smartwatch fossil gen 5e
Android Primal Verdict
Bottom line: As far as Wear OS watches go correct at present, Fossil manages to provide a decent feel even with the older Habiliment 3100 chipset. It's the all-time Wear Bone sentinel to buy correct now, but just if you catch information technology on sale.
Pros
- +
Nice screen
- +
Smooth performance
- +
Spectacular watch faces
- +
Heart rate monitoring
Cons
- -
Proprietary charger
- -
Battery life is just OK
- -
Last-gen specs with limited storage
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When looking for the best Android smartwatches, you lot'll likely notice that much of the list really doesn't run Android; it runs Samsung'south Tizen or Fitbit's OS or whatsoever Garmin uses. If y'all want an Android watch that's running Habiliment Bone — the version of Android Google develops for your wrist — you'll run across that Mobvoi's TicWatch series and Fossil take run the table for a couple of years now.
Fossil'south smartwatches, in item, have everything yous'd want in a watch (smart or not). They're distinctive, stylish, and available in a variety of designs that can appeal to a broad array of buyers. This is especially true of its newest watch, the Fossil Gen 5E, which has a mode for everyone and price tags that meet sales as frequently as an outlet mall. That'due south a good thing, also, because while our Fossil Gen 5E review establish it to exist a solid watch, it doesn't quite have what it takes to compete in the $250-$300 space with Samsung, Apple, and Mobvoi.
Fossil Gen 5E Smartwatch Price and availability
Fossil launched the Gen 5E in the U.Due south. in October 2020 with a $250 starting price for both the 42mm and 44mm versions — though prices vary depending on the materials.
As of the time of this Fossil Gen 5E review, the Gen 5E is available from most major retailers for between $150-$200, and the Gen 5E justifies itself well at that price. Once you get into the $220-$250 range, it gets harder to justify the Gen 5E over its competition.
Fossil Gen 5E Smartwatch As proficient as Wear OS gets
Swipe to ringlet horizontally
| Category | Fossil Gen 5E |
|---|---|
| Processor | Snapdragon Wear 3100 |
| Memory | 1GB |
| Storage | 4GB |
| Display | one.19" AMOLED 390 x 390px |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 4.2 Wi-Fi ● NFC |
| Sensors | Accelerometer Gyroscope Off-trunk IR ● PPG centre rate |
| Battery | I 24-hour interval |
| H2o Resistance | 3ATM |
| Ring Size | 18mm (42mm models) 22mm (44mm models) |
I've used a couple of Wear 3100 watches over the last couple of years, and the Fossil Gen 5E might be the smoothest one yet. Apps didn't take long to load, swiping betwixt the five screens of the main Wearable OS UI is seamless, and whether I'thou using tilt-to-wake or tap-to-wake, the watch wakes up quickly. While all Wear Os watches come with multiple health apps betwixt Google Fit and whichever fitness suite the manufacturer uses, the suite on the Gen 5E is really pretty unintrusive, especially compared to Mobvoi's VicHealth.
There'south some other "bloat" you'll probably enjoy. Not only does Fossil have some of the best pre-loaded scout faces I've always seen — like the adorable Dog Dial seen above — simply it's also added in seasonal watch faces for smaller holidays similar St. Patrick's Mean solar day, Chinese New year, International Women'southward Solar day, and two separate picket faces for Movember. All faces accept an impressive amount of customization to them, so you tin tweak as desired, but they tin can autumn short at times. For instance, any fourth dimension Now Playing Fine art is set as the background paradigm, text, and shortcuts get super-difficult to read. Fossil could fix this with either text shadows or tinting album art for better contrast, but it hasn't been added yet.
Source: Ara Wagoner / Android Central
Part of why watch faces look so practiced is the display: a 1.19-inch AMOLED touchscreen with 328ppi. It helps vibrant watch faces pop on your wrist, every bit well as making the simplified UI for Google Fit and other organization apps absolutely pop when you lot peek at your stats during a run. My just complaint with the screen is that the brightness isn't automated, but Wear OS's quick settings will let you quickly adjust it on the go.
Fossil nails the style with the Gen 5E, just ease off the rose gilded.
Turning to the physical for a moment, the scout is comfy on my wrist, but I wish I didn't accept to go upward to 44mm simply to escape the Rose Gilt craze that dominates all the 42mm models. Both watches have the same size screen and battery, then the difference is purely in aesthetics and band-size. The 44mm uses the same 22mm bands nigh other Wear OS watches do, while the 42mm goes for 18mm, another easy-to-observe but slightly less pop size. I swapped the leather-topped in-box strap for my brighter-colored silicone straps to fit my small wrists better then the heart-rate tracking would be more accurate.
I used Google Fit during my review of the Gen 5E, and both my step counts and heart points seem to lucifer up with my previous few smartwatches — the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active, the TicWatch Pro 3, and the Oppo Spotter. In that location isn't automated workout-tracking hither the manner there is on the Galaxy Watch Agile, only it's not hard to trigger a conditioning either in the Wellness app or in Google Fit. The sleep tracking through Fossil's included Wellness app is super-simplified but easy to read. All in all, everything from a software perspective works exactly the way information technology's supposed to except for Google Pay, which nosotros'll discuss a niggling later.
