Minor differences make for two great watches

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  Budget champion

  OnePlus Watch 2R

  $200 $230 Save $30

  The OnePlus Watch 2R offers the same performance and capabilities as its more expensive sibling. It has the same processing power, RAM, storage, display, and even the same fantastic battery life. OnePlus cut costs on some of the build materials to lower the overall price, making it one of the best budget smartwatches currently available.

  Pros

  • Excellent performance
  • Three days of battery lfie
  • Solid build quality

  Cons

  • OHealth has limited third part support
  • No rotating crown
  • Odd default app menu

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  Premium version

  OnePlus Watch 2

  $291 $300 Save $9

  The OnePlus Watch 2 is almost identical to the Watch 2R, except for improved build materials and higher cost. With a stronger chassis and more durable display, the Watch 2 should hold up longer than the Watch 2R. Outside the build materials, the Watch 2 offers the same great performance, display, and battery life as the less expensive Watch 2R.

  Pros

  • Snappy and powerful performance
  • Flagship build materials
  • Excellent battery life

  Cons

  • No rotating crown
  • More expensive
  • Limited OHealth third party support

When looking for a well-rounded Android smartwatch, a couple of manufacturers immediately come to mind, like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 or the Pixel Watch 3. But a company like OnePlus also deserves to be near the top of that list.

The original OnePlus Watch was a shaky start for the company, but it had a solid foundation and allowed for growth. Following the first iteration, OnePlus came out of the gate swinging with its vastly improved OnePlus Watch 2. This model fixed many of the original watch’s shortcomings while maintaining what it did well.

Then, only a couple of months later, OnePlus took the Watch 2’s formula, swapped out some of the build materials, and released the less expensive OnePlus Watch 2R. The Watch 2R gives its more expensive sibling a serious run for its money, and it’s time to find out which version does it best.

Price, availability, and specs

These two watches are incredibly similar, and it’ll be a recurring theme throughout this article. The OnePlus Watch 2 launched in February 2024 for $300. The Watch 2R started shipping only a few months later, hitting shelves in July 2024 at a retail price of $230.

Both devices are available in a single 46mm size and come in shades of black and green. The Watch 2 comes in Radiant Steel and Black Steel, while the Watch 2R comes in Forest Green and Gunmetal Gray. The Watch 2 can be found through OnePlus and Amazon, while the Watch 2R is only available from OnePlus.

• 	OnePlus Watch 2R	OnePlus Watch 2
  Case size	46mm	47mm
  Case Material	Aluminum	Stainless steel
  Display	1.43″ 60Hz AMOLED	1.43″ 60Hz AMOLED
  Display resolution	466 x 466	466 x 466
  CPU	Snapdragon W5, BES2700	Snapdragon W5, BES2700
  RAM	2GB	2GB
  Storage	32GB	32GB
  Battery	500mAh	500mAh
  Cellular connectivity	No	No
  Wi-Fi connectivity	Yes	Yes
  Software	Wear OS 4	Wear OS 4
  Health sensors	Heart rate, SpO2	Heart rate, SpO2
  Dimensions	47 x 46.6 x 12.1mm	47 x 46.6 x 12.1mm
  Weight	59g (with strap)	80g (with strap)
  IP Rating	IP68	IP68
  Strap size	22 mm	22 mm
  Colors	Forest Green, Gunmetal Gray	Black Steel, Radiant Steel
  Price	$230	$300

Design, display, and other hardware

Practically the same in every way

The wearables’ biggest differences come from some of the build materials, but even those are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. The Watch 2 features a stainless steel chassis and a fluororubber strap. The Watch 2R replaces the steel chassis with aluminum alloy and has a slightly less flexible silicone strap.

Both watches are nearly identical in size, but the difference in build materials gives the weight advantage to the Watch 2R. The Watch 2 weighs 49g without a strap and 80g with the strap. The Watch 2R weighs only 37g or 59g with the strap.

The Watch 2 has a circular body and a straight right edge. I find the design of the Watch 2 to be a bit funky and much prefer the fully rounded edges of the Watch 2R. OnePlus opted not to include a crown on either device (which is a shame) and placed two buttons on the right side.

