I love adventure watches, from analogue Casio G-Shocks to the Apple Watch Ultra and Garmin’s Instinct and Fenix ranges. But there haven’t really been any of the best Android smartwatches in that area: the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro are there, but they use Wear OS filtered through Samsung’s One UI Watch 6 interface.
Now Mobvoi’s latest TicWatch, the Mobvoi TicWatch Atlas, looks like a rugged adventure watch designed to challenge Garmin and the Ultras, and it runs Wear OS. This means it could be a logical choice for users of the best Android phones who are looking for a rugged, durable watch that can take them through hikes, trail runs, and all kinds of other outdoor adventures.
With a battery life of 90 hours in smartwatch mode and 45 days in ‘essential’ or energy-efficient mode, it also uses fast charging: 30 minutes on the charger gives you another two days of use. The Ticwatch Atlas features an AMOLED display with an “ultra low-power display” that shows the time via a digital watch face, steps, heart rate, notifications, alarms and battery life. A sort of souped-up Casio: it’s a feature shared by the well-reviewed Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5, although it seems like a more natural fit here.
The AMOLED display looks ideal for showing topographical maps of your surroundings, along with the usual navigation toolsets: compass, barometer and altimeter (ideal for climbing), GPS and four other GNSS systems (probably Glonass, Galileo, Beidou and QZSS). It also has a heatmaps feature for ball games like football, showing you where you’re most active on the pitch, in addition to fall detection and automatic training detection, which Mobvoi refers to as ‘TicMotion’.
The watch costs $349.99 / €359.99 euros in black and silver, with prices for other regions TBD, and is available to order now.
Analysis: a watch to get excited about
The TicWatch Pro 5 received 4.5 stars in our review, with the writer claiming it was “one of the best Wear OS smartwatches around.” It ran Wear OS 3, and the TicWatch Atlas would run Wear OS 4. It is unknown at this time. I can’t comment on whether it will get a Wear OS 5 rollout, but since even Google is currently struggling with it, I wouldn’t bet on that happening anytime soon.
Nevertheless, for Wear OS fans, this might be a Garmin-beating watch, earning its place alongside contemporaries like the OnePlus Watch 2 and Google Pixel Watch 3. Stay tuned for a full review.