Compared to Samsung and Google, Mobvoi with its Wear OS watches is a big outsider. The Chinese manufacturer launched the TicWatch Pro 5 this year, the first connected watch to feature the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chip upon release.
This Tocante is also characterized by having a dual AMOLED and LCD screen and an impressive battery. Technical features designed to highlight Google's operating system. What is the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 worth? Here is our test.
| Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 | |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | – 50.1x48x12.2mm |
| Weight | – 44.3g |
| Color | -Obsidian -Sandstone |
| Housing | – Stainless steel – 7000 series aluminum and high-strength nylon with fiberglass |
| Screen | – 1.43 inches – Resolution 466 x 466 (326 ppi) – Color AMOLED screen always on – Low power indicator – Corning Gorilla anti-fingerprint cover glass |
| bracelet | – Solid silica gel (replaceable) – 24mm |
| Usage system | – Wear OS (Google) |
| chip | – Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 |
| Memory | – 2GB RAM – 32GB storage |
| Connectivity | -Bluetooth 5.2 – WiFi: 2.4GHz |
| Sensors | – Accelerometer – Gyroscopic sensor – PPG HD heart rate sensor – SpO2 sensor – Skin temperature sensor – Stop sensor Low latency body – Barometers – Compass |
| GNSS | – GPS+Beidou+Glonass+Galileo+QZSS |
| NFC payments | – Yes (Google Wallet) |
| Battery capacity | – 628mAh |
| sustainability | – 5ATM – Swimming in open water – MIL-STD-810H |
| compatibility | – From Android 8.0 |
| Starting price | – €359.99 |
Buy the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 on Amazon
An efficient design
As a specialist in connected watches, Mobvoi offers us a fairly classic watch in appearance. The workmanship quality is there and underlines the round dial of the TicWatch Pro 5. However, with dimensions of 50.1 x 48 x 12.2 mm and 44.3 grams, it is not necessarily suitable for every wrist. A relatively impressive aluminum watch, but in my opinion an ultimately pleasant format.
The effect is enhanced by the choice of materials for the housing, Mobvoi uses stainless steel as well as 7000 series aluminum and high-strength nylon with fiberglass. The TicWatch Pro 5 offers two buttons on the right side, a button on the top and a rotating crown that also functions as a push button. The location is ideal and the two buttons are very easy to use in everyday life. Still on the right we notice the presence of a microphone. On the left we see a loudspeaker in the lower part.
The 5 ATM certified watch comes with a fairly classic 24mm black silicone strap. The pump system allows for easy replacement, the width chosen by Mobvoi remains within standards. Effective, if not really elegant, the bracelet will undoubtedly be quickly replaced by more than one user due to a certain rigidity. Nothing forbidden, but it might bother fans of flexible bracelets.
Screen: The TicWatch Pro 5 sees twice
One of the curiosities of Mobvoi watches is that they integrate two screens in one. In addition to the classic AMOLED screen, the Chinese manufacturer offers us a “Low Energy Consumption Display”, i.e. a secondary monochrome liquid crystal display. Conforms to the manufacturer's description, is very energy efficient and serves as an always-on screen by default to ensure better autonomy. The screen is enough to access the most important information, including time, number of steps, heart rate, date and battery level.
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The OLED screen takes the form of a 1.43-inch panel with a resolution of 466 x 466 pixels (326 pages). It is comfortable, offers good readability when displaying content and sufficient brightness even for use in direct sunlight. Offered with around ten watch faces pre-installed (and more than 40 via the Mobvoi Healt application), the TicWatch Pro 5 takes advantage of the presence of the Google Play Store to offer a large number of watch faces for download. This is one of the strengths of Wear OS.
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A complete interface but a bit messy
The TicWatch Pro 5 was launched in the first half of the year and is based on the current Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1. The Qualcomm chip offers many advantages, starting with performance, which gives the Mobvoi watch high fluidity. In everyday life and in contrast to other networked devices, the performance of the chip is rarely a decisive factor when choosing a watch. On the other hand, energy efficiency and the ability to reduce consumption are important criteria. They directly affect the autonomy of the connected watch and the Qualcomm chip benefits from 4nm engraving. We will see in the autonomy section that this engraving is of interest, especially compared to the Snapdragon Wear 4100, which is engraved in 12 nm.
