Despite releasing more devices than one can count on the fingers of both hands under many different brands over the last year or so, the US-based Fossil Group hasn’t managed to crack the top five global smartwatch vendor chart, ranking eight in revenue during the first half of 2020, behind everyone from Apple to Garmin, Huawei, Samsung, Amazfit, and Fitbit.
But that doesn’t mean you should completely rule out a Fossil purchase this holiday season if you’re in the market for an affordable, feature-packed wearable compatible with both iPhones and Android handsets. In fact, if you want a smartwatch that looks like a traditional timepiece rather than a tiny square-shaped computer slapped to your wrist, a Fossil Gen 5 might be exactly what you should consider buying for Christmas.
Although we obviously can’t guarantee this bad boy won’t get a deeper price cut for Black Friday, it’s certainly hard to argue with the latest Amazon deals. These bring not one, not two, and not three but a grand total of four Fossil Gen 5 models down to their lowest ever price after a substantial new discount of $116.
Since the 2019-released smartwatch was originally available for $295, that equates to a massive 39 percent markdown, unsurprisingly undercutting the Apple Watch SE at its new all-time low price while essentially matching the discounted Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2.
Compared to those two, the Fossil Gen 5 is arguably prettier, allowing you to choose from black and smoke-coated Carlyle models, as well as eye-catching Rose Gold Glitz and Rose Gold/Black Julianna styles at the aforementioned $116 discount. All of these intelligent timepieces come with a robust stainless steel case, packing everything from standalone GPS connectivity to a built-in heart rate monitor, accelerometer, altimeter, compass, and gyroscope.
That’s a lot of sensors, but alas, the life-saving ECG monitoring technology of the Apple Watch Series 6 or Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 is missing from the otherwise extensive list of Fossil Gen 5 features. On the bright side, that does include both a microphone and a speaker, which means you can make voice calls from your wrist… as long as the smartwatch is connected to your iPhone or Android handset.
The circular AMOLED display is also pretty sharp, but the battery life is not great, despite Fossil’s best software optimization efforts. Then again, Google’s Wear OS platform is (slowly) getting better.
Source: Phonearena
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