Summary
In the smartphone industry, OnePlus has carved out a special place for itself with its long history of high-quality Android handsets. Although there have been a few hiccups, OnePlus has generally delivered a solid portfolio of smartphones.
But its venture into the smartwatch industry was a complete failure. Although it made a daring effort at durability and elegant design with the first OnePlus Watch, which came out in 2021, it failed miserably in far too many other respects to be considered even somewhat successful.
OnePlus Watch 2 vs. Samsung Galaxy Watch 6
The OnePlus Watch 2 is the company’s second effort after a near three-year hiatus. Superior design and extended battery life seem to be the new model’s guiding principles, with the addition of Wear OS 4 serving to round out the device.
The OnePlus Watch 2 is the company’s second attempt at a wristwatch, but will it be able to hold its own against the Galaxy Watch 6, the de facto benchmark for Android wearables, made by Samsung? Let’s investigate.
OnePlus Watch 2 vs. Galaxy Watch 6: specs
| OnePlus Watch 2 | Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 | |
| Display size | 1.43 inches | 40mm: 1.3 inches44mm: 1.53 inches |
| Body size | 47mm | 40mm44mm |
| Weight | 49 grams | 40mm: 28.7 grams44mm: 33.3 grams |
| Resolution in pixels | 466 x 466 (326 pixels per inch) | 40mm: 432 x 432 (453 ppi)44mm: 480 x 480 (453 ppi) |
| Touchscreen | AMOLED | Super AMOLED, always-on display |
| Storage | 32GB | 16GB |
| Wireless interface | Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n dual-band, NFC | Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, dual-band, NFC, LTE |
| Depth | 13.65mm | 0.35 inches (9mm) |
| Blood oxygen sensor |
Yes | Yes |
| Accelerometer | Yes | Yes |
| Gyroscope | Yes | Yes |
| Ambient light sensor | Yes | Yes |
| Heart rate sensor | Yes | Yes |
| Barometer | Yes | Yes |
| GPS | Dual Frequency L1+L5 | Single Frequency L1 |
| Compass | Yes | Yes |
| Water/dust resistant | MIL-STD-810H, 5ATM, IP68 | MIL-STD-810H, 5ATM, IP68 |
| Battery life | Up to 100 hours in Smart Mode; up to 12 days in Power Saver mode | Up to 24 hours |
| Price | From $300 | From $300 |
OnePlus Watch 2 vs. Samsung Galaxy Watch 6: design
The design of the OnePlus Watch 2 is the most striking feature. OnePlus has succeeded where others have failed by creating a smartwatch that exudes style as much as technology.
The sapphire crystal and stainless steel construction of the OnePlus wearable make it both fashionable and long-lasting. Black Steel is a little darker and less glossy without losing its reflectivity, in contrast to the bright and polished Radiant Steel.
The result is an overall more refined appearance, in contrast to the Galaxy Watch 6 from Samsung, which has many design cues but is more functional in its matte metal surface. Also adding to the overall aesthetic is a revolving crown, which is, however, just ornamental. In a very perplexing design choice, OnePlus made it spin without giving it any function, reducing it to nothing more than a decorative button.
We tested the OnePlus Watch 2 all night long without any discomfort, despite its heavier design (49 grams without the strap compared to 33 grams of Samsung’s largest Watch 6 model) due to its stainless steel construction. Just like other stainless steel wearables, OnePlus has kept the weight down. It’s 10 grams lighter than the stainless steel Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, which is similarly sized.
Another thing to think about is that the watch band you choose may have a bigger impact in this case. The entire weight of a OnePlus device is 80 grams with the standard band attached, which adds another 31 grams. In comparison, the basic sport band of a Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is 23 kilos (size dependent) and the fabric band is little less than 10 grams.
The OnePlus Watch 2 and the Galaxy Watch 6 both offer band systems that can be removed, so you’ll have many of alternatives to pick from when it comes to changing the strap. There may be more bands claiming to be compatible with the Watch 6 due to Samsung’s smartwatches’ popularity, but the OnePlus Watch 2 has a standard 22mm quick-release mechanism, so you may use bands designed for the Galaxy Watch 3 and other watches that utilize the same attachment.
When comparing the two watches, the Galaxy Watch 6 and the OnePlus Watch 2 are equally robust. In addition to being dust and water resistant up to IP68 and having a military-grade MIL-STD-810H durability certification, both are 5 ATM strong. That implies you may submerge each one for 30 minutes in fresh water up to 1.5 meters deep or 10 minutes in 50 meters deep. Both also include sapphire glass displays, which are said to be very scratch-proof.
