Fossil Gen 6 smartwatch evaluate: unhealthy timing

The kindest factor I can say concerning the new $299 Gen 6 iteration of Fossil’s long-running smartwatch sequence is that this: it’s not solely Fossil’s fault that it’s unhealthy.

The company reportedly learned that Google and Samsung had teamed as much as lastly revitalize the Wear OS software program Fossil’s been utilizing on the identical time we did: this previous May at Google IO. And so Fossil’s 2021 smartwatch lineup is working software program that hasn’t been meaningfully improved since at the least 2019 and it gained’t obtain the most recent software program till late 2022. Samsung has smartwatches that run on Wear OS 3 and accomplish that competently, Fossil is caught on Wear OS 2.

Running previous software program isn’t inherently a foul factor — previous software program is commonly battle examined, dependable, and quick. Sadly, none of these adjectives apply right here and Fossil compounded Wear OS 2’s points by cramming in options it’s unable to assist.

It’s an unpleasant state of affairs for a good-looking watch.

Fossil’s Gen 6 smartwatches are available in just a few totally different kinds which are all constructed round a single design. It has a 44mm spherical casing with a 1.28-inch spherical OLED display. There are two buttons flanking the principle middle crown, which additionally could be rotated to scroll round on the watch.

I just like the look of the Gen 6 watch, however I even have at all times had a tender spot for bigger watches — regardless that my wrists are on the smaller aspect. Fossil might not be taking any dangers with the design, but it surely has simply sufficient character to look good.

Battery life has been a little bit of a disappointment. It can get by way of a day and to the following morning if I don’t push the watch with train monitoring, but it surely doesn’t take an excessive amount of use to ship me searching for a charger nicely earlier than mattress. There are just a few totally different energy modes — and in the event you actually need you may dig in additional and switch off particular options to eke out extra battery life. If there’s a vivid spot, it’s charging. Since Fossil is utilizing direct-contact pogo pins that join extra securely than older fashions, it’s capable of juice up quick.

Fossil had stuffed out the sensor array to match what you will get from different well-liked smartwatches, together with a blood oxygen monitor — although it doesn’t have an EKG monitor like competing watches.

Unfortunately, having the sensors isn’t the identical factor as providing the well being monitoring. Google Fit is woefully behind Apple Health in its options and Fossil itself isn’t set as much as provide its personal well being apps. The result’s that whilst you can take particular person readings wherever, placing them collectively right into a holistic image is a trouble at greatest.

Worse: even taking these readings is a ache. Using Fossil’s watchface to launch the sleep monitoring stats or blood oxygen monitor includes tapping after which ready to see in case your faucet labored, then tapping once more.

The root of those issues is straightforward to establish: Wear OS 2 merely isn’t as much as the duty of supporting all of the superior options Fossil needs so as to add, even with a more moderen Qualcomm processor that provides a low-power chip to assist with battery life.

Wear OS 2 can’t set a number of timers, typically scrolling with the crown merely doesn’t work, and Fossil has needed to attempt to spackle over characteristic gaps with its personal apps. I do like you can obtain and set up third-party watchfaces, however that’s small consolation. Wear OS 2 is a large number of complicated permissions, lag, and disappointment.

In earlier years with earlier Wear OS watches, I might usually land on a sense that in the event you used it for easy issues like notifications and counting steps, it might be attainable to justify getting one. But the fact is that in the event you’re on Android and also you simply need these fundamentals, there are smartwatches with a lot less complicated working methods that last more on a cost. You gained’t get mapping or apps like Spotify — however utilizing these apps on this watch hardly feels definitely worth the effort more often than not.

Sometime in 2022, there’s speculated to be a software program replace which is able to carry the newer Wear OS 3 to the Fossil Gen 6 watches. When that occurs, I’ll be curious to see if these watches carry out higher. Until then, the most effective various is Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4, which is working Google’s newer software program. But Samsung’s watch makes use of Samsung’s digital assistant and Samsung’s apps.

It’s all a disgrace. Fossil has put collectively some good {hardware} right here, with the entire items essential to make a extremely good watch. But it’s needed to glue these items along with software program that Google had already deserted earlier than Fossil was capable of announce the Gen 6 was coming. Maybe subsequent time, Google and Fossil will be capable to synchronize their watch efforts.

Photography by Dieter Bohn / The Verge