The Oppo Watch Free is an inexpensive health tracker that focuses on a sophisticated person expertise with out sacrificing most options. Should you purchase it?
The Oppo Watch got here out in 2020 as Oppo’s reply to the mainstream smartwatches from Apple and different Wear OS manufacturers. Considering its worth, it was one of many nicest watches to purchase. However, it was out of attain for a lot of and in a bid to broaden its accessibility, Oppo later introduced the Watch Free. Launched in India now at a worth of Rs. 5,999, it’s nearly half the worth of the Oppo Watch and guarantees loads on paper.
It is, nonetheless, loads completely different than the Oppo Watch. In truth, the Oppo Watch Free is actually a health tracker relatively than a full fledged smartwatch. It appears to be like like a health tracker too. Hence, it steps right into a section of “wannabe smartwatches” that wish to do all of it however miss out on sure avenue smarts. And, is it value selecting over all these others?
To discover out, I’ve been sporting the Oppo Watch Free for 2 weeks and here’s what I discovered.
Oppo Watch Free Design
The Watch Free performs it protected with its design and therefore, it appears to be like acquainted to a few health trackers from Honor and Huawei. You get a band-like design that has a slim and thick show, with its silicon straps rising out of the highest and backside. The strap has a leather-like texture, which provides to the general enchantment of the Watch Free.
The physique of the watch itself is devoid of any bodily buttons, which provides to total sleekness of the Watch Free. The 1.64-inch show stretched nearly edge to edge, however there are some noticeable bezels on the backside. This is an AMOLED show and that too of a very good high quality. Hence, you get to see shiny and vivid watch faces in the most effective of how Oppo supposed. There is an auto-brightness sensor, which is of nice comfort. The show responds swiftly to touches, though I really feel the animations and response might be tuned higher for a extra fluid expertise.
Oppo Watch Free Smart Features
Given that this can be a health tracker, Oppo has gone for a proprietary working system on the Watch Free, which is the norm on this sub-Rs. 10,000 smartwatch house. And that is simply one of many nicest smartwatch person interfaces we’ve seen shortly. The design is sensible and well-thought of. It is quick and fluid, and doesn’t muddle the menus with pointless choices you might by no means tamper with.
Bring up the menu and you will note the apps for all of the well being monitoring methods, in addition to a few info-based apps and sure management apps. You get stuff akin to Alarm, Weather, Camera Control, Timer, Stop Watch, and extra. Sadly, you can’t obtain any third celebration apps on this watch. The navigation is totally primarily based on swipe gestures, which I feel is a intelligent utilisation of this massive show.
Then there are the watch faces, that are a number of the greatest I’ve seen on any large-screen health tracker but. You get a few them preloaded on the watch, and a myriad of others to select from the companion app. The assortment is proscribed although and I want Oppo threw a pair extra watch faces, simply how Xiaomi and Amazfit do it with their watches.
Sadly, the Oppo Watch Free depends solely on Bluetooth for connection and knowledge switch. Hence, making use of a brand new watch face assessments your persistence. Moreover, because of the restricted storage onboard, you’ll be able to solely retailer seven faces at a time, which I discover bizarre. Slightly further house to retailer not less than 10 faces would have been higher, Oppo!
There’s extra unhappiness! The Watch Free can present notifications out of your smartphone however it’s restricted. It struggles with emojis, Hindi font, and pictures; like most health bands obtainable at this worth.
The HeyTap Health companion app is obtainable on each Android and iOS, which suggests the Oppo Watch Free works with each iPhones and Android gadgets. All options can be found on each platforms, which is a constructive side. The app itself is properly designed, gathering and presenting all well being and health knowledge in neatly laid out graphs. You may alter the settings of the watch from right here.
Oppo Watch Free Fitness
For these involved with their well being, the Oppo Watch Free has all of the goodies one can count on. As is the norm, you get to see a coronary heart price sensor and SpO2 monitoring sensor doing their duties of maintaining a tally of your pulse price and blood oxygen saturation monitoring. Then there are over 100 sports activities modes to trace your exercises in varied disciplines, which embrace working, strolling, swimming, weightlifting, and extra.
Now I’m no athlete however I did check out the “strolling” mode to observe my night walks, and the information monitoring was on par with what my Apple Watch Series 7 recorded. I didn’t have a medical grade machine to match the information’s reliability. The sports activities mode exhibits helpful stuff akin to tempo, reside coronary heart price, location mapping, and extra.
The coronary heart price and Blood Oxygen saturation knowledge can be akin to that on the Apple Watch more often than not, with seldom inaccuracies. That mentioned, this isn’t a medical grade machine and therefore, it is best to by no means rely solely on the information from these gadgets.
Oppo, nonetheless, advertises sleep monitoring because the USP and in actuality, it looks like the the most effective methods out there, even beating the Apple Watch Series 7 on this regard. It is exact in the way in which it racks the hours, and variation in sleep high quality. You get to see your sleep knowledge divided into gentle sleep, deep sleep, REM sleep and even the “Awake” hours. And because of slim band-like design, it doesn’t intervene with the consolation issue.
Oppo Watch Free Battery life
Oppo claims as much as 14 days of battery life on single cost, which is barely potential in probably the most compromised state. In actuality, I used to be in a position to stretch out as much as 10 days of utilization at max with common 1 hours of sports activities mode monitoring, all-day coronary heart price monitoring, and fixed connection to my telephone. When depleted, the battery takes over 2 hours to do a full recharge.
Verdict
It is gloomy to see Oppo populating its “Watch” lineup of wearables with not-really sensible health trackers — possibly calling it the Oppo Band Pro would have made extra sense. Because that’s what this Watch Free is — a glorified health tracker. It has no intentions of being a smartwatch, particularly in the way in which it capabilities.
Once you tailor your expectations to the requirements of a health tracker, the Oppo Watch Free is the most effective that there’s. It has a superbly massive show, a properly designed OS that additionally runs quick, is constructed properly, has a comfortable strap, and is priced moderately. The compatibility with each Android and iPhones makes it extra accessible to everybody. And in case you are into health stuff, this could suffice, particularly with its exercise modes and a cleverly designed companion app.
It isn’t good although, because the Oppo Watch Free missed out on a chance of setting a brand new benchmark for inexpensive watches and health trackers. Features akin to Bluetooth calling and a greater notification system with help for emojis and native languages might have helped justify its worth of Rs. 5,999 higher.
For these in search of a greater wanting health tracker and don’t thoughts spending north of Rs. 5,000, the Oppo Watch Free is value trying out. For these wanting higher worth, the Amazfit GTS 2 Mini and Amazfit GTR watches will make extra sense.
Product Name
Oppo Watch Free
Pros
- Good Battery Life
- Beautiful show
- Comfortable
Cons
- Pricey
- Lacks sensible options
https://tech.hindustantimes.com/wearables/reviews/oppo-watch-free-review-fitness-monitoring-in-style-71648953309942.html