I waited so long to see the OnePlus smartwatch and … Hmm

It’s not every day that a new player enters the smartwatch game, so I was intrigued when OnePlus is then-CEO Carl Pei hinted at last summer that a laptop might be on the way. Rumors have multiplied in recent weeks, and now we know what the watch will do look like. After months of curiosity, I am … disappointed.

Ahead of OnePlus’ next event on March 23, @UnboxTherapy dropped what appears to be a leak from the aptly named OnePlus Watch. After examining the image for about two minutes, I can confirm to everyone that it looks like every other non-Apple smartwatch. There are two buttons on the right side, black straps and a black case, and a fairly standard dial. Courting. It’s a bit dull, milquetoast design and honestly I expected a little better from OnePlus.

Smart watch leaker Ishan Agarwal also posted other information on his Twitter, noting that the watch would be 46mm (a big boy!). It will also have IP68 water resistance, 4GB of storage, and the ability to control music and OnePlus TV. In terms of health features, which have become a huge selling point for smartwatches, OnePlus is said to offer automatic workout detection, includes swim workouts, and also track sleep, stress, blood oxygen saturation and heart rate. No word on battery life, but Agarwal said it will support Warp Charge, or the ability to get a week’s charge in 20 minutes. This implies that you get at least a week of wear out of this thing, which would be great, but who knows.

The interesting part of these rumors is that the OnePlus Watch will not work on Wear OS, although it is an Android watch. This was the subject of many rumors ahead of the March 23 event, and by the Edge, CEO Pete Lau confirmed in a forum that will be the case. Instead, the company has opted for an RTOS type operating system (real-time operating system). No word on what this means for a third-party app ecosystem or digital assistant. As to why OnePlus didn’t go with Wear OS, Lau said the company wants to deliver a smooth and reliable experience along with great battery life. Wear OS has made improvements over the past year, but battery life is still a sore spot for this platform.

It’s all well and good, but that’s not what everyone would describe as terribly exciting. It would be one thing if OnePlus came out with a unique design or decided to give Wear OS a spin of its own like the Oppo Watch did. But OnePlus seems to have played it safe – areasonably too sure. Unless we see something absurd like 30 days of battery life, unique software, or a breakthrough health feature (which we’re not holding our breath for), this smartwatch seems to be just for die-hard OnePlus fans.