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| Pic Credit: Fossil |
The new watch will be available in two sizes: 42mm
and 44mm, and will have several new features such as continuous heart rate
monitoring, a new blood oxygen sensor, and speaker functionality (enabling the
user to make and receive tethered calls).
Other notable features include a 1.28-inch
touchscreen display, 3 ATM water resistance (which Fossil describes as
"swimproof"), 8GB of storage space, and 1GB of RAM.
The watch's battery life, in particular, is a major
focus. However, apart from the charging claim, the watch has a number of
granular battery modes that range from 24 hours to multiple days with an
Extended Battery Mode.
Unfortunately, these watches will ship with the
current Wear OS 2 software rather than the new Wear OS 3 that runs on Samsung's
most recent Galaxy Watches. Fossil claims it will offer Wear OS 3 upgrades for
Gen 6 watches in 2022, though when that will happen is a bit of a mystery.
Google has stated that upgrades for Wear OS 2 watches will not be available
until "late 2022," and that even then, they will require a hard
reset.
There are not that many Wear OS manufacturers left,
so Android customers searching for a full-featured watch will have a hard time
finding one. Except for Fossil and Mobvoi's TicWatch line, practically all
other manufacturers have either abandoned or converted to lightweight, in-house
software.
All of these could be beneficial to Fossil. If
Fossil's Gen 6 watches can at least match their predecessors in terms of performance
and battery life, they could be a viable option for Android users. Google is
also bringing some of its upgraded Wear OS apps back to the current platform,
which may be beneficial.
The watch line is currently available for preorder
in the United States, with prices ranging from $299 to $319 (approximately £220
and AU$410).
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