OnePlus, a Chinese company known for its phones veloci and from price (at least once) competitive, has finally landed on the SmartWatch, or of the watches with smart functionality e able to connect to the smartphone. We have tried the product in question over the last week, simply called Oneplus watch, and now we're ready to give you our review.
Our OnePlus Watch review
The new wearable device (also called wearable) from OnePlus is not particularly recognizable at a glance. The round shape of the case, without wheels or crowns, is indeed quite enough anonymous. The only logo, with the inscription OnePlus, is engraved on one of the two side buttons. The position of the latter on the right side forces to put the clock on the left wrist, to the detriment of any left-handed users. The case is then available in only one size, the one from 46 millimeters, and may be too large for those with even slightly smaller than average wrists.
Appearance aside, the materials are decidedly premium. The body is in stainless steel e resistant to dust and immersion (until 5 ATM), while the strap is made of a material that does not make the wrist sweat even after hours of use. Despite the use of steel, the reduced thickness results in a low weight, which does not bother during the day.
The screen from 1.39 ", with a resolution of 454 × 454 pixels and a type panel OLED, it is bright enough to be basically always legible, both indoors and outdoors. Despite the OLED technology, however, an Always On watch face cannot be set, that is, with the time always visible. The screen still activates automatically, and quite reliably, by turning the wrist, but only for a maximum of 8 seconds without interactions.
A drum champion
A huge selling point of this device is the battery, both from the point of view ofautonomy that of the recharge. For the first, with a use that is anything but conservative and careful we have far exceeded the 8 days of battery. Autonomy up to 14 days promise from OnePlus is therefore not absolutely unthinkable, with a little forethought.
Even when it is dry, then, you can count on fast charging. The company promises 50% battery in 20 minutes. An estimate that our tests confirm to be extremely accurate, with the total recharge being achieved in just over an hour. Less ideal is the format of the charger: instead of contacts circular, common in other devices, here we find two single point contacts. Alignment is favored by a magnet, but it has to be anyway accurate.
Sport and health
The OnePlus watch can boast a rich collection of sensors. Some, like the gyroscope, accelerometer, barometer and GPS, are very useful for the tracking sports activities. Others, such as the pulse meter, which detects both the heartbeat that l 'blood oxygenation, on the other hand, they are more useful for monitoring the physical state.
Activity tracking works quite well, and you can choose to track dozens and dozens of different activities and disciplines. Less impressive is the integration with other sports services and platforms, nonexistent except for Google Fit. If you are a user of third-party apps, such as Runtastic, you will not be able to benefit from the tracking provided by the watch.
Not very smart
The shortcomings in software and functionality are not limited to the sports part. In fact, the possibility of install third party applications. The twenty apps present, which also include very simple tools such as the compass or the torch (which simply makes the screen white and raises the brightness to maximum), are the only ones present at the moment. Some of these are moreover practically unnecessary: l’app TV Connect, for TV control, it only works with the uncommon TVs from OnePlus, while the app Camera allows you to take pictures on your phone, but only after you have manually opened the application for photos on the latter and necessarily with a timer of 3 seconds.
The lack of external apps makes otherwise interesting features less useful. For example, you can connect a pair of headphones Bluetooth directly to the smartwatch, so you can listen to music even when you don't have your phone with you. Too bad that, not being present the app of services like Spotify o Apple Music, to listen to music is necessary upload individual MP3 tracks from the phone to the watch. Speaking of Apple, then, the use of the smartwatch requires the application OnePlus Health, which is only available for Android. Users iOS therefore they cannot use this device.
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Finally, the management of notifications is particularly criticizes. In many cases, in fact, a notification that has been canceled on the phone will still remain visible on the smartwatch. Also, for messaging applications, support for automatic replies is limited to a few predefined sentences in English, which is not currently possible to customize even from the app.
OnePlus Watch review: our conclusions
The OnePlus wearable is certainly a difficult device to frame. The price of 159€ è economic if we consider the design and materials, as well as i sensors and exceptional battery. On the other hand, considering the lack of particularly advanced smart features andalmost total absence of third-party integrations, there are many less valuable alternatives but that, to a same or lower price, they offer equal or superior functionality. Dedicated updates could alleviate these shortcomings, but this is a possibility, not a guarantee.
So if you are looking for a smartwatch without too many features but which is quite nice to look at and with a lot of autonomy, the OnePlus Watch could be for you. If not, however, we advise you to either move on or wait for any software updates for this device.
PRO
- so much autonomy
- Fast charge
- Materiali premium
- Packed with sensors
- Affordable price
AGAINST
- Few smart features
- Failure to integrate with third party services
- Careless notification management
- Smaller or left-handed sizes are not available
More information available on the official OnePlus website.
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