Are you looking for a WearOS smartwatch that comes with an attractive design along with fitness features? If so, then the Fossil Smart Watch might be the right choice. The company has launched a slightly cheap version of the Fossil Gen 5E smartwatch for those who have a budget of nearly 18,000. The latest version of the Fossil smartwatch, Fossil Gen 5E smartwatch comes with a lot of activity tracking features, a microphone, a built-in speaker, heart rate monitoring, 3 ATM rating, and much more.
Smartwatches that run the OS software of Google’s Wear have come in various designs from different makers and works with both the iPhone and Android. But they have long been bothered by slowness, bad battery life, and a poor software experience.
Fossil Group, which includes the Signature Fossil brands and several others like Michael Kors, Misfit, Skagen, and Diesel, has been making the best of Wear OS, but most often that simply has not been great enough.
The fifth-generation smartwatch of Fossil, the Gen 5, is important for the total of Wear OS, as its internal features form the basis of all Fossil Group’s different smartwatches. But, how well does the new Fossil Gen 5E smartwatch deliver?
Review of Fossil Gen 5E Smartwatch
Display and design- One of the best features of the Fossil Gen5E smartwatch is its unique design and display. Fossil is famous for offering classy and lavish smartwatches, and the new version is no different. Fossil has laid many sparkling stones around the display, which adds a unique touch to the watch. However, it might be a bit extra for some, though the company has more staid offerings also.
The AMOLED display in Fossil Gen 5E smartwatch, which is enclosed in an aluminum case, feels exceptional to touch. The frame has just one button on the right side, offering good tactile feedback. You get a speaker and a microphone for answering the calls, receiving notifications, and interacting with the Google Assistant, which is helpful.
The button of the Fossil Gen 5E smartwatch acts as the power button, offering access to the app drawer. It acts as the back key and can even call the Google Assistant. This Fossil Gen 5E smartwatch has a fascinating 1.19-inch circular AMOLED touchscreen. If you like to use colorful watch faces, then you will find that the colors in this pop out nicely.
The panel is clear, bright, and crisp enough in sunlight also. However, there is no additional brightness support, so you will have to adjust it manually when outdoors or indoors. The best thing is the option is instantly available, so you can make adjustments on the go.
Battery life and performance- The Fossil Gen 5E smartwatch manages to eliminate the problems associated with the poor performance and battery life of the Wear OS.
Performance is quite good, if not like the Apple Watch Series 5, with no visible lag or fall in speed in the general usage, assisted by the 1GB of RAM and new Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor.
Battery life is also enhanced, lasting for at least one day by using the “Daily” mode activated, which makes other functions turn on. For example, put the watch on your wrist at 7 am with the background monitoring of heart rate, it ends the day at 11 pm with nearly 25% battery left- a significant improvement over most of the Wear OS watches that make it difficult to run throughout the day.
The “Extended” battery mode, which switches off some of the features including the always-on screen lasts more than 2 days between the charges, whereas the time-only mode lasts for a longer time. Charging takes over one hour through the small white magnetic USB puck that connects to a ring at the back.
It is worth noting that while the watch comes with a warranty of two years, Fossil said that the battery is not replaceable, which means the watch becomes disposable.
Fitness tracking, performance- This Fossil Gen 5E smartwatch features Qualcomm’s older Wear 3100 SoC, but still provides a good performance. Animations were smooth and the loading time of the app is quick.
The transition is fast, whether swiping between various watch faces or checking data in the Wellness app or navigating towards the settings section. You can use the tilt-to-wakeup feature and the watch will wake you up in the morning.
The Fossil Gen 5E smartwatch supports continuous monitoring of heart rate and it is mostly accurate. If you compare Fossil Gen 5E smartwatch with Realme Watch S Pro and Fossil, you will find that the heart rate reading is done similarly just like Realme Watch.
This watch is quick to show heart rate reading per second, whereas tracking activity and results were also accurate. Google’s Fit app does not offer detailed data, so in that case, you can download the Cardiogram app to check the pulse rate every minute.
The watch lowers issues with performance and sub-day battery life to the past and looks good while doing it. If you want your smartwatch to appear like a traditional timepiece, then Fossil Gen 5E smartwatch is the best choice. But Wear OS just is not as polished or feature-packed as the rivals from Samsung or Apple.
Use the Fossil Gen 5E smartwatch as a basic smartwatch or fitness band with the best handling of notification and music controls and you will feel satisfied. Try to attain comprehensive health tracking along with advanced features and you might face difficulties.
Will the Fossil Smartwatch beat an Apple Watch Series? No. But one of the biggest strengths of Fossil Gen 5 is that it is not an Apple Watch so you will not find everyone whom you meet wearing a similar watch as you.
If you want a designer smartwatch that is not common among the folks and also ticks most of the boxes to be a replacement for a traditional analog or digital timepiece, then the Fossil Gen 5 in its different forms is worth buying. Especially on a deal.
Some of the pros of a Fossil Smart Watch are it looks like a watch but is not as common as an Apple Watch. It works with both iOS and Android, good music control and notification, 30- meter water resistance, a speaker, a battery that lasts for a day, and basic 22 mm straps.
Cons of a Fossil Smart Watch are health tracking is not as comprehensive as the competitors, software malfunctioning persists, iMessage support lacks iOS.
The smartwatch takes less than one second to connect to the GPS of the phone whenever you begin an activity. The result is most of the time correct, but whenever you go for a walk or run, you must carry your phone to track the route.
Sleep tracking on most of the smartwatches is perfect and the same is with the Fossil Gen 5 E. The smartwatch records the right time when you fall asleep and when you wake up. You will get data on different sleep stages, which shows your awake time, deep sleep, and light sleep in the Google Fit app.
Things to keep in mind before you purchase it.
While the Fossil Gen 5E is the best addition to your smartphone accessory, it also misses a few things. This smartwatch does not include SPO2 monitoring, built-in GPS, menstrual tracking facility, monitoring blood pressure, and monitoring the stress level. These are some of the important features that some of the users would want to have on a smartwatch. Some features like wireless charging support, automatic tracking, and adaptive brightness are also not present in the Fossil Gen 5 E smartwatch, but these features are not that important.