TicWatch E2 Review – Is This Smartwatch Worth It?

TicWatch E2 Review

Overall Verdict

The TicWatch E2 is a feature-packed smartwatch that runs the latest version of Wear OS. However, its outdated hardware and poorly optimized software hold it back from being a truly great smartwatch. 

TicWatch E2 Review Introduction 

Mobvoi’s TicWatch is well known for its innovations in the smartwatch market. The dual-display technology found in the TicWatch Pro models is something that a lot of brands are trying to emulate. They are also arguably one of the few brands that push Wear OS to its limits. 
However, Mobvoi’s higher-end TicWatch models may be out of reach for regular consumers. The advanced tech inside can make their prices out of reach. Fortunately, TicWatch has addressed this with its budget models. 
Mobvoi’s two budget Wear OS watches are the TicWatch S2 and E2.
We recently reviewed the Ticwatch S2 – a sports and fitness-oriented model, while the TicWatch E2 is designed for more casual users. 
In this review, we will go through the TicWatch E2’s design and build quality, features, and software performance. And ultimately, we will decide whether the TicWatch E2 is a worthy buy at its asking price. 

Mobvoi TicWatch Brand Overview  

Mobvoi  is a tech company based in Beijing, China. They were founded in 2012 by Google AI experts, Nokia employees, and researchers from top universities such as Harvard and Cambridge. The primary goal of this company is the integration and advancement of voice AI communication. Mobvoi has also developed its own voice search app engine called Chumenwenwen and a voice search engine featured on WeChat. 
It was in 2014 when Mobvoi started venturing into the consumer electronics market. They developed an Android-based smartwatch operating system called TicWear OS. And soon after, they worked together with Frog Design to release the TicWatch. 
The TicWatch brand differentiated itself from other smartwatches by having a strong integration with their AI technology. The brand only trails behind the Apple Watch in the domestic Chinese market. 
Today, Mobvoi continues to bring its expertise to the smartwatch market with the newer versions of the TicWatch.  
Learn more about Mobvoi in our full TicWatch Brand Review. 

Packaging & Accessories 

Mobvoi never ceases to impress with the quality of the packaging of their watches.

Despite its budget price, the TicWatch E2’s packaging does not disappoint. Just like the rest of the TicWatch smartwatches that we covered, the E2 comes in a clean-looking packaging that gets straight to the point. 
The TicWatch E2’s box is small and compact. It has all the details, such as the specs on the sides, and has a very nice image of the watch on the front. The unboxing is rather straightforward, but the presentation is very impressive since it mimics that of a premium wristwatch. 
The design language of the packaging is very consistent with other models such as the TicWatch S2 or the TicWatch GTX. 
This means that Mobvoi has a clear vision of how they want to design their products. And for the E2’s case, it immediately made us excited to test out the product. 

Design and Build Quality

The TicWatch E2 plays it a bit too safe with its design and build quality. 

The TicWatch E2 is very similar to the TicWatch S2 in terms of its design and build quality. It has an all-black design and is mostly made of plastic. Compared to the TicWatch S2, the design is a lot simpler. 
It has no bezel engravings, the watch case is round and less bulky, and the strap doesn’t have any special designs. Fans of minimalistic designs may potentially enjoy the E2’s cleaner looks compared to the S2. 
Thanks to the use of plastic, the E2 is able to achieve a lightweight design. Wearing it on your wrist all day won’t be a problem. The strap material used is also fairly breathable and didn’t cause any irritations to our skin. 
The one downside to the E2’s materials is that it just doesn’t feel as premium compared to competing smartwatches that are made of materials such as aluminum. The overall design makes the E2 feel like a piece of tech instead of a more traditional smartwatch. 
But despite the use of plastic, Mobvoi has reassured that the TicWatch E2 is a very durable smartwatch. It has a US Military Standard 810G Rating meaning it will survive occasional bumps, drops, and major accidents. 
Just like the TicWatch S2, the E2 features a single button found on the side. This button is used to access the main menu of Wear OS and cannot be remapped to do other tasks. This is a bit of a downside since most Wear OS watches feature dual side buttons, which makes navigating Wear OS a lot faster. 
Overall, the design and build quality of the E2 is good but not great. It has no major flaws, but there are other smartwatches in this price range that both look and feel better. 

