Oppo launches Watch SE in China, something for those on a budget
Oppo has launched another addition to its smartwatch range in China. Watch SE is an option for those on a budget.
It seems the company has adopted the Apple naming convention by choosing to add the SE abbreviation. Two two letters have come to be associated with a lower cost version of a watch. Which is exactly what Oppo Watch SE is.
Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets
To remind, in August the company unveiled Oppo Watch 3. Available in China in Pro and base variants, these are the first watches to use the new Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 chip. Other improvements over the second generation include double the storage memory, longer battery life, upgraded sensors and better sattelite connectivity. The Pro version also gets the addition of an ECG sensor and larger 1.91 inch display.
Oppo Watch SE – technical specs
Oppo Watch SE does not use the Snapdragon W5 Chip. In order to keep the price tag down, it has the previous generation 4100+ processor. This offloads some tasks to the custom Apollo 4S co-processor. RAM comes in at 1GB and there’s a further 8GB of internal storage.
As far as design, not very much has changed. The device adopts the recognisable square shape of the predecessors, along with the single physical button on the right. There’s also the 1.75 inch, always-on, AMOLED display that can be found on the base variant of Watch 3. This delivers a 372 x 430 pixels resolution.
The usual fitness sensors can be found under the hood including heart rate. The number of sports modes goes into the three figures. This includes some water based activities as Watch SE has enough water-resistance for that sort of thing. Connectivity includes both WiFi and Bluetooth.
Other notable features include NFC and eSIM support. The first allows you to make contactless payments via AliPay. eSim lets you make calls and send SMS without the need for a paired smartphone.
All of this runs on ColorOS, which is a fairly lightweight operating system. Hence the decent 10 day battery life in light smart mode. However the 400mAh battery only provides 3 days in full smart mode. A top-up should be fairly quick thanks to VOOC 2.0 fast charging.
The Chinese market gets a Mist Purple and Ink Gray option. Both start at 999 Yuan (close to $140) which might sound like a lot for a budget smartwatch. But not when you take into account its eSim functionality. No word yet on a possible version of the watch for global markets.
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