Fossil Gen 5 smartwatch
Fossil has a solid reputation for its smartwatches, making it a reliable source for anyone contemplating a Wear OS timepiece. Its latest entry - the Fossil Gen 5 - is the best of the bunch.
That doesn't mean that it's perfect, as it lacks a few finer features that would make it an absolute must-buy, however when it comes to general all-purpose use, it's an attractive proposition for Android users.
It's been a couple years since the Fossil Gen 5 came out, but its strong physical design and Wear OS software make it a serviceable wearable that you can probably get for cheaper this long after release.
The Fossil Gen 5 may also be cheaper during Amazon Prime Day 2021, when many Wear OS watches are expected to go on sale. Check our review to see how this venerable design is considered in 2021.
Here's our full verdict on the Fossil Gen 5 smartwatch and what works and doesn't work for it.
Fossil Gen 5 price and availability
- Priced at £279/$295/AU$499
- Many strap options available
- Available in several color variants
Available in a few different variants, the Fossil Gen 5 seems ripe for price cuts in future. Our review unit was the Fossil Gen 5 Carlyle HR with a black silicone strap, however it's also possible to buy a brown leather strap version or stainless steel strap variant for the same price.
The Fossil Gen 5 Carlyle HR is aimed at the male market, but there's also the Julianna HR which is a little more feminine in appearance.
In all cases, it's possible to remove and replace the 22mm strap with any other similarly sized strap you might have lying around. Immediately, the Fossil Gen 5 is an attractive option for fashionista tech fans.
It's currently available in the US, UK, and Australia, priced at £279 in the UK, $295 in the US, and AU$499 in Australia.
Design
- Stylishly subtle design
- Chunky display
- Easy to change straps
The Fossil Gen 5 blends into whatever you're wearing or doing quite admirably. Its fully circular display is large at 44mm so it looks quite bulky on small wrists, but it means you can easily see the display at all times with minimal hassle.
The watch we were sent had a black silicone strap which we'll admit feels a little cheap and basic to the touch. However, it does the job well enough. For the same price, you could get a stainless steel strap or leather version - both of which we'd suspect the average user would favor.
Whichever you go with, at least you can easily swap out straps without any concerns surrounding proprietary connections here.
The Fossil Gen 5 has three buttons on the side. There's the larger middle button which is a rotating crown for easily scrolling through options or the apps menu.
In addition, there are two other buttons on either side of it that can be set as shortcuts. By default, one goes straight to the Fossil app while the other activates Fossil's Category setting, which tweaks the style and look of your watch at the touch of a button. We'd suggest immediately changing these around to more practical options such as Google Pay or Google Fit.
On the back of the Fossil Gen 5 there's the optical heart rate monitor which sticks out slightly than with most smartwatches. It's not noticeable in use and also doubles as the perfect resting place for the magnetic charging puck.
Display
- Fully circular watch face
- 1.28-inch AMOLED display
- Bright and vibrant
The Fossil Gen 5's display is the most eye-catching thing about it. It's bigger than most at 1.28 inches with a resolution of 416 x 416 and a pixel density of 328ppi. It's consistently sharp to look at, although we did find bright outside light made it trickier to see, with glare being an issue.
Besides being bigger than some smartwatches at 44mm (the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 for example can be had in a 40mm size), it's also quite thick at 12mm. On a small wrist, that makes a noticeable difference and means the Fossil Gen 5 doesn't lend itself to more delicate fashion requirements.
It feels quite heavy too, weighing just under 100g, presumably because of its chunkiness. Still, it looks good.
Those looks are further enhanced by Wear OS's consistently easy way of switching between watch faces. Like with other Wear OS watches, you can just press and hold on to the watch face to switch between different options.
In the case of the Fossil Gen 5, the options are fairly varied, and you can easily find a mixture of stat heavy displays or those that look a bit more fashionable and stylish. And if you don't like any of the options you can always download more.
Specs and interface
- Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset
- 1GB of RAM
- Very responsive
The Fossil Gen 5 uses the Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset, an unusual choice among Wear OS watches but a good one as it means extra features you won't find elsewhere. This includes more battery modes (that genuinely extend battery life), along with extra processing power, helped along by a generous 1GB of RAM.
At heart, the Snapdragon 3100 chipset isn't much faster than other processors, but it knows how to use its potential fully.
That's noticeable during ordinary use. Simply swiping through the options within Wear OS is speedy. There's no sign of the slowdown or lag that you often experience on older smartwatches.
While this is a fairly standard Wear OS experience, it's a fast version of what you've seen before. You can easily swipe on the home screen in any of the four directions to access Google Assistant, Google Fit, Notifications, and the basic Settings screen too. It's intuitive and suitably speedy thanks to the superior chipset.
Elsewhere, the Fossil Gen 5 comes with NFC for Google Pay which takes moments to set up, along with built-in GPS, a built-in speaker, and an optical heart rate sensor.
The optical heart rate sensor isn't quite up there with the likes of the Apple Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch Active 2 as there's no ECG feature for detecting heart issues, but Fossil reckons its watch can still pick up signs of undiagnosed diabetes, sleep apnea, hypertension, and atrial fibrillation.
Like with any smartwatch, if you regularly use NFC, the GPS, or the heart rate monitor, expect battery life to be impacted accordingly.
The Fossil Gen 5 is also water resistant up to 3ATM, right down to its swim-proof speaker. That speaker allows your watch to talk back to you when using Google Assistant, as well as allowing you to take calls from your watch.
