We've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Oppo Watch since it launched in China in March – but after confirming the device would come to Europe, Oppo has fallen silent on the matter.
However, a new rumor suggests the watch will be released globally, and even gives us a date – and the rumor also claims that the global version of the Oppo Watch could see a major change compared to the Chinese version.
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According to Android Authority, the Oppo Watch will be unveiled on July 31, but running Google's Wear OS platform, instead of Oppo's own ColorOS as in the Chinese version.
The watch was launched in Germany recently – the first market outside China – which makes it plausible that Oppo is building up to a wider release for the device.
A bit of a downgrade
Smartwatch fans might be dismayed at the second piece of news, though – that the Oppo Watch might come running Wear OS.
Unlike Google's Android OS for phones and tablets, its wearables OS isn't as popular an operating system. It has relatively limited fitness functions (with a huge breadth of tracked activities, but not much in-depth or bespoke tracking), there's not much customization available, and it's very power-hungry, with Wear OS watches rarely lasting more than a day between charges.
We didn't know too much about ColorOS, which the Chinese Oppo Watch launched with, but many smartphone fans would likely rather have tried out that new operating system rather than sticking to a familiar but not particularly impressive one.
Maybe Oppo will bring its own tweaks to Wear OS to improve it slightly, or perhaps further down the road users will be able to install ColorOS on their Oppo Watch in place of Wear OS, although if the rumor is accurate it looks like they'll be stuck with the latter out of the box.
If Oppo does launch its first global smartwatch in the coming days or weeks, TechRadar will be sure to bring you the news as it happens.
