OnePlus Watch

The OnePlus Watch is the first smartwatch released by the Chinese manufacturer OnePlus. Released in March 2021, this is the second wearable device released, with the OnePlus Band released in January of this year. OnePlus is a popular smartphone manufacturer and is a subsidiary of BBK Electronics. BBK  also owns the Oppo, realme and Vivo brands.

Unfortunately OnePlus does not disclose the chipset used in this Watch. That being said, the watch does not lag and performs well, similar to other smartwatches in this price range.

This watch is using a proprietary operating system based on RTOS (real-time operating system). There was speculation that this watch would use Wear OS, but unfortunately that is not the case. While there are some available apps, the number is minimal and you do not have access to a large 3rd party app store such as the Google Play Store. This is a significant disadvantage and is common drawback for any smartwatch using a proprietary operating system.

Design

The OnePlus Watch has a circular watch face design and looks attractive. The watch is available in black or silver. The case is made from stainless steel and build quality is quite good.

A premium version of this watch, the OnePlus Watch Cobalt Edition, will be released as well. While there are limited details available on this watch, we do know the frame will be made with cobalt alloy instead of stainless steel and the screen will use Sapphire Glass.

The OnePlus Watch is on the larger size at 46.4 x 46.4 x 10.9 mm and weighs 45g. That being said, the watch is relatively slim with a thickness of 10.9 mm. It is comfortable and can be worn while sleeping.

The OnePlus Watch comes with a 22 mm fluoroelastomer interchangeable strap. Fluoroelastomer is a synthetic rubber strap that is supposed to be more resistant to heat, moisture and oil than silicone. The strap is high quality and is comfortable on the wrist.

You can interact with the watch using the touchscreen and 2 physical buttons. The touchscreen works very well with no lag. Fonts, menus and icons can easily be read and navigation is not too complex.

Water Resistance

The OnePlus Watch has a 5ATM and IP68 water resistance rating however this rating should be taken with a grain of salt. The fine-print on the OnePlus Watch website states the watch is not suitable for hot water showers. You are also advised not to use the product in seawater, beach or pool. Finally damage due to water or dust is not covered under warranty.

These restrictions remind us of the Ticwatch Pro 3 which has an IP68 rating and advises not to contact soapy water in showers or while washing hands. In many cases warranties have been denied due to water exposure in showers.

Screen

The screen of the OnePlus Watch is quite good. The 1.39″ AMOLED Touchscreen, with 454 x 454 pixels and 326 ppi pixel density delivers a high-quality visual experience. Indoors the display is excellent while outdoors it is acceptable but not great.

OnePlus does not indicate what screen protection is provided which is disappointing. As mentioned previously, the Cobalt edition will come with a Sapphire screen which should provide some level of protection against scratches.

That being said, the bezel-less design offers less protection against screen scratches and scrapes when compared to watches where the bezel protrudes past the glass surface. While the bezel-less design is sleeker, it may not be as durable as some other sport focused smartwatches.

The watch has an always on screen option but this has a significant impact on battery life. The watch allows for custom watchfaces which is a nice feature.

Battery

The OnePlus Watch comes with a 402 mAh battery. OnePlus claims that typical usage battery life is 14 days and GPS mode battery life is 1 days. Real world battery life is approximately 10 days, which is above average. The battery life is one of the strongest positives on this watch.

Connectivity Features

From a connectivity perspective, the OnePlus Watch has limited functionality when compared to full featured smartwatches. The choice to use their own proprietary operating system instead of Wear OS disappointed primarily due to limitations in this area.

The watch can only receive notifications and there is no ability to respond to notifications from the watch. It is also missing Near Field Communication (NFC) is not supported, hence you cannot use this smartwatch to make payments. The OnePlus Watch does not have a camera and does not have cellular connectivity.

The OnePlus Watch has both a speaker and a microphone and has the ability to answer and place calls via Bluetooth. The speaker and microphone work well for both incoming and outgoing calls. The speaker can be used to play music stored on the 4GB internal memory.

While the microphone can be used for calls, there is no voice assistant like Google Assistant or Siri, another drawback of this watch. On the positive side, it does come with built-in GPS. GPS connectivity is fast but accuracy is not the best.

Health and Fitness Features

The OnePlus Watch comes with 5 sensors: Accelerometer, Barometer Compass, Gyroscope, Heart Rate Monitor (HRM), Pulse Oximeter (SpO2). These cover numerous fitness and health areas. These sensors allow you to track the following 9 metrics: Blood Oxygen Level,  Calories, Distance, Fitness Level, Heart Rate, Sleep, Steps, Stress, Swimming.

Also included are 110+ different sports modes. Heart rate accuracy at rest, casual activities or steady state runs is relatively accurate. For casual tracking, this may be adequate but could be a concern if you are looking for high tracking accuracy for your sports or fitness goals. However with interval training, short bursts of activity or high intensity training, accuracy is poor.

Tattoos, hair, sweat and even skin color are factors that impact accuracy as well. This is a common problem with nearly all wrist based optical heart rate monitoring. While there are a few exceptions that do a pretty good job on heart rate monitoring, such as the Apple Watch 6, serious trainers should look into a chest strap for best heart rate accuracy.

OnePlus Health App

The OnePlus Watch uses the OnePlus Health app, which appears to be a lift and shift of the Oppo HeyTap app. OnePlus Health is a newer app which currently has limited features. You can see how the OnePlus Health app ranks on our Smartwatch Apps Page.

Known Issues

As this watch has just recently been released, there are no common known issues.

Verdict

The first OnePlus Watch is an average fitness focused smartwatch with a nice design, decent battery life and a good screen. Drawbacks are no notification reply ability, no 3rd party apps, no NFC, dubious water resistance rating and low quality app.

Specifications

Published: March 28, 2021