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Smartwatches have come a long way. What were originally clunky devices with limited functionality and poor battery life have quickly evolved into stylish status symbols, capable of almost everything your phone is, plus a whole range of health and fitness tracking features.

Still bad battery life probably.

That aside, the modern smartwatch is no longer a gimmicky gadget only the nerdiest of early-adopters would be prepared to wear in public. These days they're a genuine fashion accessory, not to mention a bonafide productivity tool, with the ability to monitor all your online comings-and-goings right there on your wrist.

Because New Zealand's smartphone market is a bit of a two horse race, it would be easy to assume the choice of watch is just as limited.

But I'm here to tell you, the third-placed phone brand offers a pretty decent watch as well.

There's no denying the OPPO Watch X2 is an attractive timepiece, straight out of the box. I was so stoked to discover they'd sent me the Summit Blue variant and not the more boring (but potentially more practical) Lava Black model. The blue one features a hybrid leather strap with contrasting stitching, while the black strap is fluororubber - very comfortable and more durable but, you know... still black.

The casing is stainless steel, the bezel is titanium alloy and the crystal is extra-thick sapphire glass - basically this thing is very hard to break or even scratch.

In fact, the Watch X2 carries the renowned MIL-STD-810H durability rating that means it can survive knocks and drops, extreme cold, high altitude and of course it shrugs off water and dust.

When it comes to GPS tracking the Watch X2 now uses dual-band satellite connectivity for more accurate activity mapping and what's more, it seems to connect instantly which means you can chart your run the moment you're out the door.

Speaking of maps, being a Wear OS device, you can use Google Maps on the watch no problem, not to mention summoning up Google Assistant for spoken commands.

Wear OS also means access to a bewildering number of apps and watch faces, all of which look amazing on the 1.5-inch AMOLED display. It's worth noting High Brightness Mode goes up to 1000nits, which is impressive for any mobile device, let alone a smartwatch. Even more impressively, it will crank things up to a peak brightness of 2200nits in strong sunlight. You won't have any trouble reading it, even in the snow or at the beach.

Whatever activity you're tracking - and the Watch X2 can do dozens and dozens - you can customise the data to display the stats you're most interested in. For example, if you want to monitor your pace and cadence, you can prioritise those over things like heart rate and duration. This watch can even keep an eye on your running posture.

To be honest, there's not much the Watch X2 can't track; blood oxygen, Heart Rate Variability, snoring, wrist temperature, breathing rate during sleep - even vascular health, which turned out to be a bit depressing for me.

Every so often you'll be prompted to fire off a 60-second Health Check-In. This runs an ECG, tests your circulatory system and alerts you of any major issues. Unfortunately, I couldn't hide my "arterial stiffness" and although my risk is listed as "low," it's definitely something I'll keep an eye on as I'm already taking heart medication to lower my blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Despite that, the Watch X2 is both a joy to wear and a pleasure to use. This is partly due to the rotating crown which allows you to scroll through what's being displayed and even do things like adjust the volume in the media controller.

But it's battery life that gives OPPO's flagship watch a distinct advantage over its competitors. OPPO claims you can squeeze up to 16 days out of a full charge but I assume in order to do this you'd have to be running in power-saving mode the whole time, which would mean deactivating high-drain features like continuous heart monitoring and animated watch faces.

However, in my more realistic, everyday use I still managed to get three or four days in between charges which is significantly better than what you'll get with some other high profile smartwatches. The only drawback is you need to use a specific wireless charging cradle and I'm not sure if there's the same range of 3rd-party charging accessories as there are for those more widely-sold brands.

My biggest frustration with the Watch X2 is there's no eSIM capability which means unlike other high-end smartwatches you can't use it as a standalone cellular device with the addon plans now available from some New Zealand telcos. This doesn't mean it suddenly stops working when it's out of bluetooth range with your phone. You still get GPS tracking etc - you just won't get any notifications, messages or phone calls.

When it IS connected to my phone (any Android phone - doesn't have to be an OPPO) I've been surprised and impressed by how well I can access and interact with apps like Outlook and Messenger. When using other smartwatches I often think I'm reading, reacting to or deleting messages and emails only to discover they're still on my phone and my reply didn't go through. Not with the Watch X2. The connectivity is reliable and very functional.

All this combined with an impressively powerful Snapdragon chip means the performance is smooth, fast and dependable - which is important when using functions like Camera Remote or making contactless payments with Google Wallet.

I've come to lower my expectations when reviewing smartwatches from "minor" brands - not that OPPO is a minor player internationally, of course. So it's little wonder the Watch X2 has impressed me so much I'm in no particular hurry to go back to my "usual" watch.

Short of adding eSIM functionality, there's really not much OPPO could do to make this one better.