Firstly, I appreciate being given the opportunity to share my experience with the CMF by Nothing Watch Pro 2.

Over the past few months, Iā€™ve been testing the Watch Pro 2, having previously used the original Watch Pro which replaced my daily driver, the Huawei Watch 3.

As someone who appreciates round watches, I find the aesthetics of the Watch Pro 2 particularly appealing. While the original Watch Pro had its charms with its square design, the round shape of the Watch Pro 2 is a significant improvement for me. One of its standout features is the interchangeable bezel, which allows for easy switching between flat and rounded designs.

Wearing the Watch Pro 2 has been a vastly improved experience compared to its predecessor. The originalā€™s square edges felt bulky, whereas the Watch Pro 2ā€™s lightweight, circular design is so comfortable that I hardly notice it on my wrist throughout the day. The screen is exceptionally bright, visible even in sunlight, and the wide range of watch faces adds to its appeal. The auto-brightness feature works flawlessly, adjusting to optimal levels without the need for manual tweaking.

Navigating through the Watch Pro 2 is effortless, thanks to its rotating crown. This feature enhances usability, offering a more enjoyable and precise method for scrolling through menus compared to swiping.

While I donā€™t engage in extensive sports activities, I found the Watch Pro 2ā€™s heart rate monitoring to be accurate during my outdoor walks. It provided reliable statistics on heart rate, calories burned, and steps taken, comparable to those from my Huawei Watch 3.

A standout feature of the Watch App is its capability to sync data with third-party apps like Google Health. This integration enables seamless management of health and fitness data across different platforms, enhancing the overall versatility of the Watch Pro 2.

Finally, what impresses me most is the Watch Pro 2ā€™s affordability ā€” priced at just ā‚¬69 for the quality it offers. This makes it an exceptionally attractive option for anyone seeking a feature-rich smartwatch without a hefty price tag.

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I have had the incredible opportunity of getting to test watch pro 2 before launch and here are my initial thoughts based on my experience.

Disclaimer: the watch pro 2 that myself and other testers were using, were pre production units running beta software, which may not exactly reflect the final product. We also did not have any information regarding price.

Design

Straight away I was immediately drawn to the new form factor, circular. This is a huge departure from Watch Pro which has a rounded rectangle form factor. While I personally am a fan of Watch Proā€™s shape, I would say that ultimately my preference is circular smart watches. This form factor has always had a more traditional feel and appears less bulky.

Watch Pro 2 has a sleek aluminium case, offering a comfortably light and premium looking build. CMF have done a great job of finding their brand identity, and looking at Watch Pro 2 for the first time, I immediately recognised it as CMF. One thing I did notice about the aluminium frame is that the two separate pieces - the main body and the removable bezel - were slightly different colours. This is only very minor, and noticeable only upon close inspection. To reiterate, my unit was a pre-production one and this may or may not reflect in the retail version.

The band on my unit was silicone, very reminiscent of stock bands that come with most smart watches, albeit slightly improved over Watch Proā€™s stock band. I myself tend to struggle with silicone watch straps, and at times can suffer from irritation and discomfort. While this hadnā€™t happened during my time with Watch Pro 2, itā€™s likely I would switch to a more comfortable offering, especially for wearing during sleep. Fortunately this is possible due to the fact that Watch Pro 2 supports 22mm bands, so itā€™s very easy to change between them, including third party options.

A new addition to Watch Pro 2 which was not present on Watch Pro, is the crown (scroll wheel). I have loved having this available as it gives the user another way of navigating the software, instead of covering up the screen with their finger. I did notice during my testing that some areas of the software had not implemented any functionality for the crown and I had to revert to using my finger on the screen. It was also not possible to jump straight to the app menu by scrolling, or scroll through your widget pages. These are 2 areas in particular in which I would love to see crown scrolling functionality implemented.

And of course the standout new design feature for Watch Pro 2, the interchangeable bezels. While I didnā€™t get to swap these out during testing, I was still able to remove the one I had and the mechanism feels solid. This is something Iā€™m really excited to try out, and if more options are made available, this could be a really fun way of changing things up and adding personality.

Display

As mentioned above, Watch Pro 2 has a brand new form factor, which in turn means that the screen is also circular. The screen is really bright and the colours seem very vivid. One of the first things I noticed was how crisp everything looks.

