Anker’s new Prime 240W charger and 250W battery bank are coming in July
Anker’s 240W Prime USB-C charger can fast-charge two MacBook Pros simultaneously
Anker’s 240W Prime USB-C charger can fast-charge two MacBook Pros simultaneously
/
Anker’s new desktop multi-port USB-C charger and its dockable portable battery bank can both fast-charge two laptops at the same time.
By
Umar Shakir
, a news writer fond of the electric vehicle lifestyle and things that plug in via USB-C. He spent over 15 years in IT support before joining The Verge.
|
Anker Prime 240W GaN Desktop Charger.
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
Anker presented its updated lineup of USB-C power adapters as a solution to e-waste during a product reveal event on Tuesday in New York City, betting these versatile chargers can swoop in as smartphone manufacturers stop shipping adapters in the box. After releasing a slew of new gallium nitride (GaN) chargers dubbed GaNPrime over the last year with the third generation of its fast charging tech, many of them will be rereleased as part of its new line, Anker Prime.
Anker’s new Prime desktop 240W charger is due for release in July and supports a max of 140W per device, which we have seen from manufacturers like Hyper and Ugreen.
Image: Anker
However, if you have two of the larger MacBook Pro laptops for some reason, you could fast-charge them simultaneously on this new desktop charger, assuming you’re using Apple’s MagSafe to USB-C cable and that at least one of them is a smaller 14-inch model. This should be able to deliver 140W of charging to a 16-inch MacBook Pro on one port and 96W on the other. For chargers capable of outputting 240W over a single USB port, we’ll have to keep waiting for Power Delivery 3.1 chargers or even the 180W one coming from laptop maker Framework.
There’s also a third USB-C port on the desktop charger, along with one USB-A port, available for whatever else needs power. And like Satechi’s desktop charger, it has a stand to hold it vertically on your desk. Anker’s 240W desktop charger is coming in July, and the price is to be determined.
Anker’s senior PR manager Mary Woodbury introduced the charger by saying, “Today, with USB-C 2.1 standard, we can now safely build a charger capable of 240 watts of power,” and suggested it as a pack-in to power tech like new gaming laptops. But with current laptops typically maxing out at 100W charging over USB, most gamers will want to keep standard chargers around to eke out the most performance possible without draining their batteries.
Anker’s Prime 250W Battery Bank
Image: Umar Shakir / The Verge
Anker’s first product to support 140W charging for a single device was actually last year’s PowerCore 24K battery bank. And now the company is beefing it up a bit by adding a 27,650mAh battery in place of the previous 24,000mAh, with the new 250W Power Bank (so named because it can output up to a total of 250 watts from all of its ports and pull off the same two-laptop fast-charging as the previously mentioned desktop charger). The upgraded bank also has pins on the bottom that lets you drop it on an optional 100W charging dock, which gives the battery a home so you can habitually keep it charged.
The dock for the new Power Bank was marked as $69.99 and has its own 100W charger with two USB-C ports and one USB-A port for other devices you’d like to keep topped up on your desk.
This dock has a 100W charger built in and lets you situate the Battery Bank on top for easy daily charging.
Image: Umar Shakir / The Verge
Anker Prime Reserve has a pop-out lantern light.
Image: Anker
There’s also a new emergency / camping battery called Prime Reserve. It’s got a handle so you can carry it like a lantern, and it even is a lantern since a light can pop out from the top. It’s powered by 60,000mAh LFP batteries, which Anker says have enough power to recharge an iPhone 10 times. Along with its dual USB-C and USB-A (each) ports, the Reserve has an XT60 connector to support add-on solar panels. It’s available now for $169.99.
Anker’s also got an updated power station — the one that has the two pop-out AC ports. This time, the thin power strip that’s married to a DC charger has a power status screen embedded in the area that used to have just a weird circle light (and totally looked like a wireless charging pad but wasn’t). It has two USB-C ports and two USB-A ones as well, all outputting a total of 140 watts of power (up from 100W). You can expect this, and most of the new Anker Prime products, to be available in July.
