TicWatch Pro comes with a transparent screen layered on top of the main display
Mobvoi’s TicWatch Pro is the new Wear OS smartwatch on the block. Its main party trick is that it has a transparent screen that sits on top of the smartwatch’s main display. This combination offers unique power-saving functionality.
Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets
When you are interacting with the watch it uses a pretty standard OLED display. At all other times the main display switches off in favor of an LCD, transparent, black and white screen. This shows the time, steps, heart rate and more, while conserving battery life. Lift the watch to your face or tap on the screen, and the OLED display will kick into gear once again.
TicWatch Pro runs for around 2 days on a single charge, which is pretty standard for a fully featured Wear OS device. Switch the smart features off and the transparent screen can keep it coasting in “Essential Mode” for about a month. This bare-bones mode will still keep tabs on your steps, heart rate and calories burned.
An always-on screen is not something new. Unlike the Apple Watch, Wear OS watches have always had functionality which keeps the display on in low power mode. But this new approach extends battery life.
Outside of the fancy screen technology the watch packs NFC for Google Pay mobile payments, a heart-rate sensor and other fitness tracking smarts, the ability to display notifications and more. Its possible the Chinese-based outfit might release an LTE model for the US region.
All things considered, this seems like a solid entry in the Wear OS space. Expect the TicWatch Pro to launch sometime this summer for under $300.
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