At this level, one might say that Mobvoi’s TicWatch model of good wearables has stood the check of time – almost a decade previous, the TicWatch line hasn’t all the time been essentially the most groundbreaking when it comes to what it brings to the desk, however as a substitute builds on integating (and typically enhancing) already-existing options that add to the general person expertise.
Within the case of the TicWatch Atlas, Mobvoi brings years of expertise to its newest smartwatch. You can even say that it’s the definitive model of the TicWatch Professional 5 collection, which noticed two fashions (the latter of which launched earlier this 12 months) that carry some related specs to the Atlas. With that stated, let’s get on with the present.
TicWatch Professional Atlas Specs
- Chrome steel, 7000-series aluminum, high-strength nylon, fiberglass
- 5ATM, Open Water Swim/MIL-STD-810H
- 1.43-inch OLED show + Extremely-low-power Show; Sapphire Crystal safety
- Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 processor
- 2GB RAM + 32GB storage
- Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi: 2.4GHz
- 628 mAh battery
The Good Stuff
As with earlier TicWatch Professional fashions, the TicWatch Atlas shines when it comes to sturdiness. The watch does include 5ATM water resistance and MIL-STD-810H sturdiness, and its general design displays its supposed promoting level as a rugged gadget meant for outside use. The watch comes with the identical supplies discovered on earlier fashions together with a nylon-based chassis and an aluminium bezel, and general seems like a strong wearable that may take a beating or two.
There are good issues to be stated concerning the Atlas’ show as effectively – there’s a sapphire-coated dual-display setup consisting of the principle 1.43-inch OLED show and a secondary low-power show which helps save battery. It’s massive and vivid, and whereas outside visibility beneath highly effective daylight isn’t excellent, it will get the job carried out properly.
As for utilization, the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chip contained in the TicWatch Atlas permits it to operate easily, and navigating the person interface, opening apps and common on a regular basis use is clean for essentially the most half. The battery might be one of many greatest highlights right here, and in my utilization I’ve seen that it could possibly positively outlast units just like the Pixel Watch collection, with battery endurance ranging between two to 4 days on the most, though particular person utilization patterns will in fact have an effect on this.
When it comes to software program the gadget runs on Put on OS 4, which comes with built-in Google apps corresponding to Google Maps, Pockets and Messages, in addition to a wealth of pre-installed Mobvoi well being apps, greater than 100 totally different exercise modes, and options like fall detection, the latter of which I haven’t wanted to benefit from, fortuitously.
What Wants Enchancment
That being stated, the TicWatch Atlas isn’t an ideal gadget. For one, the shortage of native Google Assistant assist stays to be a giant draw back to utilizing a TicWatch, and for customers (like me) who’ve principally built-in Google Assistant with day-to-day actions, its absence is painfully felt right here. You’ll be able to in fact sideload it, however a Put on OS gadget with out such performance simply feels incomplete.
The vibration motor can also be considerably weak on the default setting, and there have been numerous cases the place I’ve missed some notifications because of not with the ability to sense the watch when it vibrated. By comparability, the vibration characteristic on my Pixel Watch 2 is quite a bit stronger. I might advocate adjusting the vibration on the TicWatch Atlas to the utmost setting.
There are some hiccups with the interface as effectively. As an illustration, exiting the “One-tap measurement” characteristic causes the UI to go haywire for a second earlier than returning to the principle menu, and for some motive I wasn’t in a position to make use of the rotating crown to navigate via the totally different watch faces, one thing which earlier TicWatch fashions had been capable of do. Hopefully, these points could be addressed via a future replace.
Remaining Ideas
At its standard worth of $350, the TicWatch Atlas primarily competes with different Put on OS units such because the Samsung Galaxy Watch7, Google Pixel Watch 3 and OnePlus Watch 2. Its greatest strengths are undoubtedly the sturdy design, Snapdragon chipset and spectacular battery life, with additional emphasis on the latter. In a day and age the place most smartwatches nonetheless battle to final for greater than 24 hours, Mobvoi has an absolute benefit right here.
Nonetheless, the shortage of Google Assistant (particularly on a Put on OS gadget), the considerably missing vibration motor and minor points with the person interface are issues to contemplate, and in the end maintain again the watch from being a fully excellent smartwatch. All issues thought of although, customers after a sturdy Put on OS watch with nice battery life will certainly need to try the TicWatch Atlas.
Disclaimer: Our TicWatch Atlas pattern gadget was supplied by Mobvoi.
