[ad_1]
In the world of smart health connected watches, Apple reigns supreme. Not many Android smartphone manufacturers are trying to find a place in this complicated market, leaving a gap for Samsung, Huawei and Fitbit, the main manufacturers of smart health connected watches today.
Recently, Chinese brands have also started to take an interest in smart health connected watches. Xiaomi got down to it at a knockdown price, OnePlus is preparing for it while, at Oppo, we are once again trying to conquer the market with a high-end product. The Oppo Watch, which can easily be described as an “Apple Watch clone”, plays the quality card. What is it really ? We tested its 46 mm version without 4G, marketed at 349 euros.
Quality design
Often, the trade press has called the Oppo Watch “Apple Watch with a curved screen”. The reality is a little more disappointing. The 46mm screen of the Chinese watch only has a very slight curvature, which is not very impressive once the watch is hung on its wrist. On the contrary, and to our disappointment, the Oppo Watch’s unsymmetrical borders severely reduce the quality of its design. Indeed, the “chin” of the watch is thicker than the other borders, which is not very pretty. Once we realize it, it’s impossible not to notice it every time you use the watch. It’s a shame.
Beyond this detail, considered a defect by our somewhat manic gaze, we grant you, we must recognize that Oppo has particularly taken care of its watch. The Oppo Watch takes the rectangular face of the Apple Watch, uses a ceramic case, hides its heart rate sensor in a circle on the back of the case… It’s really very pretty, even if it reminds us strongly of Apple.
At such a level of resemblance, it cannot indeed be a simple inspiration, it is pure copy. The only difference is that the rotating crown, probably for legal reasons, is not present on this Oppo Watch. Instead, there are two side buttons. Navigation therefore necessarily passes through the touch screen.
WearOS: a well-designed interface
Oppo’s watch uses Google’s WearOS operating system, in addition to a house overlay customizing the interface. At the top of the hour, there is quick access to the settings. At the bottom, you can consult its notifications. On the left, a Google menu allows you to talk to the Assistant while on the right, maps allow you to view your sports activity, heart rate or last sleep tracker. Everything is rather responsive even if, too often, we have some slowdowns when going from one menu to another (the aging Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor is probably for something).
On the right of the screen, we therefore have access to two side buttons. The top one allows you to return to the health home screen and access its application grid (and the Play Store to download new ones), the lower one allows you to start a sports session using the ” Sport ”from Oppo.
Sport tracking saved by Google
The Oppo Watch is a … bipolar watch. It has many duplicate applications with, each time, the Oppo version and the Google version. In the case of sport for example, the offer proposed by the Chinese manufacturer borders on the ridiculous. Only five activities are offered (walking, fitness running, running to burn fat, outdoor cycling and swimming) while a second application called “5 minutes” offers five video exercises. The watch then begins to speak (in English) and a sports teacher shows you what to do on the small dial. The concept is fun but, again, five events seem too few to us. The “Activity” application, from Oppo, also allows you to know the number of calories expended during the day thanks to a system of colored bars, not at all modeled on Apple’s rings, no no.
At Google, we have access to the entire Google Fit ecosystem. Hundreds of activities are on the program and everything is easily synchronized with your Android smartphone (or iPhone if you have the application). Most of the time, it was this system that we used on each release, as Oppo’s supply was too low. The only negative point is that you need several applications on your smartphone to fully use your Oppo Watch. HeyTap Health for Oppo apps (only available on Android), Google Wear for watch sync and Google Fit for Google sport sync (Android and iOS).
A fairly complete watch …
Among the other capabilities of the Oppo Watch, the sleep tracking was the one that we were most satisfied with. There is nothing to activate, just keep your watch on when going to sleep (the next day, we then have a report detailing wakefulness, light sleep and deep sleep). Heart rate monitoring is also accurate although sometimes there are strange stalls (you lose 30 bpm for half a minute before returning to normal). The watch is certified waterproof, has a speaker and microphone for calls, can receive notifications from your smartphone and allows you to pay with Google Pay using NFC. There is nothing to say, the Oppo offer is quite comprehensive. This is a real smart health connected watch.
… But a disastrous autonomy
Unfortunately, and yet this is an essential point, autonomy is not at all at the rendezvous of this Oppo Watch. In fact, we have never seen a smart health connected watch so poorly enduring. During our first days with the device, we had the naivety to activate the “screen always on” mode to always have the time displayed on the screen.
As a result, at around 5 p.m., the watch was turned off (at 5% battery power, it only offers to read the time, to consult its number of steps and no longer receives notifications). By turning off the always-on screen, we saw some improvements. We then had 30% of battery left at 5 pm and the fateful threshold of 5% was reached the next day when we woke up. In other words, it is battery enough for a day of use and a measure of sleep. Then, it must be loaded. By doing a one-hour workout during the day, forget about sleep tracking. You will have to put it in the charger before going to sleep.
Regarding charging, it is not very well designed. You must carry a proprietary base that uses magnetic terminals to power the watch. We would have preferred a classic Qi compatibility to be able to place it on the back of his phone, or even a charging cradle with USB-C port as with Huawei. Allow a little over an hour to fully charge the Oppo Watch.
[ad_2]
