- The state of Android wearables in the past
has been, well, rocky, to say the least,
so when Mobvoi reached out to sponsor
this video featuring their new flagship watch,
the TicWatch Pro 4G, we were very curious
to see what they felt made it worthy
of the Pro title.
(upbeat electronic music)
When it comes to Android wearables,
for the most part there are three platforms to consider,
watchOS from Apple, Tizen, which is primarily used
in Samsung devices, and finally,
Wear OS, what Mobvoi is using here.
By using Wear OS, Mobvoi gets leverage
in already expansive app store,
as well as Wear OS specific features,
like the integrated Google Assistant.
Starting with the outside,
the watch features an aluminum back cover,
a large stainless steel bezel,
and Gorilla Glass 3 to protect the screen
from incidental scuffs and scratches.
Underneath, you'll find not one but two displays.
One is a 400 by 400 pixel Amoled
and the second is an ultra-low power LCD,
so this layered display technology
is what gives the TicWatch Pro up to two days
of full-featured battery life or up to 30 days of juice
in what they call essential mode.
So even if you, like me, sometimes forget
to top up overnight, you won't end up
with a useless wrist weight the next day.
So, great.
There's a nice screen, quality construction,
but what about the features?
While typing on the face of the watch
is a bit awkward, it's manageable,
but the easier route is just to use Google Assistant
to do the heavy lifting.
Setting timers for washing your hands, for instance,
or starting a workout hands-free
are both super easy.
Just toggle the assistant and speak away.
Navigation through Wear OS is swipe-based.
You can swipe up to view your notifications,
left and right to navigate through your open apps,
and swipe down to access your quick access menu.
You can use the integrated Google Assistant
to make phone calls hands-free
and, if you already have third party apps
that you enjoy, you won't have any problems.
Spotify worked just fine for us
as well as other apps available on Wear OS.
The Pro 4G delivers here, too,
with Google's familiar Wear OS
and Google Assistant integration,
NFC payment capability, sleep tracking,
and 24-hour heart rate monitoring
all making an appearance.
As the name implies, there's 4G cellular connectivity
alongside GPS, GLONASS, and BeiDou positioning systems
for use in your fitness endeavors,
and the combination of heart rate monitoring
and GPS tracking ended up working great.
In our testing, we were able to accurately track
a bike ride through its ups and downs
and the 4G means that going phoneless
is actually possible with the right software combo.
Now Spotify couldn't do this for us on Wear OS
but streaming directly from Google Play Music
on the watch to wireless earbuds was no problem.
On the inside, the RAM has been doubled
from the last generation of TicWatch devices
to a full gig, and with four gigs of storage onboard,
you've got plenty of room for all the apps
and watch faces that you could ever need.
In use, the hardware performed admirably,
with navigation feeling snappy and lag-free,
and while I do wish that bezel rotation
was an input option here and that's something
I'd like to see in the future,
I also understand why they left it out
in favor of excellent Ingress Protection.
When you need to recharge,
the included charging puck snaps securely into place
and my only preferred update here
would have been to have some angle built into it
for improved readability on my nightstand.
I'm probably not the only one who charges,
well, everything on their nightstand
when they go to sleep.
Now as far as function is concerned,
the sharing of health data between the integrated
TicWatch apps and third party ones,
like Strava and Google Fit, ended up working seamlessly.
By navigating through TicHealth,
you can find all your sleep and fitness data
is tracked nicely in easy-to-read graphs,
and the IP68 rating combined with the MIL-STD-810G
certification means the watch should hold up
under a huge range of conditions,
from the pool to the desert and to the
(watch smashes) ground, for example.
So, yeah. (children cheering)
In summary, the TicWatch Pro 4G
is a serious piece of kit with all the features
you'd expect from a flagship Android Wear device
and at $300, the price isn't cheap,
but I would say that it is sane,
compared to other cellular-connected wearables,
which really is a premium feature right now.
So it's a competent, everyday carry watch
with all the fitness integrations
and connectivity we expect,
and while I personally am not gonna be going
full phoneless any time soon,
being able to leave the phone at home once in a while,
intentionally or otherwise, is a nice comfort.
Big thanks to Mobvoi for sponsoring this video.
You guys can check out the TicWatch 4G Pro
and save a few bucks with our offer code, LinusMobvoi.
You're gonna get 25% off and we're
gonna have that linked below,
and if you're interested in smart watches
and you're looking for another video to watch,
why not check out our video on the Nubia Alpha
for something that's neat,
if a little bit less sensible than this one?
(laughing) Catch you in the next one, guys.