The Mobvoi TicWatch Professional 5 offers the Google Pixel Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 some stiff competitors. Priced at $349.99 and suitable solely with Android smartphones, the TicWatch Professional 5 stands out amongst its Put on OS friends for its glorious battery life—it might energy by as much as 80 hours on a cost. Although a bit cumbersome, it has an attractively traditional design and it runs quick and easy because of a speedy chip. There is no mobile possibility and Google Assistant assist is not obtainable as of this writing, but it surely in any other case affords many helpful life-style options, a wide array of downloadable apps by way of the Google Play Retailer, and strong fitness- and health-tracking capabilities. The sleeker, extra inexpensive Galaxy Watch 5 stays our Editors’ Alternative winner as the most effective smartwatch for many Android customers, however in order for you a wearable with longer battery life, the Mobvoi TicWatch 5 Professional is a worthy various.
Spectacular Specs
The TicWatch Professional 5 is Mobvoi’s top-of-the-line smartwatch. It is attractively designed with a conventional spherical face, a shiny aluminum bezel with crosshatch detailing, and a 24mm interchangeable silicone quick-release strap. On the fitting aspect, it contains a bodily button that barely stands proud from the case, plus a rotating crown that includes a crimson accent ring just like the Apple Watch.
It solely is available in black and solely in a single dimension. The watch measures 1.8 by 2.0 by 0.6 inches (HWD) in keeping with my calipers, and weighs 1.6 ounces. It is comparable in dimension and weight to the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Professional, which implies it is cumbersome for small wrists like mine.
The TicWatch Professional 5 contains a brilliant and delightful 1.43-inch, 466-by-466-pixel AMOLED always-on show coated by anti-fingerprint Corning Gorilla Glass, in addition to a secondary ultra-low-power (ULP) show that helps prolong battery life.
On the within, it runs Google Put on OS 3 and options the Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 wearable platform, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a 628mAh battery. The watch is quick and responsive—apps open rapidly, metrics and knowledge generate inside seconds, and I by no means encounter any lag when swiping on the contact display or scrolling with the crown.
For connectivity, the TicWatch Professional 5 helps Bluetooth 5.2 and single-band Wi-Fi. There isn’t any mobile/4G LTE model of the watch obtainable; Mobvoi sells the TicWatch Professional 3 Extremely 4G/LTE and the TicWatch Professional 3 LTE in Europe, however would not provide any cellular-compatible smartwatches within the US. In order for you an Android-compatible watch with mobile assist, we advocate the Galaxy Watch 5 collection or the Pixel Watch.
The TicWatch Professional 5 packs a speaker and microphone, permitting for wrist-based calls when related to your telephone. A pinhole under the crown on the fitting aspect is for the microphone, and the speaker is positioned on the again, reverse the charging port. The microphone has no downside selecting up audio for voice recordings, and the speaker sounds sufficiently loud for a smartwatch, although a bit tinny. You need to use the watch speaker for alarms, voice calls, recordings, and comparable features like Alexa responses, however not for taking part in music.
For texting, Messages by Google is the default app, however the TicWatch Professional 5 additionally offers you entry to KakaoTalk and Line.
The watch has a powerful sensor suite, together with an accelerometer, a barometer, a blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) sensor, a compass, a gyroscope, an optical coronary heart price monitor, and a pores and skin temperature sensor, plus an off-body sensor to detect when it is being worn. It additionally has an built-in GPS (plus Beidou, Glonass, Galileo, and QZSS sensors) for tempo and distance measurements throughout out of doors exercises.
Regardless of its dimension, the TicWatch Professional 5 is snug sufficient for all-day sporting and did not hinder my slumber throughout the testing interval, although I usually want the much less obtrusive Oura ring or a non-wearable sleep tracker just like the Google Nest Hub good show or the Sleep Quantity 360 i8 good mattress.
As for sturdiness, it sports activities a reasonably commonplace 5ATM water resistance ranking, in addition to the identical military-grade MIL-STD-810H certification because the Apple Watch Extremely and Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 collection. The 5ATM ranking means it might stand up to depths of as much as 164 ft and is protected for shallow waters similar to swimming swimming pools. Not like the extra waterproof Apple Watch Extremely, the TicWatch Professional 5 is not appropriate for scuba diving, water snowboarding, or different high-speed water sports activities. The MIL-STD 810H certification, which the Pixel Watch lacks, means the Professional 5 has been examined to outlive excessive altitude, excessive temperatures, freezing/thawing, blowing sand, and different environmental stressors similar to vibration and shock.
