Smartwatches have numerous problems, one being the battery life. Everyone smartwatch including the Apple Watch is lucky to get one full day of battery life. The Apple Watch tries to save battery life by turn off the display when someone isn’t using it. That forces anyone to flick their wrist or raise the watch to view the time or other notifications. Today Mobvoi announced a new watch with a promise of better battery life. The TicWatch Pro is using an unorthodox method to save battery life. On the watch, there are two screens; an OLED touchscreen display than an FSTN LCD.
The core of the TicWatch Pro is running a Wear OS with notifications, support for mobile payments, health tracking, and more common smartwatch features. There is also the FSTN LCD which displays the time, steps, and a few other metrics when the watch isn’t in full use. The idea is the LCD will operate when the standard OLED screen isn’t in use.
The TicWatch Pro is stealing ideas from Pebble
What Mobvoi is doing with the TicWatch Pro’s second screen isn’t entirely groundbreaking. Pebble used E-Ink displays to save battery which helped the watches last for days if not a whole week. The Pro is estimated to last for two days. The battery life is better than the Apple Watch, but it isn’t close to what the Pebble line of watches could offer. Casio also offers a watch with two screens but Casio’s screen is only turned on when the low power mode is enabled.
The Pro won’t break the bank, much like the TicWatch S & E is below $200. The TicWatch Pro will be below $300, making it cheaper than the Apple Watch. The watch will go on sale sometime this summer but in the meantime, you can order one of the other Wear OS watch’s.
Let me know what you think about the TicWatch Pro! Are you going to buy one come this summer?