One of the best Android smartwatches I've tested is not by Samsung or Google (and it's $70 off)

What’s the deal? 

Just ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the Mobvoi TicWatch Atlas is on sale for $280 on Amazon, which is $70 off of the hefty $350 price tag. 

It was just a couple of months ago that I tested the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro, so I was looking forward to going hands-on with the next watch in the lineup, the TicWatch Atlas to see how they compare. 

The Atlas is a similar device, with an additional color, slight changes in the case design, and Wear OS 4 installed at launch (instead of Wear OS 3.5 on the Enduro). The Atlas offers some of the best battery life of any Wear OS watch, so if that is your number one priority, then this is a watch to consider.

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However, the competition has changed since I looked at the TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro. Google released the 45mm Pixel Watch 3 that offers some substantial safety features and cellular connectivity, and Samsung released the Galaxy Watch Ultra, a premium, rugged smartwatch that’s one of the best looking on the market. 

With such strong competitors, it really comes down to Mobvoi doing what it does best: making devices with fantastic battery life. 

One reason the Mobvoi TicWatch Atlas excels in battery life is its dual-display technology. The watch features a primary OLED display with a high 466 x 466 resolution just below an ultra-low power display. Like the Enduro Pro 5, this low-power display shows you key metrics at a glance: I love looking down to see which zone I am running in, rather than having to navigate a menu or look for specific heart rate numbers on a graph. 

The TicWatch Atlas is very responsive, thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Plus Gen 1 chipset. There are two buttons on the top right side of the watch, and the crown also rotates to help you scroll through lists. However, it’s annoying to be forced to use both buttons and swipes to navigate the UI; I’d prefer to use one or the other. At least it’s easy to spin the crown to access metrics.

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The Pro 5 Enduro should have launched with Wear OS 5, but it comes with Wear OS 4, and there is no news of when it might get this upgrade. Google and Samsung have a track record of providing timely updates for their watches, so this is one area where TicWatch is held back, in my opinion. Make sure you’re happy with Wear OS 4, since the software on the Atlas might not get an upgrade any time soon. 

Despite the older version, it’s still a Wear OS device, so you can download and install any application available in the Google Play Store. By default, the Atlas is loaded with several key apps and also some Mobvoi-specific ones, including TicBarometer, TicBreathe, TicCare, TicCompass, TicExercise, and TicHealth. 

TicHealth shows a summary of all of your health and wellness data, while TicExercise is the default app used to launch your selected activity. Since there are no options to customize your data screens or optimize the workout settings for your preferences, I used Strava and other applications for exercise monitoring.

Thankfully, the watch supports five GNSS, so tracking outdoor activities is accurate. The heart rate sensor does well for most activities, and with some installed apps, you can pair external sensors, although TicExercise does not support this functionality.

Also: The best smartwatches you can buy: Expert tested

While the watch does not have cellular capability, it has some useful safety features. Fall detection and emergency SOS can be set up so that when your watch is paired to your smartphone, it can initiate calls to emergency providers and/or your selected contacts when the motion sensors detect hard falls. You can also initiate these calls manually by pressing the digital crown five times.

Mobvoi advertises a new personal heatmap functionality, but as an athlete that played rugby for more than 20 years and American football for 10 years I don’t fully understand how one could wear a smartwatch and participate in these sports. The data would definitely be interesting to view, but the watch would have to be heavily wrapped up to protect yourself (and your opponents) so I didn’t test out this feature.

The TicWatch Atlas is priced the same as the TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro, and your choice comes down to case design preference and whether or not you want a newer version of Wear OS installed by default.

ZDNET’s buying advice

If you’re looking for a Google Wear OS smartwatch with battery life that lasts longer than a couple of days, the Mobvoi TicWatch Atlas is your best option — as it comes with a newer version of Wear OS than the TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro. 

The dual display technology provides some interesting use cases for the ultra-low power mode, but there are limits on what the TicExercise app provides. With Google’s larger Pixel Watch 3 and Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Ultra, the benefits of a Mobvoi TicWatch remain relegated to the long-lasting battery life.