If you’re shopping a full featured smartwatch (especially in North America) chances are pretty good the bulk of sales are going to Apple and Samsung. However, if you want more features than on a fitness tracking watch, there are a handful of other players to consider.

The Other Brands

We’re going to take a look at three players for this comparison:

• The Google Pixel Watch 2 ($349.99/$399.99 LTE)
• The OnePlus Watch 2 ($299)
• The Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro ($349.99)

These are premium options, that each run a full build of Wear OS (built on Android), and are capable of installing a wide variety of apps. They differ from fitness tracking watches in having more robust software and better support for rich notifications and replies. They are more powerful “wrist computers”, but that often means they will get poorer battery life than fitness trackers.

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One Important difference between these solutions and Samsung’s Galaxy Watch line, there are no features locked into one manufacturer’s “ecosystem”. Any feature offered by the watch manufacturer, will be available to the user regardless of what phone is paired with the watch.

Design / Hardware

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A watch needs to fit someone’s specific style. There is no one “correct” answer for which watch is the most stylish or best looking.

 

For my own specific experiences, I’ve gotten more questions about the OnePlus Watch 2 than the other two watches on this list. The silver model is striking, and I had traditional watch straps ready to pair with it. The combo of red leather and silver seems to catch more eyes than any of the rubbery sport bands these watches come with.

It’s a personal preference, but the LOOK of the OnePlus is really well considered. How the case extends to “join” the two offset buttons (almost like a cylinder connecting the two) appeals to me.

The small gripe with OnePlus, the top button LOOKS like it should function as a rotating crown to control the watch, but sadly it just spins in place with no function other than to be pressed.

 

The Pixel Watch 2 is most likely to blend into the sea of other fitness trackers and Fitbits. Built far better than the first Pixel Watch, it still gives me concerns wearing it. The rounded glass is cute, and it presents as a wonderful little “polished stone” on your wrist. Design that reminds me of the Pixel Buds case, but in glass, makes me terrified of accidentally nicking it against objects or scratching it in dirt or on rocks. I spent most of my time with the Pixel Watch 2 encased in a Spigen rubber shield, which certainly detracts from the Watch’s charm, but helped me worry less about durability.

 

A minor gripe with the Pixel Watch 2, wearing it for months (and using its predecessor) the top button above the crown still requires a bit more “touching” than other secondary buttons. The Pixel Watch 2 makes the button more distinctive than its predecessor, but it doesn’t attract your finger as well as the other two watchess in this showdown.

 

The TicWatch is the most “practical” looking of the three. In black steel, it looks like a watch, and wears like a watch, but there’s not much “flash”. Little touches like the edge around the bezel (which looks like TINY little welds) and the red circle on the crown, help as some small highlights.

 

My gripe with the Enduro, the rotating crown does control navigation on the watch, but it sticks out farther than the Pixel’s. Mobvoi has added a little more “buffer” before the crown engages, but it’s still the most sensitive to accidental clicks when bending the wrist up.

Folks with smaller wrists will appreciate the Pixel. Mobvoi and OnePlus wear like larger or bolder watches. Google uses a proprietary system for watch bands, while Mobvoi uses standard 24mm bands, and OnePlus uses 22mm bands.

 

Pixel Watch 2 is made out of Aluminum with a Gorilla Glass face. OnePlus and Mobvoi use steel cases with sapphire crystal faces.

Haptics

A brief note on alerts, OnePlus has the weakest vibrations of the three. I tend to notice the Pixel Watch 2’s alerts more, though I don’t know that the motor is more powerful than the motor in the TicWatch. More, I think Google does a better job tuning those little pulses and flutters that contribute to the “personality” of the watch.

Performance

The nice thing about this comparison today, all three watches use the same main Qualcomm mobile SOC with 2GB of RAM. Google claims there’s a “5100” chip in the Pixel Watch 2, but Qualcomm clarifies that the Pixel Watch 2 uses the W5 Gen 1 SOC.

This SOC was announced roughly two years ago, but proves to be a fast performer today .It’s faster than Samsung’s older watch SOC while getting better battery life.

The power advantage for these watches, offloading tasks to a lower power co-processor, can be a bit confusing between these manufacturers. All three have co-processors, but they aren’t the same co-processors.

The W5 is the main chip, but Qualcomm also sells a W5+, and that includes a Cortex M55 co-processor. This configuration is used in the TicWatch.

Google uses a W5, but pairs that chip with a Cortex M33. It is not a W5+, but it does have another chip to offload small tasks.

OnePlus is doing something a little different. The OnePlus Watch 2 also uses a W5, but it’s paired with a BES2700 low power chip. OnePlus needs to be careful, as there’s a sneaky little space between “W5” and the “+” on their data sheet. Mobvoi courted a controversy previously doing something similar.

 

“We’re using a Qualcomm chip PLUS a co-processor” is a different claim than saying “We’re using the Qualcomm+ SOC”.

Discussing performance, there’s very little difference between the three watches. In active use, navigating, and launching applications, all three draw from the same main W5 chip. All three are snappy performers, and we’re thankfully past the days of Wear OS watches feeling stutter-y or lagging.

