The Fossil Gen 6 was shafted. The Wear OS 3 was on the horizon when Fossil was still working on the watch. At the same time as the rest of us, Fossil was discovered. A new, faster chip was announced by the company. By the time the Gen 6 was released, it was running a soon-to-be last-gen chip. The Gen 6 was outdated before it even hit shelves. Fossil's first native Wear OS 3 watch, the $299 Gen 6wellness Edition, got the short end of the stick, unfortunately.
The original Gen 6 has a chip called the 3100 Plus. It has the same display, 1 gigabyte of RAM, and 8 gigabyte of onboard storage. The same sensors can be found in the wellness edition. Wear OS 3 is installed out of the box and the watch is essentially the same as before. Older Gen 6 watches can be updated to Wear OS 3, even though they shipped with Wear OS 2. I don't know what I thought would be different this time. Having spent time with all the available Wear OS 3 watches out there, it feels like there are two tiers of the operating system: the one that you get on your watch and the one that you don't.
It is a stylish watch. Although it is slightly bigger than my 42mm Gen 6, I like the sleeker look of it and prefer the modern look of the buttons. I wouldn't be ashamed to wear the default 20mm Silicone straps at a formal event. While it wouldn't be my first choice for fitness tracking or even in the top five, the case adds a bit of extraDurability and it's comfortable for everyday wear. It only has 3ATM of water resistance, so it shouldn't be taken in the pool. It is safe for washing dishes, but not for swimming.
There isn't enough to redeem the Gen 6 lineup. There was a better overall experience that I was looking for in the wellness edition. I had that, but I also had some unexpected annoyances.
Wear OS 3 is better than Wear OS 2, but not necessarily quicker. Notifications pop up quickly when you scroll through the menu. Sometimes, a screen will freeze for a second before moving along, and sometimes, there is a slight pause when you start an app. It crashed when I tried to download it from the on-wrist play store. The times are repeated multiple times. When the search worked, Strava never showed up as a download app. It took me a while to push it from the web version of the Play Store. I have tested every Wear OS 3 watch I can find, and this is so strange since I have downloaded Strava from the on-wrist Play Store. It wasn't a big deal because Adidas Running came pre-installed and you can track workouts with the native app. Still
That didn't make the edition useless. It wasn't normal. Wear OS 3 was an improvement. There were more third-party apps that worked. It wasn't a great experience using Spotify on Wear OS 2 It is much better in Wear OS 3. You can also listen to music on the internet. Is anyone using Deezer?
There were more third-party apps that worked.
It is not better than the Wear OS 3 on the phones. The 4100 Plus chip, which launched in 2020 but didn't really appear in many watches until the end of 2021, is believed to have caused some of my performance issues. The next-gen chip for the GALAXY WATCH 4 and 5 lineups was already in place. The chip used in the Pixel Watch is a last-gen one, but it has been upgraded to 2GB of RAM. I think a future Fossil Watch will perform better, but that isn't an option just yet.
Wear OS 3 has better maintained third-party apps than Wear OS 2 did.
At least you have Amazon's voice activated assistant.
There are more features on the Wear OS 3. The watches have something in common with the one pictured. The Gen 6wellness edition does not. It is not clear if that will happen in the future, but you will have to use Amazon. It's alright.
It's better than nothing, but a smartwatch should have a voice assistant. Health and fitness tracking can be done with the Wear OS watches. Fossil has a well-designed app, but it isn't integrated into the Wear OS 3 experience. Fossil's app is more polished than the one on the Pixel watch. It is easy to see the daily dashboard of your fitness tracker. The One WatchUI skin is more compatible with the Wear OS 3 than with the previous one. You could use the old Fit Tiles to see how far along you were in your goals.
The companion app is from Fossil. The old Wear OS app has been replaced by the new Wear OS app. Montblanc did it with the Summit 3 and Fossil did it here as well. Non-Google and non-SAMSUNG Wear OS watches are at a disadvantage. The two companies have their own Wearable apps, with the former having the Pixel watch app and the latter theGalaxy Wearable app. They use the apps for health. It is not elegant to use more than one app, but settings are easy to modify, and there are many ways to view your health data.
Fossil's app is not very good. It is more than adequate to swap watch faces and tiles. To put it bluntly, viewing historical health data is not helpful. You can view health data in the Fossil app when it launches. I don't have it anymore after testing the Montblanc app.
Fossil's version of Wear OS 3 is compatible with Apple's mobile device operating system. For people who like to switch between the two platforms, this is more of a win than a loss.
Fossil has tried to improve the battery life on its watches. One of the first places to add fast charging was here. You have to have a watch that lasts through the workday in order to get it. Rarely did this one.
I was lucky to make it to bed before the watch switched to one of its battery-saving modes. On the day I had AOD, I took the watch off the charging port at 9 AM. It was down to 69 percent by 11:30 AM. I sat at my desk and hopped on the bus to get to my job. If I turned AOD off, I could get more mileage, but I had to top off the battery before I went to sleep.