Standout Battery Life
Battery life is often the principle tradeoff of fully-featured smartwatches, however that is much less of a difficulty with the TicWatch Professional 5 because of its huge 628mAh cell, which exceeds that of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Professional (590mAh) and the Apple Watch Extremely (542mAh). Battery life varies relying on utilization, however Mobvoi claims it ought to last as long as 80 hours on a cost, as Samsung does for its Galaxy Watch.
In my real-world testing, the TicWatch Professional 5 lasted 75 hours on a cost—greater than three full days—with regular use, making it one of many longest-lasting true smartwatches I’ve examined. After 24 hours of regular use, it nonetheless had 68% battery life remaining in my assessments. With heavy use, it lasted 66.5 hours on a cost.
As compared, the Apple Watch Extremely and the Galaxy Watch 5 Professional each stayed powered for as much as 57 hours on a cost with regular to heavy use in my assessments, and the latter provided 79 hours of energy with mild use.
Recharging the TicWatch Professional 5 would not take lengthy: Mobvoi says half-hour on the charger powers it up by 65%. Should you’re pressed for time, a 15-minute cost ought to ship sufficient energy for the day.
By default, the always-on display is ready to ULP mode, however you may change it to AMOLED by way of the Show Settings menu if you happen to do not thoughts the battery hit. When enabled, ULP mode prompts when the display instances out and robotically switches again to AMOLED whenever you press a button or faucet the display.
Mobvoi affords 18 backlight colour decisions for the ULP show, in addition to a dynamic coronary heart price zone possibility that adjustments colour primarily based in your pulse whilst you’re monitoring a exercise with the TicExercise app. When the ULP show is lively, you may rotate the crown to entry numerous well being metrics and options, together with your present coronary heart price, SpO2, energy burned, and the compass with out switching to again the AMOLED. This helps prolong battery life.
Remember that whereas glorious for a smartwatch, the TicWatch Professional 5’s battery life nonetheless falls in need of many health trackers and sports-focused watches, which might generally final weeks on a cost.
Attending to Know the TicWatch Professional 5: Setup and Navigation
The TicWatch Professional 5 should be paired with a tool working Android 8.0 or later that helps Google Cell Companies. Within the field, you get the watch, a USB-A charging cable, a quick-start information, and a security information.
I arrange the TicWatch Professional 5 with a Samsung Galaxy S21 FE and had no issues doing so. To get began, press and maintain the aspect button on the watch to show it on, then obtain and set up the Mobvoi Well being app in your telephone, and create an account if you have not already finished so. It affords a barely simpler setup course of than the Pixel Watch, which requires you to obtain each the Pixel Watch app for pairing and the Fitbit app for health monitoring.
The TicWatch Professional 5 helps Google Quick Pair, providing a seamless setup course of on suitable telephones just like the S21 FE. As quickly as I powered on the watch, my Galaxy telephone discovered it and started strolling me by the setup course of. If you aren’t getting an preliminary pairing pop-up in your telephone, navigate to the Gadget tab within the Mobvoi Well being app, faucet the plus signal within the higher proper nook > Add New Gadget, and comply with the directions to finish the pairing course of.
In the course of the setup course of, it prompts you to signal into your Google Account to make use of Google apps and Discover My Gadget in your watch. Subsequent, it presents a listing of advisable apps, together with these in your telephone with a Put on OS model, and allows you to choose those you need in your watch. Should you want, you may skip this step and manually set up apps by way of the Google Play Retailer at any time.
For safety, you may optionally arrange a display lock sample or PIN code throughout setup, or at any time from the watch show by way of Settings > Safety. Throughout setup, the Mobvoi Well being app additionally asks you to fill out some well being data, together with your gender (with choices for male, feminine, non-binary, and confidentiality), birthdate, top, and weight; you may edit this data at any time from the watch show by way of Settings > Well being Profile.
As with every true smartwatch, getting the dangle of the TicWatch Professional 5 and studying the place all the pieces is takes a while, even for a seasoned wearables reviewer like me. You possibly can navigate the TicWatch Professional 5 by way of the contact display, the aspect button, and the rotating crown. The crown is simple sufficient to rotate with my thumb, however for fast scrolling, I want the Galaxy Watch 5’s digital bezel, which I discover simpler to function.
The built-in TimeShow app on the TicWatch Professional 5 affords greater than 1,000 watch face choices, however some value cash and/or don’t enable for personalization. Nonetheless, there are sufficient free watch faces that you simply should not have an issue discovering one you want. I caught with the default Shade Run watch face, which affords two customizable issues and a rainbow of textual content colour choices.
From the watch face, you may swipe up for notifications, swipe down for an editable menu of fast settings (similar to Discover My Gadget, Bedtime Mode, and extra), or swipe left and proper to scroll by an editable carousel of Tiles that present useful data from apps. So as to add or take away Tiles, press and maintain any of them.