The co-processor situation dramatically changes the results for our next section however…

Battery Life / Charging

When Google switched from a Samsung chip to a Qualcomm chip, we saw Pixel Watch battery significantly improve. With light use, you can just about eke out two days of run time. Not 48 hours of use, but two “sun up to sun down” periods of use is more attainable.

Google simply can not compare to the run time you get from Mobvoi and OnePlus.

Both Mobvoi and OnePlus are delivering a “two watches in one” style strategy, but in noticeably different ways.

 

Mobvoi has iterated on a dual screen technology for four generations of watches now. The Enduro uses a passive ultra-low power display that functions like an old-school digital watch.

Notifications can wake up the more power-hungry OLED, but in most at-a-glance situations (looking at the time, tracking your workout) you’ll look at a simpler screen. The Enduro uses a LOT less power this way. It makes me REALLY miss the Pebble…

In its “Smart” mode (using Wear OS), Mobvoi claims up 90 hours of moderate use. I find it easy to run my TicWatch for four days on a single charge, as I rarely use a watch for sleep tracking.

 

Leaning on the co-processor, the user can switch off all the “smart” Android tech, and use the watch as a basic timepiece which also tracks and stores their fitness stats. This mode only shows the low power display, but the user can run the watch for up to 45 days in this “Essential” mode.

The Bluetooth connection to your phone is severed, it won’t support notifications, you can’t use any apps, but it will store steps and heart rate data. When re-connected to your phone, that data will be shared with the Mobvoi companion app.

OnePlus claims even more battery life from their “two watches in one” solution, aiming for up to 100 hours of mixed “Smart Mode” use.

The watch doesn’t have a second screen technology, instead its co-processor is similar to the low power chips found inside fitness trackers. Instead of two screens, this watch has two “brains”.

Like the TicWatch, the user can switch modes and turn off all the Android Wear OS bits, but instead of a simple timepiece + pedometer, the OnePlus Watch 2 will work as a connected fitness tracker. The user still sees a color screen, the watch is still connected to their phone, they can still run some basic apps, fitness data is still sent in real time, and there is basic support for notifications. The OnePlus Watch 2 will run for almost two weeks in this configuration.

 

The Watch 2 has two brains and two separate operating systems. The user can manually choose to use the lower power brain and RTOS. Additionally, the Watch 2 does a very good job of “sliding” into the lower power mode when the user isn’t using Android features, then quickly waking up the more power hungry components when needed.

Like the TicWatch, I didn’t find it much of a challenge to run for around four days in “Smart Mode”, when I was using the included watch faces and I was not using the watch for sleep tracking.

The Pixel Watch 2 is likely a watch you’ll need to charge every day. The OnePlus Watch 2 and TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro should last for a three day weekend with room to spare.

 

When it comes to charging, it seems every Android manufacturer is giving up on wireless power-sharing with a phone. Even Samsung has abandoned that in their newest Galaxy Watches.

Google abandoned wireless charging, and all three players here use pogo pins. OnePlus maintains their reputation for fast charging. The OnePlus Watch 2 is the fastest at charging up to deliver a day of use. Mobvoi is behind OnePlus. Though the Pixel Watch has the smallest battery, it’s not as fast as the other two to reach a day of run time.

Software / Updates

The Pixel Watch 2 is an easy winner for software and updates. The company that makes the hardware is also responsible for delivering the OS. Pixel Watch 2 is the best option for folks who want the most immediate path to updates and new features.

The Pixel UI is simple and straightforward, blending some design accents from Fitbits into mostly clean Wear OS interface.

 

Google benefits from their acquisition of Fitbit. The Pixel Watch uses the Fitbit app as the companion software on your phone. This makes community and collaboration frictionless for all the users on the most popular single line of fitness trackers available.

Google is the only one of the three that offers a paid subscription for enhanced health tracking. The Fitbit Premium subscription expands on Sleep and Stress scores, and uses tracked data to offer up Wellness and Readiness scores. The Fitbit app also offers more nutritional advice and meal tracking than OnePlus or Mobvoi.

The OnePlus Watch 2 is something of a midpoint between Google and Mobvoi. The OnePlus Watch 2 is running Wear OS 4, and should receive an update to Wear OS 5 before the end of the year. It includes support for features like the Google Assistant.

 

OnePlus skins their watch the hardest of the three in this list. General navigation is the same, and swipes vertically and horizontally accomplish the same actions as any other Wear OS watch. Out of the box though, the home button press delivers a grid that looks more like an Apple Watch than the scrolling list of apps usually found on Android watches. The user can disable this grid view and return to the regular Wear OS list if they want.

Of course there’s also the second OS. Switching the Watch 2 into Power Saver mode resembles Wear OS, but delivers the simplified app drawer.

The Watch 2 connects to your phone with the OnePlus OHealth app. It offers a solid collection of fitness tracking options, though lacks meal prep and planning. There’s also no support for sharing workout data with friends or building communities.

