With impressive battery life and a wealth of health and fitness features, the Oppo Watch X2 won’t leave you running on empty.
Like smartphones before them, smartwatches have matured to the point where each new model is an evolution rather than a revolution. They’re all starting to look a bit the same, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Oppo’s initial foray into smartwatches back in 2020 ran Google’s Wear OS, yet bore more than a passing resemblance to the rectangular Apple Watch, which is a pretty common strategy when it comes to Oppo gear.
After four iterations of the Oppo Watch, last year saw the arrival of the Oppo Watch X – leaving behind the Apple Watch styling in favour of a large round face. The result looks more like a traditional watch, not to mention looking similar to most rival Google Wear OS smartwatches such as the Google Pixel Watch 3, Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra and others.
Which brings us to the Oppo Watch X2, adding some premium polish and extending the Watch X’s already impressive battery life in an effort to win pride of place on the wrist of Android smartphone owners.
Table of contents
- First impressions
- Specifications and price
- Features
- Health and fitness
- Who is the Oppo Watch X2 for?
First impressions
Smartwatches are always forced to trade screen real estate against bulk, so the Oppo Watch X2 has done well to fit a slightly larger 1.5-inch display into basically the same body as its predecessor.
It’s actually a fraction thinner at 11.75 mm, which still seems bulky alongside a slimline Apple Watch but is about par for the course when it comes to round Wear OS-based designs.
It’s worth noting that the watch only comes in one body size at 46.6 mm, which might be frustrating if you have slender wrists and were hoping for a smaller option – as with the Google Pixel Watch 3, Apple-esque Oppo Watch 4 and of course the Apple Watch.
The Oppo Watch X2’s stylish design is fairly standard for modern smartwatches, sporting a touchscreen accompanied by a large crown on the top right and secondary button at the bottom right. The slim bezel has 5-minute interval markings, like most watches of this style, but it doesn’t rotate like a high-end diving watch.
Pressing the crown toggles between the watch face and apps, with Apple-esque icons, while you swipe up for notifications, down for the control centre and left-to-right to flick between tiles. Meanwhile, the secondary button jumps you straight to the workout list.
A stainless steel body, titanium alloy bezel and sapphire crystal glass screen ensure IP68 ruggedness which is waterproof down to 50 metres.
There’s a choice of two colours which also determines the band design. Lava Black comes with a sporty fluororubber band, while Summit Blue comes with a premium leather band. I’d argue the fluororubber band doesn’t match the elegance of the watch body. Oppo doesn’t sell extra bands, but you’ll find plenty of third-party options if you’re after something a bit more classy.
The watch comes with a slightly bulky magnetic charger, along with a USB-C to USB-A cable, but as you’d expect there’s no AC charger in the box. There’s no support for standard Qi wireless charging.
Fire up the Oppo Watch X2 and you’re faced with a very impressive LTPO AMOLED display, a step up from the standard AMOLED display on its predecessor.
The screen is capable of producing very deep blacks – helping it look more like a normal watch. It’s bright enough to see in sunlight and automatically dims after dark, but not so aggressively that it’s difficult to read. It has a higher peak brightness at 2200 nits, although it’s only utilised by some workout modes.
Thankfully, you’ve got a decent choice of analogue and digital watch faces, including some elegant analogue options that aren’t too crowded or garish. If you’re not happy with the selection on offer, you can turn to the Google Play store for more options.
The Always-on screen option is disabled by default, you can enable it in the settings, although you’re warned that it reduces the battery life by two days. It’s a sacrifice you might be prepared to make, considering the watch’s excellent battery life and how convenient it is to simply glance at your watch without needing to flick your wrist and wait for it to wake.
Oppo Watch X2 specifications and price
| Display size | 1.5 inch |
| Display resolution | 466 x 466 pixel, 310 PPI |
| Display technology | LTPO AMOLED Brightness: Default maximum: 600 nits High brightness mode: 1000 nits Peak brightness: 2200 nits |
| Body | Stainless steel Titanium Alloy Bezel Sapphire Crystal Glass Bottom Case: Plastic (PA+55%GF) + Glass sensor area |
| Wrist band | Black fluororubber + Stainless steel buckle Wrist Size: 140-210mm |
| OS | ColorOS Watch 7.0 + Wear OS 5.0 |
| Chipset | Processor: Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 Wearable Platform |
| Storage | 2GB RAM + 32GB ROM 4GB EMMC FOR RTOS |
| Connectivity | WiFi 5G/2.4G, 802.11 a/b/g/n Bluetooth 5.2 – classical BT, BLE, Profile HFP v1.6, HSP v1.2, A2DP v1.2, AVRCP v1.5 SPP v1.1 and later version GNSS: Dual band L1 + L5 beidou, GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, QZSS |
| Sensors | Acceleration, gyroscope, optical heart rate sensor, optical pulse, oximeter, geomagnetic, light, barometer, ECG, wrist temperature |
| Battery | 631mAh Standard use in Smart mode: Up to 120 hours Heavy use in smart mode: Up to 72h Power saver mode: Up to 16 days |
| Charging | Fast charging: 10 mins charge for 1 day using Watch VOOC Flash Charge: up to 80 mins |
| Ruggedness | Durability: MIL-STD-810H, 5ATM, IP68 |
| Dimensions | Body: 46.6 (excluding lugs) x 47.6 x 11.75mm (excluding Optical Health Sensor Area) |
| Weight | Body: 49.7 gm Wrist strap: 31.3 gm |
| Colours | Lava Black, Summit Blue |
| Price | $699 RRP |
| Warranty | 2 years |
| Official website | Oppo Australia |
Features
The Oppo Watch X2 runs Google’s latest Wear OS 5.0 operating system, which means if a Google Play app has a watch version then it will likely work here. The watch also runs Oppo’s ColorOS Watch 7.0 interface, similar to Oppo smartphones, which gives the watch an Apple-esque look and feel in places.
