Review: Updated: Fossil Q Founder

Introduction and display

Fossil is no stranger to wrists, but creating a smartwatch is a venture that this household name is only now getting its start on. The Fossil Q Founder is its first Android Wear device, with many more to come later in the year.

The Q Founder continues the trend occurring within Google's range of smartwatches of looking more like traditional watches and less like a piece of wrist-based technology.

For $295 (£279, about AU$382) Fossil's debut rocks with the best that Android Wear has to offer in regards to its looks. The Huawei Watch, Moto 360 and LG Watch Urbane are among the suit-friendly ranks and the Q Founder fits right in.

Currently, it isn't clear if it will support the recently announced Android Wear 2.0. But, it packs in the latest–now standard–Android 6.0 Marshmallow update for Android Wear, which brings along a slew of new gestures and permissions, as well as some other minor improvements under the hood.

In terms of other important factors, like value, compatibility and battery life, is this the best Android Wear smartwatch that money can buy? Not really. It's not a bad smartwatch, as it meets the same highs and lows of other devices. But that, in essence, is the Q Founder's greatest flaw: it doesn't do nearly enough to stand out amongst the Android Wear watches that came before it.

Display

The screen built into the Fossil Q Founder is perfectly readable inside and out, and from multiple viewing angles. It's a 1.5-inch LCD display that boasts a 360 x 326 resolution at 240ppi. For a quick comparison, the Huawei Watch sits at 286ppi and a resolution of 400 x 400, but looks only a smidge clearer than the Q Founder.

To address the elephant in the room, yes, the Q Founder features the flat tire look made famous (or infamous, depending on your feelings) by the Moto 360. If you're unaware, there's a flat bit of the screen where the ambient light sensor is located. I prefer the seamless, circular display of the Huawei Watch, LG Watch Urbane and others.

Whatever your feelings are about it and whether it's just an easier engineering shortcut, the small, black bar is there and, looking on the bright side, results in less bezel around the watch overall.

Design and comfort

Fossil's Q Founder makes a grand first impression with its stylish stainless steel casing and band, effortlessly switching between a brushed and polished texture. It's immediately evident to me that Fossil knocked this out of the park - as long as this is your favored style of wrist wear.

If it's not your thing, at least you can swap out the heavy stainless steel band for something a bit lighter. In the images splashed around in this review, I'm using a 22mm brown leather Android Wear Mode band provided by Google in its place.

The lugs of the Q Founder extend out from the circular build and result in a lower profile smartwatch, in a similar fashion to the latest Moto 360. Compared to the bulkier LG Watch Urbane, Fossil's smart wearable is, despite its larger size, a more compact package and generally juts out less on the wrist.

Its design gives you the sense that the Q Founder is smaller than it really is, which is saying a lot because this watch is actually quite large. At 13mm, it's thicker than the rest of its Android Wear competitors, only just a touch more than the Tag Heuer Connected, which sits at 12.8mm thick.

This smartwatch weighs about 72 grams, which is the more than any other that I've worn so far. To put things into perspective, the 38mm Apple Watch weighs 40 grams, the Huawei Watch comes in at 60 grams. It seems like a small difference, but you might think otherwise when it's on your wrist.

Around its back, you'll find a smooth, plastic back. It doesn't have the heart rate sensor that you might be expecting from a modern smartwatch. But on the plus side, it doesn't have the common, sometimes fidgety, wireless charging pins.

Instead, it conducts the charge through the plastic back. The included charging dock is an awkward pairing with a watch this nice looking. It's plastic all over and, compared to the more elegant wireless charging solution that you'll find with the Moto 360, this will disappoint those hoping for a stand that will elegantly show off the device.

The Fossil Q Founder works with any and all 22mm bands. If you don't have the tools to swap out the band pins yourself, you could opt for the Android Wear Mode bands, which come with the pin tool, some extra pins, and of course, a slick band that features a simple switch to install it in just a few seconds.

Specs and performance

To have a fruitful Android Wear smartwatch experience, the device needs to offer flawless connectivity, zippy speed and long battery life. And based on specs alone, Fossil's debut looks to surpass some of the competition.

It doubles the RAM standard to 1GB over the 512MB that we've seen in most other Android Wear models to date. And, perhaps it's because Snapdragon is still busy prepping its efficient, next-gen Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset, Fossil opted instead for an Intel Atom processor, though its clock speed and core count weren't shared.

On paper, the Q Founder should outperform every other Android Wear smartwatch on the market. But after a few weeks with the device, I can confidently say that the specs don't make a lick of difference with the little stuff, like jumping from task to task, or in terms of big picture perks, like battery efficiencies.

Not that this is a huge deal, mind you. If Fossil was priced above its competitors, then we'd have a problem. But, this just goes to show that, at least in the realm of Android Wear, a spec boost doesn't translate to gains worth noting.

