Updated: The Oppo Watch 41mm review is now live and we've also tested the Oppo Watch 46mm LTE.
The Oppo Watch has been unveiled for the global market, and as expected there are significant changes to the Chinese edition that launched back in March.
The main headline changes are the addition of Wear OS, and Oppo revealed that the Watch won’t be sold directly in the US.
But this is no also-ran. A curved glass display, sleek build, big battery life with fast charging, and strong spec sheet mean there's plenty to be excited about.
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Let's start at the beginning.
The Oppo watch will come in two flavors – 41mm and 46mm – both using the curved glass display that means you get more screen real-estate on your wrist.
The 46mm packs in a gigantic 1.91-inch AMOLED making it one of the biggest smartwatches around in terms of screen size. And the smaller Oppo Watch still packs a 1.6-inch display, so there’s plenty of room for apps and notifications.
The 46mm Oppo Watch will also feature LTE as standard.
Onboard is a PPG sensor, and GPS for outdoor workouts – although the Oppo Watch only tracks five sport profiles natively: outdoor run, cycle, swimming, fat burn and walking.
Sleep tracking is also supported natively too, boosted by the battery life and fast-charging (more on that shortly).
Data is pushed into the HeyTap Health app, although Google Fit is also supported.
Exciting battery life promises
The company switched from its ColorOS to Wear OS to power the Oppo Watch, so you will get access to the Google Play store for third party sports tracking apps and Google Pay.
Powering everything is a Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor, which is already dated thanks to the release of the 4100, but should keep things snappy.
Elsewhere there’s 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, which is pretty much standard in the Wear OS world now.
However, we’re pleased that Oppo has managed to retain battery life promises from the Chinese version of the smartwatch, and this hasn’t been impacted by the switch to Wear OS.
Oppo says the Watch will last two days in standard mode and there’s a power saving setting that can extend battery to 21 days.
Interestingly, the power saver mode still gives you access to heart rate and step data, so your smartwatch can still be useful beyond telling the time.
When it comes to using the GPS, the 46mm should offer 15 hours and the 41mm 10 hours.
And VOOC Flash Charging also makes the cut, which means users get 16 hours of power from just a 15-minute charge.
So let’s talk pricing: the 41mm Oppo Watch is set to cost £229 in the UK, with the 46mm LTE a whopping £329. That means it will be fighting head-to-head with the Apple Watch Series 5 and forthcoming Samsung Galaxy Watch 3.
That's a big price tag, considering that Amazfit and Huawei sell their smartwatches at nearly half that price. Yes, the Oppo Watch looks significantly more premium – although we're still yet to get our hands on a device.
That means we’re looking at roughly $420 in the US – although it won’t be sold there directly by Oppo. We’re sure it will be available via resellers, but that won’t make the cost any more favorable.
And there are also some limitations for iOS users. You can pair the Oppo Watch with an iPhone, but you won’t be able to use LTE on the 46mm version – and calling and answering from the watch itself won’t be available.
It’s top dollar, but there’s still some impressive tech on display here – so the proof will be in the review, which should land in August.
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.