Smart watches from Samsung are rightfully among the best accessories for Android device. There are also many other manufacturers and systems available on the market. Whether it is Garmin, Fitbit, Huawei or a watch with the Google system WearOS. However, Google has been heavily criticized for this system in recent years. How is he WearWe decided to see for ourselves and now bring you a review of the Fossil Gen 5 smartwatch CarLyle.
Fossil gen 5 Carlyle are the flagship model of the company, which we can tell from the price, which ranges from CZK 6 to CZK 599. The first good news is that they will be available from official distribution to buy in the Czech Republic. A few years ago, this was not usual at all and WearOS watches avoided the Czech market. There are three versions of the watch, which differ in color and supplied strap. We tested the version with a leather strap, the watch can also be purchased with a silicone or stainless steel strap. However, if you are interested, you can exchange the strap for any 22 mm strap.
Gallery
The body of the watch itself is made of stainless steel and has a diameter of 44 mm. The processing of the product is at a very high level, which was one of the first positive things we noticed during testing. Compared to previous generations, the quality has improved significantly and the watch can easily compete with other premium watches in a similar price category, such as Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 or Garmin Venu. However, it also affected the weight of the watch, which weighs 99 grams.
There are no big surprises in the package. In addition to the watch itself, it is also a classic magnetic charger in white, which has a USB-connector at the end. The mains adapter is not included in the package. However, a computer can also be used for charging. The last thing we find in the package is documentation in the form of manuals.
Fossil smartwatch design and display
With a body size of 44 mm, the Fossil Gen 5 Carlyle ranks among the larger smart watches on the market. The display size is 1,28 inches and it is an AMOLED panel with a high resolution of 416 x 416 pixels. The resulting fineness of the display is 328 ppi, which is an absolutely sufficient value. Not once during testing did we have a problem seeing individual pixels. With maximum brightness it was already a little worse. In the vast majority of situations, the brightness of the watch is sufficient and the content on the watch is easily readable. In sunny weather, however, legibility deteriorates and, for example, Galaxy Watch Active 2 is better.
From the point of view of design, the right side of the watch mainly stands out, on which there are three control buttons. One is programmable and you can set the app to your liking. The middle button is also a rotating crown, which makes it easier to move around the system. This could be a good alternative to the rotating bezel of Samsung watches, unfortunately the sensitivity of the rotating crown is too high. We tried to adapt for the first few days of testing, but there were too many inaccuracies in the controls. After that, we focused mainly on the touch control, which works very well.
On the back there are two charging pins and also a classic heart rate sensor. ECG and/or blood pressure measurement was not possible in this watch. However, if Fossil wants to keep up with the competition, it will have to think about these two functions in the next generations, which require a noticeable sensor upgrade. Interestingly, Fossil has bundled a third-party app with the heart sensor called Cardiograph. It also has a mobile application in which you can monitor complete health data, including sleep, the number of steps taken, etc. In the basic version, the application works well, but it freezes that a number of functions are hidden behind a premium subscription, which costs 15 dollars per month. Fortunately, Fossil has not decided to force users to use this app. You can easily track your heart rate via Google Fit.
Fossil Gen 5 watch performance and battery life
The main sensor could be better, but Fossil makes up for it with the rest of the parameters. More equipped WearOS watches are very hard to find on the market. Performance is in charge of Snapdragon Wear 3100, the latest chipset from Qualcomm. It really has plenty of power and we didn't experience any lag or slowdown during testing. However, the main problem of this chipset is the high energy consumption. If you wanted to use the watch to its full potential, it would last you only one day and you would have to charge it in the evening. In that case, you will also prepare for sleep measurement.
Gallery
Fortunately, Fossil has thought of higher endurance and offers four different modes. If you want to save the battery extremely, you can also turn on the mode with which the smartwatch it will turn into a classic watch and will display only the time. Limited mode, as the name already suggests, limits some functions and thereby increases the watch's endurance to about two days. You can also have your own control over the endurance and in the settings you can activate your own mode in which you can set individual items to your liking. We also used our own mode during testing, we were able to reach a battery life of 1,5 days with minimal limitation of functions. It's still not ideal, but compared to the older ones WearThe OS of the watch can be seen as an improvement.
