Oppo Watch review - An excellent Wear OS smartwatch - Android

Fashion brands aside, the Wear OS-powered smartwatch landscape isn’t exactly flourishing. Oppo’s smartwatch comes at an interesting time as the smartphone giant tries to make a broader ecosystem play including true wireless earphones and now, wearables. Oppo’s first Wear OS watch is unapologetically inspired by a certain other smartwatch. However, execution is key.

Read Android Authority’s Oppo Watch review to find out if the smartwatch delivers a high-end experience — or if it should be relegated to the long list of lackluster Apple Watch alternatives.

Oppo Watch review: Design and display

• Display: 1.91/1.6-inch AMOLED
• 402 x 476 or 320 x 360 pixels
• 326 or 301ppi
• Case size: 46mm/41mm

The Oppo Watch is unapologetic in its design inspiration. From afar, the watch could pass off as a facsimile of the Apple Watch. How much that matters to you is personal preference. But hey, as far as copy-cat designs go, Oppo did a really good job here.

The curved AMOLED display flows seamlessly into the 6000-series aluminum frame. The frame houses two buttons on the side, and of these one is programmable.

The programmable key has an emerald green accent on it that adds some visual flair. The key also doubles as the power menu with a long press. While the one programmable key is nice to have, I’d have preferred two for shortcuts. Alternatives from Fossil offer a range of programmable pushers.

A spinning crown would have made scrolling through apps a lot easier.

The buttons are easy to press, though I would have appreciated a spinning crown instead for easier navigation through the app drawer.

A speaker for making calls and interacting with Google Assistant is on the left side of the watch.

Construction of the rear panel is mostly plastic, though the central sensor module is made of ceramic. The smaller 41mm model swaps out the ceramic sensor hub for plastic.

As far as build quality goes, my biggest gripe is with the choice of proprietary straps. Oppo calls the material fluoro-rubber, but to me it feels just like a regular silicon strap. I have relatively small wrists and I struggled to find a good fit even with the smaller watch band. It doesn’t help that Oppo opted for a nub instead of a regular clasp.

The 46mm variant is a pretty heavy and chunky. Paired with the less-than-ideal fit of the strap, I didn’t find it too comfortable for running.

Even after using the watch for several weeks, I could not find a suitable first- or third-party replacement. It might be something worth keeping in mind if you like to swap out straps to match outfits.

The real stand out feature is the display. The high-resolution AMOLED panel gets incredibly bright, which means outdoor visibility is never an issue. Icons flow beautifully off the curved edges and album covers look visually stunning. Oppo claims the watch has an ambient light sensor built-in, but it was pretty useless in my time with the watch; I found myself adjusting brightness levels manually. It often was not effective enough to accurately gauge the ambient setting and adjust accordingly.

The Oppo Watch exudes luxury.

Copycat design aside, the Oppo Watch exudes luxury. The entire construction has a certain heft to it. While the 46mm size of our review unit was just a bit too big for me, the build quality was spot on. The Oppo Watch is right up there with the best in the business.

Hardware and performance