Anker already sold these as GaN Prime chargers, but they’re now part of Anker Prime.
Image: Chris Welch / The Verge
The site and the official app are so inaccessible that a sighted person had to flip the switch to make r/blind go dark.
By
s.e. smith
|
Image by Alex Castro / The Verge
The Reddit blackout is in its second day as more than 8,000 communities go dark to protest the tech giant’s plans to implement API pricing that users say is too high, too fast. It’s created a ripple effect from bored people not being able to access r/relationships to academics missing r/AskHistorians. In the process, it’s also highlighted an issue that often lurks in the darkness: accessibility.
Subreddits like r/blind, r/HardofHearing, and r/deaf are relatively small, but their concerns loom large in the protest. Some disabled users fear the API changes will threaten their ability to access the site. Because both Reddit’s website and its official app fall short of their needs, they rely on third-party applications to navigate Reddit. Those third-party applications can’t afford the API fees, and some, such as Apollo, are already announcing that they’re shutting down.
Accessibility, broadly, includes the implementation of features that allow disabled people to access a built environment, whether physical or digital. One in four Americans are disabled and have varying access needs, such as ramps, ASL interpreters, captions for videos, plain language information, and the ability to modify how text is displayed. Greater accessibility often benefits people in ways they don’t even notice. Enlarged text or changed contrast are access features, for example, and fans of dark mode can thank the disability community.
“If Reddit was a restaurant third party apps are franchises. We can get a burger from Reddit directly or from a franchise. The official Reddit location is at the top of a cliff. Disabled people can’t get there. Reddit is charging franchise fees so high nobody else can afford to offer burgers,” reads a message from the moderators of r/blind, one of the subreddits that joined the blackout.
In a conversation with The Verge, Norbert Rum, who founded r/blind in 2008, pointed out several places where Reddit’s official app falls short of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the set of standards used to guide developers in the creation of accessible apps and websites.
One is huge: people relying on keyboard-only navigation can’t actually use the app, a critical issue for people who rely on voice control. Reddit’s official app is also not compatible with screen readers, which read content to blind and low-vision users and also provide navigational information.
Reddit’s official app is also not compatible with screen readers
In an AMA, CEO Steve Huffman responded to a user query about accessibility with: “For our own apps, there is no excuse. We will do better.” When asked for more information, Reddit spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt said the company is “exploring a number of things at the moment” but did not provide a timeline for features such as alt text for media and interactive controls.
Many third-party apps either have explicit accessibility features or integrate smoothly with iOS or Android’s built-in accessibility options. Apple, in particular, is famous for its accessible iPhone features, such as VoiceOver, enabling accessibility shortcuts, and working seamlessly with Bluetooth hearing aids. These features can be extremely valuable for disabled people who can’t access Reddit on desktop or simply prefer mobile due to its affordability or portability.
Reddit’s culture relies on unpaid community moderators, and many of the mods, in turn, rely on tools in third-party apps with accessibility features that Reddit’s official app doesn’t have. In a post on r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns, moderator vibratoryblurriness discussed handling the bulk of the moderation as a disabled trans person who would be unable to continue without third-party apps.
In response to user outcry, Reddit introduced exemptions for developers of “non-commercial apps that address accessibility needs.” Rathschmidt confirmed that two apps, Dystopia and RedReader, have received exemptions, and the company is in talks with “a number of developers focused on accessibility.” In the meantime, he said developers can contact Reddit to learn more about exemptions. Meanwhile, in Friday’s AMA with Reddit’s CEO, MostlyBlindGamer commented: “You ask for what you consider to be a fair price for access to your API, yet you expect developers to provide accessible alternatives to your apps for free.”
Reddit appears to be making a distinction between accessibility apps and apps with access features, which might not necessarily qualify for exemptions; Rathschmidt did not respond to a request for clarification on exemption decisions. This kind of distinction often leads to absurd outcomes — for example, a dilemma where the state will fund a $3,000 bulky purpose-built item but not an iPad with a communication app, which would be more effective. But beyond the sheer inefficiency, siloing disabled people to a handful of sanctioned apps is a tiny echo of how disabled people have been pushed out of public lifetime and time again.
