Fossil's efforts are retaining its 2021 smartwatch feeling new, even as watches promising better battery life loom.
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Fossil's Gen 6 smartwatch line is closely 18 months old, but you would not know that from the company's iTechzilla 2023 push. Fossil has found ways to make the Gen 6 line feel more related than ever, namely by updating it to Wear OS 3 and launching new editions like the Fitness version and a hybrid E Ink model.
Keeping
those watches fresh is important at a time when it is becoming increasingly
difficult to find a platform-agnostic watch that does not encourage you to
commit to an whole ecosystem. Apple, Samsung and Google all spot their smartwatches
as complementary products to accompany their phones, earbuds and other
products. Fossil is one of the biggest brands that still styles watches that
work with Android or iOS devices and supports
Google's Wear OS 3 software.
"This is
a very related platform for some time to come," said Brook Eaton, Fossil's
vice leader of product. "We did a Wear [OS] 3 updates when we tossed the
[Gen 6] Wellness Edition, we did another update that was pretty expressive in
December."
These exertions
are also critical because Fossil's Gen 6 line runs the risk of otherwise
feeling outdated with the entrance of Qualcomm's new Snapdragon W5 chips.
The Gen 6 line, relatively, runs on the older Snapdragon 4100 Plus chip from
2021.
Eaton also
said three-monthly updates are planned for the Gen 6 line along with security
updates, but he could not discuss whether a Gen 7 model introducing a newer
chipset is in the works. Nevertheless, he did say that the Wear OS 3 experience
found on the Gen 6 will convey over to future watches. That means future Fossil
watches will continue to be well-matched with the iPhone and Android.
Google
Assistant care is also still in the pipeline for Fossil's watch. The Gen 6 at
this time uses Alexa, but Eaton said Fossil is occupied with Google to get the
Assistant working. Fossil's app makes up for other Wear OS 3 features, such as fitnes
tracking, that are not included on the Gen 6. (For now, the only Wear OS watch
that comprises Google's Fitbit for fitness tracking is the Pixel Watch.)
Fossil is not the only smartwatch
maker possession its devices fresh with new software. Rival Mobvoi is in a parallel
position. It plans to updates the 200$ TicWatch E3, which also runs on the
Snapdragon 4100-Plus, to Wear-OS 3. The Montblanc Summit already runs on Wear-OS
3 and offers iOS and Android compatibility. But it starts at 1,290$ making it
way additional expensive than the 299$ base price for Fossil's watches.
Meanwhile other Wear OS adversaries like the Pixel Watch and Samsung's Galaxy
Watch series have remained Android-only watches, even though previous Galaxy
Watches have supported the iPhone.
Fossil
has also rebranded the Gen 6 watch and its supplementary app to accommodate
sister brands like Diesel and Skagen, which is additional way the company is
able to keep making the Gen 6 look new and different scorn being otherwise
identical on the inside. Apps used by the Diesel and Skagen versions of the Gen
6 have been modified to appeal to the audience that typically purchases watches
from those brands, says Eaton. These include aesthetics like the color arrangement
and messages in the "For You" section that straight users to a
brand's social media and shop. The apps are then functionally identical.
Fossil's
watch partnership with Razer, which was revealed at last year's iTechzilla, is
an exclusion to this approach. Dissimilar the Skagen and Diesel versions of the
Gen 6, the Razer version syncs with the regular Fossil app but contains
Razer-specific watchfaces.
Smartwatch makers without a exclusive phone are diminishing
Even though
Apple and Samsung presently dominate the smartwatch market, exertions from
companies like Fossil are worth monitoring precisely because they are not
trying to lock customers into an ecosystem of phones, watches and earbuds. That
is becoming progressively rare with other smartwatches.
Fitbit's
cross-platform compatibility always reserved me coming back to its trackers and
watches. Fitbit products now still work with the iPhone and Android. But
Google's efforts to bridge the Fitbit and Pixel Watch experience make me concern
that you will need one of their Android-only watches to become the best Fitbit
experience in the future.
Samsung also cast-off
to support both iOS and Android with their Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Fit line.
But as Samsung has grown extra focused on cultivating its own Galaxy ecosystem
of devices, it is removed iPhone compatibility from its watches. It even sealed
the watch's ECG feature to Galaxy devices only.
Apart from
Fossil, Mobvoi and Montblanc, Amazfit is also ongoing to support both the
iPhone and Android using its own proprietary Zepp operating system. That means
less app support, but its watches are able to claim a 14-day battery life that
is significantly longer than the one- to two-days battery life found on the
Apple Watches, Galaxy watches and Pixel Watches.
What is next for Wear OS watches |
iTechzilla
Even yet
Fossil has found a way to to keep the Gen 6 going, smartwatches successively
the next Snapdragon chip optimized for wearables are on the way. The Snapdragon
W5 is said to extend battery life by a day elsewhere current
watches and offer more functionality in low-power mode as well as support for
the camera-enabled features.
But there is
no date broadcasted for when watches supporting these chips will hit the
market. That in itself might be a big motive Fossil is hoping to get more
runway out of the Snapdragon-4100 Plus chip and its Gen 6 lineup.