For the most part, CMF have done a great job of optimising their software and watch faces to fit this new display. However, there are some areas which I would love to see further improvement, such as the widgets. Watch Pro 2 offers the ability to create widget pages, but it doesnā€™t feel like it complements the circular display very well. 

Health Tracking 

Iā€™m going to start off this section by being honest, Iā€™m not much of a health person, and for that reason iā€™ll keep it focused on the features that i used.

Firstly thereā€™s sleep tracking. There was one week in particular where I wore Watch Pro 2 to sleep every night to test the accuracy of the sleep tracking. For the most part, the data that was generated seems very trustworthy, the watch was able to determine the time i went to sleep, the time i woke up, and tracked my heart rate throughout. The only thing i noticed was that more often than not, the time i went to sleep was off by around 10-15 minutes. I believe this is due to the watch tracking the time i started lying down, rather than the time i actually fell asleep.

Secondly thereā€™s step tracking. Step tracking has generally been quite reliable based on my daily walk to and from work. Unfortunately I havenā€™t been able to test a dedicated fitness tracker to see how it compares. Previously with Watch Pro there were several occasions where myself and other users would have route information that shows a completely different country. Iā€™m happy to say that with Watch Pro 2 I have not once ran into this.

Another set of features I have used frequently are the heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen monitoring and stress monitoring. While I donā€™t track these for any specific health reasons, I do find it interesting to keep a loose eye on these. The data from these has been reliable and comparable to previous smartwatches that I have used. You also have the option to track some of these 24/7 which provides reliable, almost real-time information at a glance (if you have this data on your watch face)

For the duration of my testing i had workout detection enabled. While I didnā€™t expect to make use of this very often due to the fact that I donā€™t take part in much physical exercise, I was intrigued to see how it would function with my daily walks. The automatic workout detection seemed to trigger ~ 10-15 minutes into my walk which i felt was quite delayed. By that time I was around half way through, and triggering it from that point would not deliver the most accurate results. I also noticed that dismissing the notification didnā€™t stop the automatic detection and the prompt would appear again another 10 minutes later if continued walking was detected. I have not tried automatic detection for any sports/exercising other than walking.

The major addition to health tracking on Watch Pro 2 is the ability to share health data with third party apps. On android, this uses Health Connect, or there is an option to share data directly to the Strava app. I have found this to be a great addition as it now means users are not limited to the CMF Watch App, and health data can be viewed in one centralised location. Based on my experience, syncing with health connect has been fast and reliable.

Software

First of all I will mention that Watch Pro 2 is running the same base software as Watch Pro, and not an alternative such as Wear OS.

Software is also a talking point that I know a lot of the community are going to be interested in. I think itā€™s fair to say that Watch Pro received criticism regarding its software due to bugs, crashes, and most prominently, the disconnects with the CMF Watch app. Due to the nature of this being a pre-production unit with beta software, I did encounter bugs and disconnection issues but these were raised to the team where necessary and each report was taken very seriously and fixed/mitigated promptly. During the later stages of testing I was no longer facing any disconnects with the CMF watch app. The team has done a great job of improving on some of the pain points of Watch Pro.

A new addition to the software is widgets - as briefly mentioned above - these offer the users the ability to add widget pages which can be accessed by swiping either left or right on the main watch face. This allows the user to view quick info such as; steps, music controls, sleep information, heart rate, and more at a glance.

Regarding the general experience of the software, there are still some areas that I believe would benefit from some attention, one example being that it is still not possible to exit the timer app while it is running without it resetting.

Watch faces this time around are more customisable which is something I really missed on Watch Pro. Watch Pro 2 has a great big selection of watch faces, some of which allow the user to select which data type is shown.

Battery Life

This paragraph is definitely going to be shortā€¦ unlike the battery life on Watch Pro 2. For average use, I have experienced battery life up to a week. Itā€™s been incredibly reliable and I have never found myself in a predicament where Iā€™ve been racing to find a charger.

Conclusion/summary

I feel like I could talk for ages about my experience with Watch Pro 2, but for those of you who want to get a quick summary, here is a bullet list.

