Fossil Gen 6 Wellness edition smartwatch review

 Wearable tech has become popular in just a few short years.

 People talk about getting their steps in all the time. In this way, things like smartwatches are great. They let us keep track of how much we move, sleep, and even work out. Plus, it lets us know what's going on so we don't have to always look at our phones. 

A smartwatch is a lot like a Swiss army knife that we wear on our wrists. 

It keeps track of things, sends out alerts, and, best of all, tells the time.

I'm going to talk about the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness edition smartwatch today. 

Could this be the missing piece in your health and fitness journey? 

It keeps track of your heart rate, steps, and sleep. In other words, does it work as a Wellness device?

 The goal of this review is to find out.

How the Fossil Gen 6 Smartwatch was made

At first glance, it would be hard to tell that this is a Wear OS 3 smartwatch.

 The front of the phone has a 1.28-inch Color AMOLED touchscreen display. It has a 44-mm stainless steel case with a 20-mm silicone strap that can be changed. 

Inside is a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100+ processor, 1 GB of RAM, and 8GB of storage. On the right side is a home button that can be turned and two push buttons that can be set up.

On the back, you'll find the heart rate sensors and the charging panels that magnetically stick to the charging cable dock. The Fossil Gen 6 also has sensors for acceleration, altitude, ambient light, a compass, and SPO2. When you put it on your wrist, it feels good and familiar. It doesn't feel big on my wrist, and I could wear it for a long time without getting tired of it.

Getting the Fossil Gen 6 smartwatch up and running

Even though the Fossile Gen 6 is made by Google, it works on both Android and iOS. I used an Android phone to set it up. I let it charge first. It takes about 30 minutes to go from 0% to 80%. Still, I let it charge all the way before setting it up.

Once it was charged, the screen showed a QR code. I downloaded the Fossil app, and it found the watch without me having to scan the QR code. From there, I gave all the permissions that were needed, like notifications, location, etc. To make my profile more unique, I also put in my age, height, weight, and sex. To finish setting up the Fossil Gen 6, I linked it to my Google account. The whole set-up process took about 5 minutes.

Using the Gen 6 smartwatch from Fossil

I do a lot of different things. I go to the gym almost every morning and jump rope. I couldn't wait to try out the Fossil Gen 6 and see what kind of information it could record. But I quickly found out that it's not a full fitness wearable. There are two kinds of workouts: those done outside and those done inside. Both assume that you do some kind of cardio exercise, probably running. When working out outside, you should first figure out where you are. Distance and heart rate are shown on a timer that is set. You can change it yourself to instead look at steps or calories burned.

When you work out inside, you can use Bluetooth to connect to fitness equipment. I've never seen this feature before, and none of the equipment in my gym can do it. If not, the second choice is to "skip to workout," which takes about the same amount of time as working out outside.

There is no way to keep track of specific workouts, like jumping rope. Some wearables can keep track of jumps, but this one can't. Still, I used the indoor workout option to track a 30-minute jump rope session. The heart rate and calorie data seemed to match the Huawei GT 3 Pro, which is another smartwatch I wear. The Gen 6 seems to count jumps as steps, though. Still, the jump/step data isn't as accurate as it is on smartwatches like the Huawei GT3 Pro that are made for jump rope workouts.

The Fossil Gen 6 can track your sleep.

The Fossil Gen 6 Wellness edition keeps track of how you sleep each night over weeks and months. The Fossil app shows the time to go to bed and the time to wake up. Then, it divides the stages of sleep into three groups: awake, light, and deep. The heart rate while sleeping is also shown graphically.

I thought the information about sleep was correct and helpful. On the first night, I had to get up early the next morning for a live radio interview. That night, I didn't sleep well, and I woke up a few times. The Fossil Gen 6 Wellness edition was able to record that information. I also like to look at the data about the heart rate. I would keep a close eye on this information for a year. It's helpful to know how the quality of your sleep and how your heart rate changes affect each other. People like me who are really into health love this kind of information.

How long does the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness edition's battery last?

It would be wrong of me not to talk about battery life. Even though I charged it before bed, it was dead by evening the next day. It didn't even last a full day. When all the sensors are on, the battery life is a big problem. You can change the settings on the battery, which is good, but I was still surprised by how quickly it ran out. It does charge to 80% in 30 minutes, which is good news. Basically, if you want to use all of the sensors, you'll need to charge this every time you take a shower. If it isn't charged, you'll need to do that before bed if you want to track your sleep.

Thoughts on the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness edition as a whole

It was the first time I used Wear OS 3. As someone who uses Android, I want to know how Google plans to use software in wearables. The Fossil Gen 6 Wellness edition is made to help people keep track of how much they move and sleep each day. But I'm surprised by how few workout options there are, especially since there are so many sensors built in. If all you want to do is keep track of your runs, steps, and sleep, this will work. But be ready to charge for this a lot. Fossil needs to make big changes to the battery life or cut down on the number of sensors.