I should note that OnePlus isn’t the first company to try a new approach to solving smartwatch battery life problems. Mobvoi’s TicWatch Pro series has long used dual-display technology to extend battery life, delivering similar results to OnePlus. But that watch is bulkier, the software feels clunkier, and the company’s update policy is spotty.
Speaking of which, OnePlus promises two Wear OS updates and three years of security updates. That’s comparable to what Google offers for its Pixel Watch series, but paltry compared to what you get from Samsung, which promises four Wear OS updates and five years of security updates for its Galaxy Watch6 series. What OnePlus offers here is decent, but it would be nice to see it match Samsung so you can enjoy the watch for as long as possible, with new features, security patches and bug fixes.
One of my favorite parts of the OnePlus Watch 2 is the fact that you only have to deal with one app. There’s no need to have two separate apps for the watch’s functions and to access health and fitness data like competitors. Everything is managed in OnePlus Health (OHealth). But when it comes to health and fitness, compromises are starting to creep in.
Puzzling health
Photo: Julian Chokkattu
I like how everything is laid out in accessible tiles in OHealth, and you can click on them to access more information, but the app has some quirks. To start with, and you can see this in the image above, there are some design issues, such as words running into each other (see the goal for the number of steps). It also lacks health features such as an electrocardiogram, skin temperature detection, menstrual tracking and fall detection. These are all from similarly priced competitors, but the quality of information available is really the problem.
The differences are largely due to the number of steps and distance traveled. When I wore the Pixel Watch 2 on my other wrist, I noticed a big difference in these two metrics, with the OnePlus Watch 2 often under-measuring, sometimes by 2,000 or 3,000 steps. On February 29, I was traveling around Barcelona sightseeing, and the Pixel Watch 2 says I walked 12.35 miles with 25,000 steps. OnePlus’ watch says it was 9.32 miles with 24,000 steps. According to rudimentary estimates, 25,000 steps equates to about 20 kilometers, so there’s clearly a problem with the OnePlus here.