TicWatch E2 and S2 launch at CES 2019 with swim-proofing and greater longevity

The follow-up wearables to last year’s top affordable smartwatch duo, the TicWatch E2 and S2, have just been unveiled by Mobvoi at the Consumer Electronics Show 2019 in Las Vegas.

The Chinese AI specialists have quickly built a reputation around a suite of products ranging from connected speakers to wearables, all of which deliver impressive value for money and some level of AI integration; namely through support from Google and the Google Assistant (in western markets).

TicWatch C2 vs TicWatch E2 vs TicWatch S2

The new TicWatch E2 and S2 serve as the direct successors to the TicWatch E (short for ‘Express’) and S (short for ‘Sport’) which launched around the same time last year. The company filled out its 2018 smartwatch lineup with the innovative TicWatch Pro and finished the year with the cleanly-styled and capable TicWatch C2.

As their names denote, both watches feature similar underlying hardware but address two different use cases. Here’s how they stack up against each other and the C2.

Unlike the C2, both new watches adopt hardier designs that favour polycarbonate bodies over metal, pack larger 1.39-inch displays and forgo NFC support. That means the Pro and the C2 currently remain the only TicWatches that’ll let you pay for things via Google Pay directly your wrist.

Related: Best Smartwatches

Over the previous generation TicWatch E and S, this year’s releases graduate from IP67 water resistance to full-blown swim and surf-proofing (as seen in their new promotional video), paired with new compatible activity-tracking functionality that lets you save swim/surf activity as part of your workouts.

The TicWatch S offered onboard GPS by integrating the antenna into the watch’s strap (while the TicWatch E missed out on the functionality altogether – below). Moving to the newer (albeit still dated) Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset, both E2 and S2 now feature integrated GPS and allow for interchangeable straps, so you can more readily customise your TicWatch and enjoy phone-free GPS-based route tracking when working out with either model.

One other pain point from the previous generation was battery life and Mobvoi has promised a 30 percent improvement on longevity thanks to significantly larger 415mAh cells in both the E2 and S2.

TicWatch E2 and S2 pricing and availability

Mobvoi has promised that both the TicWatch Express 2 and TicWatch Sport 2 will arrive in select markets on January 22 (at 4pm GMT). Pricing has not yet been released but we’ll update this article with the figures when they’re public.