Disabled users say the most obvious fix to their accessibility woes is an overhaul of the official app
Disabled users say the most obvious fix to their accessibility woes is an overhaul of the official app. This could include fixes to address outstanding access issues, such as the need for alternate text and clearly labeled buttons that can interact with screen readers appropriately, and might integrate options to address cognitive disabilities and physical impairments such as Parkinson’s or tremors, which can make it very hard to use apps without making mistakes. In the short term, they want their beloved apps to be able to continue operating, which would require revisiting the API pricing and the timeline for implementation.
As for r/blind, it remains dark in protest, with a bitter twist: thanks to access conflicts, only a sighted person could actually flip the switch that set the community to private.
Arlo’s Essential Video Doorbell Wired is on sale for less than $60
Arlo’s Essential Wired Doorbell is on sale for less than $60 right now
Arlo’s Essential Wired Doorbell is on sale for less than $60 right now
/
Apple’s M1-powered iMac and Amazon’s latest Echo Show 8 have also dropped to their best prices to date.
By
Sheena Vasani
, a writer covering commerce, e-readers, and tech news. She previously wrote about everything from web development to AI at Inside.
|
If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission.See our ethics statement.
Arlo’s Essential Wired Video Doorbell offers a high-res camera and a wide field of view.
Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
It’s unfortunate, but many video doorbells require you to lock yourself into one platform’s smart home ecosystem to really make the most of them. Thankfully, there’s at least one video doorbell that works well with any smart home platform: the Arlo Essential Wired Doorbell. And right now, it’s on sale in white for $59.49 (about $91 off) at Amazon. If you prefer another retailer (or color), you can also buy it in black at Verizon for $64.99.
Not only is Arlo’s video doorbell compatible with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and even Apple Home, but it works well with many of these platforms. In fact, you can even use it to view live feeds from the Google Home app, which is a rarity for a non-Google camera. It also shares the same high video resolution as Amazon’s Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 — our top pick when it comes to wired doorbells — along with smart alerts for people and packages. Although it’s not nearly as fast or reliable, the Arlo does come with features the Pro 2 lacks, including smart alerts for animals and vehicles as well as a wider 180-degree field of view that’ll capture your entire porch.
Just be mindful that the doorbell doesn’t support HomeKit Secure Video and thus you’ll need to buy the Arlo SmartHub ($100) to integrate it into Apple Home. Also, be aware that you’ll need to pay $4.99 a month for cloud video storage, interactive notifications, and other perks. If that’s not a problem, though, Arlo’s budget option is a great pick that will help you keep tabs on your porch well.
Apple may not have released an updated iMac alongside the 15-inch MacBook Air and new Mac Studio this week, but at least the latest model continues to drop in price. Right now, for instance, Apple’s M1-powered iMac has returned to its all-time low at Woot, where you can pick it up in silver or pink with an eight-core GPU and 256GB of storage for $979.99 ($519 off). Woot is also selling the silver model with a seven-core GPU for $899.99 ($399 off), but note these are “open box” models, which means they’ll arrive in the original packaging but have previously been opened. They also only carry a 90-day warranty from Woot, as opposed to Apple’s standard one-year warranty.
If you’re looking for an attractive-looking family desktop, however, the 2021 iMac remains an excellent all-in-one machine. It comes with everything you’ll need to get started, including a keyboard, a mouse, a trackpad, and a 24-inch display. Plus, it boasts a 1080p webcam and a terrific six-speaker sound system. Admittedly, it’s not for creative professionals or power users who may find some specs limiting, but if all you need is a good-performing desktop that’s suitable for everyday work, you’ll be more than happy with the latest iMac.
If you’re in the market for a smart display, Amazon’s second-gen Echo Show 8 is currently available for half off at Amazon, where you can pick it up for a new low of $64.99 when you use promo code SHOW8 at checkout. Best Buy and Target are also discounting the smart display, albeit selling it for $74.99 instead, which is still one of its better prices to date.