Mobvoi is something of a black sheep in the world of Wear OS software support. It’s the longest consistent manufacturer of Wear OS watches still in business, but they seem to get less support directly from Google. Mobvoi pushes out updates, but will regularly be at least a generation behind Google and Samsung.

 

The Enduro ships with Wear OS 3.5, and Mobvoi is working on a Wear OS 4 beta for current watches. Though Mobvoi is getting up to date on the core OS, they still lack support for a small number of features like Google Assistant.

Mobvoi used to deliver heavier skins on their devices. Dating back to the original TicWatch functioning completely different than Android Wear watches back in the day. Today, the Enduro is similar to the Pixel Watch in layout and UI.

Like OnePlus, the Mobvoi companion app is more focused on fitness and activity tracking. It lacks options for meal prep and planning. Unlike OnePlus, Mobvoi does have an option to share fitness goals with friends. If you know other folks who own Mobvoi watches, you can all sync up and support each other.

Health / Fitness

My fitness and health needs are fairly basic, but I do like to see daily activity and workouts. I’m not training for anything specific, so I can’t comment on the more advanced activities each watch claims to track. All three include a variety of activities for users, and some options for auto-tracking activities.

I personally found the Mobvoi to be the most consistent at offering to save data. While shooting camera samples for a phone review, if the TicWatch detects consistent movement over a couple minutes, you can slide directly into saving a workout.

The Pixel Watch also tries to read user movements and suggests when movement should be saved as a workout. The OnePlus was the least consistent in my experiences for auto tracking, but does save decent data on “activity sessions”.

Each watch boasts an impressive array of sensors. All three can track heart rate and blood oxygen levels.

Mobvoi and Google include skin temperature sensors, which OnePlus omits.

Google includes a proper ECG for more accurate heart rhythm measurements. Mobvoi’s heart rate sensor can increase polling to give more accurate measurements, and Mobvoi uses this for AFib detection, though it’s likely less accurate than a dedicated ECG. The interesting difference, a higher polling rate will drain the TicWatch battery faster, but it’s also passively scanning for AFIb. If the user is not aware of minor heart irregularities, they won’t know to sit and scan with ECG. The TicWatch MIGHT catch issues if the higher accuracy mode is enabled.

OnePlus has no solution for AFib detection.

 

 

Mobvoi has had issues with GPS connectivity in the past. The Pro 5 Enduro is a noticeable improvement in getting a location lock, though I still found it to be slower than both Google and OnePlus location locks. Once each watch finds GPS satellites, all three seem to deliver accurate maps on outdoor workouts.

 

BUT WHICH ONE IS BEST?

I wish I had a clear answer there for you. Each watch seems to cover the faults of another watch.

 

Google delivers the best software experience, and it’s far more likely you’ll know other folks with Fitbits. I just wish Google could deliver better battery life. We’re confident Google will ship a larger version of the Pixel Watch this summer. I hope the larger Pixel Watch will feel a bit more durable. Pixel Watch 2 is also the only option on this list that sells an option for LTE connectivity.

 

OnePlus sells the least expensive option of the three, even though it boasts some impressive battery tech. At the time of this writing, you could buy one for $249.99 and OnePlus will throw in some decent Bluetooth earbuds. I like the look of it the best, it has current software, and it lasts for days away from a charger. I wish OnePlus had included a rotating crown control, or were able to include a little more health tracking, but lacking AFib detection at this price makes sense given the tech advantages of the Watch 2 and the build materials.

 

Mobvoi is an interesting alternative. I have a soft spot in my heart for the brand. Fossil and Mobvoi largely kept Wear OS watches alive before Google was able to bring Samsung to the party.

The Enduro is a formidable piece of hardware with excellent battery life, and it feels the most durable of the three. I don’t have a way to prove it’s the most durable, it just FEELS more durable. We can’t overlook though, it’s the poorest choice for folks who want the fastest and most current software support, or people who heavily use Google Assistant.

I really can’t say there is a clear winner.

I personally don’t like the fit of the Pixel Watch 2 on my wrist, but my wife loves the size and the features. She used Fitbit before getting a smartwatch, and it was a clear continuity for her to keep the features and health tracking she preferred. She grumbles about the battery life, but I doubt she’ll be interested in going back to a simpler fitness tracker.

 

I split my time between the OnePlus and the Mobvoi almost 50/50. I genuinely like both, and I prefer the battery life and interoperability of these two over other solutions from more popular manufacturers.

 

As I said starting this article, I think the bulk of consumers in North America are likely to buy an Apple or Samsung Watch, but it’s good to know there are some competitive options for folks to consider.

A watch is a super personal piece of wearable technology. I think it’s important to find options that are compatible with any phone we might want to use. I like knowing I can switch phones, and not lose features on an accessory. Above the technology though, this is hardware that has to compliments our personal style. That’s why we need to acknowledge good competition, and why losing Fossil was such a blow to Wear OS.

Google, OnePlus, and Mobvoi are keeping Wear OS alive with some great alternatives.

Is there a Smart Watch purchase you’ve been considering? What features are you most interested in? Drop a comment below!