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Is Fossil Carlyle HR smartwatch (5th generation) worth to buy?

Is Fossil Carlyle HR smartwatch (5th generation) worth to buy?

The fossil gen 5 smartwatch, elegant but not entirely satisfactory.

Fossil presents its new generation of smart health connected watches with the Carlyle HR and the Julianna HR, two jewels equipped with Google’s Wears OS with, on paper, nice technical characteristics.

Well established in the classic watch market, Fossil has also made its mark among smart health connected watches. Already last year, the American manufacturer presented its 4th generation smart health connected watch and had received good reviews: combining the premium design of a jewel and the latest generation technical characteristics, Fossil has re-tried the same recipe for its 5th generation watch. .

The Carlyle HR and the Julianna HR are the two new models of smart health connected watches from Fossil. The first is a more basic version with a black or gray case, and the second has pink cases or even set with small rhinestones. There is also the possibility to choose and change the bracelets as you wish. So we tested the Carlyle HR model with a simple black silicone strap.

Design and use

First of all, a first detail about wearing the watch which was very inconvenient: it is not made for small wrists. The watch strap would have required an extra hole for smaller wrists. However, there are adjustable bracelets more suitable for small wrists. The 44mm case is imposing, but does not bother, it is even very pleasant for navigation on its round 1.28-inch AMOLED screen. We particularly like the multitude of watch faces that are available and customizable, to change according to your mood.

There are three buttons on the right side. The middle wheel, the most imposing, is used to open the application drawer, but also to return to the health home screen: its use is pleasant and very fluid. The top button opens and creates a category to save several different watch configurations and switch more easily. The last button, the bottom one, allows you to find the monitoring of physical activities. We also have two microphones, one on the right and the other on the top of the case, as well as a speaker on the left to be able to interact with Google Assistant.

Features

On the back of the case, the watch benefits from its heart rate measurement sensor: not as precise as an electrocardiogram present on the Apple Watch for example, but the watch gives results and monitoring all the same precise and consistent. The heart rate is displayed on the main screen when you click on the heart logo, and it is also found via the Cardiogram application in the application drawer of the watch and on a smartphone.

The 5th generation Fossil watch is also equipped with a GPS, which allows you to practice sports activities on the watch without having to worry about your smartphone. It benefits from the Google Fit application which allows you to follow all the physical activity of the day: the number of steps, calories burned, kilometers covered, with a heart rate graph.

There is also a weather tracker, Google news, as well as Spotify to simplify listening to music and Google Pay thanks to the integration of an NFC chip for contactless payments.

The watch also benefits from the Google Assistant, which is activated via the screen on the left or by long pressing the main dial: the voice assistant responds to requests (make a call, find a route, set a timer) via the speaker located on the left, no more voice assistant responses only to writing on the screen.

Performances

The 5th Generation Fossil benefits from the OS Google, Wear OS, as well as a Snapdragon 3100 SoC, with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. If the use and navigation is pleasant, we still note latencies and a lack of fluidity at times, especially when opening applications or changes in the settings.

The battery of the watch is really interesting, because it has several consumption modes, including a customizable one. We have a daily mode, which activates most of the features, an extended mode which activates only what you need, and a mode which displays only the time to save battery. The customizable mode allows you to save the features that you want to keep or not. Despite this customizable mode to save battery, we regret that it runs out a little too quickly. With regular daily use, the watch is emptied of its autonomy in two days. However, it recharges relatively quickly thanks to its magnetic charger.

Where to buy fossil gen 5 smartwatch?

Fossil Unisex 44MM Gen 5 Carlyle HR Heart Rate Stainless Steel and Silicone Touchscreen Smart Watch, Color: Black (Model: FTW4025)