Source: Ara Wagoner / Android Key
By default, the center-rate tracking through the Cardiogram app will leave a persistent notification every bit long every bit groundwork heart-rate tracking is enabled. Considering you tin see the Cardiogram app to check your pule every X minutes — including the option to cheque it once a minute — as opposed to the more than periodic checks that Google Fit and about other smartwatches utilize, I'm okay with the persistent notification in order to go more frequent pulse readings. If you insist on having an empty notification console, you tin utilize Google Fit'due south heart charge per unit tracking instead.
I love being able to access Google services and third-party apps on my wrist, from having my Google Keep grocery list on my wrist while I'k traipsing through Target to existence able to quickly bank check Accuweather's MinuteCast from my wrist so I know how many minutes I have until I need to encounter cover. Loading the app up never took long, only there's usually a few-2nd filibuster while the app syncs back up with its phone analogue for the latest data or the current notes.
Fossil Gen 5E Smartwatch Where the compromises fail
I get this is a "lite" watch, but information technology'due south fourth dimension to upgrade to Vesture 4100.
Fossil elected to stick with the Snapdragon Vesture 3100 again with the Gen 5E, likely to go along costs down. While the spotter is smooth now, I've only been using it for a couple of weeks, and I know immediate how watches can slow downward over time. I wish that the Wear 4100 has been used here. The platform was unveiled last June and has been barely seen outside the TicWatch Pro three. Betwixt the 3100, lack of built-in GPS, and the decision to halve the storage to 4GB, the hardware on the Fossil Gen 5E is just OK, and, unfortunately, "just OK" doesn't deserve $250 of your difficult-earned money.
I'm also not a fan of the charging ring on the Gen 5E, but that's more often than not considering of all the horror stories I've heard nigh broken charging rings on Fossil watches over the last yr. Fossil swears up and down that these issues accept been fixed — and whenever a broken ring comes upward, they're quick to replace it — but I wish they'd taken a page from Samsung and Apple's books and gone with wireless charging instead of the ring charger.
My other complaints are minor and mostly the fault of either Wear OS or the budget limitations. For ane, there'due south all the same no adaptive brightness, which is a bummer because it could've helped squeeze the bombardment longer. Secondly, bombardment life lasts a twenty-four hour period at near, and if you're doing any lengthy activity with tilt-to-wake on, you're probably non going to be able to vesture the lookout man to bed unless yous throw it on the charger during dinner.
Finally, I would've loved to test tap-to-pay, but since we're in the middle of the transition from the sometime Google Pay to the new, I couldn't. The new Google Pay doesn't have a Vesture Os app notwithstanding, and the old Google Pay app pre-installed on the Fossil Gen 5E won't work with the new phone app. And so while Tap-to-pay is an advertised setting, it's non going to work at all starting Apr 5. Get your shit together, Google.
Fossil Gen 5E Smartwatch Competition
The biggest competition for the Fossil Gen 5E comes from the Samsung Galaxy Picket Active ii, which tin can be constitute at the time of this review for $200 for the 40mm version and $220 for the 44mm version. The Watch Active's design is much sleeker, and the colors are less in-your-face than the Rose Gilt versions of the Gen 5E, battery and conditioning tracking are slightly better, and tap-to-pay actually works. At that place's a reason it'south the best Android smartwatch yous can buy right now, though you lot might want to wait a few months for the rumored Watch Active 4, which will allegedly exist running Wearable OS to give united states of america the all-time of all worlds.
If yous want a better Wear Os spotter, you'll accept to pony upwards $300 for the TicWatch Pro 3. I withal love the hybrid screen on the TicWatch Pro serial, its battery is a champ, and you get the total power of the Wear 4100 chipset. The merely real downsides are the cost and how ridiculously big it is on my petit wrist.
Fossil Gen 5E Smartwatch Should you lot buy it?
Yous should buy this if ...
- You want Google services on your wrist
- Yous prefer Wearable OS's notifications
- Your budget is express
- You want super dope lookout faces
You lot should non buy this if ...
- You demand the latest and greatest specs
- You need tap-to-pay to actually work
- You lose your chargers regularly
As a fan of Wear OS — yes, I'grand a unicorn, simply I love the notifications, and the UI — the Fossil Gen 5E gives me hope that nosotros might actually see a bright future for the platform. Information technology's a device with small compromises, but none have abroad from the fact that it'south a darn expert smartwatch, especially for the $150 cost it has dropped to since its initial launch last yr. There's room to improve — adaptive effulgence and wireless charging need to be in the Fossil Gen 6 — but if you desire a great way to manage notifications, command your music, runway your steps, and monitor your heart charge per unit and sleep patterns, the Fossil Gen 5E gives you a good experience at a great price.
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Fossil brings the essential Wear OS experience.
While it may nonetheless pack the older Wearable 3100 platform, Fossil gives you shine, consistent performance on the Gen 5E without breaking the bank. The wide diverseness of styles to choose from means y'all should exist able to notice at least one that works for y'all and your budget.
Source: https://www.androidcentral.com/fossil-gen-5e-smartwatch-review
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