A perfect smartwatch, held again by means of Google’s shortcomings

I’m no longer about to summarise the whole thing I love about this smartwatch; you’ll be able to discuss with my colleague Kaitlyn’s superb OnePlus Watch 2 assessment for that. However, it wouldn’t be unfair to mention that OnePlus has made an entire turnabout with this new watch. While the corporate’s first day out nailed the design, it lacked on the subject of exact smarts. The Watch 2 manages to excel with its remarkable construct high quality — regardless of the non-functional, albeit aesthetic, crown. It additionally has a huge battery that in reality lasts me smartly over two days of lively use, together with an hour or two of exercise monitoring on a daily basis and GPS-enabled out of doors runs. Elsewhere, the health metrics aren’t very best however just right sufficient for informal use, and the sleep monitoring is on level.

Most importantly, the OnePlus Watch 2 launches with Wear OS 4 out of the field. And that’s a large win for OnePlus at a time when choices operating Google’s newest wearable working device are astonishingly skinny. It brings compatibility with quite a lot of apps and services and products, higher watch faces, integration with Google’s calendar and mail apps, and extra. If you favor voice-based interactions, that’s represented too.

However, probably the most important benefit of the OnePlus Watch 2 may be its crutch. I’ll be truthful: I’ve by no means been the most important Wear OS fan. My final long-term enjoy with the working device was once at the OPPO Watch again in 2020. So much has modified since then. What hasn’t, even though, is the solely disjointed enjoy of the use of a Wear OS watch.

Health and health are very important to me, however years down the road, Wear OS nonetheless has no standardized approach of dealing with health monitoring. On the OnePlus Watch 2, the OHealth app is the main way of monitoring health. Unfortunately, as we explored in our assessment, the app is simply too simplistic and lacks the granular metrics that I’ve come to be expecting from my Apple Watch Ultra or Garmin.

Adding insult to damage is the truth that well being monitoring isn’t very best both. Step counts have a tendency to be inconsistent and I haven’t any religion within the calorie burn knowledge. Google may remedy this by means of providing a standardized well being API that different apps can use to customise the interface enjoy, however that isn’t the case right here. The Apple Watch does it; why can’t Google?

On the purpose of well being monitoring, getting knowledge out of the watch isn’t simple. Yes, I’m conscious about Health Connect however all of the procedure is amazingly hit and miss, and seldom does all of the knowledge switch to Google Fit. I additionally use Strava as my operating knowledge aggregator of selection. Since neither Health Connect nor OHealth have hooks into Strava, I rely on Strava’s integration with Google Fit to tug knowledge. The drawback this is that, as soon as once more, no longer all metrics are transferred around the board. Compare that with my Apple Watch Ultra, the place each and every time I end a exercise, the information is seamlessly transferred to Strava. I in point of fact shouldn’t want 3 other well being apps on my telephone to get right of entry to my exercise knowledge.

In truth, I’d have anticipated Google to leverage Fitbit’s superb knowledge algorithms to create a standardized health API that any app may faucet into and get seamlessly dependable knowledge. Not simplest would this enhance the health functions of smartwatches around the board, however it will additionally create a uniform baseline throughout smartwatch manufacturers. As it stands, if I transfer from a Galaxy Watch to a OnePlus Watch or, possibly, a Pixel Watch, the health knowledge algorithms haven’t any correlation in any respect.

The different large factor I’ve seen is the standard of apps. Coming again to Wear OS after a few years, it’s beautiful disheartening to look that the standard of apps and services and products at the Play Store hasn’t stepped forward all that a lot. For instance, my favourite intermittent fasting app, Zero, nonetheless isn’t to be had on Wear OS regardless of having a completely functioning model for the Apple Watch. Similarly, I’m keen on Shelly’s good house units. The corporate has launched an Apple Watch app however has no such choice for Wear OS. Sure, Wear OS’ restricted consumer base leaves little incentive for manufacturers to spend money on apps for the platform. But that rooster and egg drawback, too, is wholly of Google’s doing.

Be it Google’s perpetual rebranding cycle, the snail-like tempo of freeing updates, or instrument exclusivity with Samsung that limits choices — the very factor that makes Android merchandise so thrilling — Google has obviously handled Wear OS as a second-class citizen. The incontrovertible fact that fundamentals like public transit navigation are simplest now coming to Wear OS, and necessities like offline maps stay lacking boggles the thoughts.

There’s for sure in my thoughts that OnePlus has constructed probably the most perfect examples of Wear OS smartwatches. Yes, it’s massive, however I will be able to learn how to reside with the gargantuan dimension merely on account of the super battery lifestyles it provides. But all the ones {hardware} efforts are being let down by means of the lackluster instrument powering the display. While there are indicators that Google is after all beginning to flip the send round with its fresh Wear OS announcement, just like the hybrid interface that debuted at the OnePlus Watch 2, it’s transparent that much more wishes to switch to make Wear OS an impressive Apple Watch choice.