Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 has dual screens for epic battery life
WearOS 3 smartwatch is first in line with Qualcomm's latest low-power CPU
Battery life is the bane of any wearable. Yes, even the best smartwatches on sale right now need juicing up more often than we’d like – but it’s something that shouldn’t trouble Mobvoi’s latest wrist-worn effort. The TicWatch Pro 5 (£330, from Amazon) promises to last as long as 45 days between charges, thanks to a clever dual-layer screen and the latest Qualcomm silicon.
It’s one of the first watches to land with the long-awaited Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1, a low-power CPU designed specifically for wearables. Mobvoi has also packed in a giant 628mAh battery, which has big-name rivals like the Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro and Apple Watch Ultra licked for sheer capacity.
The WearOS 3 watch should typically last for three days away from the mains, but if you disable the 1.43in circular OLED display (which dwarfs that of the Google Pixel Watch, and is on par with the Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro for sheer wrist presence) there’s a second, low-power LCD underneath which can handle the essentials. We’re not just talking time and date, either: it’ll still track your fitness, showing heart rate, calories burned and blood oxygen levels while you’re working out, and a compass in case you get lost while out in the wilderness.
Find a plug socket and it’ll manage a 65% top-up in just half an hour, at which point it can become a fully-fledged smartwatch again. The 466×466 screen resolution promises to be pin-sharp from arms’ length, while 2GB of RAM and 32GB of on-board storage should help it stay perfectly responsive to taps and swipes.
The watch itself is made from stainless steel and aluminium, with a knurled bezel around the screen and a rotating digital crown at the side for controlling the WearOS interface. There’s also button above it for quickly launching apps. It takes standard 24mm wrist straps – happily there’s no proprietary nonsense going on here – with the one included in the box being made of rubber.
It has a built-in mic and speaker for making hands-free voice calls. There’s a full selection of sensors, including five-band GPS, compass, barometer, heart rate sensor, skin temperature sensor, SpO2 tracker and NFC for contactless payments using Google Wallet.
Fitness fanatics will appreciate the 5ATM water resistance, Gorilla Glass protection and MIL-STD 810H certification, which suggests it’ll survive a fair bit of punishment from the elements.
The Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 is on sale now for £330.