Review: OPPO Watch X2 — stylish, elegant and feature-packed

Smartwatches have been around for a while, as have OPPO smartwatches. They have not brought one to our shores, though, for quite a while. Now, with the new OPPO Watch X2, they have landed here again.

The Watch X2 offers impressive specs for a smartwatch, a stylish and elegant design, and some innovative features.

The OPPO Watch X2 has impressed me in the short time I have had it: read on below to hear my in-depth thoughts about it.

Design

OPPO sent me the black version of the Watch X2, which is probably the less elegant of the two variants but I already have a silver and blue watch so I was ok with that.

The front of the watch shows off the 1.5-inch LTPO AMOLED display, which is bright (2,200 nits peak brightness) and simply stunning. The colours on the display pop and are incredibly vivid, just as you’d expect for an AMOLED display. The display is protected by sapphire crystal glass with anti-fingerprint coating—I’m not one to test this sort of thing out, but it is still scratch-free two weeks later.

Around the display is a “premium titanium alloy bezel” designed to protect the sides of the display from bumps and scratches.  

The watch’s body is made of polished stainless steel, which looks amazing in black. Many other manufacturers strive for elegance but do not achieve it.

The buttons for the watch interface are located on the right side of the watch, with the top button being a rotating, pressable crown. This is incredibly useful and easy to use when navigating the watch’s operating system.

The lower button on the right side is a flat button that can be used for various shortcuts. I set mine to quickly start a workout, but there are many other options.

The strap that arrives with the Watch X2 is black fluorine rubber with a stainless steel buckle for the black watch. If you buy the blue version, you will get a blue hybrid leather strap and stainless steel buckle in the box.  

The straps are interchangeable, so you can change them to a different colour or style at any time. OPPO designed the straps specifically for this watch, though, and their curve improves the accuracy of the heart rate sensor. Don’t worry, though—you can still pick up a strap with this design for under $5 on Aliexpress.

Under the hood

The Watch X2 is powered by a Snapdragon W5 and BES2800BP dual chip combo, which is designed to reduce power consumption when used together. 

While these days it is not so important what chipset the watch runs on because Snapdragon has finally produced a decent chipset for smartwatches, the battery size and technology are more important.  

For those rugged folks, the OPPO Watch X2 is IP68 water—and dust-resistant and manufactured to the MIL-STD-810H US Military grade standard.

Battery life

The OPPO Watch X2 houses a 648mAh battery, which is large according to OPPO, but more importantly, is its technology.  The battery is a “Silicon-Carbon Battery that uses next-gen silicon-carbon anode technology to significantly boost energy density, allowing for more power in the same size and a much longer battery life.”

It has been a while since I’ve used a traditional Wear OS smartwatch with my Mobvoi Ticwatch, incorporating an ultra-low power display when you are not interacting with the watch to extend battery life to over five days.  

The last Wear OS smartwatch I used for an extended period was the Google Pixel Watch 3 and with that, and all of Google’s Android battery wizardry, I was able to get close to 36 hours of battery life.  

OPPO also makes it easy to choose battery-saving options in their software. For each option in the settings that may increase battery consumption, it will tell you how much extra battery it will take and whether you really want to do that. For example, it does so with “Animation Booster.”

The Watch X2 though provided me over two days, and extremely close to a full third, of continuous use – even while sleeping.  I was very impressed with the battery life so whatever OPPO has done to accomplish this I am impressed.

Run it out and stick it on the proprietary charger to charge it up. The good news is that if you are already in the OPPO ecosystem, you will probably already have a SUPERVOOC charger. Use this to power the watch X2 charger, and you will get much faster charging with their Watch VOOC flash charge. 

It took 12 minutes to charge from 10% to 50% using the Watch VOOC charger and ~30 minutes using a standard USB-C charger source.  A full charge will take you 43 minutes and 80 minutes, respectively. I have graphed my charging times below — well, Google Gemini AI did:

Features

These days my exercise routine consists of running on a treadmill, indoor cycling (Zwift) and weights.  I used the watch for the two cardio sessions and we impressed with the information it gave me.

It not only told me the usual steps, calories, the amount of sugar burned, fat burned and the GCT (ground contact time) balance, average HR and stride length.  

