Ticwatch Pro (2018) in Smart Mode with OLED active.
Mobvoi’s Ticwatch series are among your best choices for an affordable smartwatch with basic fitness tracking features running Google’s Wear OS platform. The company’s latest smartwatch has just leaked, by none other than Mobvoi itself.
Digital Trends spotted a landing page on Mobvoi’s website showing off the following image, and grabbed a screenshot. The page has since been taken down.
Screenshot
But hasn’t the TicWatch Pro already been announced? Yes — we reviewed it, and the watch in the image looks very similar. But the TicWatch Pro doesn’t support 4G LTE, which is what the image above likely spotlights.
The words, “Powered by Verizon,” suggest the watch will support a 4G LTE connection, like the cellular version of the Apple Watch. That means the ability to make calls, send texts and messages, and perform other functions on the watch without needing a smartphone nearby.
The text above, which calls the watch the “new TicWatch Pro,” could mean two things. Either the upcoming watch is exactly the same as the existing TicWatch Pro, with the addition of 4G LTE; or it’s simply a newer version of the TicWatch Pro, with completely revamped internal specifications.
It retains the masculine and sporty design, with the numbers on the bezel.
The original TicWatch Pro was released around July 2018, so there’s a good chance this upcoming watch will be the next-gen version, with further refinements other than just a 4G LTE connection.
What made the original TicWatch Pro stand out was the screen technology. It combines an OLED panel with a Super Twisted Nematic (FSTN) LCD panel to help conserve battery life. The latter screen is utilized to show off Wear OS’s ambient display when the watch isn’t in use, and it swaps to the OLED when you tap the screen and start to perform smartwatch functions.
This tech allows the watch to last for four days, as we found in our tests, but there was also an LCD-only mode that extended battery life up to 30 days (with severely limited smartwatch functionality). The downsides? The screen is very large, and the watch is very thick.
Perhaps these issues have been addressed with the next version, but the leaked image doesn’t offer much hope. The watch looks just as thick, maybe even thicker. The buttons on the side look as the protrude out a lot more, too.
What else can we tell from the leaked image? The design largely is the same, though there looks to be an additional chamfered bezel around the screen, and the lugs still stick out quite a bit. It retains the masculine and sporty design, with the numbers on the bezel.
If Mobvoi didn’t change the battery capacity on the new TicWatch Pro, expect lesser battery life, as a 4G LTE connection will draw more power.
Price and availability
The original TicWatch Pro cost $250 at launch, and we expect the price for the new model to go up a little due to the 4G LTE capability. That also means you’ll need to activate a data-only connected device plan through Verizon, which will likely set you back $10 a month.
It’s unclear if the new TicWatch Pro will be available through other carriers. We’ve reached out to Mobvoi for confirmation, but the company said it doesn’t comment on leaks. We’ll update this story if we learn more.
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