To open your app checklist, press the crown button. Whenever you’re on a unique display, urgent the crown button takes you again to the watch face.
To rapidly entry your just lately used apps, press the aspect button from the watch face. To return from apps and Tiles, swipe from the left of the display. To rapidly return to your last-used app, double-press the crown button at any time.
To rapidly open Google Pay, double-press the aspect button at any time (notice that you should have a display lock enabled to make use of Google Pay). In testing, Google Pay labored completely on the watch, permitting me to settle up in shops with a faucet.
TicWatch Professional 5 Apps
One massive app omission from the TicWatch Professional 5 on the time of this writing is Google Assistant, which is out there on the Pixel Watch (after all) in addition to the Galaxy Watch 5 collection. A Mobvoi spokesperson tells me that the corporate is working with Google to carry Assistant to the TicWatch Professional 5, however made no guarantees so far as timing. I miss a built-in digital assistant for rapidly pulling up apps by voice, a characteristic I exploit on a regular basis on the Apple Watch.
The TicWatch Professional 5 in any other case affords a variety of preinstalled apps, and lots of extra can be found for obtain by way of the Google Play Retailer app on the watch. There’s some bloatware, like a companion app meant for use with Mobvoi’s foldable treadmill, and the identical bogus handwashing timer I dogged in my Pixel Watch overview. To handle the apps in your watch, navigate to Settings > Apps & Notifications > App data, then press and maintain an app to disable or, if allowed, uninstall it.
The preinstalled app checklist consists of: Agenda, Alarm, Calculator, Contacts, Important Mode Settings, Discover My Telephone, Flashlight, Google Pockets, Hand-Washing Timer, Google Maps, Media Controls, Messages (Google), Mobvoi Privateness, Mobvoi Treadmill, One-Faucet Measurement, Telephone, Google Play Retailer, Settings, Stopwatch, TicBarometer, TicBreathe, TicCare, TicCompass, TicExercise, TicHealth, TicOxygen, TicPulse, TicSleep, TicZen, Timer, TimeShow, Climate, and YouTube Music.
Among the notable apps obtainable for obtain by way of the Play Retailer embrace Amazon Alexa, Amazon Music, c25k, Calm, Cardiogram, Deezer, Simple Voice Recorder, Golf Pad, Google House, Gap 19, KakaoTalk, Komoot, Line, MyFitnessPal, Seven – 7 Minute Exercise, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stocard, Strava, and Todoist. Put on OS affords a wide selection of third-party apps, however is lacking some in style titles obtainable by way of the Apple Watch App Retailer, together with Fb Messenger, Pandora, and Telegram.
The Alexa app works on the TicWatch Professional 5 so long as you’ve the app enabled in your telephone and your telephone is close by. It allows you to ask questions and management related gadgets by voice by the watch. Once I requested, “Alexa, what is the climate,” the digital assistant learn my native forecast and displayed it on the watch display. Once I stated, “Alexa, inform Furbo to toss a deal with,” it instantly relayed the command to my related Furbo 360 canine digicam, which allotted a deal with as instructed. You can’t, nonetheless, use Alexa to open apps or carry out actions on the TicWatch Professional 5.
TicWatch Professional 5 Well being and Health Monitoring
The TicWatch Professional 5 affords many helpful well being and health options, together with the One-Faucet Measurement app, which checks your coronary heart price, SpO2, respiration price, stress stage, and your coronary heart well being in a single scan that takes about 90 seconds. After one scan, as an illustration, it advised me I had a coronary heart price of 52bpm, an SpO2 of 99% (regular), a respiration price of 18brpm, a low stress stage (33/100), and a traditional coronary heart well being studying (indicating no indicators of tachycardia, bradycardia, untimely beats, or atrial fibrillation).
Generally, the TicWatch Professional 5’s resting coronary heart price and SpO2 measurements are correct and in keeping with these of an Apple Watch Sequence 8. I concurrently spot-checked my SpO2 with each gadgets and every measured it at 99%, although the TicWatch Professional 5 took a few seconds longer to ship my end result (about 20 seconds vs. 15 seconds for the Sequence 8).
Whenever you put on it to mattress, it tracks the time you drift off and get up, the general length of your slumber, the period of time you spend in every sleep stage (awake, mild, deep, and REM), in addition to your in a single day coronary heart price and SpO2. Within the Settings menu of the TicSleep app, you may allow in a single day respiration price, SpO2, and temperature readings. Its bedtime, wake-up time, sleep length, and sleep stage knowledge is mostly correct and in keeping with measurements from the Polar Ignite 3 health watch.
