In the wake of the presentation of the Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 and W5+ Gen 1 from Qualcomm last July, the Chinese manufacturer Mobvoi was quick to announce its first watch powered by these new chips. However, we had to settle for a simple visual (image below) giving an overview of the design of the case and the bezel of what was then called TicWatch Pro 4.
The watch then disappeared from the radar, without even making an appearance at CES 2023, when it was rather expected for the fall of 2022. A first leak, however, gives hope to those who can no longer wait for the new chips from Qualcomm and their promise of increased autonomy, in order to make Wear OS watches (finally) more enduring.
A leak that we owe to developer Kuba Wojciechowski on Twitter (@Za_Raczke). The latter thus published without further ado a visual of the one he presents as the TicWatch Pro 5. Why 5 and not 4? Quite simply because of the aversion that the inhabitants of East Asia have for the number 4 (a phenomenon called tetraphobia, the sound of the number 4 recalling that of the word “death” in certain languages, in particular in Chinese) .
On the design side, we find the lines seen on the official visual released by Mobvoi last summer. Notably, the disappearance of a crown-shaped button in favor of a flatter and wider button, in the spirit of Google’s Pixel Watch. A way to standardize the ergonomics of watches under Wear OS.
In the absence of technical characteristics, difficult to make conjectures concerning the display and the autonomy. In any case, the screen does not seem larger than that of the TicWatch Pro 3 (1.4″) and it is above all the thickness of the watch which should determine its propensity to accommodate a large battery, capable of ensuring several days of battery life. The TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS just managed to exceed two days of battery life in moderate use, despite its 577 mAh battery. So let’s hope that the Snapdragon W5 chip will do miracles to finally allow Wear watches OS to compete in endurance with their Android-compatible competitors.
The answers to these questions should be coming soon, with Kuba reporting in a another tweet that the developers of Mobvoi recently added the name and visuals of the future tocante in their application.