Mobvoi’s TicWatch Pro 5 Might Be the Third Good Wear OS Watch

For the better part of a decade, Android smartwatches have been plagued by outdated, underpowered, inefficient Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. That’s why Google and Samsung joined forces to build Wear OS 3, a platform that requires modern, powerful chipsets.

Here’s the problem; Qualcomm wasn’t prepared to play catch up. Over the last two years, there have only been two great Android smartwatches—Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5, and Google’s Pixel Watch. Both run on a Samsung Exynos chipset, circumventing Qualcomm entirely.

Now, Mobvoi is launching its TicWatch Pro 5, the first smartwatch to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chipset. It’s significantly more powerful than the old and crappy chipsets that Android smartwatches relied on for so many years. And, unlike Samsung’s Exynos wearable chipset, which uses a 5nm process, the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 is 4nm.

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Mobvoi’s TicWatch Pro 5 boasts a massive leap in processing power. Plus, it can reach a maximum 80-hour battery life, thanks to the huge 628mAh battery and dual-layer display (it uses a lower-power display when in “Essential” mode). Of course, this is a pretty big smartwatch—it only comes in a 48mm size, it measures 12.2mm thick, and it weighs about 44.5 grams without the wrist strap.

The watch is also quite durable, with Coring Gorilla Glass (version unspecified), military-grade MIL-STD-810H drop and shock protection, plus water resistance up to a 50 meter depth. As for actual features, it’s about what you’d expect. Sleep and fitness tracking, continuous heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen scanning, and stress level detection. There are plenty of guided workout and recovery tools, plus a rotating crown for easier control and navigation.

Really, the big selling point is the TicWatch Pro 5’s chipset. This is the most powerful Snapdragon Wear OS smartwatch, and it’s among the three Android smartwatches that are actually “good” or “powerful.” If you’re considering the Galaxy Watch 5 or Pixel Watch, take a good look at Mobvoi’s TicWatch Pro 5.

The TicWatch Pro 5 is available today for $350. That said, the Mobvoi website doesn’t appear to be working at the time of writing, and the smartwatch is not yet listed on Amazon (at least within the United States).

Source: Mobvoi