For a similar evening, the TicWatch Professional 5 stated I slept for 7 hours, 29 minutes whereas the Polar Ignite 3 on my different wrist equally stated I received 7 hours, 2 minutes of sleep, and the Google Nest Hub on my bedside desk tracked 7 hours, 11 minutes of slumber.
The Sleep part of the Mobvoi Well being app affords colourful graphs of your sleep phases, coronary heart price, SpO2, and different in a single day knowledge, making it straightforward to grasp your outcomes. The app additionally highlights probably regarding leads to crimson. One time, as an illustration, it confirmed -9% circled in crimson beside my REM sleep knowledge.
“You went to mattress later than scheduled bedtime final evening,” the Mobvoi Well being app warned. “Sustaining a daily sleep schedule is vital in your well being.”
My sleep scores from the TicWatch Professional 5 and the Ignite 3 various, which is not stunning since every firm has its personal manner of calculating this metric. For a similar evening, the TicWatch Professional 5 gave me a sleep rating of 85% whereas the Ignite 3 calculated a decrease rating of 65%. In that case, I felt the Ignite 3’s sleep rating was extra correct primarily based alone notion of how effectively I slept. Sadly, the Mobvoi Well being app doesn’t specify the way it calculates this metric, in contrast to the Ignite 3’s companion Polar Circulate app, which affords an in depth breakdown of the components affecting your sleep rating. A Mobvoi spokesperson tells me that the sleep rating metric takes into consideration your general sleep time, plus all 4 sleep phases, however the firm declined to reveal extra express particulars.
For health monitoring, the TicExercise app affords greater than 100 exercise modes, together with all the pieces from aerobics and archery to weightlifting and yoga—even skydiving and off-roading. It affords separate monitoring choices for pool and open water swimming, in addition to different water and sand sports activities like seaside volleyball, fishing, rowing, and stand-up paddle boarding. When monitoring a climbing or path working exercise, it might calibrate your altitude and monitor your elevation acquire and loss.
To judge its health metrics, I tracked a number of walks, a run, a biking exercise, and an indoor rowing exercise with the TicWatch Professional 5 on one wrist and the Apple Watch Sequence 8 on the opposite. For out of doors exercises, it usually had no downside buying a GPS sign, however took as much as 15 seconds longer than the Sequence 8 to take action. I additionally discovered that exercise coronary heart price measurements from the TicWatch Professional 5 are generally low in contrast with the Sequence 8 and a chest strap monitor.
For a half-mile out of doors stroll, its common and max coronary heart price measurements solely various from the Sequence 8 by 1bpm every. However for an 8-minute cardiovascular exercise on the Carol 2.0 indoor bike, the TicWatch Professional 5 stated I had a mean and max coronary heart price of 112bpm and 141bpm, respectively, whereas the Sequence 8 precisely reported greater values for these metrics: 121bpm and 164bpm.
Some optical displays are likely to lag barely on the subject of detecting fast coronary heart price change, and that occurred with the TicWatch Professional 5 throughout the Carol 2.0 exercise. After one dash on the bike, the Sequence 8 and my chest strap each confirmed I had a coronary heart price of 160bpm whereas the TicWatch Professional 5 nonetheless learn 100bpm.
For a 40-minute rowing exercise, its coronary heart price measurements had been extra in keeping with these from the Sequence 8. Apple’s smartwatch stated I had a mean and max coronary heart price of 103bpm and 140bpm, respectively, whereas the TicWatch Professional 5 measured these metrics at 102bpm and 133bpm.
For sure exercises, the TicWatch Professional 5 tracks your VO2 Max (a standard measurement of cardio endurance indicating the utmost quantity of oxygen you may make the most of throughout intense train) and affords useful restoration steerage. After a 15-minute out of doors stroll, as an illustration, it advisable I wait three hours to totally get better earlier than resuming my train coaching. After a one-mile run, it stated my physique would wish 21 hours to get better.
A Characteristic-Wealthy Watch With Battery Life for Days
The TicWatch Professional 5 stayed powered for greater than three days in testing, rivaling the Galaxy Watch 5 Professional, whereas providing speedy efficiency and loads of methods to trace your exercise and well being. Considered one of its finest options, the ultra-low-power display, allows you to scroll by knowledge like compass bearings, your SpO2, and coronary heart price, all with out activating the battery-draining AMOLED show. Apart from Google Assistant assist (which could be obtainable sooner or later) and a mobile connectivity possibility, the TicWatch Professional 5 affords an analogous Put on OS-powered expertise to the Google Pixel Watch, with about thrice the battery life and a extra sturdy construct. Both one is a superb alternative relying in your wants and preferences, although the usual Galaxy Watch 5 affords extra bang in your buck than each, retaining our Editors’ Alternative award for the most effective Android-compatible smartwatch.
