TicWatch E Review

The TicWatch performed slightly worse than our previous holder of the Best Buy Award, the Asus ZenWatch 3. However, it usually retails for significantly less without any major concessions, with the ZenWatch 3 primarily getting the higher score due to its better battery life and display. The TicWatch is easier to use and essentially identical to the ZenWatch in terms of smart functionality and fitness tracking, leading us to crown the TicWatch the new award winner and our new favorite when shopping for a smartwatch on a tight budget.

Ease of Use

We noticed right off the bat that the touchscreen is extremely responsive, with a response that is nice and smooth as you navigate through the various menus. However, there is a significant delay — about a full second — for the watch to wake up when you raise your wrist. While this may not seem like a huge delay, it is definitely enough to be both noticeable and quite irritating, depending on what activity you are currently doing when you go to check the time or notifications.

This watch also lacks any additional input methods, like a rotating bezel or crown, but it is very easy to swap out wristbands. The TicWatch utilizes a similar method as the Apple Watch, with a small lever that releases the band, allowing you to slide it out and swap it for another quite easily.

This watch doesn't have a charging cradle, which we found to be the most secure and easy-to-use method, opting instead for a magnetically attached charging cable. While this isn't quite as secure as the cradle, it does a surprisingly good job of establishing a secure and reliable charging connection for the TicWatch — much better than other products that used the same system.

Unfortunately, this product isn't quite as water-resistant as some of the other models we reviewed. While it does have an IP67 rating, the manufacturer states that it is only splash-proof and isn't suitable for showering or swimming. We also found it to be quite difficult to capture a screenshot of the content shown on the watch. This model, like most other watches that run the WearOS, purportedly has this ability through the app, but we never found it to actually work in practice.

Smart Functions

The TicWatch uses the latest iteration of Google's wearable operating system, Wear OS — previously known as Android Wear. This allows the watch to run standalone apps and connect directly to the Google Play Store over WiFi to download apps.

For our test, we found that Uber, Messenger, Spotify, Strava, and IFTTT all worked on this smartwatch, though we did have some slight issues with Uber. However, this watch does not have any abilities to work with Snapchat, Twitter, Pinterest, Shazam, or WhatsApp. However, there can be a different level of compatibility depending on your phone's OS, whether you are on a Samsung, iPhone, or Android phone. This watch also has the Google Assistant built in for voice control, as well as translation functions.

This model also has the same standard music control features.

Unfortunately, this watch lacks the ability to use Android Pay or any other methods of payment. The watch does have a built-in speaker as well, allowing you to take phone calls right on your wrist through the watch. However, we found that this was quite finicky to set up, with plenty of permission and Bluetooth settings to adjust, so it can take a little bit of research depending on the various software updates Wear OS goes through.

Both the TicWatch E and the TicWatch S have a built-in GPS, with the E having it in the watch face and the S actually having the antenna integrated into the watch band. This supposedly improves GPS accuracy and slims down the profile of the watch, but you give up the ability to easily swap wristbands. The TicWatch E also lacks LTE or cellular connectivity.

Display

This watch has a 1.4" circular OLED screen with a resolution of 400x400 and 287 dpi. We found this to be above average in terms of quality, but it does pale in comparison to the Super AMOLED and OLED Retina displays of the top models.

However, we found it to be a bit difficult to read in brighter lighting conditions, forcing us to completely max out the brightness to even have a chance of reading it. The display is fully circular and has an always-on mode available, but it cannot automatically adjust the screen's brightness.

Fitness Impact

When testing for step counting accuracy, we found the TicWatch to have a discrepancy of around 150 steps, recording less than the true amount. However, this watch will notify you when you have been sedentary for too long.

We also weren't terribly impressed with the heart rate monitor on this watch. We compared it to a chest strap heart rate monitor, usually finding discrepancies of at least 10 bpm. We also found that the TicWatch doesn't have the fastest refresh rate, only updating the heart rate what seemed like every 5 seconds or so.

This watch has a built-in GPS, allowing you to leave your phone behind when you go to work out. It has a handful of dedicated training profiles, identical to the other Wear OS or Android Wear watches.

Unfortunately, the TicWatch lacks an altimeter, meaning that it does not track the number of flights of stairs climbed.

Battery Life

We sent a variety of notifications to each watch, as well as responding to texts and swiping through the menus periodically to simulate normal use, then timed how long each watch lasted for. The TicWatch only made it for about 21.2 hours in our test - quite a bit shorter than most of the other watches in the test.

However, it does charge decently fast, only taking about 35 minutes to reach 50% charge with a completely full battery and 75 minutes to completely replenish.

Value

If you are searching for a smartwatch on a budget, then you can't go wrong with the TicWatch. This model is a fantastic value, offering decent performance at a price that is substantially lower than the rest of the group.

Conclusion