Great performance, even better price

Iterating on a product from year to year can be a tricky endeavor. A company has to grapple with creating a great follow-up to a device by increasing its capabilities while attempting to keep the price the same, or at least in the same ballpark as the outgoing model. It’s no secret that the original OnePlus Watch was a flawed first attempt, but OnePlus learned from its mistakes and significantly improved with its second attempt a year later.

The OnePlus Watch 2 is easily one of the best Android smartwatches on the market, and for a very good reason. It’s a well-rounded device that doesn’t have a lot of shortcomings. So, it was a bit surprising when OnePlus decided to launch the less expensive OnePlus Watch 2R only five months later.

The OnePlus Watch 2R is in a weird spot. It takes just about everything the OnePlus Watch 2 does well, and either does it the same or, in some cases, does it better with a cheaper price tag. While I am still surprised that OnePlus launched the Watch 2R, I am glad they did because it brings incredible value and is a great watch overall.

Price, availability, and specs

The OnePlus Watch 2R was released on July 16 and carries a retail price of $230, which is a steal for everything it offers. The Watch 2R is available directly from OnePlus but will be available on Amazon sometime in early August. The 2R is available in one size, 46mm, and comes in two colorways: Forest Green and Gunmetal Gray. While additional colors would have been nice, the Forest Green option is striking and not over the top.

What’s good about the OnePlus 2R?

Retaining the best parts of its pricier sibling

There’s a lot to like about the OnePlus 2R, but it all starts with the design. OnePlus changed the design a little compared to the Watch 2. The straight edge on the right side is gone this time around and the 2R now has two uniform buttons for what I think is a better design and a more traditional watch feel. Both buttons are programmable, but neither can be used as a crown.

At 47 x 46.6 x 12.1mm, the 2R retains the same overall dimensions as the pricier OnePlus Watch 2. It might be a tad big for some, but it felt great on my wrist. OnePlus went with an aluminum build this time around. While not as strong as the Watch 2’s stainless steel build, it should still be plenty durable and the aluminum allows for a slight weight reduction. At 37g without the wrist strap and 59g with the strap attached, the Watch 2R is quite light.

With a 1.43-inch AMOLED display and a resolution of 466 x 466, the Watch 2R has a great-looking display nearly identical to the one on the Watch 2. But the 2R does lose the sapphire crystal protection, with OnePlus opting to use Panda Glass this time around. With a maximum brightness of 600 nits and a high brightness mode of 1000 nits, the OnePlus Watch 2R is easily visible in all lighting conditions.

The Watch 2R also retains a couple of other OnePlus Watch 2 features, including speed and amazing battery life. Powered by a Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 processor and 2GB of RAM, this watch has absolutely no lag and flies through Wear OS 4. With 32GB of storage, there is ample space to download all your favorite music, podcasts, and audiobooks.

The Watch 2R also has a BES 2700 processor in addition to the Snapdragon processor. While the Snapdragon does the heavy lifting, the BES 2700 handles background activity. Thanks to its dual processor approach and 500mAh battery, the Watch 2R easily ranks as one of the top smartwatches for battery life, joining watches like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. With a mixture of Google Assistant, GPS tracking, checking the weather, and reading notifications, I consistently averaged three full days and two nights before I had to look for the charger.

Compared to the Watch 2, the Watch 2R may be the more effective watch for health tracking. The original Watch 2 tended to track too many steps throughout the day, but that wasn’t the case with the Watch 2R.

Run tracking was also consistent, and I was quite pleased with the dual-band GPS. I regularly run the same 3.19-mile loop, and the 2R had little trouble locking onto a GPS signal that stayed connected for the entire run. Part of my run includes two back-to-back underpasses with a concrete wall on the left, which has proven difficult for every watch I have used. While that was still the case here, it hit the mark perfectly on a couple of runs, with another couple showing minor issues.

The Watch 2R also effectively tracked my heart rate during and outside exercise. Sleep also seemed accurate, or at least it accurately recorded when I fell asleep and when I woke up. And the OHealth app has an easy-to-use layout, providing all the pertinent information front and center. When an exercise session is complete, you get a summary breaking down various aspects of your workout.

What’s bad about the OnePlus Watch 2R?

Health tracking is a bit limited

While the OHealth app is easy to use, it’s also a bit limited in what it can do. Unlike the Samsung Health app, this isn’t a one-stop shop for all your data. I regularly use the Withings Body Scan scale, which sadly has no integration in OHealth. In fact, OHealth doesn’t track or give you any body composition information. As someone who is actively looking to lose weight, it was a bit frustrating that I had to manually adjust my weight to keep it accurate in OHealth.

OHealth is also missing women’s health tracking. When seemingly every wearable includes cycle tracking, it puts the Watch 2R at a disadvantage and may make it a non-starter for many women.

I also encountered a weird issue when tracking a walk while my hands were stationary. When tracking a walk while pushing a stroller, the OnePlus Watch 2R would routinely ask me if I wanted to continue tracking the walk. This happened just about every couple of minutes and grew tiresome quite quickly. This won’t affect everyone out there, but will be very annoying for parents of young children.

I would also prefer a digital crown for navigating the various menus. While the touch display is effective for navigating the various menus, a digital crown would have been nice. The app menu is all far too cumbersome and Apple-like. Luckily, you can adjust this to look like either a Galaxy Watch (grid view) or a Google Pixel (list view).

Should you buy the OnePlus Watch 2R?

If you’re on a budget and want a top-of-the-line Android watch, then the OnePlus 2R should be at the top of your list. It’s a beautiful watch that does so much right. It’s incredibly quick, offers amazing battery life, has a great display, and is quite good for fitness tracking.

With that being said, it won’t be ideal for everyone. Namely, women who want to track their cycles or parents who routinely go for walks while pushing a stroller immediately come to mind. It also won’t be ideal for elite athletes, but it’s more than capable as a fitness tracker for just about everyone else.

The OnePlus Watch 2R gives the OnePlus Watch 2 a real run for its money and should be the go-to between these watches. Thanks to its blend of design and capabilities, it’s one of my new favorite Android smartwatches.