OnePlus Watch 2 review: Finely tuned sequel with long-lasting battery life

OnePlus Watch 2 is a finely tuned sequel to the original OnePlus Watch (1st Gen). It has premium build quality, a super simple interface, reliable trackers to monitor heart rate, and sleep pattern, and most importantly excels in delivering long-lasting battery life.

Despite its attractive design, the first-generation OnePlus Watch (launched in 2021) failed to impress users. The culprit? A custom version of WearOS (called RTOS) that lacked functionality and unreliable fitness tracking sensors.

Now, after more than two years, OnePlus has come up with the Watch 2 series. It has a new visually appealing design language. It is made of premium materials and promises to deliver better performance in terms of battery life, and improved health tracking capabilities. Does it live up to the hype? let's check it out.

Design and build quality

OnePlus Watch 2 flaunts a classical round dial design with a high-grade stainless steel case and features an aqua-bluish fluoro rubber-based strap with stainless steel buckle. The colour scheme has some resemblance to the company's premium OnePlus 12's flowy emerald colour variant.

The company offers it two models- radiant steel and black steel- in one size. Our review unit is the former.

Big improvements in the Watch 2 include MIL-STD-810H military-grade certification. This means it can operate in extreme conditions with temperatures ranging from 55 degrees Celsius to -4 degrees Celsius.

OnePlus Watch 2 series.

Add to that, it has IP68 water-and-dust-proof and 5ATM ratings. It can withstand water pressure up to 50 meters (approx. 164 feet) underwater, and this comes in handy for users, who like to track the number of laps in a swimming pool and even go for scuba diving without any fear of watch suffering any water damage.

The device features two physical side buttons, one acts as a home button and another can be programmed to trigger any app such heart rate reader or turn on a workout. By default, the second button triggers the workouts app.

On the front, it sports a 1.43-inch AMOLED display with 466 x 466p resolution and a pixel density of 326ppi (pixels per inch). The screen is protected by scratch scratch-resistant 2.5D sapphire glass shield. So, the screen, as you can has remained scratch-free and I hope to keep it that way for a long time.

The big display is really good and bright. One need not have to squint or bring the watch closer to the face to view content such as weather forecasts, time or messages. It supports a peak brightness of 600 nits, which is more than enough to read messages on the screen outdoors under direct sunlight.

OnePlus Watch 2 series.

It also supports the Always-on Display option. However, it will have an impact on the battery life.

Also, it is easy to scroll the finger on the touchscreen to navigate through the user interface. The only qualm is the watch doesn't come in a smaller size. The massive screen may come off as too big for some people with puny wrists.

User interface and performance

It is easy to set up the Watch 2. The device owner just has to install the OHealth (OnePlus Health) app on their Android device. And, it barely takes 10-15 minutes to complete the pairing process.

OnePlus Watch 2 pairing process.

The company offers several colourful watch faces to choose from and all are good. The user interface is simple; even non-tech-savvy senior citizens can get the hang of the UI of the OnePlus Watch 2 in a few hours of usage. It has 2GB RAM and 32GB storage to store songs.

The new OnePlus Watch 2 is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon W5 chipset and comes with standard sensors such as Accelerometer, gyro, barometer, compass, heart rate tracker, and SpO2 (blood-oxygen saturation) reader.

OnePlus Watch 2 supports numerous colourful watch faces.

It runs on Google Wear OS 4-based RTOS and supports more than 100 workout modes including automatic workout detection (six types: running, walking, cycling, swimming, rowing machine, elliptical machine).

It can also track the user's sleep pattern (including deep sleep, light sleep, REM and awake times, sleep breathing rate), heart rate, and SpO2 (blood-oxygen saturation).

All health-related information can be viewed on the OHealth app. The latter presents the data in easy-to-understand colourful graphics. The device can also track the snoring too, but you have to activate it on the OHealth app.

Health data tracked by OnePlus Watch 2 will be available on OHealth app.

Just open the OHealth app >> Sleep pattern>> scroll down to find 'Monitor snoring' >> Assess breathing problems. The app runs a special algorithm to assess snoring issues by tracking heart rate variability (HRV), SpO2 and breathing patterns. If it notifies you about a snoring issue, you go for a medical check-up and take remedial measures as suggested by the professional doctor.

Health data tracked by OnePlus Watch 2 will be available on OHealth app.

OnePlus Watch 2 is compatible with a phone with Android 8 (or newer versions), and comes with a microphone to support voice calling. It also supports Wi-Fi and NFC (Near Field Communication).

Google is expected to enable Google Wallet for Wear OS devices in India sooner or later. This will allow users to make payments via Google Pay by just taking the wrist near the PoS (Point-of-Sale) device.

OnePlus Watch 2 series.

It houses a 500mAh battery and can deliver up to 4 days (100 hours) under normal usage. However, if you are an avid runner or outdoor junkie and use GPS too often throughout the day, the Watch 2 can last for two days. This is such a value addition and users don't have to worry about charging it every night, which is a pain point of Apple Watch and other Android-based smart wearables too.

OnePlus Watch 2 series.

The company has incorporated a special BES 2700 efficiency processor to make Watch 2 last longer up to 12 days if it is used with Power Saver Mode.

Also, like the OnePlus phones, the new Watch 2 supports fast charging. The company offers free charger with the retail box. It can charge the device from zero to 50 per cent capacity in around 15 minutes. It can reach the 100 per cent market in around 45-50 minutes.

OnePlus Watch 2 series.

Final thoughts

OnePlus Watch 2 is a finely tuned sequel to the original OnePlus Watch (1st Gen). It has premium build quality, a super simple interface, a reliable tracker to monitor heart rate, and sleep pattern and most importantly excels in delivering long-lasting battery life.

It is available in two colours-- black steel and radiant steel-- for Rs 24,999.

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