Sounds great, right? It's actually pretty crackly at times and the sound quality leaves a lot to be desired. For now, iPhone users can't use the speaker for calls either, although Fossil promises an app that will add the functionality later this autumn.
Compatibility
- iPhone and Android supported
- Works best with Android
Predictably for any Wear OS watch, the Fossil Gen 5 works better with Android phones than iPhones. It's a matter that's probably going to continue indefinitely, although things like Fossil's introduction of an app that allows iOS users to use the Fossil Gen 5 to take calls is definitely a step forward here.
Otherwise, iOS users will still need to keep the Wear OS app running in the background to receive notifications, and they shouldn't expect to interact with iMessage or SMS through it.
The Google Fit app for iOS is much improved in recent times though, and while we'd still recommend a third-party app instead, Google Fit is a decent enough starting place for occasional fitness fans.
Google Pay works for everyone, and there's support for both Apple and Google Calendar, so if you are an iOS user, you won't miss out too much.
Fitness
- Built-in GPS
- 3ATM water resistance
- Heart rate monitor
The Fossil Gen 5 has everything the budding gym or outdoor enthusiast would likely want.
Its heart rate monitor regularly tracks your heart rate with the option of activating it manually via Google Fit. There are slight discrepancies compared to the likes of the Apple Watch 4, but we didn't find it too vast a difference. It's more a cautionary reminder that nothing can quite beat a chest strap monitor.
Elsewhere, the built-in GPS is suitably effective and never skipped a beat in our tests. The silicone strap variety also means you won't have to worry about getting sweaty, although we'd suggest having a replacement strap ready for smarter occasions.
Fitness tracking is conducted primarily via Google Fit, which works well for both Android and iOS users. It uses Move Minutes and Heart Points to track how you perform, which is ideal if you don't want to get too bogged down in technical details. As always, installing a third-party app can be a useful bonus if you're keen to track the finer stats.
Battery life
- Just over a day's usage
- Slightly above average battery life
- Plenty of battery saving modes
The Fossil Gen 5 uses a fairly standard battery, but it ekes out extra life thanks to its numerous battery saving modes.
While the average Wear OS watch only manages about a day of typical usage, the Fossil Gen 5 extends that to just over a full day. How? Well, you need to dive into Fossil's custom battery modes.
There are four in all. There's Daily Mode, which keeps every feature switched on and understandably drains the battery fastest. Then there's Extended Battery Mode which schedules Bluetooth for certain parts of the day (such as switching it off while you're sleeping). This also turns off a few other features.
Then, there's time-only mode, which switches the watch to solely a watch. Practical it might not be, but it does potentially provide your smartwatch with weeks worth of charge, providing you don't mind your smartwatch turning dumb that is.
Best of all however is Custom mode, which means you can tweak things to your heart's content. It takes time to get just right but you can adjust mostly everything from whether NFC is active to how often the display is brighter, or whether your watch is listening out for Google Assistant.
It's not entirely ideal that you have to tweak things quite so drastically but this is one way of solving the battery issue that has plagued so many Wear OS watches over the years.
Verdict
The Fossil Gen 5 is a solid and dependable smartwatch. It's well priced for what it offers, looks decent enough, and is sufficiently versatile, allowing you to easily swap watch straps around for special occasions.
It was never likely to completely solve the battery issue that torments Wear OS watches, but the intelligent use of battery saving modes and the superior Snapdragon chipset ensures that low battery life doesn't get in the way of how you use the Fossil Gen 5 too much.
With plenty of features to keep fashionistas happy as well as fitness enthusiasts, there's a lot to like here. The Fossil Gen 5 is a good all-rounder, just don't expect to use the speaker that often - it's a neat bonus rather than genuinely useful.
Who's this for?
The Fossil Gen 5 is aimed at almost everyone. Its fitness features are sufficient that you can keep an eye on your heart rate, and the route you travel, while still paying for a snack on your walk back from the gym.
Swap out to a smarter watch strap, and the Fossil Gen 5 will also slot in nicely to your business and personal life, looking the part wherever you are.
Should you buy it?
The Fossil Gen 5 is a good option for the majority of users. We're inclined to still suggest that the Apple Watch 4 or Apple Watch 5 is the best route for iOS users, but for everyone else, the Fossil Gen 5 is a solid proposition. It's well priced, looks good, and does almost everything you could want it to do.
First reviewed: September 2019
Not tempted by the Fossil Gen 5? Here are some key alternative options:
Apple Watch 4
More expensive than the Fossil Gen 5, the Apple Watch 4 remains the practical smartwatch option for iOS owners.
It's soon to be superseded by the newly announced Apple Watch 5 but, regardless, it's feature-packed and far more useful for iOS owners thanks to more extensive notification support than the Fossil offers. The battery life is better too.
Appearance wise, it's a fair bit different from the Fossil Gen 5, but you can't beat it for options.
Read our full Apple Watch 4 review
Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2
Ok, so the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 isn't quite available yet at the time of writing, but it's coming very soon and it's priced around the same as the Fossil Gen 5.
Better water resistance and more expansive fitness features makes this a great proposition for active watch users, but we'll admit that looks-wise, the Fossil Gen 5 pips it to the post.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 review
Fossil Q Explorist HR
If you want to stick with Fossil but you're on a budget, the Fossil Q Explorist HR is a good bet. It looks great and it offers plenty of features for daily use as well as at the gym.
It's not as fast as the newer Fossil Gen 5, but that shouldn't bother you too much given the lower asking price. Just don't expect the battery life to last more than a day.
Read our full Fossil Q Explorist HR review
0 comments:
Post a Comment