Fossil Gen 5 review: Google’s Wear OS smartwatch at its best
1Reported today on The Guardian Technology
For the full article visit: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jan/24/fossil-gen-5-review-googles-wear-os-smartwatch-at-its-best
Fossil Gen 5 review: Google's Wear OS smartwatch at its best
4 /
5 stars
4 out of 5 stars.
A day's battery, solid performance and watch-first design makes Wear OS a much more attractive option
The Fossil Gen 5 is easily the best Wear OS smartwatch you can buy at the moment, and as long as you don't expect it to be an Apple Watch-beater, it gets the job done and looks the part.
Smartwatches that run Google's Wear OS software have come in many different designs from various different manufacturers, and work with both Android and the iPhone. But they have long been plagued by sluggishness, poor battery life and a software experience that is behind the competition.
Fossil Group, which includes the signature Fossil brand and many others such as Michael Kors, Diesel, Misfit and Skagen, has been making the best of Wear OS, but often that simply hasn't been good enough.
Fossil's fifth-generation smartwatch, the Gen 5, is important for the whole of Wear OS, as its internal workings will also form the basis of all of Fossil Group's various smartwatches this year.
A watch made by a watchmaker
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The Gen 5 is a good-looking watch in its own right, with various different colours, finishes and straps available. It doesn't immediately scream that it's a piece of technology, which is a good thing.
At 12mm thick and 44mm wide the watch isn't small, but it looks fairly slim, easily fits under a shirt cuff and doesn't look out of place on relatively small wrists.
The 1.28in AMOLED screen is crisp, clear and bright enough to see in direct sunlight with automatic adjustment. It's on all the time by default so you can see the time and notificatio