Amazon’s versatile, Alexa-enabled smart display offers a lot of value for your money. With its spacious 8-inch screen and 13-megapixel camera, you can use it to comfortably make Zoom calls and stream a variety of video content. You can also use it to perform a wealth of other voice-enabled tasks, giving you a quick means of controlling your smart lighting, catching up on the news, and playing the latest tracks from T-Swift.
The Echo Show 8 is the midsize smart display in Amazon’s current Echo lineup and can be used to display the weather, news, calendars, grocery lists, and more. You can also use it to control your smart home devices, watch streaming video, or listen to music.
We wrote about Sonos’ Father’s Day promo earlier this month, but it’s worth flagging again since you only have through tomorrow, June 18th, to score a discount on the company’s impressive line of smart speakers and soundbars. Right now, for example, you can pick up the pint-sized Sonos Roam from Best Buy, Target, and Sonos for $134.25 (about $45 off). In addition to offering good sound quality and a rugged design, the portable smart speaker offers support for Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple’s AirPlay 2.
Alternatively, if you’re looking to splurge on a quality soundbar, you can also buy the Sonos Arc from Sonos, Best Buy, and Target for $719.20 (about $181 off). That’s the best price we’ve seen this year on the Arc, which delivers immersive, powerful sound and Dolby Atmos support.
The Sonos Roam is a portable Bluetooth speaker that integrates with the company’s popular whole-home audio platform. It also supports Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
The Sonos Arc is the company’s flagship soundbar, offering a plethora of drivers including upward-firing Dolby Atmos speakers. This soundbar provides immersive, powerful sound, whether you’re watching movies or enjoying music.
Some other ways to save this Saturday
Costco members can buy Apple’s third-gen AirPods with a MagSafe Charging Case for $139.99 through June 18th. Non-members can also get a discount when they pay a five percent surcharge, which raises the price to $146.99. Unlike their predecessor, the third-gen earbuds tout water- and sweat-resistance, as well as shorter stems. Read our review.
If you’re looking for a good Kindle alternative, the Kobo Libra 2 is on sale for $169.99 ($20 off) at Kobo as a part of Kobo’s ongoing summer sale. This is my favorite e-reader, one that’s devoid of ads and offers physical page-turning buttons alongside waterproofing and a crisp 300ppi display. The only drawback is that, like all Kobo e-readers, you can’t easily read Kindle ebooks on it.
Speaking of good Costco deals, members can purchase a $100 Nintendo eShop gift card for just $79.99 through June 18th. Now is also a particularly good time to do so, namely because Nintendo’s so-called “Hyper Max Sale” runs through the end of next week.
The latest Tile Mate is on salefor around $20 ($5 off) at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy. The platform-agnostic Bluetooth tracker is a handy little travel gadget, one that’ll help you keep tabs on your luggage and other personal belongings from up to 250 feet away. It’s also a good budget-friendly Father’s Day gift that should arrive ahead of the holiday if you buy it from Walmart or pick it up in-store from Best Buy.
Apollo for Reddit is being shut down on June 30th. The popular iOS client made by Christian Selig won’t be able to weather Reddit’s new API pricing policies that could cost him over $20 million per year.
By
Jay Peters
, a news editor who writes about technology, video games, and virtual worlds. He’s submitted several accepted emoji proposals to the Unicode Consortium.
|
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge
Apollo, one of the most beloved iOS apps used to browse Reddit, will be shutting down due to the company’s new API pricing that will make the app much more expensive to operate.
The app will shut down on June 30th, according to developer Christian Selig. “Reddit’s recent decisions and actions have unfortunately made it impossible for Apollo to continue,” Selig wrote on Twitter.
Selig went into further detail in an extensive post on Reddit. He reiterated that based on Reddit’s current plans for the API pricing, he would have to pay more than $20 million per year to operate the app. “Going from a free API for 8 years to suddenly incurring massive costs is not something I can feasibly make work with only 30 days,” Selig wrote. “That’s a lot of users to migrate, plans to create, things to test, and to get through app review, and it’s just not economically feasible. It’s much cheaper for me to simply shut down.”
