One Plus Watch 2 Review

I’ve used a ton of smart watches over the past few years, and when One Plus offered me the chance to look at the One Plus Watch 2, I jumped at the opportunity right away! I was super excited to try out a non-Apple watch for once, but after seeing the reviews of the companies first watch, my enthusiasm died.

The One Plus Watch launched with a ton of issues, and some of the biggest tech names in the industry all came to the same conclusion – the watch fell short of what One Plus was probably trying to achieve, and there were a ton of better options out there. Still, I went into my review process with an open mind – after all, it had been a while since I used an Android Watch, and I was also just coming off my review of the One PLus 12R Genshin Impact phone. Let quickly look into a few box-noted features of the watch!

• durable stainless steel chassis and sapphire crystal cover for superior durability
• dedicated action button highlights the One Plus commitment to utilizing design to make your life easier by providing fast and seamless workout tracking
• before you strap on a OnePlus Watch 2, it goes through military-grade testing to ensure it can handle all the dirt, sweat, stress, and strain that come with an active lifestyle.
• Water resistant up to 50m, and dust resistant as well
• 100+ hours of light use, 48 hours of heavy use

I was instantly impressed with how the watch looks and feels. Some people don’t like the look of many smart watches as they look too much like smart watches and not enough like a standard classic watch. This looks like standard watch, with the large round face and limited buttons on the outside. It is a little disappointing that this watch doesn’t come in a smaller size for those that wanted a slightly smaller build. I have a fat arm, so it looks fine on me. It did look a little ridiculous on my wife, however. I was also very impressed with the build quality of the watch.

There are a ton of great features in the One Plus Watch 2, and after just a few days I was really impressed with what the company was doing with their second watch. Critical feedback was taken and received, and improvements were made. You can find a ton of opinions on the internet about this watch, and they all generally praise the same things. For me, the most impressive aspect of this watch is the battery life. 

For me, watch battery life is king. The longer the watch can last, the more I’m going to like it. I’m a classic forgetful individual, so when I take off my Apple Watch after about 36 hours to charge it, I often forget it on the charger for multiple days before remembering to put it back on. That happened with the One Plus Watch 2 as well, but I was using it for almost 5 straight days in most situations before I had to worry about plugging it in. And the fast charger included in the box got that job done in about 45 minutes.

But this watch isn’t just about battery life. A long lasting watch is still only as good as the apps it provides and the features it has. Thankfully, One Plus Watch 2 is using Wear OS, which is a HUGE improvement over the original. The variety of available apps is also great, powered of course by Google software products. One of the built in apps I was really impressed with was the One Plus sleep tracking.

The sleep tracking was actually pretty solid. There were a few instances where the ‘time to sleep’ information wasn’t very accurate at all, which did make me wonder about the other stats I was being provided like REM, deep sleep, light sleep, etc. However, when I felt that I slept poorly, the watch data always confirmed that feeling. So it must have been doing something right!

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I’m also a fan of the built in fitness tracking. I did a ton of walking and running with this device, as well as some sports like basketball and soccer. The watch seemed to track my activity failry well, and I love the activity tracker screen that quickly shows you a variety of different things you can try to accomplish each day like fitness time, steps, etc.

There are things that some watch users might want but won’t get. There is no blood pressure tracking in this watch, no fall detection, and no LTE. It’s worth looking at the fine print of the device to see if there is a feature you want that One Plus isn’t providing. I think we might see these things in their next iteration, but from my vantage point, it sounds like One Plus has made massive steps over their original watch.

The best compliment I can give this watch is that it will become my new daily, at least for the next little while. I love the way it feels, how it interacts with my phone, and how useful it is to me as I go about my daily acitivites.