If it is good, why change it

The Ticwatch C2+ design remained pretty much the same, and it is a bit on the thick side at 12.7mm, but that is actually a good thing as the stainless steel body and design is one of its biggest advantages, putting it against serious watchmakers like Fossil.

The best advantage with the TicWatch C2+ is probably its design, as it is more of a stylish smartwatch with a two-button design and Mobvoi did an excellent job in utilizing the metal frame to hide most of the bezel, leaving only a slight black ring. Of course, we would love to see a rotating crown that could be used for scrolling, but that would push the Ticwatch C2+ into a whole different market segment.

Just as was the case with the Ticwatch C2, the new Ticwatch C2+ measures at 42.8x42.8x12.7mm and comes in three color options, Onyx, Platinum (that we have a chance to review), and Rose Gold.

The thicker body also means Mobvoi managed to keep the 400mAh battery which gives it a decent battery life of two days on standard usage, but we’ll talk about that a bit later.

The other noticeable difference is that the Rose Gold comes with an 18mm strap, while Onyx and Platinum stick with a 20mm one. The Ticwatch C2+ comes with two straps in the box, a genuine leather one, and a silicon watch strap, in case you use it more as a workout watch.

The Mobvoi Ticwatch C2+ is IP68 certified so you can happily go swimming with it, just don’t go deep diving.

The 1GB of RAM is a welcomed upgrade

As said, Mobvoi decided to keep the hardware pretty much unchanged.

It features a 1.3-inch AMOLED screen with 360x360 resolution, which is pretty good and even gives you plenty of brightness outdoor (albeit at maximum brightness).

The heart of the Ticwatch C2+ is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 2100 SoC, which is a bit of disappointing as the Snapdragon 3100 would be a decent update, but these days, with chip shortages and all other supply issues, sticking to tested and trusted is not a bad thing either.

The biggest and the most welcomed update is the 1GB of RAM, as we had a chance to try out some smartwatches with 512MB of RAM, and even with an updated SoC, like the Snapdragon 3100, these still feel laggy, so it is definitely a win for the Ticwatch C2+.

Usage and other features

Like all of Mobvoi smartwatches, the Ticwatch C2+ runs on Google’s Wear OS and comes with a Mobvoi app that collects all the necessary data, like steps, health, active hours, workout tracking, and more. It is not the best we have seen but gets the job done. Of course, you can always use Google Fit. 

Unfortunately, it does not include sleep tracking as this one is reserved for Mobvoi’s premium smartwatches. It also does not have a speaker so you won’t be able to pick up calls, but that is not something that we miss and while some might find it useful so it is worth mentioning, taking a call on the smartwatch just feels awkward to yours truly.

The one thing that we miss the most, and it is one of the biggest kinks, is the lack of an ambient light sensor, and you have to change the brightness manually. This is a pretty big disadvantage in our book as while you can set it to medium, it does not cover enough range to be eligible outside and less bright indoors, so changing it manually can be somewhat tedious. You get five levels of brightness, and at the highest level, it is pretty good even on sunny days.

On the other hand, the Ticwatch C2+ gets the job done and gives you all the features that you would expect from a smartwatch, by tracking your workout and exercises, showing you notifications, allowing you to quickly reply to messages, allows you to control music, handles payments via Google Pay NFC, and gives you access to the Google Play Store, so you can pick out of a wide range of apps.

It also has GPS+GLONASS+Beidu, which means it gets you covered there as well, and comes with all the usual sensors, like accelerometer, gyroscope, and, of course, heart rate sensor. Connectivity is covered with Bluetooth v4.1, 802.11bgn WiFi, and, NFC for Google Pay.

The battery life is pretty decent, and you’ll get up to two days from a single charge, thanks to a rather hefty 400mAh battery. With a 24-hour heart rate sensor, or an always-on display option, you’ll drop it down to a full day, or even a bit more, which is still not a bad result for a Wear OS smartwatch. You get a standard snap-in charging cradle, which gets it up to 100% in just under two hours, which is pretty good.

Should you go for the Ticwatch C2+?

In the end, Mobvoi certainly created a great, stylish, and, most importantly, affordable smartwatch, which should do good in this highly competitive and crowded market.

It has a few kinks but stays true to its design, which is probably one of its best attributes. Mobvoi doubled the RAM on the Ticwatch C2+ which is definitely a welcomed update, and while it might stick to an older SoC, it gets the job done. The biggest drawback is the lack of an ambient light sensor, but the rest of it works like charm.

There is plenty of smartwatches to choose from these days, and with a price set at $209.99, the Ticwatch C2+ is in a rather crowded market segment, with watches like Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 40mm, Garmin Venu, Fitbit Versa 3, and even Fossil Gen 5, but still, we somewhat like the looks and the feel of the Ticwatch C2+ and its stylish traditional look, as well as the Wear OS implementation.

The Mobvoi Ticwatch C2+ is widely available, at least as far as we can see it. You can buy it directly from Mobvoi, Amazon, or any other retailer/e-tailer for that matter.

There is even a nice special deal over at Amazon where you can get the Ticwatch C2+ bundled with TicPods 2 for the same $209.99 price tag.

- TicWatch C2 Plus and TicPods 2 Bundle - at Amazon.com for $209.99