Story by
Napier Lopez
ReporterNapier Lopez is a writer based in New York City. He's interested in all things tech, science, and photography related, and likes to yo-yo in Napier Lopez is a writer based in New York City. He's interested in all things tech, science, and photography related, and likes to yo-yo in his free time. Follow him on Twitter.
Mobvoi has a new smartwatch on the way: The TicWatch Classic 2, or C2 for short. Fittingly enough, it’s one of the classier Wear OS smartwatches we’ve seen to date – Mobvoi already has some solid entries under its belt – and it comes in at a relatively affordable price of $200.
It’s a pleasantly spartan design available in 18mm and 20mm wristband sizes, and it comes in rose gold, black, or platinum. Somewhat disappointingly, rose gold is only available on the smaller size; a rose gold watch with a blue strap is one of my favorite color combinations on my chunky wrists. That caveat aside, it’s a good-looking device, and I really dig some of Mobvoi’s analog watchfaces here.
Otherwise, it’s typical Wear OS fare. There’s a heart rate sensor, a 400 mAh battery good for two days, GPS, and NFC for payments. Unfortunately, it’s stuck on the years-old Snapdragon 2100 platform – just as devices are set to start shipping with Qualcomm’s 3100 chips later this year.
I dig the design, but that older chipset makes it a tougher pill to swallow. Then again, I’ve never really had problems with the older chipset’s performance on recent versions of Android Wear and Wear OS; I mainly would’ve appreciated the extra battery life from the more efficient hardware.
You can pre-order the TicWatch C2 from Mobvoi’s website starting today for $200; the watches will ship the first week of December.
Did you know we have a newsletter all about consumer tech? It’s called Plugged In – and you can subscribe to it right here.