Selig also pushed back on Reddit’s claims that Apollo is “less efficient” than other apps, saying that Reddit is unfairly framing its data, because Apollo uses a fraction of a percent of Reddit’s own previously stated API rate limits.
The Apollo developer’s post also contains a link to a partial audio recording of a conversation between Selig and a Reddit employee — because Selig wants to prove he never blackmailed Reddit for $10 million. (Selig did joke about this, the audio seems to show, but he claims that Reddit CEO Steve Huffman is internally accusing him of threatening the company.)
Reddit spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt declined to comment but said that the company plans to post more information on Thursday and on Friday. The company will host an AMA with Huffman on Friday “about the latest API updates, including accessibility, mod bots, and third-party mod tools.”
Many of Reddit’s biggest communities will go dark or block new posts on June 12th to protest the platform’s API pricing changes, including r/gaming, r/Music, r/Pics, r/todayilearned, r/art, r/DIY, r/EarthPorn, r/explainlikeimfive, r/gadgets, r/LifeProTips... here’s an unofficial list.
On Tuesday, following the news of that protest, Reddit announced it would create a specific exemption to its new API pricing for makers of accessibility apps, but it doesn’t seem to have made any accommodation that will allow Apollo to survive.
Selig says that he will delete Apollo’s API token “on the evening of June 30th” Pacific Time, and until then, “Apollo should continue to operate as it has.” If you have subscribed to Apollo, Selig says that “over the next few weeks” he is planning to offer a pro-rated refund to get money back for the time left in your subscription.
Update June 8th, 3:33PM ET: Added that Reddit will be doing an AMA with CEO Steve Huffman on Friday.
Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 review: timing is everything
This long-delayed smartwatch is good, but it would’ve been great if it came out when it was supposed to.
By
Victoria Song
, a writer focusing on wearables, health tech, and more with 11 years of experience. Before coming to The Verge, she worked for Gizmodo and PC Magazine.
Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales
|
If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission.See our ethics statement.
The long-awaited Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 is very whelming.
The long-awaited Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 is very whelming.
They say good things come to those who wait. So the $349.99 Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 should be one of the best dang things to happen to Wear OS 3. It’s sporting the shiny new Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Plus chip, Mobvoi’s signature battery-saving dual display, and a new digital crown, and it’s the first Wear OS 3 TicWatch. And if this watch had arrived six or seven months ago, I’d be saying, “Winner winner chicken dinner.”
But that’s not what happened. The TicWatch Pro 5 was supposed to launch last fall, and then over Christmas. Instead, after months of silence, the TicWatch Pro 5 arrived two weeks after Wear OS 4 was announced. And in a few months, Samsung will likely start the onslaught of next-gen Android smartwatches. All of this leaves a big question mark over the TicWatch Pro 5’s place in the Wear OS ecosystem.
As a result, I’m neither over nor underwhelmed. I’m mostly just whelmed and a little sad at how an otherwise good Android smartwatch got shafted by bad timing.
Sleekly nondescript
Subtlety is the name of the game with Mobvoi TicWatches, and the Pro 5 is no exception. This is your typical sleek smartwatch that nobody’s going to look at twice, especially if you end up with the all-black model like I did. I love a good pop of color, so that was a bummer, but don’t despair. You can pick brighter default silicone straps or more elegant leather straps at checkout. That, plus the colorful watchface selection, helps mitigate the nondescript case design.
This time, Mobvoi has added a textured bezel and replaced the Pro 3’s pushers with one flat side button and a digital crown. Is it a unique digital crown? Not by a long shot, but it makes navigating menus with sweaty fingers a lot easier. Scrolling with the digital crown is also more enjoyable thanks to the haptic feedback, and boy howdy will you do a lot of scrolling. (More on that below.) The haptics aren’t the strongest, so you may be disappointed if you prefer a more distinctive buzz. As for the side button, I appreciate that it’s less prone to accidental presses than the pushers were.
The digital crown and flatter side button are small but meaningful design tweaks.