Apparently, my GCT balance was Left 48% and right 52%. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but if I was serious about my running, I could work to improve that to improve my overall running performance. It is possible that my injuries could be causing the GCT imbalance—I started running routinely a couple of months ago as part of my rehab for plantar fasciitis. This is an insight that the watch can show you, making it great for runners.

Most of this information is available on the watch, but you need to check out the OHealth companion app on your phone for in-depth information. That being said, the amount of information on the watch is impressive.

The cycling information shown was not quite as detailed as that, giving me basic heart rate zones that I was in during the cycle. Same for my leg workout.

There are 11 pro workout modes in total, including running, cycling, tennis, walking, skiing, rowing, swimming, and skipping. For each of these workouts, the watch and OHealth app will provide you with an in-depth analysis of your performance to help you improve.

Tracking is available for more than 100 other types of workouts, so you can be sure that just about every kind of workout is covered. However, you won’t get the in-depth, extensive professional metrics available in the other 11 modes.

For general health metrics, the Watch X2 will provide:

• Advanced Health Monitoring – including 60-second health check-in which was very accurate for me, detecting “a slight decrease in arterial elasticity.”  It then offers some solutions for fixing that – nothing unusual though.  Balanced diet, proper exercise, manage stress and regular checkup – hardly revolutionary but good to know.
  • Unfortunately, at this stage, the ECG Analyzer is not available in Australia (which could be why they spell it with a Z).
• Stress levels – apparently I have a “good” wellness.  Yes my stress levels are low.  Glad something is good.
• Sleep—The watch X2 measures sleep quality and can detect sleep apnea. I tested it out, and it worked as well as any other smartwatch I own. However, I’m not a fan of wearing a watch while sleeping, so I won’t be using it going forward.
• SpO2 is also measured – mine is currently 97% so that’s a good thing.
• Wrist temperature – this is relative to body temperature – some medical centres measured wrist temperature rather than forehead when COVID-19 was at its peak.

Thanks to an industry-leading 8-channel optical heart rate sensor and a larger PPG module, the OPPO Watch X2 is able to conduct 24-hour continuous heart rate monitoring at the hardware level, guaranteeing more accurate data collection. 

The 24-hour heart rate tracking is interesting and can give you a basic indication of your heart health.

Software

All of the OPPO Watch X2 functionality is adjusted using the OHealth app on your smartphone (there are some basic features on your watch as well).

While the OHealth app consists of a lot of health information there is also the “Device” tile where you set the watch face, access the Play Store to install apps onto it.  

You can also adjust the tiles (screens or widgets) displayed on the watch and their order from this Device menu.  

This menu also allows you to set notification preferences, workout and health settings, and general watch settings. There are many settings here, and I suggest you slowly review each one and see what you prefer. After using the watch for a couple of weeks, have another look at it because you may decide that some of your original settings aren’t right for you after all.

The number of watch faces OPPO has included for the Watch X2 is extremely impressive.  While there are thousands on the Play Store, I am sure you could find something you like in the OHealth app for free.

The software on the Watch X2 itself is Wear OS 5, Google’s latest version of Wear OS.  OPPO has installed their ColorOS Watch v7.0 on top of this.  I like what they have done with their styling, although it is minimal in the grand scheme of things.

Navigating the watch is pretty easy, although there is a steep learning curve to remember the gesture and where certain things are located within the OS.  There is no lag when getting the gesture correct – I did have a couple of times where the notification was difficult to swipe away but I put that down to swiping in a diagonal direction so the interface wasn’t sure whether I was swiping away or scrolling.

Should you buy it?

If you are looking for a smartwatch for your Android phone, you should consider the OPPO Watch X2. The Google Watch 3 is a great alternative with a snappy interface, but its design is much more divisive, and many of its in-depth analyses are locked behind a paywall.

The OPPO Watch X2 includes all of its full functionality in the cost of the watch. There are no extra fees associated with it and its interface is still excellent. The battery life is even better on the Watch X2 than on the Google Watch 3 which is no mean feat.

The best thing about the OPPO Watch X2, though, is its design. It is a sophisticated and elegant watch that does not look out of place when worn with a suit, with simple casual wear or while exercising. This is truly a watch for all occasions.

The OPPO Watch X2 is available in two stunning colours: Lava Black with a sporty fluorine rubber band for fitness enthusiasts, and Summit Blue with a premium leather band for a classic, elegant style. It is now available to purchase on the OPPO eStore for $699.