OnePlus
At first glance, it looks like the Apple Watch has a worthy competitor in the new OnePlus Watch. For starters, it has an elegant circular screen that looks more like a traditional wristwatch than the square Apple Watch. It also shares many of the same health features as the $ 400 Apple Watch Series 6, including SPO2 (or blood oxygen) tracking and high heart rate alerts, but it costs $ 160. The OnePlus watch is up to $ 40 cheaper than the Apple Watch Series 3, which has a starting price of $ 200.
But even with all these features and a cheaper price, the OnePlus Watch has a big gap that prevents it from competing in the same league as the Apple Watch. It is not yet compatible with the iPhone.
IOS compatibility: is it worth the wait?
OnePlus says that iOS compatibility is coming to the clock in the future, but we don’t know exactly how it will work. Apple supports pairing non-Apple wearables with the iPhone, but the experience is not the same as using the Apple Watch.
OnePlus
Fitbit, Samsung and One Plus watches, for example, allow you to respond to notifications and receive calls on Android, but iPhone users cannot even send an emoji with their thumbs up on their wrist, let alone answer a quick call, unless they have an Apple Watch. One of the main benefits of having a smartwatch is the ability to look quickly and respond to notifications on your wrist, otherwise, you can wear a simple fitness bracelet.
You may also be limited when it comes to other connectivity options, like LTE. The Apple Watch has a version with integrated LTE so you can use your watch regardless of the phone, while the OnePlus Watch only has one WiFi model.
Interestingly, I also found that non-Apple watches don’t sync as fast when connected to iOS compared to the Apple Watch.
Compared specifications
If you’re willing to ignore compatibility deficiencies in iOS in favor of the cheaper price and longer battery life, there are other things to consider.
In terms of design, it is a matter of preference. Do you like square or circular watchfaces? Both have AMOLED screens, but screen brightness is just as important and we haven’t seen the OnePlus in action yet, so we can’t say if it’s as bright as the newest Apple Watch.
The other design factor is the size. While the Apple Watch offers a choice of 40 and 44 mm, the OnePlus Watch only comes with a 46 mm dial option with a black bezel, which can overwhelm smaller wrists. Both have interchangeable watch straps.
Accuracy in tracking health and fitness is TBD
Both watches monitor your pace, distance and heart rate with integrated GPS and water resistance, so you can use them to track swimming. OnePlus Watch offers more than 100 different training options compared to more than 40 on the Apple Watch. There’s even a parkour option that you won’t find on the Apple Watch.
Health resources look similar. Both have high heart rate alerts, monitor blood oxygen levels and monitor sleep. The OnePlus also uses heart rate to monitor stress, which the Apple Watch doesn’t use, but it doesn’t have an electrocardiogram like the one you’ll find at the top of the Series 6 line.
But Apple has a good track record of validating its health and fitness capabilities, including the FDA’s release for the ECG app. The OnePlus Watch is completely new to the space and will require testing and validation, both from reviewers and medical associations.
OnePlus watch is missing music
If music is mandatory on your smartwatch, the Apple Watch takes the crown. You can stream Apple Music or Spotify on the LTE version of the Apple Watch, or store music from your own library for offline listening, with storage capacity varying by version. If you want to listen to music on your OnePlus watch, you will need to pre-charge it. It has 2 GB of storage, which is good for about 500 songs.
Unbeatable battery life on the OnePlus watch
OnePlus is the clear winner when it comes to battery life, claiming two weeks in duration before needing a charge. Obviously, this must also be seen with a grain of salt until we can do our own tests, but even if the OnePlus Watch delivers only half of what it promises, it is still miles ahead of any Apple Watch that lasts a day and a half on best case. The Apple Watch also takes 1.5 to 2 hours to reach a full charge, while OnePlus says that your watch can get an entire week of charge in 20 minutes.
The jury is still decided
Even with iOS compatibility, the OnePlus Watch has a lot to prove. On paper, it looks like a worthy rival for the Apple Watch, but we won’t know how well it executes all its promises until we test it for ourselves. Meanwhile, the $ 200 Apple Watch Series 3 remains the best budget option for iPhone users.