Oppo Watch sports a curved AMOLED display.
Oppo recently launched its first smartwatch, the Oppo Watch and now it’s available in India. If you were to see it in a store, you would easily mistake it with the Apple Watch. While that might not sound very good, but it is something you should ignore to cherish what it has to offer. The Oppo Watch manages to stand out and offer a remarkable Wear OS experience, even though some people might just call it a cheap Apple Watch alternative for Android phones.
In the review, you will learn that is not the case, and the Oppo Watch holds its own and to cut short this review in one line - “Oppo Watch is the best Wear OS watch you can get right now.”
Since you are looking for a reason behind what I just said, here’s the full review:
Oppo Watch Review: Design and Display
At first glance, anyone would say that the design of the Oppo Watch has been inspired by the much popular Apple Watch Series 5. The statement stands true for a lot of things including the square watch dial, strap styles, packaging and more. While this makes it look like a replica, it also helps the watch stand out in the world of rounded smartwatches.
The Oppo Watch is available in two variants - 41mm and 46mm. We had the latter for review and it is also the more premium offering. The smartwatch offers a premium build quality as it takes advantage of some really high-quality materials. The frame of the watch is made out of aluminium alloy. At the back, the panel is made out of plastic but the doom that accumulates the heart rate sensor is made out of ceramic.
The doom on the back of the watch is made out of ceramic.
I have used quite a lot of smartwatches in the past including the Samsung Galaxy Watch, Fossil Gen 5 and Fossil Gen 3. The common thing between these smartwatches is that they all look and feel premium. In my opinion, the Oppo Watch tends to beat the Fossil and is on par with the Galaxy Watches.
While the watch strap was quite comfortable for my wrist, I did feel that with the proprietary band clip, one will have a hard time finding third-party straps for the Oppo Watch.
As for the display, it is one of the best displays I have seen on a smartwatch. The 1.91-inch curved AMOLED panel on the 46mm variant of the Oppo Watch looks flourishing. It is bright enough and offers great colours.
Oppo Watch Review: Performance
When it comes to performance, it is always the combination of software and hardware that makes the experience better. While Wear OS is still not the best smartwatch OS out there, the company did manage to fit in some good specs in the Oppo Watch. The smartwatch is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 3100 SoC and its smoothness comes with the help of 1GB of RAM.
The app drawer interface is better than stock Wear OS.
Oppo did manage to optimise things well in here as the watch did not show any signs of lag during my 2-weeks time with the device. The whole experience was smooth and I loved interacting with the watch every now and then.
Oppo Watch Review: Connectivity, Notifications and Fitness Tracking
Oppo Watch was relatively easy to setup and stayed connected with my Oppo Reno 4 Pro at all times. I even used the watch with the OnePlus 8 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and faced no issues in terms of connectivity. When the watch was left aside for longer durations, it got automatically disconnected but when it was on my wrist it stayed connected.
You will need to carry the proprietary charger for your trips.
Notifications were always being delivered on time and even the phone calls over were crisp and clear. Since the watch lacks LTE connectivity, I was able to make and receive phone calls on the Oppo Watch only when it was connected to my phone via Bluetooth.
There are plenty of watch faces to choose from.
As for fitness tracking, the numbers seemed accurate and I did not feel that I was getting unnecessary steps being counted. Also, the heart rate sensor was an added convenience. I would have loved to see a SpO2 sensor here given the situation we are in with COVID.
Oppo Watch Review: Battery
Oppo Watch 46mm is backed by a 430mAh battery, which is enough to keep it charged for a little more than a day. While the company promises a battery life of 36 hours on a full charge, I just got a little more than a full working day. Also, when I did need to juice up the Oppo Watch, the VOOC charge technology came in handy. Using an Oppo Super VOOC compatible wall adapter, I was able to charge the Oppo Watch from 20 percent to full in less than one hour, which is impressive.
Oppo Watch Review: Verdict
The heart rate sensor manages to give accurate results.
In a nutshell, the Oppo Watch is currently one of the best Google Wear OS based smartwatches in India. It is also one of the best watches you can get under Rs. 20,000. If you are an Android user, you should be satisfied with this watch but if you are locked inside the iOS world, you might wanna consider the Apple Watch instead.
