When it comes to smartwatches in the Android space choices are extremely limited. Apple wasn’t the first to introduce smart watches but once they did it they set the bar, and that bar has not been even closely approached by any other manufacturer.
Samsung’s smartwatches are really well designed but they have skinned WearOS which is polarising at best. Also, unless your smartphone is located in Samsung’s walled garden you will not have full functionality of the smartwatch.
Google’s Pixel Watch is great, functionality-wise but their design is, well, basic. It’s small, feminine and I don’t care what Google say, consumers did not ask them to bring back their pebble design from Gen1 (well, I didn’t anyway). It is small and very feminine – I much prefer a big chunky watch. The battery on it is also limited to basically a day which is a huge downside.
This led me to look elsewhere in search of a smartwatch that had a great OS, WearOS, that worked agnostically on any Android smartphone, had a great battery life and looked great. This is where Mobvoi came in.
Available from their Australian website and on Amazon AU the new Mobvoi Ticwatch Pro Enduro offers great specs, a long battery life, a stylish design, all for under $500. I purchased the black version with my own hard-earned coin and have not had a single doubt that I did the right thing clicking the buy button.
The display is a 1.43-inch OLED display but that isn’t the only display. As Ticwatch do, they have included a secondary display that is used to show basic stats and the time when the watch is not in use. This secondary display is a simple, “ultra-low-power display” that uses very little battery, thus resulting in a battery life I have never seen before in any smartwatch.
There is no LTE version of this smartwatch but Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is enough for me so that was not a deal breaker. All the modern sensors for extensive health biometric tracking and connectivity are included so if that floats your boat Mobvoi has you covered.
The Ticwatch Pro 5 Enduro is a standard watch design without too many fancy bits and bobs. The watchface is protected by Sapphire Crystal, (hopefully) making it scratch proof – I’ve used it for five weeks now all throughout Italy and Greece, walking everywhere, bumping into things constantly, because crowds are crazy, and have not got a single scratch or blemish on the display.
The right side of the watch has a button above a rotating crown which has a nice red accent to it in this version of their watch.
The included watch band is comfortable and solid. I sweated my way through 15 to 20km of walking in a European summer and it is in the same immaculate condition it was when I pulled it out of the box. It is a black band with some textures to it but it is basic. Those who prefer a more stylish band can easily purchase any 24mm band and switch it out – I do have a few on their way to me from Aliexpress.
The two 1.430inch displays on the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro is mostly what results in its best feature – an extended battery life. The main OLED display is bright and colourful, as you’d expect but unfortunately that is the culprit of battery usage on all smartwatches. The TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro solves this through the inclusion and use of the ultra-low-power (ULP) display.
The ULP display offers basic information and displays this information when the main OLED display goes to sleep. Instead of a low brightness always on display, which still consumes relatively large amounts of power, this ULP display is shown instead.
It is still able to tell you the time (der), date, your heart rate, how many steps you’ve done that day, the battery level of the watch, whether Bluetooth is active and what appears to be an NFC icon to let you know if NFC is active (I think). While exercising it will also show any timers or stopwatches you have running.
You are able to still see and view the entire ULP display well at any time of the day – I have heard some grumbles about viewing it in super bright sunlight but I didn’t notice that myself while in Europe.
Covered by the Sapphire Glass you can be sure both of these displays are well protected. It is amazing how Mobvoi manage to still have such an impressive OLED display underneath this ULP display, afterall, the displays are layered.
The watch software is good because it is basically pure WearOS. My only issue with it is that it is not the latest version of WearOS. WearOS 4.0 has been out for nearly 12 months now and it really does have some nice features compared to WearOS 3.5, which this smartwatch arrives with.
There is no word on if or when WearOS 4.0 will arrive for the Ticwatch Pro 5 Enduro so if having the most up-to-date software is a must for you, then this watch is not for you. Unfortunately this has been how Mobvoi operates with software updates in the past and although there was a Wear OS closed beta last year for the Ticwatch Pro 5 it still has not seen the light of day outside that closed beta. I’m not impressed with it at all but it’s essentially the only major downside to the watch.
Mobvoi use their own Android app, Mobvoi Health, for connectivity and setting up your smartwatch and it’s decent. The app includes all your usual health and fitness metrics along with the settings for the watch including basic watchfaces – Heart rate, SpO2, Stress, VO2 max, and of course steps and stairs climbed.