  • New circular design - which certainly suits my preference with watches.
  • New dial is incredibly useful as another means of navigation, at least in the areas itā€™s actually implemented.
  • Sleek, light, and premium looking design
  • Interchangeable bezels make for a fun, personal touch.
  • Crisp and bright display
  • Ability to share health data with third party apps
  • Software has seen vast improvement, and is definitely on the right track. Some things would benefit from some quality of life improvements such as; haptics feel a bit too strong and sharp, even on the lowest setting, and itā€™s still not possible to leave a timer running while exiting the app. These are just two examples.
  • Incredible battery life

Any questions at all regarding the above or anything that I havenā€™t quite covered, please feel free to ask myself, and the other community members who have had a chance to get hands on with the product.

I would also like to say a huge thank you to the team for this incredible opportunity.

    Very grateful to the Nothing team for giving me the opportunity to be an Insider and to be able to try CMF Watch Pro 2 a few months before its presentation. I am passionate about technology and Nothing has caught my attention since its very presentation, even before its first product, so this opportunity that has been given to me has been almost like a dream!

    Our mission was to find errors and communicate them directly to the team for fixing, as well as the possibility of giving suggestions and transmitting feelings using the deviceā€™s functions, a user-company process that makes you feel heard and that they really care about the user experience. Letā€™s start:

    To begin with, the watch design.

    As soon as it arrived, I couldnā€™t do anything but stare at it dumbfounded. A clean, minimalist design that we would later find out that the aesthetics of our watch were NOT the only ones there were. The strap is extremely comfortable and, despite not being a particularly small device, I have not had any discomfort wearing it all day or even while sleeping. Itā€™s been stuck to my wrist since it arrived and Iā€™m delighted with its comfort!

    Secondly, I will talk about its software.

    I think there is something where we can all agree, it is that both Nothing and its brand, CMF by Nothing shine in both design and software, and this watch is no exception. The interface is extremely fluid, the rotating crown that its predecessor did not include along with the haptic feedback makes moving through the different menus pleasant and comfortable. The automatic brightness works like a charm. You wonā€™t have any problems where you need more brightness nor will it blind you when you use it in a dark place. All this together with a spectacular battery life, capable of lasting more than a week and a half without any problem, and even remaining more than worthy with AOD on. Its differential point, the customizable widgets, make your watch truly yours, and you can put any widget the way you want depending on your use, your customs, your identity, making it original, personal and facilitating its use.

    Finally the surprise.

    A solid watch, both in design and software, reliable in terms of the parameters it displays either at bedtime (it surprised me with the accuracy it marked the hours of rest), or at the time of recording an exercise. A fluidity that makes every interaction you have to make with the watch enjoyable and you value the teamā€™s work on the system. After all this, the first teaser is published where the watch appears, and we see thatā€¦ You can rotate It?

    The group begins to comment until we are invited to ā€œgive It a twistā€ Indeed, this is when we realize that the bezels separates from its body, and it opens the way to our imagination as to what this could be due to. It is later when it is announced: Customizable bezels! If the software was not enough to make this watch unique and personal, now another world opens up in which each person can choose which style to use.

    It has been a great experience and I am very grateful that you counted on me to be able to test this CMF Watch Pro 2. It has been a real pleasure to have it as my main device and to have been able to contribute to making its user experience as great as it is. I would be happy to collaborate with Nothing again in the future!

    So let me get this rightā€¦. My Cmf watch Mark I is being replaced?

    How disgusting is that?

    Think about what youā€™re doing?

    Putting a newer watch on the market without any regards to your customers of the 1st watch which, letā€™s face it, wasnā€™t really fit for purpose and had/has all sorts of issues outstanding!!!

    I am disgusted and my Mrk I watch ā€¦ whatā€™s happening to that?

    Supported?

    Just left as is?

    Goodness me, you should all be ashamed of yourselvesā€¦ initial customers giving you the cash up front to invest in a Mrk II watch which will be out soon.

