This news might have been spoiled a few weeks back, thanks to an early listing, but it is now official – the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 is a real watch and available now. This is a noteworthy release because it is the first with Qualcomm’s new wearable chip, the first from Mobvoi with Wear OS 3, and the first serious challenge to both Samsung and Google’s smartwatches in some time.
For those who missed the previous leak, here’s what’s new in the TicWatch Pro 5.
Mobvoi is the first to use the Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chip that was introduced almost a year ago. We aren’t sure why no one has picked up this next-gen 4nm chip from Qualcomm that shows signs of serious improvement (on paper), but here we are. This should tell us a lot about the next few years of Wear OS watches from other players in the space, assuming they too plan to launch W5+ watches. This new chip is expected to dramatically improve power efficiency, connectivity, and performance.
Outside of the chip, Mobvoi is bringing back their dual-layer display with a 1.43″ outer low-power display that shows vital metrics and the time, while an underlying OLED brings out the colors and traditional Wear OS experience. You’ll also get a huge 628mAh battery with fast charging, 2GB RAM and 32GB storage, Bluetooth 5.2, WiFi, NFC, GPS, speaker and microphone, compass, heartrate and SpO2 sensors, skin temperature sensor, and 5ATM water resistance, all wrapped up in a 50mm 7000-series aluminum case that takes 24mm bands.
For the first time, Mobvoi is including a rotating crown that has haptic feedback that lets you navigate through apps, adjust volume, zoom in and out on Maps, and more.
Since this is a Mobvoi “Pro” watch, there is a health tracking and exploring theme around it. The TicWatch Pro 5 can track 100+ workout types, give you a VO2 Max score, talk to you about recovery time, and give you a one tap measurement of several health metrics. It’ll provide advanced sleep tracking (awake, REM, light and deep sleep stages, skin temperature, SpO2, and more), 24-hour heartrate monitoring, and help you explore the great outdoors with its barometer, altimeter, compass, and GPS.
By all means, this is a big ass Wear OS watch with a fitness focus that we are excited to dive into. We’ll see how good Wear OS 3 is on the TicWatch Pro5, test out all of the fitness stuff, and let you know if a 50mm watch can even fit on our wrists comfortably.
Of course, since this is a Mobvoi watch, we have to offer up our typical warning about future software updates. While this launches with the newness of Wear OS, be aware that Mobvoi has a pretty lousy history when it comes to keeping their watches up-to-date. Time will tell with this one.
You can buy the TicWatch Pro 5 right now if this all sounds gravy. It costs $349 and comes in a jet black “Obsidian” colorway.
Shop TicWatch Pro 5: Amazon | Mobvoi
This post was last modified on May 24, 2023 9:00 am