The OnePlus Watch 2’s several design triumphs make it possible that one would overlook the nonfunctional rotating crown, which may be a vexing absence for those used to other smartwatch platforms. Considering its size and the use of stainless steel components, it is surprisingly lightweight and comfy, and it looks fantastic too. But that doesn’t mean the Galaxy Watch 6 isn’t remarkable elsewhere. We believe a lot of people will like the understated style, and there are two sizes to choose from. We have to declare a tie since choosing between these two is very subjective.
Status: Draw
OnePlus Watch 2 vs. Galaxy Watch 6: display
The 1.43-inch AMOLED display of the OnePlus Watch 2 has a 466 x 466 pixel resolution. At 326 pixels per inch (ppi), it’s not quite as dense as Samsung’s 453 ppi, but OnePlus still does an excellent job of making everything seem sharp and colorful.
Still, when comparing brightness and pixel density, Samsung comes out on top. The Galaxy Watch 6 has the ability to reach 2,000 nits, while the OnePlus Watch 2 only manages 600. While that may seem like a big deal on paper, we were able to use the OnePlus Watch 2 outside in direct sunlight without any problems. Even if the Galaxy Watch 6 performs better in direct sunlight, the OnePlus Watch 2 holds its own.
In addition to a greater pixel density and a slightly bigger screen in a smaller shell, the Galaxy Watch 6’s reduced bezels allow for a 44mm model with a 1.53-inch screen and a 40mm model with a 1.3-inch screen.
While these are minor issues, and we doubt anybody would be dissatisfied with the OnePlus Watch 2’s screen, the Galaxy Watch 6’s superior screen brightness and frontal display realignment give it the upper hand.
Galaxy Watch 6 is the victor
OnePlus Watch 2 vs. Galaxy Watch 6: performance
Opening applications, accessing menus, and tiling all happen with silky smoothness on the OnePlus Watch 2, thanks to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 CPU.
Unfortunately, Samsung has continued to employ its own in-house Exynos W930 platform for the Galaxy Watch 6, rather than embracing Qualcomm’s offering. Although it is a dual-core CPU, its 1.4GHz clock speed is lower than the W5’s quad-core 1.7GHz setup.
While we have never seen any slowdown or difficulty with app launching or browsing on the Galaxy Watch 6, it is undeniably slower than other top-tier smartwatches.
While Samsung avoided the Snapdragon W5 because to concerns about power consumption, OnePlus found a method to tackle the issue in a more innovative manner. A BES 2700 efficiency co-processor was included into the wearable to manage common activities, freeing up the W5 for more demanding applications. Thanks to its flawless operation, you won’t even notice when the OnePlus Watch 2 silently switches between processors, enabling it to provide an impressively long battery life without sacrificing performance. Later on, we may go further into that topic.
Our Winner: the OnePlus Watch 2
OnePlus Watch 2 vs. Galaxy Watch 6: software and features
By largely abandoning the proprietary RTOS operating system in favor of the fraternity of Wear OS smartwatches, the OnePlus Watch 2 is a welcome departure from its predecessor.
In particular, the OnePlus Watch 2 is compatible with Wear OS 4, which is standard fare for smartwatches. Unfortunately, there are a few oddities with OnePlus’ approach, such as the oddly useless spinning crown that we discussed before. If you want to use your OnePlus Watch 2 to navigate, you’ll have to use the touchscreen. You can still access all of your applications by pressing the crown button, but spinning it doesn’t do what you would expect—that is, nothing.
While OnePlus has made some modifications to Wear OS 4, it does not consider it a separate skin in the same vein as Samsung’s One UI 5.0. Minor adjustments are what you’ll see instead, and a lot of them seem to have taken cues from Apple’s watchOS. When put next to the wearable’s remarkable mechanical design, OnePlus’s assortment of watch faces falls flat, leaving many feeling let down.
Additionally, we encountered several glitchy portions of the experience, such as alerts that weren’t always trustworthy. It’s difficult to place too much blame on OnePlus since we’ve also seen that issue with other Wear OS devices. But Samsung has nailed it with the Galaxy Watch 6. Notifications are more customizable and have been dependable in our tests, all because of One UI.
Even though Wear OS is the main operating system of the OnePlus Watch 2, RTOS is still available. Instead, it makes ingenious use of the OS’s Power Saver mode to suck power from the more efficient but restricted OS. Turning on Power Saver doesn’t alter the UI and all the pre-installed features, such as health and fitness tracking, weather, alarms, timers, and alerts, will stay operational thanks to the RTOS’s flawless integration with the system. In such state, Wear OS is disabled, so you can’t access Wear OS applications or use Google Assistant. Also, the always-on display isn’t working, although that’s probably due to battery savings rather than a real restriction of RTOS in comparison to Wear OS.
