Fossil Has Announced New Smartwatches For 2021 That Will Not Be Compatible With The Wear OS 3 Operating System
Fossil has announced new smartwatches for 2021 that will not be compatible with the Wear OS 3 operating system
Fossil has unveiled its Wear OS-powered smartwatch lineup for the fall of 2021, which is dubbed the Gen 6 Touchscreen. Fossil watches from the Generation 6 will be available in a variety of styles and sizes, and will be sold under the Michael Kors brand, just as they were for the Generation 5. Prices will start at $299, and preorders will be accepted beginning immediately after that. There does not appear to be any LTE connectivity available from Fossil.
Unfortunately, these watches will ship with Wear OS 2, not the new Wear OS 3 software found on the most recent Samsung Galaxy Watches, which is a disappointment. For its Gen 6 watches, Fossil claims that it will begin offering Wear OS 3 upgrades by the end of 2022, though the exact date is unclear. In a statement, Google stated that updates for Wear OS 2 watches will not be available until "late 2022," and that even then, they will necessitate a "hard reset."
The company is still doing an excellent job of packing in more technology than ever before in its Gen 6 watches, despite the fact that they will not be equipped with the most recent software for some time. Fossil is including a SpO2 sensor, and the company claims to have improved the signal accuracy of the heart rate sensor.
As an added bonus, Fossil claims that its Gen 6 watch will be the first to feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear 4100+ processor. According to the manufacturer, the "+" in 4100 denotes faster speeds, "more efficient power consumption," and also faster charging. All three of those have historically had poor performance on Wear OS devices, with the first two in particular being particularly bad. To survive a typical day, even Fossil's own Gen 5 watches from 2019 (which used the Snapdragon 3100) were underpowered and required an entire subsystem of complicated battery preferences.
Benefit of Fossi over Samsung Galaxy
One slight advantage that Fossil may have over Samsung's new Galaxy Watch is that the Gen 6 will use Google Assistant and Google Pay, rather than Bixby and Samsung Pay, as opposed to Samsung's new Galaxy Watch. The Galaxy Watch 4, on the other hand, is more likely to be a better fit for Samsung users.
There are only a few Wear OS manufacturers left, which means that Android users looking for a fully featured watch will have a limited selection of options. The TicWatch line from Mobvoi is the only other manufacturer besides Samsung, and almost all of the others have either abandoned the platform or shifted to lightweight, in-house software to compete with Samsung's offering.
All of this may work to Fossil's advantage in the long run. It is possible that the speed and battery life of Fossil's Gen 6 watches will be improved to an acceptable level, making them a viable alternative for Android users. Additionally, Google is backporting some of its enhanced Wear OS apps to the current platform, which may be of assistance in this regard.
While Fossil's announcement today emphasizes improved specifications, the company's smartwatches have never been known for their speed or ability to display information. The goal is to create something that people will enjoy wearing rather than something that is purely functional.
