Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro review: A light update of a Wear OS fave

The TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro is the update to Mobvoi’s flagship Wear OS smartwatch, with the Enduro promising all the same software features wrapped up in a slightly adjusted look.

It’s getting tougher, thinner and is refining a design that helped to make the TicWatch Pro 5 one of the best smartwatches when it launched in 2023. Since then, we’ve had other WearOS smartwatches arrive on the scene, including the impressive OnePlus Watch 2, which like Mobvoi is pushing the boundaries in terms of how long a Wear OS-packing smartwatch can last in between charges.

We’re fans of the TicWatch Pro 5, so does the dual display-packing Pro 5 Enduro edition bring anything new to the party to make it worth upgrading or picking up over something else?

Design & Build

• Slimmer case design
• New Fluororubber watch strap
• Just one colour option

The Enduro sticks pretty close to the look of the Pro 5, with some tweaks that do make it live ever so slightly differently on your wrist.

It’s nice to see it get skinner and it’s clearly well-built too

It still has a 50mm case that now measures in slightly thinner than the Pro 5, coming in at 11.95mm compared to 12.2mm. You can only pick it up in Obsidian black, which gives it a relatively minimalist look, broken up by a slightly refined twisting watch crown and less so the physical button that sits above it and sits very flush against the side of the case that’s easy to miss.

That’s now partnered up with a 24mm fluororubber watch strap as opposed to the silicone one used on the Pro 5 and as a package remains 5ATM, or waterproof up to 50 metres. Its durability credentials remain bolstered by being tested to MIL-STD-810H military standards.

It’s a look that doesn’t make it stand out from other smartwatches. It’s big, but I also don’t feel that hulking case stature on my skinny wrist. It’s nice to see it get skinner and it’s clearly well-built too. It’s just a shame Mobvoi doesn’t offer it up in a few more colours.

Screen & Audio 

• 1.43-inch AMOLED display and ultra-low power display
• Adds sapphire crystal screen
• Includes microphone and speaker

There’s no change on the display front with the Enduro. It’s the same 1.43-inch, 466 x 466 resolution AMOLED display used on the Pro 5 that you can keep on 24/7.

That’s joined by an ultra-low power display that along with displaying the time is able to show off information like daily step counts and heart rate. That is now protected by a sapphire crystal screen as opposed to the Gorilla Glass one, so that means a step up in protection against scratches.

This dual display remains a way that sets the TicWatch apart from other smartwatches in the best way possible.

This dual display remains a way that sets the TicWatch apart from other smartwatches in the best way possible.

It uses those displays in a really effective way, to prolong battery life while also giving you a strong experience when that low-power display is in use. When you twist the watch crown it can roll through Tiles (widgets) to boost the amount of information that can be presented when that AMOLED isn’t in use.

That AMOLED is a high-quality one, with a resolution to compete with the best smartwatch displays in the business. It has a strong maximum brightness setting with an adaptive brightness mode there to make sure it’s not shining too brightly when not needed.

Mobvoi retains the microphone and speaker, which does mean you can make calls with the Enduro as long as you’re paired to your smartphone as there isn’t any kind of LTE connectivity support available.

There’s nothing exceptional about the call quality and pretty much in keeping with other smartwatches. It’s absolutely fine for taking a quick call, but if you’re hoping for the best smartwatch for phone calls, this isn’t the one.

Software & Features 

• Runs on Wear OS 3.5
• TimeShow app offers additional watch faces
• Compatible with Android phones only

The Enduro is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W5 + Gen 1 wearable platform to make sure the software on board runs smoothly and boost what it’s capable of on the fitness and health tracking front. That’s backed up by 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, giving you a satisfying amount of room to store apps, files and audio.

That’s all powering Wear OS 3.5, so not the newer Wear OS 4.0 running on the Google Pixel Watch 2, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 or the OnePlus Watch 2. Wear OS 4.0 isn’t a radical update to Google’s operating system, but it’s disappointing nonetheless that Mobvoi’s smartwatches still aren’t running on it.

Using the Enduro as a smartwatch is pretty much what you’d expect from a Wear OS smartwatch these days. You can customise Tiles (widgets), see a stream of your phone notifications and there’s preloaded Google apps including Maps, Google Wallet and YouTube Music.

Google Maps is well integrated here as is Wallet for contactless payments, while third-party apps like Spotify and the new WhatsApp messenger worked without issue during my testing. The software has run smoothly and launching apps like the Google Play Store doesn’t labour in the way Wear OS apps used to once upon a time.

In true Mobvoi fashion, it likes to add its own software with the most notable addition here the TimeShow app, which gives you access to over 7,000 watch faces. You can see a list of featured faces and get a daily watch face and it’s nice that you don’t have to leave your watch to browse through your options.

Fitness & Tracking 

• 110+ sports modes
• Low-power display works with third party fitness apps
• Displays heart rate zones on low-power display

Mobvoi crams the TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro with fitness and wellness tracking features.

While you won’t find medical-grade sensors like you would on an Apple Watch or a Samsung Galaxy Watch, it will track runs, rides, swims and plenty in between. It’ll continuously monitor heart rate, stress and capture your sleep stats too.

It’s your choice whether you do some of that via a third-party apps available through the Google Play Store or you opt for what Mobvoi has to offer here.