For those who like to maintain connectivity even when they are not near their phone, the Galaxy Watch 6 does come in a 4G/LTE variant. If you’re looking for a cellular version, you’ll have to settle with the Galaxy Watch 6 instead of the OnePlus Watch 2.
Coming in at a close second. Here, OnePlus pulls off some neat tricks, and the combination of Wear OS with RTOS is a nice touch. On the other hand, it still seems like an implementation from the previous generation due to a few peculiarities. Our hope is that OnePlus will eventually catch up, but for a more refined experience, the Galaxy Watch 6 offers a significant advantage thanks to Samsung’s more experienced and well-established One UI 5.0.
Galaxy Watch 6 is the victor.
OnePlus Watch 2 vs. Galaxy Watch 6: battery life and charging
As we’ve discussed in earlier parts, OnePlus has carried over some of the best features from its first-generation phones to its second-generation wearable, which boasts superior battery life and charging capabilities.
With its 500mAh battery, the OnePlus Watch 2 claims to be capable of 100 hours of use in “Smart Mode.” In their description, the company lists the following features: an officially supported watch face, disabled always-on display, default health monitoring settings, a persistent Bluetooth mobile phone connection, 6.5 hours of sleep monitoring nightly, 30 minutes of outdoor running daily, 130 notifications, 5 minutes of Bluetooth calling, and 15 minutes of daily Spotify headset listening.
What a liberal use model, except from disabling the always-on display. It may not be long off until we have 100 hours between charges, which sounds ridiculous. If you disable the always-on display, you should still get three full days of battery life, which is more than enough for most people.
Our tests showed that the OnePlus Watch 2’s battery life remained at 13% after over 61 hours of continuous usage. This included monitoring sleep throughout the night, going for walks outside, and receiving a continual stream of notifications—all while the always-on display was activated.
To put that in perspective, OnePlus also offers a “heavy use” variant with a 48-hour battery life guarantee. This involves doing things like using a third-party watch face that activates the more power-hungry Snapdragon W5 performance chipset and keeping the always-on display activated. In addition to two hours of daily Wi-Fi use, this takes into account an increase in alerts, screen time, outside jogging with GPS activated, 30 minutes of daily Spotify listening via Bluetooth, and so on.
By Wear OS standards, that’s really remarkable battery life. On the other hand, OnePlus has gone above and above by including a Power Saver mode that claims a whopping twelve days of battery life. We have said that this mode disables Wear OS functionality, so you can only use the applications that came with the device. Yet, you may still use it to track your outside activity for 90 minutes per week and keep getting alerts, calls, and messages on your wrist.
While Samsung did make an effort to increase the Galaxy Watch 6’s battery life compared to its predecessor, it is still no match for what OnePlus has to offer. While Samsung advertises a 40–50 hour battery life, we found that using the sleep-tracking functions meant we needed to charge it every two days. You can get a little more life out of your Galaxy Watch 6 by disabling power-hungry features like the always-on display, but it doesn’t have anything like to OnePlus’ Power Saver mode.
Regarding charging, the two watches are more comparable. With its 7.5-watt rapid charging technology, the OnePlus Watch 2 can go from zero to one hundred percent in only sixty minutes and provide twenty-four hours of battery on a single charge. After 20 minutes, we discovered it could increase its capacity from 13% to 75%. Another well-thought-out feature of the charging puck is its removable USB-C cord, which is a huge boon for travelers.
The 10-watt charger that comes with the Galaxy Watch 6 doesn’t make much of a difference when it comes to charging the wearable. It takes somewhat more than an hour to get to full charge, but you’ll get up to 45% within about 30 minutes.
Both watches can be charged in about the same length of time, but the OnePlus Watch 2’s exceptional battery life will make you seldom need to.
Our Winner: the OnePlus Watch 2
Review of the OnePlus Watch 2: Priced right only for the battery
OnePlus Watch 2 vs. Galaxy Watch 6: fitness and health tracking
The health and fitness capabilities are where the OnePlus Watch 2 really lags behind its rivals. We discovered several potentially major errors and a few other strange peculiarities with the wearable, despite its seemingly endless list of features (heart rate and activity tracking, stress monitoring, sleep tracking, and even a blood oxygen sensor).
