• OPPO has announced a new wearable that is available to purchase in South Africa this month – the Watch X.
• The latest device is also the first fully fledged smartwatch that the company has rolled out locally.
• It boasts up to 12 days of battery life in its Power Saver mode, along with running Wear OS by Google.

OPPO has been quite busy in recent weeks when it comes to launching new mid-range affordable smartphones in South Africa, but to kick off March the company has brought a fresh wearable to our shores in the form of the Watch X.

The new device officially became available to purchase in SA last week Friday, with the watch X also being the first fully fledged smartwatch that the brand has launched locally, as a pair of smart bands made up the wearables lineup for OPPO previously.

We’ll get to recommended pricing shortly, but first let’s take a look at what’s on offer. Starting with the software side of things, OPPO has continued its collaboration with Google, as the Watch X runs Wear OS.

Naturally it supports a wide array of Google-specific applications such as Assistant, Maps, Wallet, Play, and more.

“With Google Play on the watch, users can access a wide range of even more Google apps and third-party apps, including Gmail and WhatsApp. These apps are specially designed for smartwatches, catering to various needs from health and fitness to productivity, making Watch X more functional and versatile,” OPPO highlighted in a release shared with Hypertext.

In terms of the actual hardware, the watch face is a large 1.43-inch AMOLED display with 326 PPI resolution and up to 60Hz refresh rate. OPPO also noted that the screen features a 2.5D sapphire crystal cover for greater scratch and fingerprint resistance.

Sticking with toughness, the Watch X has passed the MIL-STD-810H US military standard in terms of durability, with it also being IP68-rated for dust resistance and 5ATM water resistance.

Other notable specifications include a 500mAh battery that delivers up to two days of life under heavy use. This can be pushed significantly up to 12 days when the Power Saver mode is active, OPPO explained.

Powering things is a dual engine architecture for the silicon as a Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 SOC and BES2700 MCU chipsets are present. There’s 2GB RAM and 32GB onboard storage added for good measure, so the smartwatch can store a fair amount of applications.

The Watch X includes the usual bevy of smart tracking features and modes too, with heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, 100-plus sport modes, 100-plus native watch faces, NFC support and built-in GPS available. It should, however, be noted that the Watch X is WiFi and Bluetooth only, so a paired smartphone will be needed for taking and making calls.

As for price, the OPPO Watch X is recommended to retail for R5 999, and comes in either Black or Brown colour options (as seen above).