For the sake of completeness, we also point out that the Mobvoi watch has 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage. This configuration accompanies Google's Wear OS system, which has come back to prominence in recent months.
Operating the TicWatch Pro 5 is simple and based on classic gestures, such as swiping up (access notifications) or down (quick settings). Swiping from the side gives you access to the app tiles. In addition, the buttons make it easy to navigate within this highly customizable interface.
Mobvoi, Google and Play Store: The possibilities are numerous
Like Android smartphones, Wear OS watches offer lots of customization options. Enough to offer you a very complete experience adapted to your needs. The other advantage of this system is that it offers access to the Google Play Store, an application store full of popular apps (WhatsApp, YouTube Music, Shazam, Strava, Spotify, etc.) and more specific apps. We also find all the Google services (Maps, Wallet, Phone, Messages) and applications offered by Mobvoi. Many services are also pre-installed, so it takes a little time to master everything.
© Thomas Estimbre / JournalduGeek.com
The watch can still rely on Mobovoi Health, the Chinese brand's in-house application. It is only available for Android and allows you to control the watch. It is divided into three tabs: Statistics, Device and Account. The application is quite simple and allows access to a lot of data at a glance
This piece of software seems to be both an advantage and a flaw of the TicWatch Pro 5. While we really like Wear OS's options for delivering a feature-rich experience, the whole thing can sometimes be a bit messy. The numerous parameters are not necessarily easy to understand and some translations can be surprising. The interface will appeal to informed users and “geeks,” perhaps slightly less users seeking simplicity.
Features: A complete watch for sports and health monitoring
Behind this interface we find a series of functions focused on health and sports monitoring. That's not very surprising for a connected watch of this type in 2023, but all the expected sensors are there. There is an accelerometer, a compass, a barometer, a heart rate monitor, an oximeter, a gyroscope or even a skin temperature sensor.
All of these modules allow the collection of numerous data, ranging from physical activity (including the number of steps) to heart rate, including stress levels or oxygen levels in the blood. Sleep tracking is not neglected, as is geolocation using the GNSS chip. Not a bad surprise, it is compatible with the five major satellite constellations: Galileo (Europe), GPS (USA), BeiDou (China), Glonass (Russia) and QZSS (Japan).
The Mobvoi watch is intended to be more general and not just aimed at athletes, but its daily monitoring seemed pretty reliable, especially the health monitoring tools. In the sports sector, the TicExercice application accompanies the watch and allows monitoring activities such as outdoor running, cycling or even walking. A more classic follow-up with the ability to add exercise goals to motivate yourself. However, the TicWatch Pro 5 is limited for athletes because it does not necessarily offer complex exercises.
For a watch with Wear OS, the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 doesn't lack breath
Equipped with a 628 mAh battery, the TicWatch Pro 5 also impresses compared to newer watches with WearOS. The latest Google Pixel Watch 2 is capped at 306mAh, while the Samsung Galaxy Watch6 stops at 425mAh. It even performs better than the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro (590 mAh).
Added to this maximum capacity are the advantages of the Snapdragon W5+ Gen chip, whose 4nm engraving ensures good energy efficiency. We also note that Mobvoi does everything to limit the consumption of its watch and has even opted for a liquid crystal screen. Taken together, the efforts allow the manufacturer to achieve autonomy of up to 80 hours.
© Thomas Estimbre / JournalduGeek.com
The brand's message is almost true to reality, which is a very good point. The watch easily lasts 3 days on your wrist without affecting its functionality. This usage includes the always-on screen (liquid crystal), regular heart rate monitoring and some GPS tracking.
The influence of the liquid crystal screen has a great impact on the autonomy of the watch. The latter is characterized by low consumption and switching to the AMOLED screen only results in a loss of almost 24 hours of battery life. However, on a WearOS watch, more than two days of use is still good performance.
Charging takes place via a USB-A cable on a proprietary magnetic connector, as is often the case with watches. It takes about two hours to fully charge the TicWatch Pro 5.
Buy the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 on Amazon