Display

The TicWatch E2 redeems its less exciting build with its great display 

One of our favorite aspects of the TicWatch S2 is its display quality. Fortunately, Mobvoi has used the same display here on the TiWatch E2. 
The TicWatch E2 is equipped with a high-quality AMOLED display that is capable of displaying sharp and vibrant images. Throughout our testing, the TicWatch E2 can get very bright and can easily be seen both indoors and in bright outdoor environments. The image quality displayed on the E2 was great and complimented the well-designed icons of Wear OS. 
Additionally, the TicWatch E2 utilizes Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for its glass protection. This ensures that the TicWatch E2’s screen can be used without the fear of scuffs, scratches, or even shattering. We have no major complaints here, and we are very happy with its performance. 

Features

The TIcWatch E2 is one of the most feature-packed smartwatches in its price range.

One of the best things about the TicWatch E2 is its feature set. Utilizing the Wear OS platform gives the TicWatch E2 lots of native features as well as expandability with third-party apps. At the time of writing this review, the TicWatch E2 is running the latest version of Wear OS (Wear OS 2.25). 
Some of the highlights of the TicWatch E2 are its good notification support, app installations, and microphone support. The reason why we love the TicWatch E2’s notification support is because of how clean its presentation is. 
Notifications from different apps are sorted together and are easy to access and clear. Additionally, the TicWatch E2 can reply to certain notifications such as text messages and messages and chats. This feature is not possible with most competing smartwatches in this price range. 
You can reply with the watch using different input options such as your voice, the onscreen keyboard, or your handwriting. This makes the TicWatch E2 a very versatile device. 
Additionally, the TicWatch E2 covers most of the essential smartwatch features. Weather updates, reminders, and news can be easily accessed and customized. And, of course, Wear OS can be navigated using the Google Assistant. 
However, it should be noted that you have to manually read the Google Assistant’s responses since the TicWatch E2 does not feature a loudspeaker. This also means that you cannot make or answer phone calls which can be a deal-breaker. 
In terms of app installations, the TicWatch E2 is compatible with most Wear OS apps. The selection here is also great. We have found and installed almost anything that we wanted. 
Some noteworthy apps that we found include “Drink Water Reminder,” A/D Watch Faces, and Pixel Watch Faces. There was even a “Wash Hands Reminder” app right out of the box. 
Despite the TicWatch E2’s excellent feature set, there were two notable omissions. The TicWatch E2 did not have a native sleep tracking app and did not feature NFC. The lack of a sleep tracking app isn’t Mobvoi’s fault since all Wear OS watches are lacking this feature. 
Mobvoi has made the TicSleep app as an alternative. However, TicSleep is currently not supported on the TicWatch E2. There are alternatives found on the Play Store, but we did not find one that worked automatically and flawlessly. 
NFC, on the other hand, is only available with Mobvoi’s more premium watches, such as the TicWatch C2+ and TicWatch Pro 3. This will be an issue for users who wish to use Google Pay with the TicWatch E2. 
But overall, the TicWatch E2 is arguably the most feature-packed smartwatch in its price range. However, the real test for the TicWatch E2 is its software performance. 

Health and Fitness Tracking

Aside from its Wear OS features, the TicWatch E2 also features great health and fitness tracking features. The preinstalled apps from Mobvoi and Google are well designed and compete well with the Health and Fitness tracking implementation from other companies. Right out of the box, you get Google’s Google Fit and TicWatch’s TicHealth and TicExercise. 
Both apps are designed well. They also perform very well thanks to the accurate built-in sensors in the TicWatch E2. GPS is also fairly accurate and locks in your location immediately. 
The TicWatch E2 won’t replace high-end smartwatches that are specifically designed for health and fitness tracking. However, more casual users who are looking to get fit won’t be disappointed with the E2. 
In terms of the design of the apps, Mobvoi has opted to use a more traditional approach when displaying health stats. TicHealth shows your active hours, steps, calories burnt, heart rate, etc., and also gives you the ability to set your goals. 
Google Health, on the other hand, shows your stats as heart points. This condenses the information to help you understand your stats easier. 
The graphics used makes the UI very similar to a video game which can surely appeal to non-fitness enthusiasts. Additionally, Google Health offers additional relaxation exercises such as breathing exercises which are also added to your heart points. 
You can install third-party fitness apps such as Fitify. This app adds on-screen workouts and can help add variety to your workout sessions. 
The only issue that we have is that none of these apps share data with each other. This means that the whole experience is not cohesive, and you may end up using only one app to better keep track of your stats. Additionally, Google and TicWatch’s app requires separate accounts, which can make the setup process a hassle. 
But overall, despite those minor issues, we had a great time using the TicWatch E2’s health and fitness tracking features. 