Overall, the Pro 5 has a masculine vibe — partly due to the style, partly because of its honking 50mm case, which wears large even for its size. End to end, the lugs are actually wider than my wrist, which means I’ve got to wear it extra tight compared to smaller circular watches. (I can stick six chopsticks, three on each side, through the gap between the lug and my wrist.) That said, it’s not a chore to wear considering its size. Without the straps, it weighs 44.3g and is 12.2mm thick, and I’ve worn similarly sized smartwatches that were heavier and thicker. For example, the case alone on the 47mm Garmin Epix 2 is 53g and 14.5mm thick. I can usually feel bigger watches pull on my skin when I swing my arms while running, but it wasn’t too bad with the Pro 5. It didn’t catch on my hoodies or spring jackets, though it’ll be a tad more difficult for petite folks if you like shirts or outerwear with narrower sleeves.
In pursuit of multiday battery
The Pro 5’s greatest strength is its multiday battery life. You can get an estimated 80 hours, withquick charging when you do need to top up. In testing, I’ve gotten pretty close to that 80-hour mark — though how Mobvoi achieves this may or may not be to your liking.
Mobvoi’s secondary ultra-low-power (ULP) display does a lot of the heavy lifting here. Technically, it counts as an always-on display, but not in the same way as the always-on displays of other flagship smartwatches, which keep the OLED screen on but dim the watchface and (usually) drop the refresh rate way down. Instead, the TicWatch spends most of its time using the ultra-low-power display, a black on gray segmented LCD like a retro Casio digital watch. There’s no backlight until you raise your arm, and then you get a single-color backlight, which changes depending on your heart rate. You won’t see your shinier Wear OS watchface unless you fully wake up the watch. Basically, you’re only making full use of the OLED display a mere fraction of the time. It’s a fine tradeoff if battery life is your number one priority, but it’s meh if you want everything an always-on OLED has to offer. Think fun animated screens, vibrant colors and pretty blacks, better indoor visibility, or just a more modern overall experience.
The ULP display can be difficult to see depending on lighting.
Essential mode basically turns off everything but the ULP display but can now be scheduled.
My only issue with this compromise is visibility. I have tragically bad eyesight, and it’s hard to see the ULP display in dimmer indoor lighting. The backlight helps, but you have to raise your arm to activate it. I would have appreciated a manual backlight button.It’s not a major issue, but it’s annoying when you want to quickly glance at the time. Outdoor visibility is also middling, as you can tell by the photo above. We took this on an overcast day, and I had to hold my wrist just so for the camera to show more than a darkened screen.
There’s also an upgraded Essential mode, which extends battery by limiting you to the ULP display. Now, you can schedule when the watch enters Essential mode or use a smart Essential mode, which automatically switchesthe watch to Essential mode while you sleep or if you take off the watch for more than 30 minutes during your scheduled timeframe.
It’s also hard to tell how much the W5 Plus chip plays into the Pro 5’s battery life. Many months ago, Qualcomm told me that the chip’s hybrid architecture results in 50 percent longer battery life while also doubling performance, reducing size, and enabling multiday battery life. There is a noticeable improvement in battery life compared to the 4100-powered TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS I tested last year, but it’s more likely a combination of the new chip, plus the ULP display, Essential mode, and the Pro 5’s massive-for-a-smartwatch 628mAh battery.
So yeah, the Pro 5 can last you multiple days. But as always, battery life depends on your individual usage, and your mileage will vary as to how many days. I used Essential mode only while sleeping, had notifications on, recorded 45–60 minutes of GPS activity per day, and got around 48–60 hours. I’ve yet to hit 80 hours, but this is still impressive for any full-featured smartwatch. Especially on Wear OS.
Where’s that W5 Plus oomph?
The shiny new Snapdragon W5 Plus chip was a big reason why I waited for the Pro 5 with bated breath. Not only is it the first smartwatch to feature the chip in the US but Qualcomm also promised significant gains over its previous wearable chips. I don’t know what I expected, but so far, I haven’t noticed a huge performance boost over 4100-powered Wear OS watches.
