MWC saw the unveiling of the OnePlus Watch 2 – a second attempt at the smartwatch game from OnePlus, this time with Wear OS on board.
I’m sure OnePlus representatives are sick of hearing about the utter flop that was the OnePlus Watch – but it really was biblically bad. But this time it’s come back with something that – on paper – is much better.
OnePlus has opted to put Wear OS 4 on board, and it’s run with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 5 processor, paired up with a secondary co-processor that guns for unprecedented battery life.
It can last 100 hours on a single charge – over four days. That’s strong for a fully featured Wear OS watch, and something we’re sure could lure previously unconvinced shoppers to jump into smartwatches.
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We got the OnePlus Watch 2 on our wrists at MWC 2024, and found a slick experience and a premium design.
The design retains many hallmarks from the original watch, including the stainless steel case and rounded, flowing edges. It’s 46mm, so it’s pretty masculine, and ours had a textured fluororubber strap.
We had a quick cycle through the supplied watch faces, and the selection was pretty bland, but luckily it’s easy to grab third-party ones on Wear OS.
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It has a digital crown at the 2 o’clock position, but it’s a simple pusher and doesn’t scroll. The screen is AMOLED and 1.43 inches – with a chunky 466x466 resolution.
The key spec is the 100 hours of battery life, aided by the 500mAh battery. That estimate does mean the always-on display is turned off, but it does include 30 minutes of GPS usage per day.
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The “heavy use” estimate including having the co-processor turned off and using third-party watch faces is still 48 hours – and we’d expect that most people will get three days out of the OnePlus Watch 2. All of this will be stringently tested in our upcoming review.
Wareable says
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Offering 100 hours of battery life on a full-fat Wear OS watch feels like a big step forward. Battery life has been holding smartwatches back, and it's the single biggest criticism I hear from non-converts about why they'd never wear a wearable.
And those smartwatches that do offer over a week between charges can’t offer features such as full-fat apps, premium services such as Google Maps, or contactless payments. That’s now changed.
While 100 hours might not seem like much, it’s an end to battery anxiety. We’ve found that going to the Apple Watch Ultra from the regular Series 9 – and there’s no going back after.
Wear OS is now a mature OS that’s receiving decent support from Google. And the OnePlus Watch 2 looks great on paper.
But whether the OnePlus can excel in elements such as sleep tracking, health monitoring, and workout accuracy – those judgments are very much being saved for our full review.
How we test
James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.