OnePlus Watch 2 Review: A Big Battery, But Falls Short in Other Ways
Tech
Speaker 1: Excuse me, give the time.
Speaker 2: The OnePlus Watch two, which costs $300 and launches on March 4th, has one big thing going for it. Battery life while watches from Samsung, Google and Apple typically last for one to two days on a single charge. The one plus watch two can last for days plural, but you'll have to be willing to cope with some compromises. For one. This watch is big [00:00:30] and it only comes in one size and it's missing some health and safety features that have become common in recent years, like fall detection, temperature sensing, and the ability to take an ECG from your wrist. The bigger issue, however, is that I had to fiddle with the way the watch fit in order to get accurate heart rate readings while working out. If you can get past that, the One plus Watch two seems ideal for those who want a big watch with long battery life, primarily for measuring workouts and activity.
Speaker 2: That's [00:01:00] especially true for Outdoor Runners since the One Plus Watch two has dual frequency GPSA rarity on smart watches in this price range. The One Plus Watch two also runs on Google's Wear OS operating system, which means it's compatible with a wide variety of apps and has Google's services baked in. That alone gives it a leg up over one plus's previous smartwatch, which ran on the company's own software. Overall, the One plus Watch two is a step up over the original, but like the original. In some ways it's more impressive [00:01:30] on paper than it is in practice. The first thing you'll probably notice about the OnePlus Watch two is its striking design. It has a Sapphire crystal display and a stainless steel chassis giving it a premium feel. The problem is that the watch is simply too big for my wrist. It's noticeably larger than other watches like the Pixel Watch two or Apple Watch Series nine.
Speaker 2: Although it's not as chunky as the Withing scan Watch Horizon, I normally wouldn't fixate on size this much, but for a smartwatch it [00:02:00] really matters. If something is going to be on my wrist every day, it should look like it belongs there. The OnePlus Watch two just looks a little out of place on my tiny wrist. The upside is that you do get a lot of space on your wrist for viewing things like graphs that show your stress levels, your heart rate, your sleep, and other health metrics, and also a map of your walk after you're done taking a walk outside, which is really nice because it doesn't get cut off or anything like that. Plus the screen is bright enough to see comfortably in direct sunlight. There [00:02:30] are two buttons along the side of the watch, one near the top, which functions as a home button, and then another one near the bottom that serves as a shortcut button, kind of like the Apple Watch Ultras action button.
Speaker 2: It's set to launch the workouts app by default, which I like, but you can change it to another app. You can also push this multipurpose button twice to open a different app. The home button is also customizable by default. It's set so that pressing it twice launches your most recent app and holding it down pulls up the Google Assistant. I love that [00:03:00] you can customize both of these buttons to your liking. It provides enough flexibility without making navigation too hard to remember, but since the home button is round, I keep mistaking it for a crown like the one on the Apple Watch and Pixel Watch. I instinctively want to twist it, although nothing happens when I do. It's not a deal breaker, but having a crown for scrolling would make it even easier to take advantage of that big screen. But the big thing that stands out about this watch, aside from its large size, is the Battery Life.
Speaker 2: OnePlus claims that the battery can last for 100 [00:03:30] hours in smart mode, 48 hours with heavy use or up to 12 days with power savings mode. I haven't been able to put all of those claims to the test just yet since I've had to charge it occasionally to install software updates, but I'm pretty impressed with what I've seen so far. On two separate occasions, I had about 30% of my battery left after two full days of use. Using features like GPS on the Always on display will typically drain battery a little bit faster during my time with the watch, I usually turned [00:04:00] on the always on display here and there during a workout so that I could see my heart rate consistently. And I use the GPS to record some outdoor walks that were about 10 minutes in length during my commute, I'm used to wearing watches like the Apple Watch Series nine and Pixel Watch two, which typically lasts for about a day and a half with similar usage.
Speaker 2: While Battery life is a bright spot for the One Plus Watch two, it's not the only watch that can last for days. The Garmin Venue three, which is more expensive than one Plus's new watch at $450 lasted for about [00:04:30] a week on a single charge. In my testing, OnePlus attributes that Battery life to the fact that it uses two different chips, each of which handles different tasks. There's a Qualcomm Snapdragon W five chip for running Google's Wear OS software and a BES 2,700 chip. For background activity, since it runs on Google's wear OS four platform, you'll have access to popular services like Google Wallet, Google Maps, and YouTube music, as well as all of the third party apps available in the Google Play Store. That gives it a leg up over some watches that run [00:05:00] on their own operating systems like Garmin's. When it comes to the smart side of smartwatches, I was also really impressed by how smooth and snappy performance was.
Speaker 2: Scrolling between different screens on the watch felt effortless and apps opened fairly quickly. Exercise tracking is an important part of any smartwatch and that includes the OnePlus Watch two. I have mixed feelings about how the OnePlus Watch two performs as a fitness tracker. When I first started using it, the heart rate tracking felt inaccurate, but after installing a software update [00:05:30] and moving the watch higher up on my wrist, it definitely improved. It was about 20 beats off when compared to my chest wrap heart rate monitor before I tightened the watch and moved it up on my wrist. After making that change, it was only usually around five to seven beats off, which is more in line with what I've experienced with other smart watches. Still, it took more fiddling than I would've liked to get accurate results. Certainly more than other smart watches I've tested.
Speaker 2: While I love how easy it is to see my fitness metrics on such a large screen, the one plus Watch two size also [00:06:00] makes it less comfortable to wear during a workout. There are more than 100 sports tracking modes to choose from with the One Plus Watch two, but it seems like OnePlus is particularly catering towards runners with this watch. Since it supports metrics like ground contact time and vertical oscillation, there's also dual frequency GPS, which should allow for more precise location tracking when mapping out route. We'll have more details on this in my written review when it comes to sleep tracking, there are some pros and cons. For one, the long battery life [00:06:30] certainly works in the one plus watch twos favor and the watch can also look for potential signs that you might be at risk of breathing problems during sleep, which isn't as common on smart watches.
Speaker 2: But again, the watch is large size means it's not always the most comfortable to wear to sleep. Similar to the issue I had with heart rate, sleep tracking also seemed inaccurate At first the watch was off by hours compared to my Aura Ring the first couple of nights I wore it, but after installing a software update and tightening the watch on my wrist, [00:07:00] I got better results with only a difference of about 20 minutes compared to my Aura Ring and similar sleep scores on the Upside one Plus does provide sleep score for assessing the quality of your sleep, unlike the Apple Watch. However, sleep scores are pretty common on most smart watches these days, so that's not as much of a standout feature. When I heard about the one plus watch twos super long Battery Life and Customizable Button, I really wanted to fall in love with this watch and I do like it.
Speaker 2: Overall. The fact that I rarely have to charge it is a huge [00:07:30] plus and I love how buttery smooth the operating system feels and as much as I may complain about the large size, I can appreciate being able to see charts and maps on my wrist after a workout, but there are also a lot of caveats to consider. Even though the issues I experienced with heart rate and sleep tracking seem to be addressed, they still give me some pause. It's also just too large for my wrist and OnePlus doesn't offer another size option in terms of price and features, the OnePlus Watch two falls in a funny place. [00:08:00] It has more than a mid-range watch since it has dual frequency GPS, but not everything you'd expect from a flagship smart watch. Since it's missing ECG monitoring, a temperature sensor and safety features like fall detection. If you want a giant screen on your wrist that you won't have to charge very often, the one plus watch two might be for you, but you'll likely find a more complete package of health tracking features from Samsung and Google, although you won't get that same battery life. Check out my full written review for more details. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.
