OnePlus Watch 2R

First Impressions

The OnePlus Watch 2R looks like it could be a budget watch done right; rather than ditching the tech that makes the OnePlus Watch 2 so special, it instead swapped out the material for something a little more affordable, whilst also managing to be more lightweight.

Introduction

OnePlus has just revealed the latest smartwatch in its growing collection, the OnePlus Watch 2R.

It might look similar to the £329 OnePlus Watch 2, launched at MWC in February, and that’s because it is. 

It keeps the core OnePlus Watch 2 DNA – and most of its tech too – while swapping out the material for something more lightweight and comfortable on the wrist. The result is a seemingly capable smartwatch that’s lighter and, more importantly, more affordable than its’ full-fat sibling at £249, or just £219 during the pre-order phase. 

While I’m not yet ready to deliver my final thoughts, I spent a bit of time with the OnePlus Watch 2R at its launch, and here’s what I think so far.

Design and screen

• Similar in design to OnePlus Watch 2
• Aluminium build makes it lighter
• UP68 & MIL-STD-810H certified

The OnePlus Watch 2R looks a lot like its sibling, the OnePlus Watch 2, but there are a few notable changes on offer. The first, and most notable, is a change in material. While the regular Watch 2 sports a stainless steel build, OnePlus wanted the Watch 2R to be a little lighter. The answer? Switch out the stainless steel for aluminium.

This means that the Watch 2R is lighter than the Watch 2, measuring in at 37g compared to the Watch 2’s 49g, or 80g with the strap, and although I only got to try it on for a few minutes in the OnePlus demo area, it did feel notably lighter than the regular Watch 2. 

That’s not all either; there are subtle changes to the overall design, like ditching the rotating crown of the Watch 2 for two side buttons instead. It makes sense, given the fact that the crown on the regular Watch 2 serves no actual purpose beyond being a button. There aren’t any zoom or scrolling capabilities like competing wearables like the Apple Watch Series 9. 

Aside from the change in material and the tweaked design, the OnePlus Watch 2R is functionally the same as the full-fat OnePlus Watch 2. It features the same look, inspired by traditional watchfaces, complete with the same textured silicon watch strap as its sibling. 

It’s also just as resistant to the elements, sporting IP68 dust and water resistance that OnePlus claims can operate at up to 50 meters under the water with 5ATM resistance, though that’s going to be a hard thing to put to the test. 

It’s also durable with a sapphire crystal watchface covering, and it also has MIL-STD-810H military-grade durability certification. This all amounts to a wearable that can take a beating in harsh environments and still operate – in theory, anyway. 

Let’s not forget about the 1.43-inch AMOLED screen powering the experience, providing a fairly large digital canvas for displaying your apps and notifications, and at 600nits, it should be just as viewable in bright outdoor conditions – though I can’t confirm that from a hands-on area. 

It also offers an always-on display option, though enabling it will likely negatively impact the overall battery life of the device. 

Features and spec

• Dual chipsets for two operating modes
• Up to 100 hours of battery life
• Suite of health and fitness tools

Like the regular OnePlus Watch 2, the Watch 2R sports a dual architecture, essentially sporting not one but two chipsets in the form of the Snapdragon W5 and the BES 2700, complete with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage for music, apps and the like. 

The dual chipset allows for some pretty cool stuff – namely the ability for the watch to switch between a regular, full-fat WearOS mode with all the apps and features you’d expect and a Smart Mode, which essentially removes features like custom watchfaces and WearOS apps. That might sound a little odd, but it all comes down to one thing; battery life. 

When it comes to battery life, expect two days of battery life when running full WearOS, though that can be extended to 100 hours by switching to the wearable’s Smart Mode, providing access to most features and functionality including exercise tracking – though without access to third-party WearOS apps. 

It can also last up to 12 days on battery saver mode, though that’ll come at the expense of certain features. 

Elsewhere, you can expect the same health and fitness tracking as the regular OnePlus Watch, including features like heart rate and blood oxygen monitoring, dual-frequency GPS for more accurate tracking in congested locations like cities and dense forests, and the same suite of exercise, health and sleep tracking tools too. 

All these stats, as well as exercise breakdowns, are accessible both on the watch itself, and the companion app available for Android. 

Then there’s also the benefit of WearOS, allowing not only for a handful of OnePlus-designed apps but a whole host of third-party apps, providing access to services like Spotify, Google Maps and whatever else you might need. It also means you’ve got access to a whole host of watchfaces, though considering the wearable comes with 20 custom watchfaces, it’s not something I imagine a lot of people will be downloading. 

For more on what the OnePlus Watch 2R can do, it’s best to take a look at our full OnePlus Watch 2 review while we work on the Watch 2R review because, as mentioned, aside from the tweaked design, the two smartwatches are essentially identical.

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A ‘hands on review’ is our first impression of a product only – it is not a full test and verdict. Our writer must have spent some time with the product to describe an early sense of what it’s like to use. We call these ‘hands on reviews’ to make them visible in search. However these are always unscored and don’t give recommendations. Read more about our reviews policy.