Mobvoi has quietly pushed out a new version of TicWatch Pro smartwatch for 2020. But while it offers two very welcome improvements, it’s not too different from the original 2018 model, which may make it a tough sell at its £220 price point.
Let’s get the good out of the way first. The watch that got a solid four-star rating from us when we reviewed it 19 months ago has two very obvious upgrades. First off, it’s now a whole lot more durable – so durable, in fact, that it qualifies for Military Standard 810G certification.
That means it can deal with challenging environments, coping with operational temperatures between -30°C and 55°C, as well as (figuratively) laughing in the face of salt, fog, sand and dust.
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The 2020 TicWatch Pro also gets a performance boost with double the RAM of the original version. It now has a whole gigabyte to play with, which should make things a little smoother.
But possibly only a little. The reason we’re cautious about this new version of the TicWatch Pro is that it still uses the Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor. That chip is now over four years old, and bluntly, it shows.
The original TicWatch Pro suffered from a frequently laggy performance, as Alex noted in his review. “You’ll be very aware of how long apps can take to open and swiping around the UI you’re almost guaranteed to run into stutter and lag, which is a shame as the experience is otherwise, rather pleasant,” he wrote.
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Hopefully work done on the software combined with the extra RAM will make the new TicWatch Pro a more consistent performer, but if not there is hope yet. On Mobvoi’s own forums, some users have managed to boost the sluggish performance of the original by disabling animations.
If you fancy ordering the new watch, it may be worth bookmarking that page just in case, but we’ll know for sure when we get our hands on a review unit. Watch this space.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