This is an all-rounder general health and fitness watch, without the extra focus on outdoor activities offered by the likes of Suunto and Garmin. As you’d expect, it supports Google Wallet for contactless payments and Google Assistant, which you can summon by lifting your wrist, holding the crown or simply saying “Hey Google”.
Setting up the watch with an Android smartphone requires installing the OHealth companion app, which is annoying but thankfully it can sync data with Google Fit. Set up is pretty straightforward after you manage the watch via OHealth.
The watch has a built-in microphone and speaker but surprisingly there isn’t a 4G variant, so the watch is completely reliant on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. This means you can’t use it for phone-like activities such as messaging, calls or streaming music unless your Android phone is nearby.
Also, it lacks Ultra-Wideband, as found in the Pixel Watch 3, which enables precise location tracking with Android’s Find My Device, along with the potential to use the watch to unlock devices like your car.
You do have the advantage of a new low-power GPS chipset and dual-frequency GPS support, which helps extend the battery life. Behind the scenes, the watch also runs both Wear OS and Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS), to help conserve power when you’re not calling on smart features.
Under the bonnet, the Watch X2 retains the Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 Wearable Platform chipset accompanied by 2 GB RAM and 32 GB ROM, along with an upgraded BES2800BP secondary processor.
One of the key improvements over the original Oppo Watch X is a considerably larger battery – jumping from 500 to 684 mAh – which is good considering the original already offered impressive battery life.
As a result of the upgrade, the battery life for standard use in smart mode extends from 100 to 120 hours, or 48 to 72 hours for heavy use. That’s great news if you don’t want to take the charger when you’re only going away for a few days.
A mere 10 minutes of fast charging can provide enough power for a full day of use – which is very useful if you wear the watch for sleep tracking rather than letting it charge on your bedside table.
Health and fitness
When it comes to health, the Oppo Watch X2 packs in all the sensors you’d expect – upgrading to an 8-channel optical heart rate sensor and adding ECG and wrist temperature sensors to bring it into line with rivals.
At this point, the ECG Analyser is not available in Australia, although some of the health assessments can take advantage of it.
A key new feature is the “60-second health checkup”, which measures metrics like heart rate, blood oxygen and wrist temperature to give you an overall wellness assessment including breathing issues, arterial stiffness, vascular age and stress levels.
There’s also the option to assess breathing problems while you sleep, but you need to tighten the wristband to get a good blood oxygen reading, which might be a bit uncomfortable for some people.
While it’s a handy way to assess your vitals in one go, as with any smartwatch, it’s only a guide and you wouldn’t trust it with your life.
The addition of a wrist temperature sensor helps measure stress levels, which is becoming more popular in smartwatches trying to take a more holistic approach to health. Unlike the Pixel Watch 3, it’s not brave enough to tell you to “reflect on your mood” when you get stressed or angry.
You’ve still got high/low heart rate warnings, while the acceleration and gyroscope sensors now support fall detection, which is reassuring for people who live alone.
When it comes to fitness, there’s not much in terms of new exercises compared to the old Watch X. There’s still more than 100 sport modes, including six types of automatic recognition: running, walking, cycling, swimming, rowing machine and elliptical machine.
You do benefit from improved GPS tracking and fitness tracking improvements that come with Wear OS 5.
Put to work at the gym, the Oppo Watch X2 track calories and reps, depending on the exericse. The coloured dial makes it clear when if you need to pick up the pace, ease of or keep going because you’re in the zone. Like most smartwatches, it makes a song and dance when you reach your goals.
Some of the exercises go into impressive detail, for example running includes cadence, stride length, ground contact time, vertical amplitude, vertical stride ratio, left/right ground contact balance and running power.
Admittedly, much of this advanced detail and many of the health and safety features would be overkill for most people. The good news is, unlike some ecosystems, you’re not forced to pay a subscription to access some high-end features.
Who is the Oppo Watch X2 for?
If you’re an Android fan in need of a Wear OS all-rounder then the Oppo Watch X2 smartphone stacks up well against the competition. With extra sensors and improved battery life, it’s certainly a worthy successor to the original Watch X.
The two big shortcomings is that it only comes in one size and there’s no 4G connectivity – if either of these are deal breakers then you’ll want to look elsewhere.
The post Oppo Watch X2 smartwatch review: Keep on ticking appeared first on GadgetGuy.
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