The news were making rounds that Oppo was working on a wearable with more than a passing similarity to the Apple Watch, but now the Oppo Watch has been publicized in full, together with the Oppo Find X2, and the wearable comes complete with a sharp and large OLED screen.
The largest, 46mm model has a 473 x 402 resolution and 326 pixels per inch and display is 1.91 inches. For contrast, the largest Apple Watch 5 model has a 1.78-inch screen with a 448 x 368 resolution. However, there is also a smaller 41mm Oppo Watch model with a 1.6-inch, 360 x 320 screen.
Yet, at the top end the Oppo Watch is larger and has a greater resolution than the Apple Watch 5, while maintaining a similar design, complete with a squared screen with curved glass, and an 11.35mm thick stainless steel or aluminum frame.
It’s also water-resistant up to 50 meters, supports cellular connectivitu through an eSIM and it also has a heart rate monitor.
The battery is 300mAh in the 41mm model and 430mAh in the 46mm model, and can actually last 40 hours of normal use, which sounds like a good average amount, but turn to power-saving mode and Oppo claims it’ll go for up to 21 days. This mode will show notifications, but switch off most of the smart features.
And charging the watch up should be quick, with the company claiming it can go from 0% to 100% in 75 minutes, or from zero to 46% (seemingly enough for a day of life) in only 15 minutes.
The software could be alluring for some customers, as this doesn’t run Wear OS or any of the other main smartwatch platforms. Instead, it runs Oppo’s own ColorOS Watch software. This is built on Android, though – like the hardware – it has some resemblance to what you’ll get in the Apple Watch.
Still, we’re not sure of the software’s full abilities, but it can do common stuff like control music playback and track sleep and exercise.
Strangely, the Oppo Watch is powered by the Snapdragon Wear 2500 chipset, which isn’t one of the most potent smartwatch chipsets, but then perhaps lots of power isn’t required with Oppo’s OS. There’s also 8GB of storage and 1GB of RAM in all versions.
The remaining question is if and when you’ll be able to buy the Oppo Watch, and how much for. Today’s promotion was only for China, where it will start at around $215 (£165 / AU$325), but don’t expect a precise conversion when it launches somewhere else.
Oppo has said that its watch will arrive to Europe at an advanced date, so those in the UK at least will possibly be able to buy it without importing it, but we’re not certain when.
It’s possible that it will come in May, as that’s when the Oppo Find X2 is set to land in the United Kingdom – a phone with a 6.7-inch 1440 x 3168 AMOLED screen, a triple-lens camera, a Snapdragon 865 chipset and 12GB of RAM. In any case, we’ll inform you once we learn more about the Oppo Watch’s availability.
