it still gives authority for the user to decide which notifications should be appeared on the wrist and which should not. Yet replying to these notifications has its limitations too. Such replying has been limited to selected applications only where the user has only four auto-replies for incoming messages. Plus, users can not send custom replies through OnePlus.
Users can also create their preferred shortcuts in setting alarms, adjusting display brightness, Calory burnout, and flashlight. One specialty here would be that the display screen acts as a flashlight itself. However, that feature is poor in functioning.
OnePlus consists of the most fundamentals applications such as alarm, workout, weather, stopwatch, timer, sleep tracker, etc. Surprisingly, the wearable does not include the calendar and calculator app. Hence appointments, meetings, or date reminders are problematic to schedule in a OnePlus, as we do in other smartwatches. This timepiece is compatible with most Bluetooth earbuds. Yet OnePlus has not enabled streaming music or podcasts as such. Hence the only way of listening to music would be to stream through a phone or copying those MP3 files on the watch RAM, which comes with 4GB of storage capacity. The users can connect with the OnePlus smart tv where it could act as a remote.
OnePlus Watch Fitness Tracking
To operate and connect with this wearable, the user must install the same OnePlus Health app for the OnePlus band. The health app would be the main focal point for all the health metrics and tracked data on the watch. OnePlus watch fitness tracker came out as a decent yet competent app compared to other smartwatches in the market. Similar to other fitness bands, OnePlus also automatically tracks the number of steps and the level of calories you have burnt through. In addition, since the app has built-in GPS and several other sensors (blood oxygen sensor, barometer, heart rate monitor, accelerometer, and geomagnetic sensor), users can track other activities in a like manner. The creators claim that OnePlus will have more than 110 types of workouts included in the timepiece.
Contrarily, the gym workout will not be available in the above 110 types covered by the app. The OnePlus is incapable of measuring activities done using weights and dumbbells yet. But we can hope the next edition will fix this absence as well. In addition to these activities, OnePlus is also capable of tracking sleep through the night. Nevertheless, users can only view the last night's sleep record as the app does not store previous sleep track data on the watch, despite having a separate column for historical data in the fitness track.
Battery Life
The main competitive advantage for OnePlus over other smartwatches players would be the 14 days battery life claim by its creators. However, this will only be applicable in the default watch settings. Whereas, when you adjust the display brightness, number of notifications on display, and continuous fitness tracking, the battery life would differ. The standard magnetic charger with pogo pins allows rapid charging of the watch, where within 20 minutes, the user can fully charge the watch. So with such battery life, we could say OnePlus stands out excellent in the market.
Is it worth buying a OnePlus Watch?
The limited edition of OnePlus has its pros and cons. The number of ratings you would give for this new smartwatch is totally upon your personal experience. However, if you are looking for a smartwatch that lasts more than a week without charging, if you are still looking for a decent smartwatch at an affordable price, OnePlus would be the right product for your requirement. If you are an iPhone user who looks for fully-fledged smartwatch features with a smaller display screen, we would not recommend this for you. So, the decision is up to you to decide.
Visit the previous watch review of Google Pixel Watch.
Author of Get Basic Idea – The knowledge base / Bsc Marketing Management
