Tushar Mehta / Digital Trends
TheOnePlus Watch 2 — the ship’s company ’s first Wear OS watch — has entered a market that Samsung dominate . However , OnePlus ’ popularity as a smartphone marque can be expect to convey small , yet meaningful changes that benefit not only OnePlus drug user , but all of the Wear oxygen segment in oecumenical .
For almost a X , Samsung and Apple have predominantly been the default choice if you want a smartwatch that is actually utilitarian and goes beyond flashy characteristic . With Samsung shifting gears and migrating from its own Tizen osmium to the ( comparatively ) more universal Wear atomic number 76 platform and Google free its own Pixel Watch after struggling with an identity element crisis in the smartwatch world , the weapons platform has much more traction than it did a few years ago . As OnePlus carves its means into the segment , it has the opportunity to tempt people who do n’t wish to live within Samsung ’s limitations when using a Galaxy Watch with another trade name ’s earpiece .
Tushar Mehta / Digital Trends
The OnePlus Watch 2 is strange ; it ’s distinct from the existing crop of smartwatches . Although it is far from being considered thebest smartwatchone can buy , it signals hope for a honest ecosystem of tiny computers on our wrists that are smarter and in reality utilitarian . Here are some way the OnePlus Watch 2 could help reshape the Wear OS market for the better .
A step forward for smartwatch design
Smartwatches have existed for over a decade and have greatly meliorate in functionality in many ways . Despite the progress , smartwatches persist in to have uninspiring designs . This is just like Android earphone , where most of the innovation has been restricted to meliorate the functionality — with better inner hardware and software — and the only attempts to make the invention stand up out have been limited to append gaudy features like junior-grade projection screen without actually complicate the existing element .
But a smartwatch ’s identity and aesthetic still for the most part go around around its displays instead of its external appearance . While brands like Huawei and Garmin go against this style , their watches run their proprietary software or else of Wear OS , which can be a deterrent for some adopter .
A vigil is mostly a fashion accessory . Meanwhile , brands ’ unwillingness to make likable timepieces could be why purists and timepiece collectors still detest smartwatches .
But the OnePlus Watch 2 veers from this approach with a design that is more in descent with premium watches . Buttons protruding out of the orbitual metal cuticle appear more big , and the curved bezels with homocentric rings under the glass evoke a sense of artisanship and loan it a more premium demeanor .
During my use , I have see the OnePlus Watch 2 pull attention from countless people , some of whom have even asked me about its make . The long - lasting battery — which I will discuss below — has also aid me keep the always - on displayalways on .
The OnePlus Watch 2 ’s looks also complement formal dress and have helped disembarrass me of the urge to swap it out for parallel timepieces I own . I do wish the build - in watch nerve include some more premium choice , which would have done justice to the exterior design . But there is always an alternative to expend third - party lookout faces from apps like Facer to zest up the looks , especially watch faces create with direct breathing in from premium watch mark like Tag Heuer ( eliminating need to spendalmost $ 3,000 on its smartwatch ) .
While looks enough wo n’t help the OnePlus Watch 2 succeed — asFossil ’s recent exit from Wear OSshows — OnePlus ’ experience , mass appeal , access to Oppo ’s enquiry and developing facility , and its own distribution groove can by all odds facilitate .
OnePlus already tender a choice between a fatal and chrome variate , but what could facilitate it further is possibly a more extensive excerption of first - party watch band that leave users to carry themselves . bread and butter for even 22 millimeter watch bracelet is a positive step in this management , but prescribed partnership with accessary brands like Spigen will boost this further .
Beyond amazing battery life
The OnePlus Watch 2 easy outshines most smartwatches , such as the Apple Watch , in terms of stamp battery living . With its treble chip approach , where the “ High - Level ” part exclude down when you ’re kip or not using the watch , the OnePlus Watch 2 can save tons of barrage fire — give an output similar to some simple-minded fitness watches and fitness band . This includes model from the likes ofGarmin , Fitbit , andAmazfit .
This approach makes the OnePlus Watch 2 a slightly more attractive choice to the incumbent in the Wear OS infinite , such as the Pixel Watch or the Galaxy Watch , by targeting individuals who desire a longer shelling substitute without compromising the power to customize what they can do with the watch . For case , if you find OnePlus ’ own fittingness metric lacking , you could use another third - party app like Strava or Google Fit . you’re able to also synchronize data point from OnePlus ’ and Oppo ’s Health app ( which is essential to use the OnePlus Watch 2 ) with one of these apps usingGoogle ’s Health Connect Platform .
By sweep up these qualifying , the OnePlus Watch 2 offer a stamp battery life that is alien to the segment . More importantly , it encourages users , who were previously sceptical about Wear type O ’ battery issues , to confide the chopine . Beyond that , it should exhort other brand to arrive up with alike solutions , which should spur them to capture some of the market dominate by Apple and Samsung .
Breathing new life into Wear OS
Archaic visuals pervade Wear oculus sinister , which endure the past decade as Android Wear — and was mostly unnoticed in the shadow of the Apple Watch . The vanilla Wear OS , as seen on some smartwatches from Fossil , is bland and look to have inherit its intent from past contemporaries of Android .
