Fossil Gen 5 Smartwatch (Best for Android) - Review

(Image: © Fossil)

Fossil has been in the watchmaking business since 1984, and has made a name for himself as a watchmaker in the middle class. In their 35 years, they have used fashion products such as purses, perfumes, handbags and purses, as well as high-end watches in their “Fossil Swiss” line.

However, their brand still seems to be looking at mid-price watches.

With their Gen 5 smartwatch, Fossil has retained those roots; as of this writing, the Fossil Gen 5 costs about $ 100 less than the Apple Watch 5, and $ 50 less than the Samsung Galaxy. Considering its price, features, and performance, it lies in the middle of the clock packet in the view of this reviewer.

Still, a good enough watch I think would be a good choice for some consumers - especially users of Android devices. If you love your Android device and want a seamless connection between it and your watch, this is the watch you can find.

In appearance, you have seven bezel / band options, from the classic stainless steel to the sporty look of black silicone. Fossil, at heart, is a fashion company, so their watches are in the right style - your choice depends on your appearance.

One issue I take on the Fossil style is where it falls into operation. As with their previous watch, their Gen 5 has three buttons coming out on the right side of the clock face. This may be unique to me, but I have found that when I change my wrist enough (especially while wearing gloves and climbing to the top), I may have to change the clock features recklessly.

The display is an AMOLED screen with a pixel density of 328ppi. It’s pretty sharp to look at, but in bright sunlight it’s unreadable - you have to adjust the settings, which can be tricky when it’s hard to see the screen well enough to interact with it.

The Fossil Gen 5 chipset is the Snapdragon Wear 3100, and this is what makes this watch one of the most effective watches on the Wear OS platform. It has 1GB of RAM, which allows the clock to run faster and smoothly than any other clock in the Wear OS world.

As you navigate the applications, you will still see a little bit left - but not so much that it is tedious or challenging to operate clock features.

In terms of battery life, Fossil's Gen 5 advertises itself as having "24+ hrs" with "Multi Day Modes." This means that in practice that, depending on the settings, there are probably too many options. There are "Daily" and "Extended" options, which most tech users will be aware of.

However, there are also "Custom" and "Time Only" options, which do not seem so bad. Until you see that each of these and there are 12 different settings to choose from. There are definitely tech junkies who would love to waste these settings and increase their battery usage… but most of us will feel better with a few options, and hopefully the watch is smart enough to give us a reasonable amount of battery life.

The watch comes with the standard features of this generation - built-in NFC, GPS, heart rate monitor, and speaker. Through the Cardiogram app, Fossil says he has the ability to experience sleep apnea, diabetes, high blood pressure and atrial fibrillation. The clock is water resistant at 3 pressures - making it more than enough for an active bath, shower or swimming.

The main app to track eligibility is Google Fit, which works on both the Android phone and the Apple phone. It tracks your performance using heart points and delivery minutes, which is great for those who don’t like to be installed with too much technology on their smartwatch display.

If you want good statistics, however, you are always welcome to install a third-party app.