OnePlus introduces its incredibly affordable Nord Watch

6/10/2022

The company has launched its second smartwatch and its first wearable under the Nord branding after a couple of weeks of teasing: the OnePlus Nord Watch.

The OnePlus Watch was a poor first effort from the company. It was widely panned for its poor software experience and inaccurate step tracking. The BBK-owned firm never dipped its toes in the smartwatch segment following that, though it did not entirely give up on the category either. Now, 1.5 years after the launch of the original Watch, the company has launched OnePlus Nord Watch.

The wearable features a 1.78-inch rectangular AMOLED display with a 60Hz refresh rate and a rated brightness of 500 nits. OnePlus claims the IP68-certified chassis is waterproof and weatherproof. The straps are carried over from the OnePlus Watch and are made of breathable materials.

For health tracking, the watch features a 3-axis accelerometer, heart-rate scanner, and SpO2 sensor. Apart from the usual metrics like steps taken and calories burnt, the wearable uses the collected data to display your stress levels and track your sleep cycle. Further, it can track over 105 exercises and physical activities, including cricket and yoga. There's automatic workout detection for runs and walks, but you must enable the tracking beforehand for other workouts.

The Nord Watch connects to your phone over Bluetooth 5.2 using the N Health companion app. You can view all the collected data and better manage your health using the app. It also lets you customize the notifications you want to receive on the wearable.

OnePlus claims the Nord Watch can last for 10 days on a single charge or up to 30 days on standby, thanks to a 230mAh cell inside it. One reason behind the impressive battery life is that the watch does not run Wear OS—it features RTOS. So, while you have access to plenty of watch faces, there are no third-party apps to install and play around with. OnePlus says there are over 100 watch faces, but you can only access any five designs directly from the wearable at any time. For the rest, you must use the companion app on your smartphone.

The OnePlus Nord Watch is available in Midnight Black and Deep Blue shades. It is compatible with Android 6.0+ phones and iPhones running iOS 11 or newer. OnePlus is launching the Nord Watch only in India, where you can get it for Rs 5,000 (S$87.12). There's no news on the availability in Singapore or outside of India. Given how poorly the OnePlus Watch was received, the Nord Watch's availability is unlikely to expand outside the country.