Oppo Watch Review

Android Wearable market is largely fragmented to a point where it’s tough differentiating fitness bands from watches. This year, however, we have seen some decent WearOS options and Oppo Watch is one of the popular ones.

So, how much of a difference does WearOS make? How much better or worse Oppo Watch is compared to watches with proprietary software like Amazfit Stratos 3 and Huawei Watch GT2? Let’s answer such questions and more in our Oppo Watch review

Oppo Watch India Price and Specs

Model	Oppo Watch 46mm
Display	1.91-inch AMOLED Dual-Curved Display, 402 x 476
Dimensions and Weight	46.0×39.0x11.4mm; 40 grams
Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100 & Ambiq Micro Apollo3 Wireless SoC
Water resistance	5ATM
RAM + Storage	1GB + 8GB
Connectivity	Wi-Fi (2.4GHz), BT 4.2, BLE
NFC	Yes
GPS	Built-in
Software	WearOS and HayTap health app
Sensors	Tri-axial acceleration sensor, Gyroscope sensor, Geomagnetic sensor, Barometric sensor, Optical heartbeat sensor, Capacitance sensor, Ambient light sensor
Battery	430mAh, VOOC fast charging (5V/1.5A)
Price	Rs. 19,990

Oppo review: Design and Display

The Oppo Watch has a luxurious design and we could truly appreciate it only once the watch powered on. That’s because the delightful OLED screen significantly uplifts the look and feel. It’s inky blacks blend with side bezels and the mildly oversaturated color tones work well for the UI.

Oppo Watch retails in two sizes – 41mm and 46mm. We have the 46mm variant with a sizeable 1.91-inch screen that’s sharp and accommodates a lot of information and makes the WearOS more pleasurable to use. Outdoor visibility wasn’t a problem, but we had to adjust brightness manually for best results.

Yes, the dial is rectangular in shape and that should invariably draw comparisons with Apple Watch that popularized the design. This one still retains its distinctness thanks to the curved side edges that gently give way to the aluminum side frame. 

The multi-purpose navigation button and a customizable function button with a green accent are present on the right edge, while speaker slits are present on the left.  To navigate ‘Back’ you will need to swipe from the left edge. 

Most of the underside is plastic with a central ceramic portion where the heart rate sensor resides – and the whole arrangement feels a tad shoddy. The bottom surface won’t be exposed as often, but some might argue that such details can’t be neglected on lifestyle products like watches. Anyways, the bigger peeve point is the proprietary ‘fluororubber’ strap which doesn’t have a clasp, and getting the right fit took some effort.

All said and done, Oppo Watch qualifies as a premium watch that will draw attention. It is also pretty solid – the 46mm variant has Schott Xtension glass protection and enjoys 5ATM water resistance.

Oppo Watch review: Performance, Features and Calling

Oppo Watch is powered by Snapdragon Wear 3100 SoC (in the wear OS mode) and has the minimum 1GB RAM required for the smooth functioning of Wear OS. In the battery saver mode, the Watch is driven by the low power Ambiq Micro Apollo3 chip.

WearOS is what essentially differentiates Oppo Watch from most other affordable and mid-range cross-platform watch options currently available in India. Oppo has left core WearOS features intact and therefore It shouldn’t come as a surprise that it integrates remarkably well with Android phones and adds several useful features over basic watches.

Setting up the Watch is simple. Just download the Google WearOS app and follow the instructions. We went on for quite a while before we realized that Oppo also has its proprietary Heytap health app for the Watch.

The Heytap app is needed to sync notifications from your phone in the power saver mode. It’s better at managing watch faces and also has an interesting AI watch face that conjures a design that matches the clothes you are wearing (slick). The Photo watch face that shows a collection of images from your phone as watch wallpapers can only be customized from HeyTap app.

The more a smartwatch can keep us from pulling our phones from our pockets or even allow us to leave our phone behind (eSIM) every now and then, the better. Oppo Watch manages to shoulder the burden rather well. 

Users have the option to keep track of incoming notifications (and discard them), reply to conversations, and even make (Bluetooth) calls directly from their wrist. If a task warrants a bigger screen, you can simply tap “open on phone” to seamlessly continue on your handset.

The tiny speaker isn’t very loud but the microphone works rather well and the people at the other end didn’t have any issue hearing us. We tend to take calls on Oppo watch more often than we had hoped for. 

The -1 home screen is reserved for Assistant and related tasks – which work remarkably well for basic tasks like calling, alarms, etc. We couldn’t effectively use it to operate our smart home appliances, though.

With left swipes, users can cycle through WearOS tiles and fitness stats. The bottom button can be mapped to any one task from Personalization settings. Notifications can be swiped up from bottom.

Oppo Watch has both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. So, at times when you turn off Bluetooth on your phone, the watch can still continue to sync notifications using Wi-Fi. 

Oppo watch review: Fitness and Sleep Tracking

There aren’t many fitness tracking or workout modes on the Oppo watch, but the default few are thoughtfully designed and cover the needs of most people. These include Fitness run, Fat burn run, outdoor walk, outdoor cycling, and swimming. We tested the Oppo Watch on a 1 KM circuit next to TickWatch Pro 3 and the difference between the recorded readings from the two was nominal.

Users can also access the long list of Google Fit workout modes and challenges from within the watch and also sync their fitness data with Google Fit. 

In our testing, the Oppo Watch felt accurate with recording our daily activity stats and fitness data. The watch has standalone GPS and can also borrow GPS info from the paired phone for faster locking. GPS accuracy is not great though as our routes weren’t mapped as accurately in the Heytap health app and our location was also off. 

While this isn’t a watch we’d normally wear while sleeping, but for the sake of testing, we did wear it to bed twice. Sleep tracking works fine. It must be noted that Oppo records sleep data only from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM so your afternoon naps won’t be recorded. 

Oppo Watch Review: Battery mileage

The 430mAh battery on the Oppo Watch is rated to last for 36 hours with moderate usage. It’s not very difficult to drain the battery in less than a day, but once the dust settles down and you are done exploring and experimenting with the watch, you should be able to get a consistent 1-day mileage or more. 

The best part is that it takes just 15 minutes to charge the battery to 45 percent and around 35 minutes to charge the watch from 15 percent to 100 percent. We usually plug it in before our morning shower and the watch is ready for another day of moderate-to-heavy usage by the time we dress up. 

Smartwatches with proper OS usually don’t offer days or weeks of mileage as fitness wearables or basic watches. So, you’d essentially be sacrificing some mileage for more features. 

Oppo watch also gives you the option to run a basic OS in the battery saver mode where a basic interface is powered by a low-power SoC and the battery can last for around 2 weeks. Users may switch to this battery saver mode to extend usage when they are low on battery and away from the charging point.

The 41mm model comes with a smaller 300mAh battery and the overall mileage should differ accordingly. 

Oppo watch review: Verdicts

Oppo Watch is one of the best smartwatches we have tested this year. It exudes that luxurious feel, is remarkably functional, and performs reliably. It’s particularly deft at handling notifications and has a stunning display. 

Battery backup isn’t stellar, but the excellent power-saving mode that’s powered by a dedicated low-power chipset and VOOC fast charging more than makes up for any deficiency. 

If you are looking for a proper smartwatch experience for your Android phone, Oppo watch is as good as it gets and thus it passes as an easy recommendation. 

Pros

• Premium design
• Stunning display
• Excellent software
• Fast charging

Cons

• Average battery life
• Starp needs improvement