Fossils made it so that the watches charge quickly. In 30 minutes, you can get up to 80%.
I tried to modify settings to see if I could stretch battery life further, but that led to another quirk of the edition. When I stuck it on the charge, it reset my settings. Sometimes it's enough to light me up. I turn off the sounds on my watch. It's important to my marriage. My spouse doesn't like all of the electronic noises, but they do like the Fossil watch alert. The sounds continued to turn on. I don't have an explanation for it and I hope Fossil fixes it in the future.
The Gen 6 wellbeing edition is not very good. SpO2 can be used to monitor blood oxygen. SpO2 spot checks can be taken with thewellness edition. Since it was a sign that Fossil was making headway with advanced health tracking, I was happy to see it.
The first time I tried it, I was told my SpO2 levels were 83 percent. 95 to 100 percent is considered standard while anything below 90 percent is reason to seek medical care. I wanted to see if this was a one-off, but the watch couldn't complete several readings. I was told to wear my watch higher on the wrist, but it didn't seem to make a difference. It was on the smallest possible strap hole, and I couldn't have worn it any tighter. I had more errors with my SpO2 readings than I usually do, but I was able to reprogram the watch.
VO2 max was one of the metrics I was looking forward to. I haven't gotten a score despite wearing this watch for over a week. Fossil says you should be able to get a score in about 24 hours, but intermittent wear could mean taking over a week. I have been wearing this watch all day, every day, except for when it dies or is on the charging port. I still have a long way to go to get a Cardio Fitness score. It is not uncommon to wait a long time to collect enough data for a metric.
It is not a good sleep tracker because of its poor battery life. Even though I went to bed with at least 40 percent, the watch would switch to time-only mode before I woke up. Most other watches suggest a minimum amount of sleep tracking. My sleep data was unreliable due to the watch cutting sleep tracking early. On a night when my Apple Watch Ultra and Oura Ring tracked 7.5 hours of sleep, the Fossil did not. The Fossil was the only device that didn't make it to the next day. It doesn't mean sleep tracking is impossible, but you have to be more careful with your battery levels.
The Fossil watches I have used have not been as good at tracking my outdoor runs.
Fossil watches tend to perform better in the gps tests. When I load up the recorded map, I strap it on and start the native fitness tracking app. There are times when the gps says I am running in the East River or zigzagging through Kitty Pryde. This time, not. I went on two 30-minute runs and recorded them on my phone. The heart rate, pace, and distance data were all mapped across the platforms. The Fossil Gen 5 lineup was not as good. Heart rate, pace, and distance data were all on the same level.
Even if it's called thewellness edition, this is still a fashion watch.
I don't think Fossil watches have much to offer on the health and fitness front. Even if it is called thewellness edition, this is still a fashion watch. Even though my results were mixed, I wouldn't call them a major con. You can still use this watch for casual health and activity tracking if you know that these features aren't the main focus.
I have told people to wait for the next Fossil watch. I don't want to give that advice again but history keeps repeating itself. Fossil made lemonade out of Wear OS's lemons again. Older hardware and a less finished version of Wear OS 3 haven't set up any of the Gen 6 watches for success
I would go with the Fossil Gen 6 if you were choosing between the Skagen Falster 6 and the Gen 6 wellness edition. You will save time if Wear OS 3 is pre-installed. TheStainless steel case is a perk, even if that isn't a concern. I would pick this over the Mont Blanc Summit 3. The Fossil companion app is marginally better than the other one, but it will save you a lot of money.
For the price, you will get a more complete experience with the two watch brands. The watches have a more polished version of Wear OS 3, better battery life, and more robust health features. If you are willing to pay an additional $50, you can get cellular coverage.
Fossil finally gets a chance to play with the Gen 7. Once the Wear OS 3 transition is complete, perhaps there will be a more uniform experience for all of the watches. It's possible that the Google Assistant is for everyone else. Fossil has been patient with the Wear OS platform. It would be great to see that pay off for them and the entire platform.
Every smart device has a set of terms and conditions that you have to agree to before you can use it. It is not possible for us to read and analyze all of them. We started counting the number of times you have to agree to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people can't negotiate.
You have to pair the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition with a phone. The phone's privacy policy and terms of service are included. You may be asked to allow the Fossil Smartwatches app to access your phone's photos, location, cellular data, voice assistant data, notifications, background app refresh, and voice assistant data.
You agree to two mandatory agreements if you set up the Fossil Gen 6 wellness edition.
Permissions that can be granted include sharing data usage and opting into marketing emails. You have to agree to the privacy policy and terms of service of both Amazon and Fossil if you want to enable the voice assistant. Permissions will be granted to allow the use of activity data, device information and settings, heart rate data, SpO2 data, and workout data. You have to agree to those terms if you integrate with Apple HealthKit.
There are two mandatory agreements and many optional agreements.
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