On the one hand, apps launch quickly, and navigating through menus is zippy. This is also true of Wear OS 3 on 4100 watches. All the effort Mobvoi puts into extending battery life can lead to unnecessary latency as well. For instance, in the morning, when I’m exiting Essential mode, it takes a while for Wear OS 3 to boot up again. It’s not egregiously slow, but I dunno, folks. When you say the W5 Plus brings double the performance, that kind of noticeable lag is the last thing I want to see. This might be a Pro 5 issue, however, as Essential mode is a Mobvoi-exclusive — I can’t recall anyone else sticking an old-school segmented display and an OLED in the same space.
The TicWatch Pro 5 has Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W5 Plus chip under the hood — and a lot of health sensors to boot.
It’s possible we’ll see a bigger performance difference when Wear OS 4 launches later this year. In that sense, having the W5 Plus chip at least helps to futureproof the Pro 5. (Especially since we have no clue yet whether 4100-powered watches will even support Wear OS 4.) So yes, the lack of noticeable W5 Plus oomph is disappointing, but for now, I’ll reserve judgment until I can test some other W5 Plus smartwatches.
No Assistant, too many apps, but good health tracking
As far as the overall smartwatch experience, the Pro 5 shares the same strengths and pitfalls asother Wear OS 3 watches not made by Samsung or Google. It handles the basics — like calls, notifications, and contactless payments — with aplomb, but there are quirks to be mindful of.
No one’s gonna notice the TicWatch Pro 5 unless you zhuzh it up with some spiffy straps.
The big one is that there’s no Google Assistant — or any digital assistant for that matter. Google hasn’t said Assistant is a Samsung or Google exclusive, but it’s not on any other Wear OS 3 watch yet, and who knows if and when Google will get around to including it. As with other Wear OS 3 watches, you’ll alsohave to download a separate app to pair the watch — in this case, the Mobvoi Health mobile app. The last thing I want is another app on my phone, but that’s just how Wear OS 3 works. At least you get access to Google’s suite of services (i.e., Google Wallet, Google Maps, YouTube Music, etc.) and third-party apps via Google Play.
Unlike Fossil’s and Montblanc’s Wear OS 3 watches, the Pro 5 won’t be compatible with iOS at launch, and Mobvoi declined to say whether that would change down the line. Am I peeved that Wear OS is increasingly Android-only? Yeah, but iOS users flock to the Apple Watch, and you can’t blame Mobvoi for focusing on somewhere it can actually grow its business.
I’ve no problem with Mobvoi trying to grow its business, but you know what I wish it would shrink? Its list of native apps. There’s TicBreathe, TicBarometer, TicCare (a means to share health data with people via QR code), TicCompass, TicExercise, TicHealth, TicOxygen, TicPulse, TicSleep, TicZen (stress tracking), One-tap measurement, Media Controls, Mobvoi Privacy, and Mobvoi Treadmill. They’re relatively self-explanatory, with the exceptions being One-tap measurement and Mobvoi Treadmill. The former measures five metrics at once (e.g., stress, heart rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen, and an overall heart health score), while the latter is to help you pair with Mobvoi’s treadmill if you happen to buy one. They’re all fine and functional, but I could do with less scrolling.
What time is it? Time to cull the list of native TicWatch apps.
Despite the bloatware, Mobvoi’s new health and fitness tracking features are broadly on point and well suited for beginner to intermediate-level athletes. For sleep tracking, the Pro 5 can measure respiratory rate, blood oxygen, and skin temperature monitoring. It was broadly accurate compared to my Oura Ring as far as duration and heart rate, but it wasn’t quite as good at determining sleep stages. Mobvoi recently introduced a $2.99 / month VIP sleep subscription for historical sleep data, sleep songs, and more advanced sleep metrics like minimum and maximum heart rate. Personally, I didn’t find it worth the price when there are so many third-party sleep tracking apps for your phone that are just as good or better.
For outdoor activities, the Pro 5 isn’t the fastest at acquiring a GPS signal, but even when I was too impatient to wait, the final recorded distance and pace were on par with my Apple Watch Ultra. Heart rate was also within five beats per minute of my Polar H10 chest strap, though there was an occasional lag compared to the Ultra. That’s probably because the ULP display takes a bit longer to update.
