OnePlus Nord Watch was launched in the Indian market a little while back. The smartwatch is geared towards more of the masses as the previously launched OnePlus Watch would be out of budget for most consumers. Right off the bat, OnePlus Nord Watch is one of the best smartwatches you can use in the budget segment. With the Nord Watch, OnePlus has done what it always did with its products - make a simple yet elegant and powerful product. OnePlus Nord Watch, by a long shot, doesn't feel like an affordable segment gadget. Now while it doesn't deliver what premium smartwatches do either, it can be a great option for consumers who are looking to get the most out of the least money they can spend. Let me walk you through what I liked about this smartwatch and what I didn't.
OnePlus Nord Watch Review: Design and Body
In the design department, the body of the watch is the same as you would find in other smartwatches out there, which is fine; smartwatches don't always need to look different. But yes, they must feel different, and that is where the OnePlus Nord Watch makes a difference. The OnePlus Nord Watch has a metal body, which at this price, I have, frankly, not seen in any other smartwatch. OnePlus says that the band of the Nord Watch is made of hypoallergenic material, which helps in avoiding skin irritation. Now I have been using it for almost three weeks now, and I can vouch that it doesn't irritate the skin even when I am doing a high-intensity activity which involves a lot of sweat on the wrists.
It has a magnetic charging port at the bottom and a round button on the side of the body. This button allows you to navigate to the menu. The OnePlus Nord Watch is quite light, and the blue colour straps look really cool. But I would any day go for the midnight black variant of this smartwatch. Both are available on the official website of OnePlus and Amazon India.
RATING - 9/10 (I really love the design).
OnePlus Nord Watch Review: Display
The OnePlus Nord Watch has a square display with rounded edges, which is preferable for many who don't like to read stuff in smartwatches with circular-shaped displays. The Nord Watch comes with a 1.78-inch AMOLED display and supports 60Hz refresh rate. The maximum brightness it can support is 500nits, which is very decent and allows you to read comfortably under the striking sunlight in a country like India. The screen-to-body ratio of the smartwatch is 70.7%, which is decent.
The display of the OnePlus Nord Watch has been the most impressive thing for me. I was definitely not expecting such a smooth and bright experience with a budget smartwatch like this. Believe me; I have used smartwatches in the same price segment as the Nord Watch, and their body and display are nothing like what OnePlus has delivered by a long margin.
In the display department, OnePlus Nord Watch is definitely winning against almost all of the smartwatches in the budget segment. The Watch Case is made of Zinc Alloy, which gives a good feel to you whenever you touch it. The display has never lagged, and it is very responsive and accurate on touch.
You can change the watch faces through the mobile app - N Health (more about the app later).
RATING - 9/10
OnePlus Nord Watch Review: Activity Modes, Health Tracking and Performance
The OnePlus Nord Watch comes with support for several activity modes. It has support for Bluetooth 5.2 to provide seamless connectivity with your smartphone. There are a total of 105 sports modes that can be tracked with this smartwatch. If you are an Indian, there's a high chance that you like playing cricket. The OnePlus Nord Watch is also capable of tracking cricket activity.
OnePlus Nord Watch packs a 3-axis accelerometer, optical heart rate sensor and blood oxygen sensor. You can track SpO2 levels, heart rate, stress level, and sleep activity comfortably with this smartwatch. One of the cool features of the OnePlus Nord Watch is that it allows fast one-tap measurement. This basically means that with a single touch, users can measure multiple health indicators.
It packs a 230mAh battery and can deliver 10 days of activity and 30 days of standby time; at least, that's what OnePlus claims. However, if you are regularly using it for tracking activities, then the battery life would come down to 7 to 8 days at max, and that's totally fine. The smartwatch also comes with IP68 water-resistance certification, but there's no swimming mode; thus, don't take it for swimming at all.
One activity that I tracked multiple times with the OnePlus Nord Watch was running. I have taken it on multiple runs. The last one was a 29km run, but due to some reason, the distance tracked on the Nord Watch is always much lesser than what is tracked on my smartphone. I feel like the tracking of running distance is not the most accurate on the OnePlus Nord Watch. That said, there could be many reasons why the tracking on my runs could be affected.
OnePlus Nord Watch users will have to download the N-Health from OnePlus to pair it with the smartphone. The app is available both for Android as well as iOS smartphones. To update the smartwatch with the latest firmware, OnePlus users will have to again use the N-Health app.
RATING - 8/10
OnePlus Nord Watch Review: Price and Conclusion
OnePlus Nord Watch is simply a great product. It is priced at Rs 4,999 on both OnePlus.in and Amazon.in. Users can get it in two colours - Blue and Black. It has a great design, great performance, great features and a great display. For the price it is selling at, users can derive a lot of value from their purchase. If you have an HDFC Bank credit card, then you will get an instant discount of Rs 500 on the purchase. The run tracking is where I am a little confused as to how accurate the performance of the smartwatch is, but apart from that, everything else looks and feels great about this smartwatch.
