My new weekly column focuses on the state of Wear OS, from new developments and updates to the latest apps and features we want to highlight.
The OnePlus Watch 3 has the chance to be one of the best Android watches we've seen, pushing Samsung and Google out of their comfort zone. But only if it resolves the flaws of the OnePlus Watch 2.
A leaker has suggested the OnePlus Watch 3 will arrive next month alongside the OnePlus 13 and 13R, both officially confirmed to launch in January 2025. The Watch 2 arrived in March 2024, but perhaps OnePlus wants to align its flagship phone and watch launches for better sales and bundles.
The OnePlus Watch 2 was the company's first Wear OS watch, and it stunned us with its multi-day battery life, fast performance, and attractive steel design. It also had fundamental issues with software and health accuracy, and other complaints about its size and missing features.
I polled our two OnePlus Watch 2 reviewers, Harish Jonnalaggadda and Nick Sutrich, while using my experience reviewing the budget OnePlus Watch 2R, to come up with a comprehensive list of everything we want from the OnePlus Watch 3!
Two sizes and a working crown
Both the OnePlus Watch 2 and 2R shipped in one fairly large size, with a 1.43-inch AMOLED display that matches the 1.43-inch, 45mm Pixel Watch 3 and falls slightly short of the 1.5-inch, 44mm Galaxy Watch 7. Unlike both of those watches, it has a 47mm, classic-style case that's large and heavy by any standard — about 80g with the strap.
Also unlike Google and Samsung, OnePlus only sold that one size option. Harish, who liked the Watch 2's overall look but not its "sizeable bezel" and "bulky" feel, says a smaller Watch 3 is his main request.
Our first hope for the OnePlus Watch 3 is that it sells a smaller option, most likely a 43mm case with a 1.25- or 1.3-inch display, that still retains a large battery capacity and its MIL-STD-810H-grade steel design.
Our second hope is that the Watch 3 has a working crown. The Watch 2's top-right crown button was "purely for aesthetics," as you could press to select but not scroll. Some Wear OS functions are annoying to swipe through, which is why Google and Samsung use a crown and digital bezel; let's hope OnePlus gets with the program.
Wear OS 5, notification fixes, and backups
The OnePlus Watch 2 launched with Wear OS 4 and has two promised version updates, so we expect Wear OS 5 on the Watch 3 at launch. But Wear OS watches are plagued by slow updates, and brands other than Google and Samsung have typically trailed a year behind them for version updates. So we're crossing our fingers that OnePlus keeps pace and we don't have to wait for OS 5.
Wear OS 5 added screen size optimization, reflowing text to fit smaller or larger screens, which would help OnePlus sell a new petite display option. It also added battery optimizations that would make the Watch 3 even more long-lived, plus various fitness tools for more dynamic workouts.
But OnePlus will have its own spinoff of Wear OS 5, with unique perks and downsides. Case in point, its version of Wear OS 4 doesn't support easy watch backups or transfers to your next Android phone, forcing you to scan a QR code just to transfer your health data. We'd want OnePlus to catch up on this front.
OnePlus uses a unique dual-OS system for its watches, with Wear OS for the main tasks and low-powered, proprietary RTOS running low-powered tasks on the coprocessor. This system is the secret to its 4-day battery life, but it also gave several of us consistent problems with ghost notifications never making it from phone to watch.
To be fair to OnePlus, we've also seen reports of ghost notifications on the Galaxy Watch 7. But OnePlus especially seems to struggle with the issue, and we'd like to see that resolved or reduced by the OnePlus Watch 3 launch.
Samsung gives its Galaxy Watches unique perks for Samsung phone owners (AI insights, AFib readings, and sleep apnea detection); the same goes for Google and Pixel owners (Pixel call screening, synced watch-phone recordings, Ultra Wideband phone unlock). OnePlus phones dominate our best Android phones list, and we'd love to see OnePlus phone owners have unique Wear OS perks of their own to enjoy.
A major health and fitness overhaul
One of our biggest complaints with the OnePlus Watch 2 was with health and activity monitoring. Our reviewer Harish found that it had inconsistent step counts, "hilariously bad" stress data, and bad sleep-stage proportions. And Nick, who wore the OnePlus Watch 2 and Pixel Watch 2 for a week, found that OnePlus struggled to accurately capture higher heart rates during his workouts.
Interestingly, when I tested the OnePlus Watch 2R's accuracy, it did far better than expected. It wasn't as good as my Garmin watch and its average HR was usually 1–2 bpm below the correct levels, but it was surprisingly decent for step count and good enough for distance thanks to its dual-band GPS.
Our hope is that whatever behind-the-scenes tweaks OnePlus gave the Watch 2R will be applied to the Watch 3, and it won't be quite so useless when it comes to your workout data. But that's just the start of what OnePlus needs to do.
Compared to Apple, Samsung, and Google, OnePlus doesn't offer certain mainline health features like an ECG for active AFib detection or passive tracking of irregular heart rhythm throughout the day. You don't get skin temperature readings for sleep quality or health warnings, nor menstrual cycle tracking (a fairly common feature across most watch brands). Nor is there any kind of fall detection feature.
It's also fair to call out the companion OHealth app, which is quite basic compared to Fitbit or Samsung Health. The data collected is shown in a pleasing and straightforward way, but you won't find an energy score, training load, sample workouts, health reports, food/ water logging, or any number of other essentials you take for granted with other watches. Exporting to Strava or using Health Connect is usually the best option.
If OnePlus wants to compete with the big-name brands, it needs to offer more value to its fitness-focused or health-conscious customers, or else make a deal with Google to make Fitbit the default.
Hoping for more than an iterative update
There are other small OnePlus Watch 3 requests like LTE support, a DC dimming option for the display for PWM-sensitive people, a much higher max brightness (the Watch 2 and 2R hit 600 and 1,000 nits, respectively), and more interesting default watch faces.
But the real question comes down to what processor the OnePlus Watch 3 uses. I suspect it'll be the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1, same as other recent watches like the Pixel Watch 3 and TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro. So it's a shame OnePlus couldn't have waited, since the next Snapdragon chip is due in mid-2025 and could deliver far better performance and efficiency.
We gave the OnePlus Watch 2 a pass on a lot of things because it was the first Wear OS watch and did a fantastic job in key areas like battery life. But we'll be much harder on the Watch 3 if it can't catch up to the best Android watches for most of the requests above.