Despite the bloatware, Mobvoi’s new health and fitness tracking features are broadly on point
Mobvoi’s also added more training metrics, like recovery and VO2 Max. These metrics are hard to compare between platforms since algorithms can wildly differ, but I never got results that I knew to be egregiously wrong. I’d just take them with a heavy grain of salt.
What I loved most, however, was the ULP display during my runs. When you glance at your wrist, the backlight changes colors based on your heart rate zone. This is genius because you instantly know what to do without having to scan the display for a particular metric. Is the backlight purple during my easy run? Oh, I’m in the anaerobic zone, and I should slow my roll until the backlight is yellow (fat burn) or orange (cardio). Aquamarine (warm-up) on my morning walk? Time to hustle until it’s yellow or orange. You can also use the digital crown to scroll through “tiles” on the ULP to view different metrics, but that was more cumbersome than it was worth.
Once again, timing is everything
The combination of an inoffensive design, solid health features, Wear OS 3, and the W5 Plus chip makes the TicWatch Pro 5 among the best Android smartwatches right now. That’s great, except for the fact that its thunder is(probably)about to be stolen.
Basically, the Pro 5 was so late that it’s now ironically too early
I mentioned this earlier, but the next-gen of Android flagship watches is right around the corner. Samsung typically launches its new Galaxy Watches at its Unpacked event in August. Barring production issues, I’d expect to see the Fossil Gen 7 in early fall. If rumors about a Pixel Watch 2 are to be believed, it’ll show up alongside the Pixel 8 in October. It’s possible that all three of these will launch with Wear OS 4 — did I mention Google says Wear OS 4 will bring extended battery life, too, which cuts into the Pro 5’s biggest advantage over other Wear OS watches? Also, who knows when the Pro 5 will get Wear OS 4? Mobvoi’s 4100-powered TicWatches still don’t have Wear OS 3, and rumor has it that users won’t get that upgrade until Q3. That’s nearly a year after Fossil started rolling out its Wear OS 3 upgrades. I empathize with TicWatch fans given how frustratingthiswhole experience has been, especially since this is a loyal and passionate bunch.
The TicWatch Pro 5’s biggest sin is bad timing.
If you don’t need a new Wear OS watch this second, I’d wait and see where the dust settles. I feel guilty recommending that given that the TicWatch Pro 5 is a good Android smartwatch whose biggest sin is having bad timing. I also wouldn’t be shocked if a TicWatch Pro 6 or a TicWatch Pro 5 Ultra GPS were to come out sooner rather than later to make up for it.
Basically, the Pro 5 was so late that it’s now ironically too early. If that’s not a Shakespearean smartwatch tragedy, I don’t know what is.
Agree to Continue: Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5
Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It’s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit “agree” to use devices when we review them, since these are agreements most people don’t read and definitely can’t negotiate.
To use the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5, you must pair it with an Android smartphone. That includes Google’s:
It also includes permissions for Google Cloud Sync, usage and diagnostic reports, and location. You will also have to download the Mobvoi Health app, which will prompt you to grant permission to collect health data and store it on Mobvoi’s server. If you enable any third-party app integrations, you also agree to that app’s terms and privacy policies.
By setting up the TicWatch Pro 5, you’re additionally agreeing to Mobvoi’s:
Final tally: four mandatory agreements and several optional permissions.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24728729/DSCF1682.jpg)
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24728729/DSCF1682.jpg)
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24720622/acastro_STK024_02.jpg)
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24720622/acastro_STK024_02.jpg)
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23267910/jtuohy_220222_5043_0004.jpg)
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23267910/jtuohy_220222_5043_0004.jpg)
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23985506/acastro_STK024_02.jpg)
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23985506/acastro_STK024_02.jpg)
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24666158/236670_Mobvoi_TicWatch_Pro_5_AKrales_0050.jpg)
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24666158/236670_Mobvoi_TicWatch_Pro_5_AKrales_0050.jpg)
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24666158/236670_Mobvoi_TicWatch_Pro_5_AKrales_0050.jpg)
