OnePlus has recently unveiled the “R version” of its second-generation smartwatch, the Watch 2. Dubbed the OnePlus Watch 2r, this smartwatch is an upgraded version that is offered as a more affordable alternative to the high-end OnePlus Watch 2. While some high-end features such as sapphire crystal protection and military-grade durability have been omitted, the Watch 2r doesn’t compromise on the essentials. Have these cost-saving measures affected the overall functionality of the smartwatch? Let’s find out:
Design
The OnePlus Watch 2r features an all-aluminum frame with a circular design and smooth texture. Despite its thick appearance, the frame doesn’t add much weight, ensuring a comfortable wearing experience. The bottom of the watch, which houses the health sensors and magnetic charging pins, is made of plastic but has a glass-like finish that feels premium. The front of the smartwatch is equipped with a glass back that encases the 1.43-inch display, surrounded by noticeably thick bezels. The bezel, designed with a dual-tone aesthetic and stopwatch-style numbers in grey on the black ring, adds a sporty flair to the watch.
The watch comes with 22mm straps made from high-quality rubber, which are comfortable and provide a premium feel. Since the OnePlus Watch 2r uses the same strap size as the OnePlus Watch 2, users can easily swap them out for straps designed for the higher-end model.
As for durability, the OnePlus Watch 2r features an IP68 rating, offering protection against dust and water ingress, as well as water resistance up to 5 ATM. While it lacks a stainless steel body and sapphire crystal protection, the watch is still robust and offers impressive scratch resistance.
Overall, the OnePlus Watch 2r is comfortable to wear all day, thanks to its balanced weight distribution and soft rubber straps. However, the thicker frame may not be ideal for users with smaller wrists.
Show
The OnePlus Watch 2r sports a 1.43-inch AMOLED display with a 466 x 466 resolution. While the screen size is adequate for most tasks, the thick bezels detract from the overall viewing experience. However, the display offers vibrant colors and works well in outdoor conditions, offering ample brightness. The auto-brightness feature works smoothly, adjusting the brightness level based on the environment. The display runs at a 60Hz refresh rate, ensuring smooth animations and sliding tiles. Additionally, the watch includes an Animation Booster option within the settings, which improves the fluidity of live watch faces. The always-on display feature also offers smooth transition effects from select watch faces, adding to the overall visual appeal.
Software
The OnePlus Watch 2r is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 chip paired with a BES2700 efficiency chip, allowing it to run on a dual operating system. In Smart Mode, the watch runs on Google WearOS, allowing compatible apps to run and providing access to advanced features. When switched to Power Saving Mode, it switches to a real-time operating system (RTOS), which conserves battery life while still handling essential tasks like health and fitness monitoring, media control, and Bluetooth calling.
The RTOS operating system works well on the smartwatch, offering an easy-to-use and easy-to-navigate interface. However, there is a slight delay when opening menus or scrolling through tiles. It is also worth noting that while switching to power saving mode is straightforward, the smartwatch requires a reboot to return to smart mode, which takes a few seconds.
Calls and Bluetooth compatibility
The smartwatch is equipped with a built-in microphone and speakers for making Bluetooth calls via a connected smartphone. While the microphone offers impressive voice reception, the built-in speakers are not sufficient and the volume during calls is low. This can make it difficult to receive calls on the watch in outdoor or noisy environments.
The OnePlus Watch 2r is compatible with all Android smartphones. During testing, it was paired with a OnePlus smartphone, a Samsung smartphone, and a Google Pixel smartphone, providing a consistent experience across all devices. However, pairing with a OnePlus device offers some exclusive features, such as automatic syncing of smartphone alarms with the watch’s alarm app.
Companion App
The OHealth companion app is simple and easy to use. It offers a quick overview of your health and fitness data on the home screen, with more detailed information available in specific sections. The app also offers customization and control options for the watch, such as swapping watch faces, managing notifications, organizing tiles, and installing apps on the watch remotely.
It should be noted that the app does not offer any fitness training features and does not allow users to download health and fitness metrics data to share with third-party training apps.
Health and physical activity tracking
The OnePlus Watch 2r offers all the essential health monitoring features such as heart rate monitoring, stress tracking, SpO2 measurement, and sleep tracking. These features are easily accessible right on the watch. However, there is no overarching score or metric that consolidates the data to provide a comprehensive health overview. While the OHealth app allows users to view these individual metrics side-by-side, the addition of a daily health score or summary report would have been a valuable feature.
In contrast, fitness tracking is more advanced. The watch includes several exercise modes, including outdoor running, indoor running, walking, jumping rope, swimming, and more, along with dedicated sports modes for activities like football, basketball, badminton, table tennis, and others. During testing, the amount of data available on the watch for certain tracking modes like Outdoor Running was impressive. Metrics like average and maximum heart rate, heart rate zones, stride length, vertical oscillation, ground contact time (GCT), balance, and even GCT-based skewed foot can all be viewed on the watch. However, these metrics are easier to interpret in the companion app, which presents them in bar graphs, while the watch displays them in a chart that can be harder to read. Additionally, the route map for Outdoor Running, based on GPS tracking, is only visible in the app, not on the watch.
OnePlus has optimized some of the sports tracking modes quite well. For example, in Badminton mode, the watch records swing speed, overhands, rally time, and more. However, some sports modes, such as Football, are more basic and only record fundamental data like calories burned and heart rate.
Battery
The OnePlus Watch 2r is equipped with a 500mAh battery. While the company claims the battery lasts up to four days, actual performance depends on usage and the number of features enabled. In Smart Mode, with all tracking and notification features active, the Watch 2r managed to last up to day three with some battery left. However, using features like Enhanced Location Accuracy and extended periods of dedicated sports tracking may shorten battery life.
As for charging, the Watch 2r takes about 50 minutes to fully charge. It also supports fast charging, allowing the watch to reach 40 percent in just over 10 minutes.
Verdict
The OnePlus Watch 2r doesn’t miss out on much despite being a more affordable smartwatch in the OnePlus Watch 2 series. It offers a durable design, a quality display, satisfying performance, and a long-lasting battery. These features make the Watch 2r a reliable smartwatch for everyday use. However, for those looking for more advanced health or fitness tracking capabilities, there are other alternatives available on the market.
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