On the Mobvoi front, it’s got dedicated apps for using it with its own treadmill, taking one-tap health measurements, there’s a guided breathing app and both TicExercise and TicHealth apps. It does feel that some of these features could be better consolidated into a couple of apps.

Data is synced over to the Mobvoi Health app, which is a pretty basic affair, but does make it easy to glance over your stats.

On the watch, the TicHealth app offers a nice stream of activity tracking stats like stairs climbed, heart rate and blood oxygen. For information like step counts, I found totals against other fitness trackers I was wearing could be as little as 500 steps and as much as 1,000.

Comparing heart rate ranges and lowest readings were only 1-3bpm out from another fitness tracker, though maximum readings were typically 20bpm off other heart rate monitors I tested against it. For information like VO2 Max, while scores weren’t identical, the essence of what it was telling me about my current state of fitness did tally up largely to a dedicated sports watch.

For sleep tracking, things were pretty inconsistent. On some nights, it captured me sleeping for just a few hours and had me being awake more than I definitely had been. You’ll see some insights fuelled by your sleep stats along with a comparison of data to other users and a record of snoring.

However, given the core tracking wasn’t great, those additional insights didn’t feel hugely useful.

apps like Strava, Nike Running Club and Couch to 5K have been optimised to work with the Enduro’s ultra low-power display

For sports tracking, you get support for over 110 sports including open-water swimming, hiking, yoga and pilates. For outdoor workouts, there’s multi GNSS support and not the new dual-band GPS mode we’ve seen crop up on other smartwatches like the Coros Pace 3.

On my outdoor runs, I found grabbing a GPS signal took a while for the first couple of tests, though things picked up after that. I used it alongside a sports watch with more accurate dual-band mode and from a GPS point of view, pacing and distance tracking was a little off, but not so inaccurate that I would deem the tracking useless.

Heart rate tracking was wildly off however, both for average and maximum heart rate readings compared to a heart rate monitor chest strap. it didn’t get much better for indoor runs, but the tracking performance for activities like indoor rowing and cycling fared a little better.

One aspect I did appreciate is that apps like Strava, Nike Running Club and Couch to 5K have been optimised to work with the Enduro’s ultra low-power display to show your real-time stats while conserving battery life. That doesn’t make up for the sports tracking experience, which doesn’t really rival even some cheaper sports watches.

Battery Life & Charging

• Up to 90 hours battery life
• Up to 45 days battery life in Essential mode
• Can schedule Essential mode

The Enduro has the same 628mAh capacity battery as the regular Pro 5 and utilises its dual display to maximise the battery life you’ll enjoy in between charges.

When you’re using it in full smartwatch mode with the AMOLED screen in play, the Enduro can last up to 90 hours, which is just short of four days (and 10 hours more than its brother). That’s exactly the kind of numbers I’ve seen in testing with an average of 25-30% drop in battery life with some workout tracking factored into that day.

Without any tracking, battery drop was closer to 20%. There are still features that drain the battery quicker, with the use of GPS for an hour of tracking hitting the battery by 10%.

it will smartly switch to the ultra-low power display when you’re going to bed or the watch is off your wrist for a period of time.

What TicWatch does smartly is use both displays to prolong that staying power. So it will smartly switch to the ultra-low power display when you’re going to bed or the watch is off your wrist for a period of time.

If you want the very longest battery life, then you can solely revert to the Essential mode, which uses the ultra-low power display only and gives you an impressive 45-day battery life. When you do get low, you have a fast charge mode where a 30-minute top-up gives you roughly two days of useage. 

Price & Availability

The TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro was officially announced and launched in May 2024, priced at £329.99/$349.99, so the same launch price as the TicWatch Pro 5, which is currently on sale for £245/$261.

You can also buy it from Amazon UK and AliExpress.

Compare that to other Android-only, Wear OS smartwatches it’s more expensive than the cheapest available Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 model (£289/$299.99), though is cheaper than the Google Pixel Watch 2 (£349/$349).

It’s the same price as the OnePlus Watch 2, which like the TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro promises more battery life than Samsung and Google’s smartwatch, but unlike the Enduro does run on Wear OS 4.0.

For more options, check out our full chart of the best smartwatches.  

Should you buy the TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro?

The TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro is a strong showcase for Google’s Wear OS and also pushes the limits of the kind of battery we can now expect from smartwatches running on Google’s operating system.

As an update on the TicWatch Pro 5 however, you’re basically getting the same watch with some added rugged credentials in a slightly slimmer casing.

The software and performance remains the same and that does mean you’re still missing out on Wear OS 4.0, which is available on other smartwatches now.

Mobvoi has knocked the price down of the TicWatch Pro 5, so if you’re really not fussed about the more durable design and a few extra hours of battery life the smart move is to the Pro 5 as opposed to the Pro 5 Enduro.

If you want a WearOS smartwatch with long battery and overall performance (and Wear OS 4.0) for a similar price, it might be worth grabbing the OnePlus Watch 2 instead.

Specs

• Wear OS 3.5
• Snapdragon  W5+
• 2GB RAM and 32GB ROM
• 1.43-inch AMOLED and ultra low power display 
• Built-in GPS
• NFC with Google Wallet
• PPG heart rate sensor
• Waterproof up to 50 metres 
• Works with Android only
• 44.7g (without band)
• 11.95mm