TicWatch E2 Software Performance

The TicWatch E2 is held back by its lackluster software performance. 

Unfortunately, the TicWatch E2 doesn’t have the best software performance in the market. Its lackluster performance is due to the combination of poorly optimized software and outdated hardware. This is such a shame considering how many features the TicWatch E2 has. 
The TicWatch E2 is using the Qualcomm Snapdragon 2100 processor that was first introduced in 2016.
Mobvoi insists on using this chipset and still uses them for more expensive models such as the TicWatch C2+ and TicWatch Pro 2020.  This alone isn’t the problem. 
The real issue with the TicWatch E2’s spec sheet is that it only has 512 MB RAM. And considering how inefficient Wear OS is, its less ideal memory becomes a big bottleneck with the software experience.  
The TicWatch E2 works fine as a normal smartwatch. All of its features function as expected. However, the performance is quite sloppy since it encounters a lot of frame drops. 
Additionally, opening apps such as the Google Play Store is very slow. It even crashes occasionally. Certain features such as the microphone input and Google Assistant are sometimes unusable due to how slow they initialize. 
There are ways to potentially speed up the Wear OS experience. You can go to developer options to adjust animations. However, we believe that a good product should be ready to go out of the box and should not need user modifications to make it usable. 
Even as an entry-level smartwatch, the TicWatch E2’s overall performance is unacceptable. Competing smartwatches such as the Huawei Watch GT 2 and GT 2e have less sluggish and more reliable software. Sure, they don’t have all the fancy features that the E2 has. But at least they work as intended.  

Wear OS Smartphone App

In terms of its companion app, the TicWatch E2 uses the Wear OS app. You do not need any other apps from Mobvoi to set up the E2. 
The Wear OS app is fairly basic. You can change your watch face, customize tiles, change notification settings and agenda settings. You also get more advanced functionalities such as checking the storage and battery of the watch and modify behavior such as always-on display and tilt to wake. 
Having these settings on the smartphone app is very helpful, especially since navigating the settings of the TicWatch E2 is very sluggish. Overall, the Wear OS is easy to use and has everything you need to set up the watch. 

Battery Life

The TicWatch E2 will most likely be out of juice by the end of the day.

Wear OS watches aren’t known for their battery life. Due to the number of features that they have, most of them can only last up to two days. And unfortunately, the TicWatch E2 is no exception. 
In our case, the TicWatch E2 needed a recharge by the end of the day. This kind of battery life means that having a sleep tracking feature would be useless anyway. Battery life can be significantly extended using the essential mode of the watch. 
However, essential mode disables most of the E2’s great features. And for us, that defeats the watch’s purpose. 
The magnetic charger that comes with the TicWatch E2 isn’t great either. The charger’s cable is non-detachable, meaning that you have to carry the whole charger around with you if you were to go on a road trip. 
If you hate having another device that needs to be recharged daily, the TicWatch E2 will probably not cut it for you. 

Verdict 

Unfortunately, the TicWatch E2 is far from Mobvoi’s best effort. Its lackluster design and build quality and its software performance leave a lot to be desired. And if you are looking for the most optimal Wear OS experience, this won’t be it. 
But, if you are simply looking for the most affordable Wear OS watch and can deal with most of the issues that we mentioned, then the E2 is a decent choice. It has all the features that you would need in a smartwatch and has most of Wear OS’s features. 
If you would like better performance, check out the TicWatch C2+ or Mobvoi’s flagship TicWatch Pro 3. And if you are looking for a similarly priced smartwatch that doesn’t use Wear OS, check out our comparison of the Huawei Watch GT 2  vs GT 2e. 

Specifications