OnePlus Watch round-up

Until recently, OnePlus was mainly known for making smartphones. They however recently decided to join wearable market, firstly with the OnePlus Band, but also with a watch, after years of rumours. That watch is named OnePlus Watch, is the first smartwatch OnePlus ever made, and will be presented to the public on March 23rd, alongside the OnePlus 9-series.

In August 2020, the first details appeared, hinting that OnePlus may come with a smartwatch. 91Mobiles discovered that the Watch was registered at Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority. TechRadar claimed that they have spoken with an ex-employee, who allegedly said OnePlus is again working on a smartwatch. We are saying again, because back in 2015, OnePlus had plans to develop a smartwatch, but never released it.

The OnePlus Watch was certified at a Malaysian website called "SIRIM", showing the model name "W301GB".

On the 12th of March, OnePlus posted a teaser on Twitter and on their forums, confirming with a tease that that their first smartwatch is coming, along with the announcement of the OnePlus 9-series on the 23rd of March.

Specifications

Back in January, we wrote an article about the OnePlus Watch already, showing renders of the wearable. The renders were found by Ishan Agarwal in the OnePlus Health application, which earlier appeared in the Google Play Store, showing a round design. Back then, we wrote that the OnePlus Watch may not run WearOS, which now has been confirmed by Pete Lau, the CEO of OnePlus. The OnePlus Watch will run a "smart wear operating system developed based on RTOS because we believe it provides you a smooth and reliable experience while offering a great battery life, covering some of the biggest concerns we've been hearing from people looking to buy a smartwatch."

Pricebaba, which published an article in collaboration with Ishan Agarwal, mentioned the key specifications of the OnePlus Watch. According to him, the Watch will feature a 46mm dial, supports Warp Charge and contains a SpO2 sensor to measure the amount of oxygen in blood. There will be two colour variants: silver and black. The OnePlus Watch will also feature an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. Furthermore, the Watch supports several features, such as automatic work detection, swimming mode, sleep tracking, heart rate monitoring, stress monitoring, and as earlier mentioned, a SpO2 sensor.

The Watch will also make it possible to make and answer calls, display notifications, and control music on your smartphone. Likewise, you will also be able to use the watch as a remote controller for your OnePlus TV.  Just like all smartphones released since the 6T McLaren and some of OnePlus' earbuds, you will be able to charge the watch by Warp Charge. According to Ishan Agarwal, one 20 minutes charge should last for a week. The smartwatch has 4GB of storage.

Almost a week before the announcement, Pete Lau posted a thread on the OnePlus forums, revealing a few things about the OnePlus Watch. In this thread, he doesn't only confirm that the Watch will be announced on the 23rd - he also confirms that the Watch will support "connectivity between OnePlus smartphones, audio peripherals, smartwear devices, and even OnePlus TVs, making smart control over all these devices simple and intuitive". Another nice hint is that OnePlus plans to release this watch at an affordable price point.

On the 19th of March, Unbox Therapy suddenly posted a render of the OnePlus Watch, once confirming the rounded model. The strap seems to be made of silicone. In the render we can see that the watch has two buttons on the side.

To sum it up, below are the specs of the OnePlus Watch