Gallery
As for other equipment, the watch does not lack Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC (payments via Google Pay work, editor's note), GPS or 3 ATM water resistance. Very good performance is also ensured by 1GB of RAM memory. You can also download your own music to the watch, using 8GB of storage. The only minor minus may be that the watch does not exist in an LTE version. Since the Google Assistant is in the watch, the loud speaker will also please. Thanks to it, you will hear the answers of the assistant, which is definitely better than just the text that we can know from different smart watches. Unfortunately, Google Assistant is currently in English, but the buttons, for example, are already in Czech, so support for Czech is probably not far away.
WearOS in 2020
We are slowly getting to the system with Google Assistant Wear OS. It has not undergone many changes in recent years and has not received any significant news. But the pluses still include excellently resolved notifications, a large number of applications in the Play Store and a good connection with Google applications. However, the system also has a lot of disadvantages. In case of problems, it takes quite a long time for Google to fix the problem, simply put, not many updates come out. It is still a very demanding system, which luckily the Fossil Gen 5 handles just fine. However, there are plenty of other watches with worse processors and less RAM where these problems stand out more.
Gallery
The biggest negative, however, is in the uncertain future. Since the last redesign in 2018, Google na WearThe OS hardly focused at all. For years there has been speculation that we will see a Pixel watch that WearOS will breathe new life, unfortunately it didn't happen. After the acquisition of Fitbit, Google also has another smartwatch system at its disposal, which it could theoretically use for its own smartwatch. WearThe OS in its current form is not an "adult" system as such Android. There are still plenty of features and optimizations that Google could do. Apple is s watchOS a good example. And if Apple ever does Wear OS zoom is not at all certain, but we are guessing that it is more likely not.
Fossil Gen 5 review summary CarLyle
The last two models of smart watches with Wear The OSes that I had the chance to test left me with a rather large distaste for Wear OS. I approached the Fossil Gen 5 watch in a similar way Carlyle that I didn't expect much from. From the moment they were unpacked, however, I was delighted with the excellent workmanship, good design and materials used. Fossil deployed the best possible that we could see at WearWatch OS. This makes using the watch convenient and you don't have to worry about jams or system slowdowns. Compared to others Wear You can also positively evaluate the OS watch's battery life, which you won't have to charge every day if you play with the settings a little.
We didn't encounter any major problems during testing. The rotating crown is quite sensitive. The brightness of the display cannot be compared to the best ones, and the main sensor, which cannot measure ECG or blood pressure, is basically lagging behind. Of course, the battery is poor compared to other watches, but that must be taken into account before buying any Wear The OS of the watch, so you can't really blame Fossil. If you want at all costs Wear OS watch, for example due to payment via Google Pay, so Fossil Gen 5 is probably the best option on our market. But personally, we would rather choose smartwatch from Samsung, and in case you do sports more often, it has recently been on the level of Garmin. Owners iOS probably the first to reach for Apple Watch, anyway, Fossil's "strength" is in the design, which is completely different from the Apple watches. If you are tired of the same design for years Apple Watch, then the Fossil Gen 5 can be a very good alternative, with which you will not lose a number of smart functions.
You can buy the Fossil Gen 5 watch HERE for CZK 6
- The first 5 of you have the opportunity to get a watch with a discount of 500 crowns, i.e. for 6 CZK - just enter the code during purchase fossil watch
For renting a Fossil Gen 5 watch CarThank you very much to the MobilPohotovos.cz store.
I'm quite curious how you broke up with this Google Pay watch. Can I ask for some advice? Thanks.
I would also be interested and we are not the only two - the Fossil forum is full of posts from angry users from half of the EU, where Google Pay with Wear The OS does not work.
As far as I know, it can be solved:https://www.xda-developers.com/enable-google-pay-unsupported-countries-wear-os/
and this is exactly the reason why (although I could do it without any problems) I would rather buy an apple - the time when I had to tinker with MS-DOS is over a quarter of a century ago, and when the competition can do it without any problems...
They just didn't test Google Pay, otherwise they would have found out that it's basically not there and probably just translated the article...
They just didn't test Google Pay, otherwise they would have found out that it's basically not there and probably just translated the article...
How can it be solved, for example, via VPN Surfhark and emphasize that I am in Germany and it is already possible (personally tested), but then the location on the mobile phone is reported incorrectly everywhere. Which is not a solution for me. For someone who wants to be as hidden as possible with all applications, on the contrary, it is 🙂