Oppo Watch Free review: Good value

The Oppo Watch Free is an affordable entry-level smartwatch that leans towards health and fitness tracking. For one, it comes with a snore monitoring feature and SpO2 monitoring. But there's no NFC or GPS functionality. Neither does it support third-party apps. On the other hand, these missing features likely contribute to its excellent battery life of up to two weeks, depending on your usage.

Quick specs

1.64-inch AMOLED screen (280 x 456 pixels)
Size: 46.0mm x 29.7mm x 10.6mm, 33g
230mAh battery (up to 14 days battery life)
Requires Android 6.0 or later, iOS 10.0 or later

With its black silicone strap and rectangular 1.64-inch AMOLED screen, the Oppo Watch Free looks like a typical fitness tracker. This display is bright, sharp, and is responsive to taps and swipes. This is important as this entry-level smartwatch understandably lacks a rotation crown. The watch itself is light and feels comfortable. I could hardly feel its presence while wearing it to sleep. Oppo's HeyTap Health app is required to pair the smartwatch via Bluetooth with your phone (Android or iOS). You'll also need the app — and have the phone at your side when you sleep — for the snore detection feature, which uses the phone's microphone to detect snoring. Complementing this feature is the watch's blood oxygen (SpO2) monitoring.

While it's billed as a smartwatch, the Oppo Watch Free is what I would call a glorified fitness tracker. As mentioned, it lacks some of the features you'd find in a top-tier smartwatch like the Apple Watch, such as an app store or NFC functionality. But you can still do plenty with the Oppo. For example, it has over 100 built-in workout modes, from sports like badminton and basketball to yoga, dance, and even dog-walking. The Watch Free will also automatically detect and start monitoring four common workout modes — running, walking, rowing machine, and elliptical machine. The interface itself is typical for a smartwatch. You swipe down to access the settings, swipe up to view notifications, swipe right to cycle through key features such as heart rate monitoring. Swipe left to access other functions like the alarm, flashlight or music playback controls.

In my testing, the Oppo Watch Free performs on par with the higher-end Huawei Watch GT 3 when it comes to tracking steps and other health metrics. The Oppo was also spot-on for sleep monitoring. The Huawei, though, has an app store, albeit with limited apps. But the biggest advantage of these two smartwatches and their relatively limited functions is the battery stamina. The Oppo's battery gauge dipped by just a few percentage points after a day of usage. Depending on your usage, I believe it will live up to its claims of a two-week battery uptime. I only had to charge the Oppo once in over three weeks, though I did not wear it full-time. Note that the snore monitoring feature will chew through your smartphone's battery, so you should have a good amount of charge before using it.

At S$129, the Oppo Watch Free is reasonably affordable. It offers a bit more than typical fitness trackers, but higher-end smartwatches like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 can and will do more. I'm fine with what the Oppo brings to the table. Get it now from Shopee and Lazada.

Acer Swift Go 14 review: Mobile productivity

Review unit provided by Oppo.

Any purchase you make through our links may generate a commission. It supports our work, but does not dictate our editorial reviews. See our FAQ here.