Appearance:
After a few weeks of testing with the Fossil Gen 5 smartwatch, I discovered that it is an elegant smartwatch, where the software does not keep up with the hardware. In addition, I compared the watch with my Garmin Forerunner 235 (a sports watch with basic smartwatch functions).
A plus of the Fossil is the size. With my narrow wrist, larger watches quickly seem bulky. The Fossil does not. Both the diameter and thickness are small enough to give the watch an elegant appearance.
In addition, the always-on display is beautiful. I always think it's really stupid when you wear a 'watch' on your wrist where all you see is a black screen. With the Fossil you can choose your own dial, where you can always read the time. The screen is nice and bright. Due to the OLED technology, black is really black. Of course, the brightness is reduced in 'always-on' mode, so outside in full sun you may have to activate the watch to see things better.
Oh yes, the watch can just go into the water. You should not do deep sea diving with it, but holding it in the shower or in the pool is no problem.
Software and operation:
Android Wear OS gives a mixed feeling. On the one hand, everything looks neat and navigating through the menus works fine, thanks in part to the rotary knob. You can read your notifications, send simple answers to WhatsApp messages, ask Google Assistant questions and of course install all kinds of apps yourself.
In addition to the rotary knob, two other buttons are available, to which you can assign the function yourself.
Downside: like most touchscreens, the Fossil also registers touches when drops fall on the screen. It is therefore quite annoying to operate the watch in the rain, because you cannot navigate with the buttons alone.
Google Assistant is also quite slow. She sometimes takes the time before she hears you and some more time before she says something back.
battery consumption
The battery consumption. That's not really a plus. Fossil has tried to make the most of it by offering extensive battery settings and making the watch go into a battery-saving mode when the battery is low. You can also choose a mode where the watch is no longer smart, but can still be used as a watch. However, it remains difficult, because in my opinion you do not buy such a watch just to read the time.
If you just use the watch for what it is intended (so as a smartwatch), you can be happy to get through the day and you really have to charge again in the evening. Especially if you include a (sports) activity in between. Unfortunately, most Android Wear watches have this problem. An example from today. The battery percentage was at 89% when I left for a walk. After the walk of about an hour and a half, only 49% of it was left, where I used Google Fit to record the walk. Tracking your marathon with this watch will therefore not work for most people.
To play sports
Because I regularly run and/or cycle, I was very curious about the possibilities to include activities. I compared it with my Garmin FR235 watch. I registered my first run with Google Fit. The pace while walking was not right. Instead of around 5:10 min/km, the watch read more than 6:00 min/km. When I looked back when I was home, the average speed was correct again. The heart rate also seemed fairly accurate. Unfortunately, you can't really see many details of your activity. The Google apps let it down a bit and feel very basic compared to Garmin Connect.
Later I tried the Strava app. This one seemed to display more realistic tempo values along the way, but also doesn't feel very 'off'. You can set little. On the Garmin I can choose which values I want on the display and I hear my speed every kilometer. Missing all those features. There may be better apps, I haven't tested them all yet.
It seems that companies do not really dare to bet on Wear OS. Hopefully I'm wrong, but time will tell.
The GPS accuracy of the watch seems to be quite good. Compared to the Garmin, the Fossil seems a bit more inaccurate, but that could be just as much about the software as the hardware.
Other:
The watch also has a speaker, where questions you ask Google can also be answered by the watch and apps can give voice directions, for example. Inside you can hear it nicely, but outside with wind or traffic it is not very useful.
A more useful feature is playing music via bluetooth. The watch has 8 GB of memory. You can store music in this memory via, for example, Google Play Music. Now you can go out without your phone and listen to music through your watch.
Conclusion:
It is difficult to say whether the Fossil is a must or not. Are you mainly looking for a smartwatch and can you live with charging every night? Then the Fossil is an excellent choice. Are you mainly looking for a sports watch? Then something from Garmin or Polar, for example, is the better choice, where you have to accept that these are a bit disappointing as a smartwatch.
