Fossil Gen 6 price, availability, specs and more
Two years after the last major update, Fossil has finally seen fit to switch to a new generation of smartwatches. The Fossil Gen 6 line is now official, with an updated chipset that promises higher performance and better battery life than its predecessors.
As in the past, this update also affects smartwatches that are not Fossil’s own brand watches, as well as Michael Kors Gen 6 watches (Michael Kors smartwatches are part of the Fossil group, which includes companies such as Diesel, Skagen and more).
When will Fossil Gen 6 be released?
Fossil introduced its Gen 6 line on August 30, 2021, but the watch went on sale in September.
It was joined a year later by the Gen 6 Wellness Edition, which went on sale on October 17, 2022.
How much does Fossil Gen 6 cost?
Prices vary by configuration, with the main factor influencing price being the material of the strap, not the size of the case or the shape of the case. Most Gen 6 starting SKUs are $299/£279, with some options jumping up to $319/£299.
The Wellness Edition has a similar price starting at $299 in the US.
What features does the Fossil Gen 6 have?
At launch, the Gen 6 comes in three 42mm stainless steel case options and four 44mm case color options, all of which support user-replaceable 18mm and 22mm straps, respectively.
While at first glance the Gen 6 hardware looks almost identical to its predecessor, Fossil has first updated the Snapdragon Wear 3100 Gen 5 to the newer Snapdragon Wear 4100+ chipset, which the manufacturer promises will increase by 30% (meaning a shorter app) . boot time) and greater energy efficiency (which means better battery life).
The optical PPG heart rate sensor that was already part of the Fossil smartwatch recipe (although this one appears to be an improvement over the one found in the Gen 5) is now accompanied by an external IR sensor that adds blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) tracking ). ) is also mixed.
Even though Samsung introduced the first Wear OS watch to the market with its Galaxy Watch 4, the Fossil Gen 6 watch launched on Wear OS 2, but the watch started receiving Wear OS 3 updates in October 2022.
Other than the key changes above, the Gen 6’s specs are mostly similar to the Gen 5’s. Here’s a full rundown of everything it offers:
- 1.28″ AMOLED Round Touchscreen (416×416)
- Stainless steel body
- Case dimensions 42 mm or 44 mm
- Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100+
- 1 GB RAM
- 8 GB memory
- Protection against swimming up to 3 atm.
- Supports user-replaceable 18mm or 22mm straps.
- Comes with silicone, leather, metal link or nylon strap (depending on model).
- Two physical buttons
- Rotating crown/push-button
- Spotify offline playback (Spotify Premium subscribers only)
- Bluetooth 5.0 LE
- WiFi
- GPS
- NFC (supports Google Pay for contactless payments)
- Accelerometer
- Gyroscope
- Compass
- Altimeter
- PPG heart rate sensor
- SpO2 (blood oxygen saturation) tracking
- IR outside the body
- Light sensor
- Wear OS 2 (upgradable to Wear OS 3 in late 2022)
- 80% charge in 30 minutes
We discuss the Fossil Gen 6 and its place in the smartwatch market in episode 81 of our weekly Fast Charge podcast:
What about Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition?
The Wellness Edition followed a year later and is most notable for running Wear OS 3, making it the first Fossil watch to use the software, although other Gen 6 models received an update just a few days later.
Fossil
Wear OS 3 has several benefits, the most obvious being better support for third-party apps like YouTube Music, Spotify, and Facer. Oddly enough, while there is no support for Google Assistant, there is is Alexa included.
As the name suggests, health tracking has also been improved, with continuous heart rate monitoring now available. This is joined by blood oxygen measurement, heart rate zones, automatic workout detection, and cardio training assessment using VO2 Max, all rolled into the new Wellness app.
Otherwise, little has changed. It’s only available in 44mm but offers the same core specs as older Gen 6 models: Snapdragon Wear 4100+ chip, 1.28-inch AMOLED display, 1GB RAM, and 8GB storage.
Check out our roundup of the best smartwatches to see what the Gen 6 is up against as well, and check back for more pricing and availability when it becomes available.
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