The first real competitor of Samsung Galaxy watch4 has arrived: it's Fossil Gen 6, it has the latest hardware available and Google Wear OS and it has a great price.
It was one of the most anticipated products of the summer, and it's finally here: Fossil has unveiled its Gen 6 smartwatch with Google's Wear OS, which goes to replace in range the current Gen 5 released in 2019 with a robust hardware upgrade that brings these smartwatches to be able to compete with what is perhaps the most interesting smartwatch of the year: Samsung Galaxy Watch4.
Among the many positive aspects of this generation, however, there's also one that will leave buyers disappointed: the version of Wear OS currently available on the Fossil Gen 6 is not the latest available, 3.0. Fossil guarantees, however, that watches purchased today will certainly be upgraded to Wear OS 3.0 by 2022. Fossil Gen 6, however, remains a smartwatch that will appeal to many thanks also to a version made in collaboration with Michael Kors, definitely attractive for fashion addicts. Finally, the price: excellent that too, perfectly in line with that of the aforementioned main competitor.
Fossil Gen 6: technical specifications
The new Fossil Gen 6 smartwatch is based on the Snapdragon Wear 4100+ hardware platform, the latest made by Qualcomm for smartwatches, 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage.
The available connections are those now classic in a modern smartwatch: Bluetooth 5.0 LE, WiFi, NFC, GPS. Fossil Gen 6 can make and receive phone calls, but only when connected to a smartphone because it doesn't have a built-in eSIM. Instead, it can be used for contactless payments, thanks to the NFC chip and Google Pay compatibility. It is also compatible with Google Assistant, to which you can ask questions with voice commands.
This generation is available with a dial in two sizes: 42 and 44 millimeters, both with a 1.28-inch display. Water resistance reaches three atmospheres, while the built-in sensors are numerous: accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, altimeter, heart rate, blood oxygen saturation (Sp02), ambient light and infrared sensor.
Fossil Gen 6: how much does it cost
Fossil Gen 6 is already on pre-order on the official Fossil website, with prices ranging between 299 and 329 euros, by registering with your email address. The real date of arrival on the market has not yet been communicated, nor when the Michael Kors version will be launched.
These are prices absolutely in line with those of Galaxy Watch4, which starts at 269 euros but for the 40mm version and costs 299 euros in the 44mm version, as much as the Fossil Gen 6 of the same size. What Galaxy Watch4 has more, at least at the moment, is the LTE version.