After a rather unsuccessful first version, the OnePlus Watch 2 is back with a well-designed interface, most of the functions for a device of this type and more than four days of battery life. But it singularly lacks personality, does not offer the little extras of its rivals and its heart rate monitor is inconsistent.
WE love
After trying its hand in 2022 with a first watch model equipped with an in-house operating system, OnePlus wisely joined the ranks of Google by using Wear OS for its OnePlus Watch 2. Result: total compatibility with all applications third-party apps like Spotify, WhatsApp, Google Maps and Wallet, Outlook and Flo (for the menstrual cycle), a gargantuan selection of free watch faces and good software stability.
The price to pay: exclusivity with Android devices. iPhone owners, you’re not concerned here, there is no OHealth app – that’s the name of OnePlus’ in-house dashboard – for iOS.
The OnePlus Watch 2 is a round watch, in a stainless steel frame which gives it a robust, almost military appearance. And it is in fact certified to the American military standard MIL-STD-810H and its IP68 water resistance rating guarantees its survival when diving in water to a depth of 1.5 meters for 30 minutes. Compatible for showering, swimming and obviously rain, but not a diving watch.
The 46mm AMOLED color touchscreen – this is the only size offered – is bright with a maximum of 600 nits, ensuring good visibility outdoors in direct sunlight. We don’t have to worry too much about its battery life, at least less than with rival devices from Apple and Samsung: the OnePlus Watch 2 gave us in three weeks of testing more than four consecutive days before needing to be recharged, despite a lot of pitoning and some sporting activities.
Since we’re at it, let’s talk about his abilities as a coach. The watch has two buttons, a round one which allows the selection of all applications and navigation in the menus, and an oblong one at the bottom right dedicated to sports activities. This is where you can choose from around a hundred sports. The watch can even do without its phone since it is packed with sensors and a GPS which allow it to calculate distances, stride, heart rate, ground balance and VO2 Max.
When jogging, cycling, or walking, our three activities tested, we had reliable readings, except for heart rate which sometimes tended to wander and give us stats that were way too high. 175 beats per minute for a smooth start to jogging is impossible. For running pace, the OnePlus Watch 2 even seemed more precise and responsive than our Apple Watch Series 9.
Each sport has its default layout of statistics, which is generally satisfactory and which we can theoretically modify as we wish. We succeeded, but with a lot of trial and error. The new display was well selected in the OHealth app, but took several hours or even a day to get to the watch.
The most effective method, we discovered, was to create a custom stats profile that was immediately displayed on the watch.
It would be tedious to list everything this watch can do. Here is a selection of the functions that seem attractive to us: you can pay at the checkout with Google Wallet, start a timer quite easily, answer the phone on the watch, summon the Google Assistant, control the music, respond to texts with emojis , typed text or dictation, read emails on Outlook, take a look at the weather and, of course, track the number of steps during the day. You can establish your blood oxygen level, a function that has become popular but whose usefulness has yet to be proven. An integrated application also allows you to assess your stress and, if you wear the watch while sleeping, to take stock of the quality and duration of your sleep.
We like less
The menus are very sober, probably too simple, making the OnePlus Watch 2 lack a little charm. And although the dials are numerous, few are configurable in a satisfactory manner. Fortunately, we have our favorite dial in several variations, the multimodular, which allows you to display around ten pieces of information.
The four-day battery life has a little trick: the watch goes to sleep when you remove it. You must therefore wait until it has restarted, for around fifteen seconds, to be able to use it.
At 46 mm and with its chassis, the OnePlus Watch 2 is beefy and will not appeal to those who want a little more finesse on the wrist. And we only offer one size, with two variants in steel or black color.
As mentioned, the heart rate reading sometimes seemed erratic to us. Let us add that this watch does not have fall detection, that we only offer two years of updates,
One buys ?
For the Android phone owner, this is a versatile, overall reliable watch at a reasonable price. It lacks the “oumph” that turns heads and the little distinctive touch to make it a star, but the essentials are already in place.