We tested the Oppo Watch X2: the best battery life in Android watches

For the past few weeks we have been testing the new Oppo Watch X2, the next version of a smartwatch that left us with a very good taste in our mouths last year, and became one of our favorites for 2024. Oppo has not skimped on design or specifications, on paper it promises titanium, sapphire crystal, military certification and a dual-processor system like the X1 that ensures five days of autonomy.

One of the things that most catches your eye when you put it on your wrist is that it moves away from the smartwatch aesthetic and closer to that of a traditional watch , with a premium finish that wouldn't look out of place at a formal meeting. The titanium frame, sapphire crystal, physical buttons, and rotating crown give it that mechanical touch that many of us miss in modern watches. It comes in two colors, Lava Black and Summit Blue, with interchangeable 22mm straps. The case is large, 47mm, and it shows; it's not for small wrists, something very common in this type of watches, which are aimed at a male audience.

The LTPO AMOLED display is one of the best we've seen on an Android watch, with up to 2,200 nits of brightness that automatically activates under sunlight. Visibility is perfect, and the Always-On mode barely consumes battery thanks to the variable refresh rate. Plus, the bezels are minimal, and the 466x466 pixel resolution is noticeable.

Here comes the good part, at least for us, because the truth is we prefer battery life over anything else. The Oppo Watch X2 uses a dual-chip architecture, a Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 and a BES2800BP coprocessor. The former is activated when using Wear OS and all its functions, while the latter handles power saving mode and basic tasks. In practice, this translates to up to five days of use without charging, or up to 16 days if you only use it with basic functions such as the time, pedometer, and notifications. A true marvel, considering that it's difficult for the competition to reach two days. If we leave Android aside, Huawei is the big winner in battery life.

We've used it for sleep tracking, notifications, and especially for recording workouts, and it lasted more than three days without breaking a sweat. It doesn't have wireless charging, though, which is a bit lacking in a watch at this price, but it makes up for it with fast charging. 10 minutes will get you through a full day, and in less than an hour you'll have it fully charged and ready to go.

Despite running Wear OS 5.0, the experience is significantly limited by OPPO's ColorOS Watch 7.0 layer. This means that some features are only available if you have an Oppo or OnePlus phone.

The app that connects to the Watch X2 is OHealth, which replaces the older HeyTap and still needs some work. Some features aren't fully understood, some metrics aren't well explained, and notification management is still erratic. It's like many Asian apps: they're poorly adapted to Western usability. However, integration with Google Fit and Strava is complete, so at least you can export data to other platforms if you need to.

In terms of sensors, the Oppo Watch X2 is one of the most complete we've tested. It tracks SpO2, heart rate, ECG, sleep, temperature, stress, and the now-famous 60S Health Check-In, which gives you a quick overview of your health in 60 seconds. It works well and provides consistent results compared to other watches we've used.

Another of its strong points is its sports tracking, with more than 100 exercise modes and advanced metrics for runners such as vertical oscillation, stride balance, and fat vs. carbohydrate consumption. Of particular note is its dual-frequency GPS, which offers highly accurate location tracking even in the city.

The downside of this watch is the Oppo ecosystem, the features that only activate if you use Oppo phones. This is something many manufacturers, like Huawei and Samsung, do, but it still doesn't seem right to us. Furthermore, the watch feels almost identical to the OnePlus Watch 3, with minor aesthetic and software differences, which can lead to confusion.