Fossil has unveiled its new Gen 6 smartwatches and the new range includes some significant upgrades for those looking to dive into a new smartwatch purchase.
With upgrades across the board, the Fossil Gen 6 range offers a new and more powerful chipset, faster charging, an SpO2 sensor, and it'll also support Wear OS 3 when it launches sometime in 2022.
All those features should look pretty stylish too with Fossil continuing its trend of offering circular AMOLED screens that look more like traditional watch displays than some of the other best smartwatches currently out there. The display is 1.28-inch round with 326 pixels per inch so it should look pretty sharp. Housed in a stainless steel case and available in either 42mm or 44mm size, there are seven different styles to choose from with all of them offering two configurable push buttons on the right edge and a rotating home button that's similar to what the Samsung Galaxy Watch often provides. Like the Apple Watch Series 6, it also boasts an always-on display which generally looks better than older smartwatch displays.
Akin to many other smartwatches, the Fossil Gen 6 has a heart rate monitor but this time around, it aims to be more accurate than previous Fossil watches. There's also GPS and - for the first time - an SpO2 sensor that can estimate your blood oxygen levels. Elsewhere, there's the usual bevy of fitness tracking tools such as sleep tracking, calorie burn, and cardio fitness levels too.
That's quite a lot to pack into one smartwatch so you'll be relieved to know that the battery life shouldn't be badly impacted with Fossil reckoning you'll get about 24 hours if not more from the Fossil Gen 6. Fast charging of 0% to 80% in just over 30 minutes means you can get back to whatever you were doing pretty fast too.
Finally, there's the option to make tethered calls via your smartwatch thanks to an integrated speaker and microphone combination if you feel like acting like a spy talking to your wrist.
Things are hotting up in the smartwatch field with rumors that the Apple Watch Series 7 may be announced next month. Current suggestions are that it may offer thinner bezels and flat edges within its design, and it could be a little larger at 41mm and 45mm case sizes. New colors may also emerge to match up with the rest of Apple's range of products.
The Fossil Gen 6 is expected to start at $299 and is available for preorder now. It could be a good time to update to one of the best smartphones to pair up alongside the new watch.
