Smartwatches have long been considered a superfluous subcategory of tech, an accessory coveted
by tech geeks and frankly, no one else.
But recently, Apple’s been hard at work changing that (so you can get hard to work
to afford one) and now they finally have some less expensive competition.
Oh, and it works with Android, too.
This is the Fossil Sport.
It’s Fossil’s latest--and greatest--smartwatch, and, more importantly, it’s the first watch
available with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset (that doesn’t cost $1,000
*clear throat*).
Let’s start with design.
The watch comes in 2 case sizes: 41mm and 43mm, this one’s the latter, and 7 unique
colors, so there’s plenty of options to choose from.
It’s only 12mm thick and lightweight, too, making it very comfortable to wear on your
wrist for long periods of time.
It’s a pretty simple, clean look, and the watch bands are interchangeable [if the included
ones don’t quite match your style].
As for hardware, the main attraction is a 1.2-inch fully circular AMOLED display.
That display is flanked by 3 physical buttons on the right side, one of which doubles as
a scroll wheel that works just like you’d expect in the Wear OS operating system--more
on that later--letting you scroll through content like the Apple Watch or even your
computer mouse.
The Sport’s got tons of extra features, too, like NFC for Google Pay, an ambient light
sensor, a heart rate sensor, Wi-Fi, and built-in GPS.
And the whole package is sealed to a water resistance of 5ATM, making it suitable for
splashes and rain, although I wouldn’t recommend taking this watch swimming (or most any other
smart gadget for that matter; after all, these devices are water resistant, not proof).
Once you get out of the water and take it inside for the night, the watch charges via
a proprietary magnetic cable, so be careful not to lose it; but unlike most other smartwatches,
there’s no frustrating pin alignment here, instead, there’s a circular charging ring
that lets the connector connect in any direction.
Now that’s smart.
Speaking of charging, it’s something you’d better get used to because with the Sport,
it’s probably going to happen every night.
The Wear 3100 by Qualcomm is the silicon powering the show, and it’s main touted feature over
its predecessor is improved battery life, but don’t get your hopes up too high.
You could maybe get 2 days if you stretch it, but with its smartwatch features enabled,
it will probably be on the nightstand by bedtime.
It does feature an ultra-low power battery-saving mode which should extend its life to a week
when you’re really tight on juice, but this one just disables every smart feature on the
watch, making it nothing more than a digital timepiece.
Now that's...not so smart.
Let’s get back to the positive side of things and talk about the watch's software companion,
Wear OS by Google.
The Sport comes with the latest version, and the software’s been redesigned and refined
over and over again.
Compared to the old school Android Wear on my old Moto 360, it’s a night and day difference,
both literally and figuratively.
One feature I really like is the always on display, which lets the time and incoming
notifications be visible (albeit in mostly dim monochrome) when the display is off.
The new Wear OS uses black everywhere else too, which looks great on the OLED and helps
to conserve battery life, not to mention being easier on the eyes compared to the stark white
backgrounds of the Android Wear of old.
Gone too is notification pagination, they now scroll in a list, just like the notification
pull down on your phone.
Tap to expand, swipe to clear.
The interface is clean and easy to use, too.
The watch face is your home screen.
From there, swipe up for notifications, down for quick settings, right for Assistant, and
left for Google Fit.
Hold down to change your watch face, and push the middle side button to view your apps.
The 2 other buttons can be configured to launch any 2 apps of your choosing.
Speaking of apps, Wear OS has plenty, and many more than Samsung’s Tizen, including
heavy hitters like Google Maps, Spotify, Dark Sky, a remote control camera, and way more.
When it’s working well, the interface is snappy and smooth, but, it’s not always
working well.
When it’s updating apps or syncing music, the OS can slow to a crawl, with apps sometimes
crashing completely.
At least the entire operating system doesn't crash like my old Moto 360.
Even in normal use, the Assistant takes too long to open and register my commands, and
sometimes taps take a while.
Nothing too major though.
Another weird software quirk involves the digital crown; in some apps it just doesn't
work right.
Take Hangouts for example.
On the main screen, the wheel does nothing; you have to fat finger the screen to view
your conversations.
Tap on a conversation though, and scroll wheel away.
C’mon Google!
Luckily these past few grievances are software-based, though, so hopefully they can be fixed with
an update.
Finally, let’s talk fitness and price.
The Google Fit app on the Sport can track pretty much any physical activity under the
sun, from walking to basketball to flossing (*sigh* yes that flossing).
The only thing it doesn’t track is sleep, but it’ll probably be asleep itself on the
charger by that time anyway.
The Sport has GPS tracking for keeping up with those activities when your phone isn’t
around, and it will monitor your heart rate throughout the workout, with the option to
check your heart rate every 20 minutes throughout the entire day, too.
Overall, it’s a pretty complete package; I’d say this watch is about as good as it
gets this side of the Apple Watch, and the asking price doesn't hurt at all.
Whichever size or color you choose, the Sport is available for $255 from Fossil’s website.
Compare that to $329 minimum for the latest Galaxy Watch and 400 bucks starting for the
Apple Watch, that’s not half bad.
And it’s already been on sale twice for around $200.
If you’ve got an old smartwatch or looking to get one for the first time, I say buy it.
As long as you’re ok with charging nightly and don’t need cellular, you won’t be
disappointed with the Fossil Sport.
That’s all for this review.
Thank you for watching.
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I’ll see you in 2019!