OnePlus released their first ever smartwatch back in April, becoming a competitor in the wearable industry. The company has seen success in recent years with their smartphones, and it has only been seven years since they released their first smartphone, the OnePlus One. So far the OnePlus Watch has not had the best reviews, but it’s also the company’s first smartwatch so they deserve some sympathy. There are a few things OnePlus will have to do to make the OnePlus Watch top competitor in the smartwatch industry.
Hardware
Arguably the biggest complaint about the OnePlus Watch is its size. The watch only comes in one size at 46mm, and for many people, that’s just too big. Not even the Galaxy Watch 3 or the Apple Watch Series 6 are offered in sizes that big. It also doesn’t help that OnePlus only has one size of the silicone band, and no other sizes or styles of the band are offered. If you need to get a shorter band you’d have to contact their customer service.
OnePlus chose to stick with only two buttons and the touch screen for this watch and that’s fine. But compared to the Series 6 and Galaxy Watch 3, you have more options to help operate your smartwatch. Along with the side button, the Series 6 has the digital crown that can be used a button, to scroll and navigate through the watch and more. The Galaxy Watch has two side buttons along with the rotating bezel, where the bezel works similarly to the Apple’s digital crown. If OnePlus could add a scroll piece or some type of alternative piece to a button, that would help navigating through the watch much easier.
Operating System
Similar to how OnePlus has their own Oxygen OS operating system with their smartphones, the company opted to have their own operating system with their watches. Their operating system is a RTOS, real-time operating system, which processes data as it comes in so it moves much faster than an OS like Google’s Wear OS.
One of the drawbacks of using an RTOS is the lack of compatibility, and with the OnePlus Watch it’s not compatible with any third party applications or widgets. Samsung had their own operating system for their smartwatches as well, called Tizen. However, Samsung is ditching Tizen and will use Wear OS for their future watch models. It’ll be interesting to see if OnePlus will stick with their own OS or switch to Wear OS eventually.
Software
As mentioned previously, there is no third-party app compatibility, so you’re limited to the OnePlus Health app. The OnePlus watch will not work with iPhones, so if you’re an iPhone user this watch won’t be for you. This watch is not WiFi/LTE capable, limiting you to only bluetooth connectivity to your phone, and if you want to check weather and related data you’d have to rely on your watch being synced with the phone. There’s no voice assistant even though there’s a microphone and a speaker.
Handling notifications can be frustrating with the OnePlus Watch. You can’t clear notifications with simple swipe gestures, you either have to press clear on each individual notification, or scroll to the bottom of the notifications and clear them all. If you want to reply to messages on the phone, there are only four pre-set replies to choose from: “OK”; “Be right there!”; “In a meeting, contact you later”; and “I’m driving, contact you later.”
With a price tag of $159, you get what you pay for with the OnePlus Watch. It’s definitely much more affordable than the the Series 6 ($399) or Galaxy Watch 3 ($399.99), but you’re very limited to usability and features. If OnePlus is going to stick to using their own OS instead of Wear OS, they need to integrate a lot more compatibility. But the great thing about OnePlus is that they always improve their smartphones, so if they take that approach with their wearables, the future is bright for the OnePlus Watch.
honchohub.com 