And it has done the same with its watch. The OnePlus Watch released earlier this year got most things right, and the ones it did not like an always-on display were fixed (in best OnePlus tradition) through updates. Now it has got a special edition that is, well, magical. Literally.
Let us get one thing clear at the very outset – the OnePlus Harry Potter Limited Edition Watch is basically the same OnePlus Watch that was released earlier. There are no internal hardware changes on it. You get the same 1.39-inch circular OLED display that seems a little on the larger side but is great for reading text, with a 454 x 454px resolution. And the functionality is the same – more than 100 exercise modes, footstep counting, blood oxygen monitoring, heart rate measurement, and warp charging. The interface remains a series of swipes and taps, and the watch pairs to phones over the OnePlus Health app. Pretty regular stuff. The Harry Potter touches, however, add a fair deal of magic to this regular watch. This starts off with the packaging, a box that looks like a part of the bricked wall that leads to the magical Diagon Alley and is textured similarly to give that brick-like feeling. A golden Hogwarts button on the wall lets you know that there is magical content inside. Pulling the box apart reveals the watch. And while at first glance you might not see anything Potter-ish about the watch itself, but take it out of the box, and you will see the brown vegan leather strap embossed with the Hogwarts crest. And on the buckle are the magical words – Harry Potter.
The watch frame is copper-colored and corrosion-resistant. Suppose you look at the two buttons for navigation on the side. In that case, you will notice that while the regular menu button has “OnePlus” embossed on it, the workout button has the lightning bolt that Harry Potter carries on his forehead – it is a neat touch. However, it does make the OnePlus button look silly in comparison. Hit the lightning bolt to boot up the watch, and the Harry Potter comes on soon after that of OnePlus. You will then see the watch face, which will feature one of the houses of Hogwarts. There are other house-based watch faces to choose from, and you can also opt to have the Hogwarts logo or an image of the Hogwarts Castle.
The rest is pretty much the same. Yes, we would have liked some spell-based special commands and maybe more of the Potter magic even in the menus inside (or maybe even an “Always” while booting up). Still, even without that, the OnePlus Harry Potter Limited Edition Watch is the most striking this side of the Apple Watch. It is very elegantly designed and will whisper Harry Potter to you rather than screaming it out loud. It also addresses one of the weakest points of the original OnePlus Watch – its very plain design. And all this at a price of Rs 16,999, which is just Rs 2,000 above the regular OnePlus Watch. All of which makes it quite a deal for Potterheads, but even those who found the original OnePlus Watch too routine and the Cobalt Edition too expensive.
It is almost as if OnePlus realized its original watch was a little too plain, put on its wizard hat, waved a wand (labeled Never Settle obviously), and said “Expecto Patronum” to its original watch!
