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Despite Wear OS 3 being announced in 2021, we’ve seen very few smartwatches with this wearable OS to date – and zero from Fossil, despite being one of the biggest players in Wear OS. But that’s about to change, as the company just announced the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition, which runs Wear OS 3 out of the box.
That will be this Fossil’s first Wear OS 3 device, and it will join the Google Pixel Watch, Montblanc Summit 3, Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 line, and Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 line in running this latest OS release.
So why are we comparing it to the Fitbit Sense 2 instead of one of those wearables? Because of the ‘Wellness’ part of its name.
Like the recently launched Fitbit Sense 2, the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition puts a lot of emphasis on health and fitness; with a Wellness app that helps him track and monitor SpO2, VO2 Max, heart rate zones, cardio fitness level, sleep and more. Continuous heart rate monitoring and automatic training detection are also part of the equation here.
The Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition also has the same US price as the Fitbit Sense 2, at $299 (about £265 / AU$475).
Operating system and fitness features aside, this doesn’t sound too exciting though, as it’s really just a tweaked version of the existing Fossil Gen 6, complete with a slightly dated Snapdragon Wear 4100 Plus chipset.
The other specs include a 1.28-inch OLED display, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage and a 44mm body in a choice of black, silver or rose gold tones. Oddly enough, despite some marketing images showing the Google Assistant on the watch, apparently it won’t be available at launch, with a Fossil spokesperson telling The edge (opens in new tab) that they are not sure when it will be added. Although Amazon Alexa is available in the meantime.
If you like the sound of the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition, you can pick it up in the US and UK starting October 17th, with no further mention of availability elsewhere. However, if you’re primarily interested in Wear OS 3, then you should have a ton of other Fossil options soon too.
Analysis: Wear OS 3 is coming
While the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition will be the first Fossil watch to run Wear OS 3 out of the box, there will soon be a software update to Wear OS 3 for other smartwatches made by the company.
We already knew it would eventually come to the standard Fossil Gen 6, and now the company has confirmed – according to Android Central (opens in new tab) – that this update will land on October 17; so the same day as the launch of the Wellness Edition.
It’s coming to other Gen 6 watches too, so the Skagen Falster Gen 6 and the Michael Kors Gen 6. However, it’s only coming to models with a Snapdragon Wear 4100 Plus chipset; older watches will not get Wear OS 3.
However, as noted, even that chipset isn’t exactly new anymore, so if you’re not desperate for a new smartwatch, you might be better off waiting for the Fossil Gen 7 – which will likely run the newer Snapdragon W5 Plus – before buying a new one. upgrade your portable hardware.
Check out our roundup of the best smartwatches to see what the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition is up to.