You can also monitor your sleep patterns using the watch but I’m not a fan of that as I find I can’t sleep as well while wearing a watch, of any sort.
Other Mobvoi apps included are TicBarometer, TicBreathe, TicCare, TicCompass, TicHealth and TicExercise.
Mobvoi do have a watchface store if you wish to expand from their very basic watchfaces. I’m happy using some of their free ones but the store includes some nice ones that I’ve also purchased. Personally though I’m more of a fan of using Watchmaker Pro where you can buy some that have been made by other users along with edit them or you can make your own using the app. There are many sites online which include free watchfaces that can be used with Watchmaker Pro (and Facer).
On the performance side, there is no sluggishness at all with the interface incredibly snappy – WearOS is finally at that stage. It took a while to get there but it is there. All the usual WearOS interactions are as they should be, swipe down for quick settings, up for notifications, left for tiles and right for basic stats.
I’m not entirely sure just how many people use the full fitness functions on their smartwatches but Mobvoi includes most functionality you could think of. There is automatic exercise tracking, a vast array of exercise types you can start yourself including swimming.
While exercising, the watch can track your vital stats such as heart rate, VO2 Max, Recovery Time, GPS, Speed and more – depending on what exercise you are doing at the time. It will also automatically detect any atrial fibrillation or irregular heart beats.
You can pair the watch and Mobvoi software with Strava, Apple Health, and Google Health Connect (Google Fit).
The app seems to provide fairly basic information mostly but if you want to get that serious you should probably look at a more dedicated fitness watch or even the Whoop 4.0 for the most in-depth fitness and recovery tracking I’ve ever seen.
The battery life on the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro is outstanding and it has made me want and expect this from every single smartwatch I will ever use in the future. There I said it. The bar has been set and all others should endeavour to reach it.
Sure they did have to include a ULP display to achieve this but I don’t what what they did, do you? The ULP doesn’t detract from the use of the smartwatch one iota. Sure, the ULP display may not look as colourful and cool as an ambient AOD but, meh.
Mobvoi claims that the TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro will get up to 90 hours in Smart Mode and 45 days in Essential Mode. Essential mode is switched on while you sleep or when the watch has been off your wrist for more than 30 minutes.
For me I was able to get five to six days (but turning the watch off from around 10pm until 7am) of use out of the watch, easily. With the Pixel Watch 2 I can get 1 day only, having to charge it every night. The TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro I only have to charge it every five to seven days which is extraordinary.
For example, I’ve used the watch from 7am until 6pm for two days as I type this and there is still 68% left on the battery!
Charging the watch does require their proprietary charger with pogo pins – no fancy wireless charging here. The magnets included in the charger/watch work great in aligning the charger to the watch and it charged perfectly every single time. Far too many times I had my previous smartwatch not charge because it wasn’t in the exactly perfect spot on the charger.
If you want more chargers you can pick them up cheap on, you guessed it, Aliexpress (and probably Temu if that floats your boat).
The Ticwatch 5 Pro Enduro supports fast charging with a full charge possible from empty in just over an hour and 60-70 percent in about half an hour. Given the battery life of this watch if it runs out of power, plug it in for 15 minutes and you’ll be able to extend its use for another day or 3!
The battery life itself is enough to compel me to recommend this smartwatch to just about everyone!
The only downside I’ve experienced with the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro is the lack of software updates. I sincerely hope they read my review, and the countless others out there that say the same thing — tech in 2024 need updates and not supporting your hardware with new software updates is not good enough.
The rest of the phone is amazing though. Battery life is great, displays are great, display being covered by Sapphire Glass is excellent and the design is just right. Now if only they updated it once a year to the next version of WearOS. Hopefully they listen to the barrage of complaints on this and act accordingly.
As mentioned above the only downside is the software isn’t the most recent version of WearOS. Is this a deal breaker? Hell no. I barely notice any difference on a day to day basis and it should not concern you (much) either, assuming there are no vulnerabilities.
If you want a smartwatch that will function to its full extent on ANY Android smartphone, looks great and is the perfect size for male wrists with a multi-day battery life, then look no further. You have found the perfect watch, as long as you don’t care about having the latest and greatest version of WearOS.
The Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro can be purchased now from the Mobvoi website or from Amazon AU for RRP $519.99.
Scott is our resident open technology expert. If you can mod it, or want to use it your way, Scott has probably done it. From Laptops to phones, headphones and game consoles, he’s played with it and wants to see the next generation.
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