OnePlus is ostensibly taking some inspiration from the Apple Watch by integrate a similar honeycomb - like app grid ( which can be shift if you do n’t wish it ) and interchangeable invigoration . Despite the deficiency of originality in the implementation , it feels more exciting than theGoogle Pixel Watch 2while maintaining classy and pernicious visuals . This is unlike Samsung , which pushes too hard with its 3D visuals that still find like a transfiguration of the Tizen OS ran on that older watches , such as the Galaxy Watch 3 .
My views on the visuals can be uncompelling — even offending — to some . I agree I ’m no expert on figure , but the OnePlus Watch 2 tincture a sense of newness and excitement that Wear OS has lacked in the past twelvemonth — which is something the Pixel Watch has n’t been able to dodespite setting high expectations initially . The broad mind here , however , is that if OnePlus can pass off life into the otherwise thudding Wear group O user interface , other brand name should also adjudicate it .
More competition is healthy
OnePlus ’ entry into the Wear osmium section creates insistence on the subsist actor . While that fracture Samsung ’s monopoly , it also fosters an surroundings where other brand try hard to be more appealing option .
For its last three years in the Wear bone market , Samsung has made minimal changes to its Galaxy Watch card . The Galaxy Watch 6 , for example , uses the same figure and almost the same sensor from the fourth multiplication . Despite attempt to add a “ Pro ” form with a longer battery in the previous coevals , it retraced its steps andwent back to the unconstipated and Classic variants . too , Google also plunge the Pixel Watch 2 with nearlythe same pattern and(ironically)some decrements to the sensorscompared to the first generation .
This is crucial because , unlike Android phones , where we see continuous ( although minor ) advance , the Wear bone segment is bewilder in a stalemate where society such as Samsung and Google do n’t bother to introduce importantly . Due to limitation in compatibility , these firebrand also cherish the alternative to remain unperturbed by what Apple is doing .
In general , disruptors like OnePlus not only encourage incumbent brands to innovate beyond release lip armed service release , but also do it at more competitive prices . This particularly matters because , unlike other inventive Formosan brands , OnePlus has access to the U.S. marketplace , which is one of the biggest receipts number one wood . The tax income generate from develop body politic like the U.S. can be reinvested to deliver more cost - good solution in regions that need more private-enterprise pricing without cutting down on features .
Similar changes can be expected for the software program , too . Unlike Android , which examine a variation rise every year , Wear O update have been sluggish and unpredictable . But Samsung ’s interest in Wear atomic number 8 has urged Google to push out software package update more frequently . We are closelipped to moving to a annual climb cycle for Wear OS , and with more brands like OnePlus joining the momentum , it is gestate to make these updates more seasonably and with a more static agenda .
Overall , these alteration will help Google fend off its sense of existential philosophy with merchandise — and hopefully contain its tendency to shoot down product lineup in an unseasonable fashion and without any warning .
OnePlus needs to work harder, too
OnePlus ’ work as a smartwatch society only begins here . It needs to strive hard to make its upcoming watches more competitive and compelling , especially in terms of software system — and hopefully , through software updates , to impart some of those lineament to the OnePlus Watch 2 as well .
I say this despite my fondness for the OnePlus Watch 2 I refer above . Despite acing its face , it still feel lacking in term of the experience compared to other smartwatches — and I ca n’t help but use the Galaxy Watch as the bench mark for this . Despite being priced nigher to the Galaxy Watch 6 series , the OnePlus Watch 2 lacks many of its software characteristic — such as seamless , comprehensive data point for multiple premature workouts , software customization options like choosing your top workout method , and synchronising of DND or Work modes , alarms , etc . It also skips out on LTE connectivity , Qi wireless charging , and sensing element such as an ECG and for organic structure composition .
While these omissions may be forgivable for a first - gen smartwatch , the OnePlus Watch 2 has a disadvantage when stack against other offerings from Samsung and Google . Taking necessary measures to fix this also becomes imperative when we reckon the undecided nature of Android , which simply means I can use a watch with another brand ’s telephone set without losing out on the canonic features .
Another miss opportunity for OnePlus was to include a rotate dial , but not use it the same way as the Apple Watch does . Fixing thing like these is vital to survive in an ecosystem where consumers usually have gamey expectations of what they can verify , rather customize than just letting the company take for them ( take care at you , Apple ! ) .
The OnePlus Watch 2 is what Wear OS needed
Despite all its inadequacies , the OnePlus Watch 2 serves as a meet monitor for Google to give Wear OS the care it deserves . It also oblige Samsung to be more mindful of society like OnePlus while innovating on its upcoming watches , especially since Google still debar being check as a hardware company .
For other Android - focused brands , this can bea proficient chance to replicate Apple ’s ecosystem , which they have continually attempt to do , but failed to achieve .
Of of course , many of these changes will not be instant , and there is a possibleness they might never be realize despite my optimism . But an environment with uninterrupted innovation will be paramount to accomplish an integrative ecosystem where all devices interact with each other without wall created by esurient companies . And the OnePlus Watch 2 is a meager , yet important stone’s throw toward that bright futurity .
