Stylish and powerful Fossil Gen 5 smartwatches with Wear OS go on sale at $295
The US-based Fossil Group is without a doubt Google's most valuable and productive Wear OS hardware-making partner, selling stylish smartwatches not only under its main brand, but also in collaboration with the likes of Michael Kors, Emporio Armani, Kate Spade, and Diesel.
The Fossil Gen 5 is the fashion company's latest "mainstream" effort at rivaling the market-leading Apple Watch family, with a processor borrowed from the fitness-friendly Fossil Sport and not a lot of other things helping it stand out from the Gen 4 collection. Just 24 hours after having its key specs leaked, the Gen 5 is already up for grabs in the US in two main variants.
Both are priced at $295, which is a little on the steep side of things when it comes to Wear OS-powered Apple Watch rivals, with the Julianna HR style targeting the ladies and a men's model called "the Carlyle." Interestingly, the two seem to share a 44mm case size and 12mm thickness in addition to a recommended price point, looking to crush the myth that women have smaller wrists, preferring sleeker and thinner wearable devices.
Each main Fossil Gen 5 variant is available in three sub-variants, with a smoke stainless steel, dark brown leather, and black silicone bands to choose from as far as the Carlyle model is concerned, while Julianna watches can be purchased in black stainless steel, blush leather, and rose gold-tone stainless steel flavors.
In terms of what's new compared to the Gen 4 under the hood, you might be happy to hear Qualcomm's Snapdragon 3100 SoC is paired with 1GB RAM and 8GB storage now, up from 512MB, 4 gigs, and a Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset. At least in theory, this means the Fossil Gen 5 should be both faster and more energy-efficient, although the company is making fairly vague battery life promises. Namely, that you'll squeeze between 36 hours and 1 week of endurance on a single charge... in clock mode.
Obviously, you're not going to spend almost 300 bucks just to check the time on these beautiful Android and iOS-compatible smartwatches, which are also capable of monitoring your heart rate, tracking your run's distance with untethered GPS connectivity, making payments from your wrist, downloading apps from Google Play, and taking voice commands thanks to Google Assistant support and a built-in speaker.
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