With OnePlus’ OHealth app on your smartphone and a Daily Activity app on the Watch 2, the health functions are functional enough at a basic level. The interface for viewing statistics and beginning exercises is user-friendly, and you can even find routines that allow you to adjust the screen to focus on certain parameters.
There aren’t a lot of extra features in the health applications. While it may lack certain social elements like challenges, guided meditations, and prizes, it does what it has to accomplish.
The issue is that when compared to other smart devices’ step and sleep monitoring metrics, our testing revealed that they were wildly wrong. The OnePlus Watch 2 dramatically overstated the lengths of light and REM sleep and was 3,000 to 4,000 steps off when compared to the steps recorded by an Oura Ring. It was also drastically wrong when it came to the various phases of sleep. For people who are OK with a rough idea of these figures, it won’t be a huge concern, but for precision-oriented smart device users, it’s a major issue.
Some people may find the OnePlus Watch 2’s strange metric, which attempts to measure something in relation to food quantities (e.g., 1.8 lattes or 1.1 pieces of fried chicken), to be a bit off-putting and unclear. Yes, we did.
Here we see Samsung showcasing the Galaxy Watch 6’s enhanced health experience, which has been in development for some time. Improve your health and fitness with Samsung’s Health platform, which delivers more accurate data, Advanced Sleep Coaching, and Personalized Heart Rate Zones.
These are added to Samsung’s vast list of health features, which already includes things like an electrocardiogram (ECG) app, heart rate monitoring, automated exercise recognition, cycle tracking, and blood oxygen monitoring. In addition, the temperature sensors and Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) can monitor your temperature, hydration %, muscle composition, and more.
Actually, the Galaxy Watch 6 has a bewildering array of health-related capabilities. However, you can easily modify it to meet your own requirements, and everything functions as a unified whole. The one and only true drawback is that Samsung bombards you with data without adequately explaining its significance, so people like me who aren’t doctors or fitness specialists have to figure it out on our own.
The great thing is that there are no irritating subscriptions needed for the health features offered by both OnePlus and Samsung. With all the features that the Galaxy Watch 6’s Samsung Health app can provide, you’re really getting a bargain, but we still believe “free” is the fair pricing for the OnePlus Watch 2.
Galaxy Watch 6 is the victor.
OnePlus Watch 2 vs. Galaxy Watch 6: price and availability
For $300, you can get the OnePlus Watch 2 on OnePlus’s website or Amazon. You may get a $50 or more discount on your next OnePlus purchase just by trading in any watch, regardless of condition—not only smartwatches. Two band colors are available for the OnePlus Watch 2: Radiant Steel and Black Steel.
Starting at $300 for the 40mm version and $330 for the 44mm version, you can get the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6. Each of those costs will increase by $50 when 4G/LTE connection is added. You can find the Galaxy Watch 6 at most major stores, both online and offline, unlike the OnePlus Watch 2. However, the 4G/LTE models are more likely to be available via your carrier, maybe during a promotion.
With the Galaxy Watch 6, picking a color might be a little more of a challenge. Both sizes are only available in graphite. The 40mm Watch 6 is the only option for those who like gold, while the 44mm version is the only one available in silver. When you buy the Galaxy Watch 6 from Samsung directly, you may choose from several bands, however at most stores, it comes with a matching sport band.
OnePlus Watch 2 vs. Galaxy Watch 6: verdict
The OnePlus Watch 2 is a curious combination of impressive features and confusing flaws, as we mentioned in our review. It was difficult to evaluate, and much more so to recommend, this wristwatch.
OnePlus got a lot of things right with this, such as a top-notch design with high-quality materials, an extremely long battery life, and top-tier performance. Despite its brevity, its list is amazing.
However, it fails miserably in a plethora of other respects, such as having inadequate and erroneous health tracking capabilities, rather strange software, and an inadequate assortment of watch faces. While a broken crown may not seem like a big deal in and of itself, it throws off the whole user experience.
The OnePlus Watch 2, like the company’s smartphones, may appeal to a niche market of “enthusiast” buyers. The person in question here would be more concerned with aesthetics and battery life than with health and fitness functions. Assuming you’re not naive about the market, the OnePlus Watch 2 isn’t a terrible $300 investment if that describes you.
Having said that, we believe the Galaxy Watch 6 will be a far superior choice for our average customer. Although the designs aren’t as flashy as some of Samsung’s other offerings, you do have two sizes to choose from, and the company’s One UI software platform has matured and become more sophisticated over the years. The battery life is sufficient for the majority of people, and Samsung’s health features are head and shoulders beyond what OnePlus is providing.
