Oppo has just announced all the details of its first smart watch, called Oppo Watch. Take a look and it looks very much like an Apple Watch, although there are many differences. In some ways, the Chinese brand seems to have overtaken Apple.
The Chinese manufacturer Oppo is a company to be reckoned with, offering elegant and well-designed smartphones with innovative and elegant designs.
So how does the new watch compare to the all-time Apple Watch, and should Cupertino executives be worried?
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Well, there are certainly a lot of design similarities – although there is no digital crown, my favorite interaction mechanism. Instead, there are two side buttons, one of which glows with a green backlight, which is intriguing.
Of course, the Oppo Watch will not have watchOS on board, using something called Color OS instead, and it’s hard to tell the build quality from the images we’ve seen so far. Despite this, Oppo makes statements that could surpass the current Cupertino watch.
Here are five ways the Oppo Watch could beat the Apple Watch.
1. larger curved OLED screen
The display on Oppo’s Watch, like Apple’s, is OLED. But here, the screen is a little larger than on the Apple Watch, in a 46 mm case against the 40 mm and 44 mm versions of Apple. The resolution is also higher at 402 x 473 pixels, compared to 368 x 448 pixels for the Apple Watch 44 mm. It is a 1.91 inch screen where the Apple Watch screen is 1.78 inches. A smaller 41mm version will also be available.
Also, although it is not quite a waterfall display, the screen will curve well at the edges, if the initial images and video are good.
2. Edge-to-edge display
Take a look at the images in the keynote and you can see that the screen seems to go to the edge, which even the latest models of Apple Watch do not match. However, I must say that I have rarely felt that the bezel around the screen was noticeable.
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3. Sleep tracking
Regular readers will know that I am constantly making fun of Apple about the need for a good, integrated sleep tracking app. I remain convinced that 2020 will be the year of its arrival. But Oppo claims to be one step ahead, perhaps a repeat that it should be, by incorporating sleep tracking into its watch.
It will measure light sleep, deep sleep and the time you spent awake.
4. Battery life
Even if the battery life of the Apple Watch is not as brilliant on the Apple Watch Series 5 as on the previous models, it is quite rare that it does not last a full day with ease. This is all you need.
Except that if you plan to use the sleep tracking feature mentioned above regularly, it might be good to have a little more leeway. Oppo claims 40 hours of autonomy, which is more than enough for a maneuver.
There is a caveat here: this may not beat Apple on battery life, as 40 hours is only for something called Smart Mode and it’s not yet clear exactly what that means. Will many features be disabled in this mode? Will the screen be grayed out?
This is not a complete energy saving mode, we know, because there is also one that lasts up to three weeks between charges.
5. Fast charging
It looks like the Oppo Watch is charging quickly. Oppo says:
A full charge takes 75 minutes, and 15 minutes of charge time would give a charge of 46%, which equates to about 18 hours of use time – enough for a full day of use.
If it is correct, it will be very impressive.
Also: Body thickness?
I didn’t create this other winning feature because I don’t really believe it. Oppo said that:
OPPO Watch owes its slim profile to this AMOLED screen, combined with a 4.5 mm aluminum frame and a 3D curved glass crystal.
Some have interpreted this to mean that the Oppo watch was only 4.5mm thick from front to back. This is significantly less than the Apple Watch Series 5 which measures 10.7 mm. However, I don’t know what it means. Of course, the photos look much thicker than that. So we will have to wait to see if it is really that thin or if a certain statistical template is at work.
Exit and availability
Although it is available internationally, to start with Oppo Watch will be limited to China, on sale March 24. Its price in China will be the equivalent of $ 215, but there is no idea what it will sell for internationally.
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