As an avid fan of the Fossil brand, I must say that this is great news. Fossil Malaysia had just announced their latest addition to their Smartwatch line, simply called the Gen 6 Smartwatch. Being their 6th generation to their commercially successful smartwatch line, we are happy to see it use the spanking new Snapdragon Wear 4100+ chipset that runs fast on Google’s Wear OS. The watch also boasts rapid-charging, promising an 80% charge in only half an hour.
Design
You can buy watches but you can’t buy style. I’ve always been in-line with Fossil’s design language since it features their timeless case designs on top of a variety of ready to use metal & leather straps. The Gen 6 is a circular watch featuring a 1.28″ AMOLED panel in either 44mm or 42mm. It’s a stainless steel case that’s compatible with 22mm and 18mm straps in that order. The touchscreen can also be navigated via a rotating crown and 2 configurable push buttons. It launches in 6 different designs of variable sizes, finishes and strap types. There’s a built-in mic and speaker, so you can pick up calls using the watch as well as have Google Maps dictate your direction to keep your hands on the wheel!
Fitness and Health
In line with most smartwatches today, the Gen 6 features an SpO2 sensor, PPG heart rate sensor, off-body infrared, acceletormeter and gyroscope. These sensors will help in getting relevant health data such as your blood oxygen level, current heart rate, running speed and even your standard bearings. If you’re planning to go swimming, the watch is water resistant up to 3ATM so it’s definitely pool ready but not seaworthy. It will be assisted via built-in WiFi and GPS. You’ll also be able to track how well you sleep if that’s your thing. Be sure to sync the watch to your Google Fit when setting up!
Comparison and Price
If you’re coming from the Gen 5 or Gen 5E, I’d say that it’s a good switch as you’ll be getting a promised 24+ battery life, in which I am inclined to believe considering I currently own a smartwatch that uses a Snapdragon Wear 4100+ chipset and I was able to get even slightly over 2 days. You may be still be stuck with 1GB of RAM but it doesn’t matter since Google Wear OS doesn’t require that much memory to run smoothly. You will however get double the storage over the Gen 5 (8GB vs 4GB), which’ll give you more headroom to install more watchfaces and apps off the PlayStore.
The Fossil Gen 6 Smartwatch retails between RM 1349 – RM 1429 depending on your size, and I recommend walking into their retails stores to give it a try before buying!
