OnePlus Watch 2 Arrives With Dual Flagship Chipsets Powered By Wear OS
In collaboration with Google's Wear OS team, OnePlus's brand new Watch 2 has become the first Wear OS 4 smartwatch that leverages the full capabilities of Wear OS' baked-in ability to utilize a low-powered MCU (microcontroller unit) along with the main performance-oriented AP (application processor). When in efficiency mode, similar to always-on displays on phones, the MCU on the Watch 2 allows users to view time, date, basic health metrics (e.g. heart rate, steps, SpO2, etc.), and even view and respond to notifications. Only when the wearer demands more power-hungry tasks will the AP (and thus, Wear OS) be immediately woken up.
Prior to this, only the Mobvoi's Ticwatch Pro series has had a very similar capability. The Snapdragon W5 Plus-powered Pro 5, launched in May 2023, runs the older Wear OS 3.5, but has a low-powered secondary backlit LCD display layered over its main AMOLED panel. The LCD also runs RTOS but stops short at handling notifications of any kind. Battery life for the Pro 5 has been clocked at more than 4.5 days on average (108 hours).
Nonetheless, OnePlus is very proud of this hybrid-power in its latest wearable. It also helps that the specs are solid with Snapdragon W5 AP and BES 2700 MCU, 500mAh battery pack, 2GB RAM/32GB ROM, NFC for wireless payment and Google Wallet passes, 2.5D sapphire crystal over the 1.43-inch OLED (466 x 466 resolution), and 24mm swappable PU band.
Unfortunately, some downers are its large size, so it might look ungainly on users with narrow wrists, plus what looks like a usable rotating top crown for navigation is merely a button.
The Watch 2 is up for order right now at $300 with some early bird specials and trade-in discounts. Customers will start receiving them beginning March 4, in North America anyway.
