Today, Mobvoi is announcing the second-generation TicWatch Pro with 4G LTE connectivity. Aside from a refreshed exterior and all-silicone band, the new TicWatch Pro 4G/LTE (yes, that’s the full name) debuts with automatic workout detection and heart rate monitoring via the company’s in-house TicHealth app.
The new TicWatch Pro retains the unique dual-display design which switches between the AMOLED and FSTN LCD display. The latter requires minimal power and is perfectly visible in direct sunlight, meanwhile, the AMOLED display comes on to interface with Wear OS.
Essential mode uses the FSTN LCD display and tracks steps, the time, and monitors your heart rate. With all the smart features disabled, the TicWatch Pro can last up to 30 days on a single charge.
The new TicWatch Pro has an eSIM built-in so it can connect to cellular data. The smartwatch also supports Number Sharing and Cloud Synchronization so you can receive calls, texts, and notifications while away from your phone.
The TicWatch Pro 4G/LTE is now available for purchase from Amazon for an early-adopter price of $279. Customers wishing to connect the wearable to Verizon will need to wait one month before cellular support is enabled by Verizon. Meanwhile, you’ll be able to use Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Google Payments via built-in NFC.
The on paper, there are two apparent downsides to the second-generation TicWatch. The first is that it still uses the outdated Snapdragon Wear 2100 platform. However, the new TicWatch does bring double the RAM (1GB) that the 2018 model had (512MB) so we expect to see a noticeable improvement in performance and smoothness.
Secondly, there’s no mention of a sleep tracking feature on the product page and we don’t know if Mobvoi has intention of adding it with a future OTA update.
That brings us to Wear OS. Although Google has shown interest and effort into updating its smartwatch OS, it is still far behind Samsung’s Tizen OS and Apple’s Watch OS on their wearables.
We’re checking out a unit in-house, so do leave us a comment with any questions you have about the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 4G/LTE.