OnePlus outfitted the devices with the same beautiful 1.43-inch AMOLED display. They both share the same 466 x 466 resolution, and 600 nits of maximum brightness, making for one bright and vibrant display. The Watch 2’s display is covered in Sapphire Crystal while the Watch 2R gets less protective Panda Glass. The Watch 2 should hold up to scuffs and scratches far longer than the 2R.

Two processors are better than one

The only thing better than having a speedy processor is a secondary one that is more efficient for all the background tasks — that is exactly what both of these devices have. The Watch 2 and the 2R ship with a very snappy Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 processor that is tasked with all the heavy lifting. These devices also have an efficient processor in the BES2700BP that handles all the background tasks, such as monitoring health sensors and the connection to the phone.

Coupled with the two processors is 2GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. There is no LTE version as the devices ship Wi-Fi only, as well as Bluetooth 5.0 and NFC.

Software

Your standard Wear OS wearables

These OnePlus devices both run on Wear OS 4 and RTOS. Wear OS is powered by the Snapdragon chipset and RTOS works off of the more efficient one. OnePlus has to get some credit for how well its dual processor integrates with the software, as it’s impossible to tell anything outside the norm is going on under the hood.

The software experience will be the same on both of these watches down to identical watch faces. They also use the OHealth app to sync information to and from your phone and feature the same weird app drawer. You get three different app drawers to choose from. The one by default feels similar to what is on watchOS, but you can easily change it to mimic a Galaxy Watch or a Pixel Watch.

However, OnePlus’ software support leaves a bit to be desired. OnePlus is promising two Wear OS updates and three years of security updates for both devices. That means they should see Wear OS 6 and continue to get security patches through part of 2027. Three years just doesn’t feel long enough, four or five years feels much more palatable, even if it was just for security updates.

Health & fitness

A solid effort, but needs cloud sync

It should come as no surprise that these watches are the same in terms of health and fitness. They have the usual suite of sensors, including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, an optical heart rate sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, a light sensor, and a barometer.

The watches support over 100 different sports modes and have six automatic recognition types, which include running, walking, cycling, swimming, rowing, and elliptical. The Watch 2 and the 2R will analyze your activities to give you your aerobic training effect, Vo2 Max, recovery time, heart rate recovery, and running posture.

If you rely on GPS, then you’ll be happy to know that the watches have dual-frequency (L1 + L5) GPS. Having tested the Watch 2R, I can safely say that the GPS accuracy is quite good. I also frequently run on a track and was happy to see that OnePlus has included a track mode.

All data syncs to OHealth, which can finally send your data to third-party apps like Strava. However, the watches don’t have any sort of cloud saving; so, if you lose your device, you will lose your OHealth data with it. In addition to tracking your exercise, OHealth will keep your sleep data and stress results in a well-organized way.

Battery life

Easily one of the best

These watches easily have some of the best battery life currently available from a smartwatch. OnePlus was able to pull this off thanks to its large 500mAh battery and an efficient processor to handle background tasks.

OnePlus rates the Watch 2 and Watch 2R as having up to 48 hours of heavy use in smart mode or up to 12 days in power saver mode. In my testing, the Watch 2R lasted three days and two nights before I had to look for a charger. This was with a healthy mixture of GPS tracking, reading and responding to notifications, using Google Assistant, and checking the weather.

When you do need to recharge your watch, it takes about an hour to get it to 100%. And if you are pressed for time, a 10-minute charge should get you about 24 hours of use.

Which is right for you?

Comparing these two devices demonstrates just how similar they are in terms of specs, features, and even overall design. OnePlus did an excellent job with the Watch 2 and the Watch 2R. They are priced right and offer a solid alternative to Samsung and Google.

The OnePlus Watch 2R wins this comparison, but due to their overall similarities, it was an incredibly close call. What pushed the 2R to victory was its less expensive price tag. For only $230, you are getting a fast, efficient, and great watch. It does a good job tracking health and fitness and has amazing battery life. It’s easily one of the best budget smartwatches available.

If you value more premium build materials and don’t mind spending a bit more to get them, then the OnePlus Watch 2 will win this round. The stainless steel chassis and sapphire crystal glass will withstand scratches much better than the Watch 2R’s aluminum alloy and Panda Glass. It does boost the price by $70, which may or may not be a dealbreaker. Outside the difference in build materials, these two devices are practically the same in every way.