Review on 🕶️ TicWatch Pro Bluetooth Smart Watch: Layered Display, NFC Payment, Google Assistant, Wear OS by Google (Formerly Android Wear) – Compatible with iPhone and Android (Black) by David Holmes

I ordered TicWatch Pro after much searching and waiting. A study to determine the best smartwatches available on the Wear OS platform. Waiting to see if the Snapdragon 3100 processor will launch a bunch of new products with lighter weight, smaller size, better features and longer battery life. But since at that time (January 2019) there were only 2 or 3 hours on the market with a new processor, all with not outstanding reviews, I had nothing new and interesting to buy and still stick with Wear OS. So I took the next best option and settled on TicWatch Pro. The TicWatch Pro is arguably the best Wear OS smartwatch out there right now, even with an older chipset. The build is solid and the dual-layer screen offers best-in-class battery life. No other clock approaches. And if I were to rate this watch solely on features and battery life I would give it 5 stars (instead of returning it to Revain tomorrow). Please note that this review applies to both the TicWatch Pro and the current Wear OS watch market. in general. There is no way to avoid this. In my opinion, the TicWatch Pro is the best Wear OS smartwatch you can get right now. A broader comparison cannot be avoided. GOOD: I really like this watch. * Dual screen fully lives up to expectations. I had no problem seeing the LCD in maximum light. If you need a watch with random smart features, this might do the trick for you. * With a dual-screen setup (where you see the LCD most of the time, except when you touch or swipe your watch to reveal the smart display), you get truly fantastic battery life. With proper use, this watch only needs to be charged once a day. Which is good because I wore mine at night for sleep monitoring. GOOD BUT NOT REQUIRED: * NFC payments are pretty cool, but do you really need them? If you don't already have a smartphone with this feature, it's hard to see how this will help your watch. * Google Assistant integration is pretty good. But then again, why do you need it? Having your phone handy makes it much more convenient to query Google or run automated tasks from there. Bluetooth headphones are good for this. * Integration with Google Play Music is pretty good too, including easy-to-use audio controls. But then again. Why? If you have a smartphone (and maybe a pair of Bluetooth headphones), it might be easier to just use your phone to listen to music. * GEOGRAPHIC POSITIONING SYSTEM. I think you know what I'm trying to say. Disappointing: I'm returning this phone for reasons that mirror some of the other criticisms found in reviews of this phone (and possibly Wear OS offerings in general): * Fitness tracking: OK, Mobvoi is finally letting smartwatch owners choose Google Fit over their own terrible fitness app but the integration is very clunky and doesn't work properly. The watch faces show the number of steps from Mobvoi Fitness, for example, not Google Fit, regardless of your settings. You have to go through a series of hoops to turn off notifications from Mobvoi app and they never go away. Google Fit itself doesn't work very well here either. If you track your workout on your watch instead of your phone, distance and effort will differ from what's on your phone and will generally be inaccurate.* Heart rate monitoring didn't work for me. Period. Stop. End of the story. That ultimately motivates my return to Revain. Regardless of how I wore the watch (e.g. position on my arm, strap tension, etc.), my measured heart rate was not even remotely accurate. With independent measurements, I found that the watch showed a heart rate at least 30 beats per minute higher than the actual one, and during aerobic activity the difference was even greater. The watch made me pull 169 beats per minute when I was actually hovering at 126. * Form factor: The watch is nicely shaped and looks good on me, but it ends up being too big and heavy for everyday use. All current Wear OS watches (including those using the new Snapdragon chipset) suffer from this limitation. * Slow processor: The delay when switching between applications or even waking up the screen is very noticeable. I've managed to ignore it many times. But after a while it felt like a compromise. * Poor customization: Mobvoi's library of available watch faces isn't as big as they advertise. And while there are some good third-party options, most suffer from performance lags (due to a slow processor) and inaccurate information (due to poor fitness app integration). I'm a dedicated Google/Android person and TicWatch Pro might be the best thing you can do right now. It wasn't good enough for me. We return to Raven.