With a number of the qualities of the best smartwatch out there, the Fossil Sport features a pretty solid and simultaneously stylish design packing in the Google Wear OS. While it may not have the best app compatibility out there like the Apple Watch Series 4, it still performs pretty well considering the fact that it’s compatible with android. And with multiple sensors for fitness tracking as well as NFC for contactless payments, the Fossil Sport makes for a pretty amazing smartwatch that is also waterproof upto 50 metres underwater. If you prefer bracelets to watches, check out our review of the TapTap wristband too.
Why We Like It – Fossil Sport Review
Packed with Google’s Wear OS platform and the Snapdragon Wear 3100, the Fossil Sport Smartwatch delivers a pretty good performance as both a fitness tracker and a possible substitute for your phone at times. With a round design similar to the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier Smartwatch, it looks pretty nice but still weighs comparatively lighter. And so, with all that as well as a good amount of sensing capability and app flexibility, the Fossil Sport makes for a pretty great smartwatch. And if the idea of a mechanical smartwatch hybrid sounds interesting, take a look at our review of the 7 things to know about the Kairos smartwatch hybrid.
- Great design
- Waterproof upto 50 metres
- Internal storage for music
- Google Wear OS does freeze at times
- Apps are good but limited in quantity
Performance
Installed with Wear OS 2.7 based on the Android 8.1 Oreo variant, and coming with Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100, the Fossil Sport Smartwatch performs well above the standard fitness band. It comes with 512MB of RAM and even 4GB of on board storage, allowing you to make use of a number of apps from the playstore and even play music without having to carry your phone with you everywhere. When it comes to the apps themselves, while you are a bit limited on options, you do get to use the preinstalled Google Fit Breath, Fit and Nike Running Club App for fitness tracking thanks to the numerous sensors that provide pretty spot on data. The Fossil Sport comes with an accelerometer, altimeter, gyroscope, ambient light sensor as well as the expected heart rate monitor. Paired with the GPS, which although takes some time to lock on, you get quite the accurate data monitoring for workouts. Other than that, unlike most other Wear OS watches, the Fossil Sport is also capable of swimming monitoring thanks to it’s waterproof resistance of 5ATM and upto 164 feet underwater. However, the fitness tracking is not as accurate or precise as the Letscom Fitness Tracker due to the slightly slow GPS tracking. If you want a watch that’s water resistant and offers NFC payments, check out our Fossil Mens Gen 4 Smartwatch review.
Apart from that, when it comes to interacting with your smartwatch, the Fossil Sport also allows you to reply to chat notifications despite not having the apps installed on it’s storage. The controls are also pretty simple for this Wear OS smartwatch as you get both the 3 buttons on the side, the center one of which allows for easy scrolling as well as the 2 Inch 390 x 390 OLED touchscreen display. And you can even use the microphone for voice commands through google assistant, which although is a bit slow despite the new chip of the Fossil Sport. However, while you do get a microphone, there are no speakers to play audio without bluetooth headphones like the Samsung Galaxy Watch. And do note that the Fossil Sport may end up freezing at times like most other Wear OS smartwatches, so unless you need something compatible with android, the Apple Watch Series 4 will be a better choice for you.
Finally, when it comes to the battery life, you’ll be happy to know that according to the review Fossil Sport Smartwatches have received, it lasts well over a day at around 25 hours with normal use. But if you do use the always-on watch face feature, you’ll get something near to almost a day’s worth of charge similar to the Apple Watch Series 5. If you’re someone who simply needs a smartwatch for fitness tracking, getting the Letscom Fitness Tracker with a better battery life might be the better way to go. If you want another great alternative for fitness tracking, take a look at our Garmin Vivoactive 3 review.
Design
Coming in two different sizes, the 43 or 41mm, an aluminum body and a lower nylon body, the Fossil Sport is pretty lightweight but simultaneously stylish. The AMOLED touchscreen provides you with some pretty good watch faces that you can choose from the good but limited options, and you can even customize one of your own through a photo from facebook or instagram.
Other than that, with the 22mm silicone straps which are comfortable and also easily replaceable, the Fossil Sport smartwatch provides you with a pretty good aesthetic. As for on the bottom of the watch, you get the magnetic charging pod and the heart rate sensor neither of which affect the watches comfortability whilst still performing pretty well. You also get some colour options which however may not still be available in most sites.
Value
Priced at about $100, the Fossil Sport Smartwatch is among the more affordable options out there. And despite being so affordable it acts as both a pretty good fitness tracker as well as a good smartwatch with the on board 4 GB storage space as well as the limited but good app options. Now, unless you’re someone who has an Iphone and could use an Apple Watch, getting yourself the Fossil Sport Watch is definitely worth it, despite the fact that you might come across some occasional lagging.
Fossil Sport Review Wrap Up
While it may not have the best app availability and although it may lag a bit at times when using certain apps, the Fossil Sport performs pretty well as a smartwatch in this price range. And so as any other smartwatch review would say, getting yourself the Fossil Sport if you need something compatible with android, tracks fitness data pretty well and is also waterproof upto 50 metres and even offers customizability along with on board music storage, is more than a great choice. That is unless you could afford to spend a bit more on the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier Smartwatch.
