Although there are several Wear OS smartwatches available today. The Fossil Group, which owns names like Armani and Diesel, has been the main driver of the platform’s durability and presence in the wearables market. When it comes to smartwatch manufacturers, Apple, Samsung, and Fossil are the three major players. As a result, when the business unveiled a new line of its own-brand smartwatches. Users were most interested to see how it might be taking the fight to its most famous rivals.
The fact that the makers don’t have a lot of control over the underlying software or internal hardware has been one of the main factors holding back Fossil’s smartwatches—and all Wear OS smartwatches, for that matter.
However, the significant improvements made by the Fossil Gen 5 smartwatches in all areas may finally make them competitive alternatives to the next Galaxy Watch or Apple Watch.
Even though the cost of Fossil’s smartwatches has gradually increased over time, they continue to compete with Samsung and undercut Apple with their most recent models.
All Gen 5 models cost US$295.00 at launch, across the six body types that were offered. This is about £/$100 less than the starting price of a Series 4 Apple Watch and nearly the same as the cost of the smaller 42mm Samsung Galaxy Watch.
At the beginning of August 2019, Fossil released its Gen 5 line in a number of markets. It is available in the US, UK, France, and Japan. You may order them from Amazon or from Fossil directly.
The Fossil Gen 5 blends in admirably with anything you’re wearing or doing. On small wrists, its 44mm totally circular display appears very bulky due to its size. It allows you to readily see the display at all times with no effort.
The watch comes with a black silicone strap, and it has a somewhat plain and inexpensive feel about it. It nevertheless completes the task properly. You can purchase leather or stainless steel strap for the same price.
Whichever option you choose, at least you can change the straps without worrying about using unique connectors.
Three buttons are located on the side of the Fossil Gen 5. For simple scrolling through choices or the app’s menu, there is the larger middle button, which is a rotating crown.
Two more buttons that can be used as shortcuts are located on either side of it. One automatically launches the Fossil app, while the other engages the Category setting. It allows you to change the appearance and feel of your watch with the touch of a button.
The optical heart rate monitor is located on the rear of the Fossil Gen 5. It protrudes significantly more than it does on most smartwatches. It is unnoticeable when in use and serves as the ideal perch for the magnetic charging puck.
The Fossil Gen 5 performs better with Android phones than iPhones, as is typical for any Wear OS watch. Although things like Fossil’s development of an app that enables iOS users to utilize the Fossil Gen 5 to take calls is clearly a step forward in this situation, the issue is likely to persist eternally.
Otherwise, iOS users won’t be able to engage with iMessage or SMS through Wear OS, and they’ll still need to have the Wear OS software open in the background to receive notifications.
However, the Google Fit app for iOS has much improved recently, and while we still advise using a third-party app in its place, Google Fit is a respectable place to start for casual fitness enthusiasts.
If you use iOS, you won’t be missing out much because Google Pay is accessible to all users and supports both Apple and Google Calendar.
The Fossil Gen 5 features every feature an aspiring outdoor or gym enthusiast is likely to need.
Your heart rate is continuously monitored via its heart rate monitor, which may also be manually turned on using Google Fit. Although there are minor differences from products like the Apple Watch 4, we didn’t find them to be significantly different. It serves more as a warning that a chest strap monitor is still the best option.
The built-in GPS performs as expected everywhere keeping a backup strap on hand for more formal situations, the silicone strap type also means you did not have to worry about getting sweaty.
The most popular fitness tracking app is Google Fit, which is suitable for iOS and Android users. If you don’t want to get too bogged down in technical specifics, it tracks your performance using Move Minutes and Heart Points. If you want to track the finer stats, installing third-party software can be a valuable addition as always.
The Fossil Gen 5’s display is what really catches the eye. It has a larger screen than most at 1.28 inches, 416 × 416 resolution, with 328 PPI pixel density. Although we did notice that intense outdoor light made it tougher to see, with glare being an issue, it is dependably sharp to the eye.
Its 44mm diameter makes it larger than some smartwatches (the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2, for instance, comes in a 40mm size), and its 12mm thickness makes it fairly thick. The Fossil Gen 5 doesn’t lend itself more to delicate fashion requirements because that makes a significant difference on a small wrist.
Due to its bulkiness, it feels rather weighty despite weighing just under 100g. Even so, it appears fine.
These aesthetics are further improved by Wear OS’s constantly simple method of changing watch faces. You can just push and hold on to the watch face to switch between settings, just as with other Wear OS devices.
For the Fossil Gen 5, the possibilities are quite diverse, and you can easily choose between stat-heavy displays or ones that seem a little more stylish and fashionable. You can always download more selections if you don’t like any of the ones you have.
The Fossil Gen 5 has a fairly ordinary battery, but because of its multiple power-saving modes, it manages to get a little bit more life out of it.
The Fossil Gen 5 extends regular usage time from the typical Wear OS watch’s half-day to slightly over a full day. How? You must explore the custom battery modes offered by Fossil.
There are a total of four. There is Daily Mode, which naturally uses the most battery life because it keeps every feature turned on. Additionally, Bluetooth may be scheduled for specific times of the day (such as turning it off while you sleep) in Extended Battery Mode. Other functionalities are also disabled by doing this.
The watch, therefore, becomes only a watch when in time-only mode. Although it may not be practical, if you don’t mind your smartwatch going crazy, it might provide your smartwatch with a charge that lasts for several weeks.
However, the custom mode is the best because it allows you to change everything to your heart’s desire. The majority of settings, like whether NFC is active, how frequently the display is brightened, and if your watch is listening for Google Assistant, may be changed, though it may take some time to get everything exactly perfect.
Although having to make such significant adjustments is not ideal, this is one option to address the battery problem that has afflicted so many Wear OS watches over the years.
The Gen 6 smartwatches offer a 30% improvement in performance over the Gen 5 models, including quicker app launching. Although Fossil claims that new models use less power, the maximum battery life is still only expected to last 24 hours.
You can take a phone call using your watch if you’re linked to your phone’s Bluetooth and the Fossil Gen 5 includes a microphone and speaker. As an alternative, you can answer your call while remaining hands-free by using a nice pair of Bluetooth headphones connected to your watch or phone.
Depending on usage, Fossil claims that the Gen 5 can last more than 24 hours. Daily, Extended, Custom, and Time are the four different battery modes.
A reliable and trustworthy smartwatch is the Fossil Gen 5. It is reasonably priced for what it delivers, has a passable aesthetic, and is sufficiently adaptable so that you may quickly switch watch straps for special events.
The battery problem that plagues Wear OS watches was never going to be fully resolved, but the clever use of power-saving settings and the improved Snapdragon chipset ensures that low battery life doesn’t significantly affect how you use the Fossil Gen 5.
There are several aspects here that will appeal to both fashionistas and fitness fanatics. The Fossil Gen 5 is a good all-arounder, but don’t count on using the speaker all that frequently; it’s more of a nice addition.
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