    Question for the testers: have any of you tried enabling RCS in Google Messages on the phone you paired your WP2 to? If so, were you getting notifications when you received RCS messages? I had a Watch Pro 1 and the devs never fixed this bug, if this has been fixed Iā€™m very interested in this. If not? Not so much. TIA

      megatomic havenā€™t looked into it on that level, I would just get notifications at the same time my phone 2 would

        @DeaBrunner Iā€™d like to know whether or not this has been considered by the team - having a comprehensive steps history within the CMF Watch App itself, since thatā€™s pretty much the only statistic that only tracks the daily usage, while most of not all of the other stats have a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly round up.

        That was a strange omission the first time around and Iā€™d hope that itā€™s been fixed for the Watch Pro 2.

        Also, are any of the software improvements coming to the Watch Pro 1 as well? At least the Google Health Connect integration would be a welcome addition, and so will the connection fixes as well.

          @tomkarbowski I had my WP1 paired with my NP2 and then also the CMF Phone 1. Both phones would notify me immediately of receiving an RCS message but my WP1 never, ever would. I reported the bug but the devs never fixed it.

          Iā€™ve had the privilege of testing the CMF Watch Pro 2 over the past several months, alongside a dedicated group of users and the development team. This experience has been enlightening and enjoyable, giving me insight into the meticulous process behind product development and the opportunity to contribute valuable feedback.

          Design

          The CMF Watch Pro 2 sports a sleek, circular design, a departure from the square form of its predecessor. The aluminum body feels premium, and the option to change bezels is a fantastic addition, allowing users to easily customize their watchā€™s appearance. The watch is lightweight and comfortable to wear daily and even overnight. The silicone strap is comfortable, but for those who prefer different materials, the leather strap is easy to swap to.

          Display

          The screen on the CMF Watch Pro 2 is bright and sharp, making it easy to see even in direct sunlight. There are plenty of watch faces to choose from, which adds a fun, personal touch. The adaptive brightness feature worked great in my experience, adjusting the screenā€™s brightness based on the surrounding light, so you never have to fiddle with it manually. Everything looks crisp and clear, making it a joy to use every day.

          User Interface and Navigation

          The rotating crown is a standout feature, making navigation intuitive and precise. Itā€™s particularly useful for scrolling through long menus without obstructing the screen. The user interface is fluid and responsive, thanks to continuous software updates that addressed initial bugs and improvements.

          Health and Fitness Tracking

          The Watch Pro 2 excels in health and fitness tracking. I found the heart rate monitor, sleep tracker, and exercise tracking functions to be accurate and reliable. The ability to sync health data with third-party apps like Google Health is also a welcome addition.

          Battery Life

          One of the most remarkable aspects of the Watch Pro 2 is its battery life. Even with all sensors active and the display set to medium brightness, the watch easily lasts over a week on a single charge. This performance is exceptional, especially compared to other smartwatches in the market above this price point.

          Conclusion

          I think the CMF Watch Pro 2 is a fantastic smartwatch. It combines style, functionality, and affordability in a really impressive way. I love the customizable design and the fact that itā€™s so reliable and has such a long battery life. Itā€™s clear that the development team listened to our feedback and made continuous improvements, which shows in the final product.

          Whether youā€™re a casual user or a tech enthusiast, the CMF Watch Pro 2 has a lot to offer. Itā€™s a great value for the price, and I think fans and new users alike will appreciate its thoughtful design and comprehensive features. Iā€™m excited to see how people respond to it once itā€™s out in the world!

          so where are the hard review facts please that people want to know.

          1. RCS support is it fixed now and works?
          2. Same app as watch 1 or a new and improved experience?
          3. Google fit or connect support? Says on site so does it work as it should? Any issues?
          4. GPS does it keep syncing data like watch 1 or is that improved?
          5. App signing in issues fixed? Connection issues? Fixed?
          6. OS? not wear os so rtos or something else?

            Iā€™d really like to know what wrist size the strap fits please

            Anonymous142

            1. RCS appears to be working
            2. Same app as Watch Pro
            3. As mentioned in my review, on android you can sync with health connect (so any third party apps that support that will be able to share your data) and there is also an option for Strava
            4. GPS does seem improved, no more widly incorrect location data during my testing
            5. Not had a problem with signing into the beta app versions that we were using
            6. I believe it is RTOS, same platform as Watch Pro so whatever the base software is for that

                Is the App going to get any significant update? Because itā€™s really bad right now, Iā€™ll think about buying the Watch once they fix app experience.