© Drawing of the futureBattery life is usually the biggest hurdle to using smartwatches, but Fossil's new wearables are making smart sacrifices for endurance. And of course, in Fossil fashion, the device is pretty cool — at least that's what I thought when I tried it out at CES 2023.
The $229 Fossil Gen 6 Hybrid Wellness Edition is a little different than the standard Gen 6 Wellness Edition, which was the first Fossil smartwatch to ship with Wear OS 3. While the hybrid version isn't a Wear OS watch, it still has the smart and activity tracking features that many users of connected wearables have come to expect.
Instead of the AMOLED color display of popular smartwatches, the Fossil Gen 6 Hybrid Wellness Edition features a grayscale E Ink display like Kindle e-readers. The display sits beneath a range of physical watches, giving the watch a "hybrid" branding. While I've seen smartwatches that successfully combine traditional watch elements with smartwatch functionality, I'm not sure I've ever used a watch that achieves the same level of sophistication as the Fossil.
Physical weapons are part of the navigation in Fossil Gen 6 Hybrid Wellness Edition. They danced across the screen as I switched between apps and other features in my demo. Combined with the metallic finish and the diagonal time ring, it feels like the best of both worlds - a few smart things in a design case.
These smart features include basic features like a timer, weather reports and music controls, and notification mirroring. It even has Alexa built-in, so you can ask questions from your wrist (although there's no speaker, so Alexa can't talk to you). I've seen a few overly customizable watch settings that allow for some level of personalization. 27.9. mm displayed.
And since the Fossil Gen 6 Hybrid Wellness Edition is still marketed as a "wellness" watch, the device has pretty much the same activity tracking capabilities as the standard Fossil Gen 6 with Wear OS 3, including continuous heart rate monitoring, SpO2 measurements , Steps . Counting, tracking workouts and more.
According to Fossil, the smartwatch should last between 2 and 3 weeks with regular use of these features. This score is fantastic compared to lifestyle smartwatches. Fossil also made it clear to me that it has no plans to compete with Garmin and Fitbit watches with advanced fitness tracking and GPS.
While some Garmin watches can last for weeks on a single charge, they often cost significantly more than the $229 Fossil fee for the Fossil Gen 6 Hybrid Wellness Edition.
The Fossil Gen 6 Hybrid Wellness Edition will be available in black, gold, and silver through January 5, 2023.
