Fossil Gen 5

amazon Fossil Gen 5 reviews

Google watches are often judged to have quite similar designs and not much difference between product lines. However, with Fossil Gen 5, this is one of the watches that is highly appreciated not only for the quality but also for the design of the product.

The $300 price tag is within a reasonable range for a fashion-first, stainless steel Wear OS watch like this, but as usual, the issues with Wear OS smartwatches revolve around the software experience, which often feels like an afterthought.

Stylish, modern multi-function stainless steel case

Most Wear OS watches try to look like traditional watches, and the Fossil Gen 5 is no different. It doesn’t opt for a more masculine look, without being too bold. It goes well with the gym as well as with a suit and tie, although you may want to do some watch face customization, as the preloaded options aren’t particularly satisfying.

We looked at the ‘Carlyle’ style, the more masculine option. There is also a ‘Julianna’ model that takes a more feminine approach. The difference is purely Beauty, as both are the same size and have the same features.

The watch is also 3 ATM water resistant and is perfectly fine for swimming with, but not diving, and the watch strap is interchangeable with any 22mm band. Even so, I am quite happy with the default silicone strap.

Figuring out what buttons you have and what they do has always been a guessing game with Wear OS watches. The Fossil Gen 5 has three on the right side – a middle one that doubles as a rotating crown for scrolling through lists. True to Fossil’s stylistic roots, the default action for the top button is a shortcut to preset the watch faces you’ve customized, making it easy to change the look of your watch. Double-clicking this button can also bring up Google Pay. The middle button is what you’d expect, a home button, which will bring up your list of apps once you’re home.

The app switcher would be perfect here if Wear OS supported it, but at least I’ll deal with the music controls, so I don’t have to use one of the other buttons for this. The bottom button is set to Google Fit, but you can easily get there by swiping right on the screen once. Thankfully both the top and bottom buttons can be configured to launch any app of your choice (though not a lot to choose from) but inexplicably you can’t choose a keyboard shortcut for the double tap.

Special points

Regarding first-party apps, the basics are covered. You get your alarm clock, agenda, stopwatch, weather app, Google Fit, and a few other essentials. They all work well and serve their function properly, with alarm clocks being a minor exception.

There’s a constant glitch that forces you to go find the alarm clock app (or check for notifications) to turn off the alarm when it wakes you up. This error occurs when you turn off the screen before going to bed and the alarm does not show on the screen when the time is up. Leaving it on, however, makes this glitch go away.

Google Fit also does a good job of fitness tracking, which, combined with a heart rate sensor and GPS, can record your exercise data from any activity with the option of a general workout or be more specific with certain activities. You won’t have the most complete health suite here as you won’t find the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2’s more detailed and varied fitness tracking options, or sleep tracking. For those who aren’t interested in a watch that can more accurately count your reps, track specific workouts, and quantify your sleep in any capacity, the Fossil Gen 5 will do the job well.

Google Assistant is also ready for you to translate languages, set reminders, or ask questions any way you can on another smart device. It’s a bit slow here.

Overall, Google’s Wear OS works well. With atypical 1GB of RAM and the latest Snapdragon Wear 3100, it’s the smoothest Wear OS watch I’ve used. I experienced no lag, freezes, or stuttering in my use; Fossil Gen 5 always does what I want and does it right away.

I quite liked the rotating crown for scrolling through lists, although it was inexplicable on a few specific screens. Like OS navigation, the rotating crown is satisfying and responsive with just the right amount of resistance to keep scrolling tactile and precise. I like the feel of the Apple Watch’s rotating crown, which is a bit lose and sensitive for my liking.

Speaking of Apple, the Fossil Gen 5 is the first Wear OS device to support tethered phone calls on the iPhone, thanks to Fossil’s work on this. Taking calls on the Gen 5, the speaker works well enough that you don’t have to wear the watch directly to your ear, but it’s fine to take calls with the watch close to your mouth.

The only other issue I have with the core experience is a pretty consistent one with connectivity. On both the iPhone 11 Pro and the Galaxy Note 10, I often see my phone have a message my watch never received, only to realize it has been disconnected from my phone for a while unspecified time. Every time this happens, I have to go into settings, turn Bluetooth back on, as it mysteriously turns off, and wait for it to reconnect to my phone. I tested this on another unit and had no issues, so it’s possible it’s a bug with my unit, but you’ll want to make sure you contact Fossil support if you had a similar problem.

Wear OS is reducing good hardware manufacturers

It’s unfortunate but true: Google’s Wear OS is the only viable option for Android-compatible smartwatch makers that don’t have the Samsung name. While the operating system doesn’t struggle too much with polish or functionality, where it falls behind is in the app experiences on offer. While Samsung’s Tizen also struggles with third-party app support, it’s still ahead of Google in this and also offers a more complete first-party app experience.

As I mentioned earlier, if exercise is your focus, you’ll be much better off with a Samsung Galaxy Watch or Apple Watch, and that’s also the case if you want third-party app integration. Wear OS has apps like Strava, Google Maps, Uber, and Spotify, but if there’s an app you’re looking for outside of those or Google’s suite of apps, you won’t be left with many options.

The app store for Wear OS is rather barren and lacks the quality and quantity found on the Apple Watch. Even Samsung’s watches do better with third-party support, but not by much.

As much as I like Samsung’s watches and Tizen OS, there are certain navigational, aesthetic, and functional choices that I simply prefer on the Fossil 5 and Wear OS. But with lackluster health features and poor third-party app support, it’s hard to beat Fossil Gen 5 in its wear less OS competition for anything more than it looks.

Battery life is about 1 day

Fossil hasn’t added a larger battery, but instead now offers a few battery modes you can use to squeeze a little more juice. Everyone uses up the full functionality of the battery, but custom mode lets you choose what you can do without saving some hours of use.

Daily mode, which keeps your watch fully functional throughout the day, but you’ll need to turn it on on the charger before bed. There’s no forced sleep tracking you shouldn’t, which is a pretty trivial question.

where can you get a Fossil Gen 5 online

Fossil Gen 5 Carlyle Stainless Steel Touchscreen Smartwatch with Speaker, Heart Rate, GPS, Contactless Payments, and Smartphone Notifications: Buy it now