Oppo may not be known for its smartwatches, and the Watch X2 isn't going to be the one that helps it stand out. It does everything you'd expect from any competent smartwatch, and well, though admittedly with a little more style, heart, and a whole lot more battery life than the rest.
-
Design
-
Features
-
Battery
-
Tracking
-
Value
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the Oppo Watch X2 is the company’s sequel to 2024’s Watch X. If the big number ‘2’ on the box didn’t tip you off, then perhaps the eerily similar design might do the trick. That’s not a bad thing. The Watch X proved to be a comfy little wrist-hugger, and the Watch X2 is, fittingly, the same. Instead, Oppo reserved the biggest upgrades for the internals, making this one of the better watches we’ve yet donned.
Nerves of stainless steel
Oppo worked tirelessly to create a watch that could be taken seriously, anywhere, and it hasn’t deviated from that lane here. Perhaps it’s got something to do with the Lava Black rubber strap here that accentuates its resemblance to something your dad might sport, something the Summit Blue strap probably struggles against with.
Further fuelling that idea are some purely cosmetic indices (though they may be of use to the folks who skipped a grade or two in primary school) adorning the stainless steel edges, surrounding the Sapphire crystal face. The lack of a rotating bezel was certainly a little disheartening — especially coming from a Galaxy Watch daily driver.
If it did, it might have distracted us from the mediocre rotating dial that serves as one of the Watch X2’s few physical controls, which otherwise relies on its user’s flesh to navigate. While a lower button flush to the body begins the workouts, it’s the rotating pike of metal jutting out on the right side that’ll do just about everything else. It handled fine most days, though it was a little too finicky when adjusting the volume on a run.
The Watch X2 makes up for those misgivings with a gorgeous 1.5in LTPO AMOLED (466 x 466px) display in its centre. We let the automatic brightness sort itself out and enjoyed the company of the 2,200 nits peak brightness even when out under the boiling sun. It’s secured against regular water and dust with an IP68 rating, and the 5ATM score meant it could take a dip in up to 50m of water.
At 49g and 11.8mm thick, the Oppo Watch X2 won’t exactly make you forget that it’s strapped to your arm, and actually made tracking our sleep an uncomfortable chore. That weight became its superpower in casual settings, feeling far more premium than the competition in this price range without ever breaking a sweat. That’s to say that fitness freaks only looking for a workout companion can look elsewhere for a cheaper (and lighter) option.
This metal’s got mettle
When it isn’t called upon to tell the time, the Watch X2 was tracking whichever workout we threw its way. It gets around the place rather smoothly thanks to the Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 under the hood, and tallies all that data in Oppo’s own ‘OHealth‘ app that’ll limit this watch to Android owners only. Despite Oppo’s visual language dictating everything, it relies on Google’s WearOS, meaning we didn’t find any surprises when digging around.
It’s worth mentioning that South African buyers under Discovery Health’s wing cannot track and earn their vitality points with Oppo’s hardware clinging to their wrist. It’s a bummer, and it hurts, Discovery. But if you’re exercising for the sake of it instead of a free Kauai smoothie, then you can’t go wrong with Oppo’s watch.
There’s no shortage of sensors in the Watch X2. It’s got the standard bits — an accelerometer, gyro, barometer, compass, heart rate, and a SpO2 tracker. The Watch X2 ups the ante over its predecessor by including a regular temperature sensor that took five or so days to get a baseline for readings.
Despite Oppo’s promise that the Watch X2 packs in more than 100 sports modes, we’ll admit that we were stumped before we got through ten of ’em. The ones we did, like walking, running, swimming, and just about every gym-related workout we could find, worked well, providing accurate data that compared favourably with the results we got from other devices — except the original Watch X. The Watch X2 comes kitted with a more powerful GPS that delivered a more in-depth look at our outdoor exploits. Ideal for the average runner, really.
The Watch X2 not only survived multiple dunkings in the pool — it thrived. Part of that is down to the many trackers that outstripped our various frolickings in the water, and a responsive display. Stick it in the shower, though? You may just find yourself unwittingly contacting the very last contact in your phonebook you’d like to speak to. Or, throwing around hate speech on X. Don’t worry. Nobody is paying attention, anyway.
Suckling the USB-C teat
It’s not often that devices under-promise and over-deliver for, well, anything, but the Watch X2 manages it for one of the more important aspects when choosing a smartwatch: battery life. It’s harbouring a 648mAh battery that Oppo claims will net a respectable 120 hours (five days), assuming you keep a low profile.
We didn’t, and often threw multiple exercises per day at the Watch X2 to make it really sweat, and came away surprised by the six, bordering on seven days we eked out of the smartwatch before it keeled over. A typical day devoured only a measly 8% of juice, while an overnight wear dragged that down to 15%. Add all those up over a week, and you’ll get the six or seven days we promised, all without compromising on regular sports tracking.
The Oppo Watch X2 does suffer from a proprietary charger that hooks up to the plastic backing magnetically, and makes taking it on those longer holidays that much more painful.
Oppo Watch X2 verdict
Underneath all the steely sinew lies a R6,500 (R4,500 if you’re lucky) smartwatch that’s got all the makings of a competent bit of kit. It looks the part, for one thing, and isn’t shy about its big, bold face — though runners may still prefer to take something a little slimmer and more lightweight. WearOS runs the show while a bunch of sensors track all the essentials with surprising ease and accuracy. That’s all well and good, but the Oppo Watch X2 excels with a 648mAh battery life that kept it alive long past its best-before date.