Performance

If you're looking for a daily driver for all of your smartwatch needs, the Q Founder is adept in running through the near-complete list of Android Wear features. It has a bright screen that's easy to catch a glimpse of. The style is easily customizable and although it's large, it's a comfy fit. The Q Founder comes stocked with a microphone to enable queries and commands.

However, for all of the features that it offers, it's missing a speaker, a secret feature that was switched on in few smartwatches with the recent Marshmallow update. It may or may not matter to you, but this watch can't play any sound, which ranges from alarms, ringtones and the voice coming through the call.

Compatibility, apps and battery life

The Q Founder is one of the few Android Wear smartwatches to provide iOS support out of the box. Though, compared to the robust experience on Android that's flush with apps and features, Android Wear on iOS strips the smartwatch down into a simple second display that's reserved only for the most basic of notifications.

Say what you will, at least it gives iOS users more options than just the Apple Watch to scratch the smart wearable itch.

In terms of the apps available to you, it depends on your phone's operating system. While iOS users will be limited to the Q Founder's core functionality, Android users have the Google Play Store to peruse for native apps and a more expansive selection of watch faces.

I wouldn't be too surprised to see the support on iOS to expand in the future, but the fact that it currently works at all is a big deal for those who don't want to switch phones just to get the latest smartwatch.

Android users, there are a ton of apps to take advantage of. From money management software, to grocery list-makers, the abundance of practical apps to download is a good indicator of the wearable platform's health.

Of course, you can do a lot of other neat things from the wrist, like navigate via Google Maps, set reminders and shoot over text messages with just your voice. That already-large list of capabilities is set to expand with the arrival of Android Wear 2.0. We just don't currently know whether this watch will support the next version.

Battery life

The Q Founder packs in a 400mAh battery that promises all-day battery life. It's up there in terms of battery capacity when ranked against the competitors, but like the boosted specs, the larger battery here doesn't necessarily equate to a duration that's markedly improved.

Call it a weakness of Android Wear, or a limitation of the small, wrist-based form factor, you end up at the same place. These batteries aren't great, especially compared to battery-sipping wearables like the upcoming Pebble Time 2, which offers built-in heart rate monitor and promises 10 days per charge.

From 100% charge and on the lowest screen brightness setting, with gestures and always-on screen switched off, I was able to squeeze just over a day of use out of the Q Founder.

If you aren't one to mess with settings, you'll naturally see the battery drain much faster. By leaving the screen at its default brightness, with gestures and always-on screen flipped on, the Q Founder only lasted about 15 hours.

At its best, it beats the "all-day" target, but I'm not sure that should be celebrated as an accomplishment if most, if not all of Android Wear's marquee features needed to be switched off to achieve it, and that it needs to hop right back onto the charging cradle to endure another full day. I'd prefer to keep it on my wrist so that it can buzz me awake in the morning, but I have to leave it to charge at night.

Verdict

If Fossil's Q Founder is to be judged only by its looks, it'd be fair to say that it's a winning debut. But as there are many more factors that go into play with a smartwatch, and at that Fossil's Q Founder gets knocked down a bit.

This Android Wear device one-ups the competition with a hearty increase of RAM and a clean look, but it falls victim to many of the common trappings of the modern Android Wear wearable.

We liked

Of the many Android Wear smartwatches to come out donning the classic look of standard watch, the Fossil Q Founder is one of the more regal. The fact that it comes with a stainless steel band for $295 (£279, about AU$382) is a sweet perk that it has over many of the other options.

Speaking of perks, cross-compatibility function with Android and iOS is welcomed. This growing trend of iOS-compatible Android Wear devices means nothing but good for those who aren't interested in Apple Watch, so long as they don't mind a limited experience compared to what Android users will find.

We disliked

Fossil's debut has a lot going for it, but its potential is hindered by a number of things. First off, your mileage will vary not just with Android Wear, which is different depending on which phone operating system you use, but also because of its battery life.

Granted, these are problems that we've seen in a large number of Android Wear smartwatches, but that doesn't grant Fossil a pass. Fingers crossed that it will receive Android Wear 2.0, which hopefully will remedy some of the low points of the experience across the board for devices, including this one.

Lastly, this may not be issue for you personally, but the style won't work with everyone. Not to mention its large, heavy size, the all-steel look might not jive with some. However, swapping out bands lessens the intensity of the Q Founder's executive stylings.

Final verdict

If the Android Wear smartwatches to come out since 2014 haven't yet moved you to open your wallet, I have my doubts that the Fossil Q Founder will do anything to change that. It's more of the same on the software side, which you can get on any Android Wear device. Unfortunately, you'll also be getting the same unforgiving treatment of a wearable-sized battery here, too.

Inherent flaws aside, the Fossil Q Founder is a competent, if uninspired, addition to the Android Wear family. This wearable proves that they are getting more streetwise with each release, but one too many puzzle pieces are missing here. From the hefty case size and the flat tire on the display to the poor battery life and cheap charging dock, these flaws only work to lessen Fossil's bite on the smartwatch market.