Oppo’s Apple Watch-like smartwatch finally coming to the U.S.
The Oppo Watch finally has a launch date.
It looks like Oppo's new Apple Watch-like smartwatch is finally getting a U.S. release date. The company teased a GIF of its newest smartwatch coming together, as well as a launch date of July 31.
The GIF shows the components of the Oppo Watch coming together — those parts include a curved display with very slim bezels, as well as an optical heart rate sensor on the rear. The last few frames of the GIF features the Wear OS logo, indicating that the Oppo Watch will be running Google's smartwatch operating system.
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The Oppo Watch was released in China in March of this year, and just went on sale in Germany.
According to Wareable, the Oppo Watch will come in two sizes: 41mm and 46mm, making it larger than the largest Apple Watch (44mm). Its curved AMOLED display will have a resolution of 326ppi, the same as the Apple Watch. However, where the Apple Watch has a digital crown and a button on its side, the Oppo Watch simply has two buttons, both on the right side of the watch. It's also waterproof to 50 meters.
The Oppo Watch uses a pretty dated Snapdragon Wear 2500 processor, which is now two generations old (Qualcomm recently announced the Snapdragon Wear 4100 processor), but the company says the watch will last up to 40 hours on a charge. Its wireless charger can also juice the watch with up to 18 hours of battery life with a 15-minute charge.
When The Verge tried the Chinese model, it was running a version of Android 8.1 called ColorOS Watch. It looks like the Oppo Watch will have a similar skin when it comes to the U.S., at least if it's the same as what was leaked in Germany. We're interested to see how it compares to the plain version of Wear OS.
Other features of the Oppo Watch (at least the German model) include a heart rate monitor, LTE capability, and an ECG monitor, like the Apple Watch 5. However, it's unknown if Oppo received FDA approval.
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The Oppo Watch doesn't look to be a budget play; in China, the 46mm version costs 1,999 Yuan, which equates to roughly $285 in the U.S.; the 41mm version is 1,499 Yuan, or about $215. That puts it between the Apple Watch Series 3 and the Apple Watch 5, so this is not exactly a cheap smartwatch. But, for those who want an Apple Watch-like experience on Android, this could be it.
Michael A. Prospero is the U.S. Editor-in-Chief for Tom’s Guide. He oversees all evergreen content and oversees the Homes, Smart Home, and Fitness/Wearables categories for the site. In his spare time, he also tests out the latest drones, electric scooters, and smart home gadgets, such as video doorbells. Before his tenure at Tom's Guide, he was the Reviews Editor for Laptop Magazine, a reporter at Fast Company, the Times of Trenton, and, many eons back, an intern at George magazine. He received his undergraduate degree from Boston College, where he worked on the campus newspaper The Heights, and then attended the Columbia University school of Journalism. When he’s not testing out the latest running watch, electric scooter, or skiing or training for a marathon, he’s probably using the latest sous vide machine, smoker, or pizza oven, to the delight — or chagrin — of his family.