Fossil Q Explorist HR in the Review: top design, flop battery

The Fossil Q Explorist HR is a smartwatch with GPS, NFC and heart rate monitoring at a price of € 299. The Review reveals whether and for whom the purchase is worthwhile.

Q Explorist HR: scope of delivery

The Fossil watch comes to the customer in simple packaging. The smartwatch comes with the watch and a charging station. There is no charger for the wall. The smartphone's USB power supply has to help here or you can use the USB port on the computer.

In contrast to the previous model (Review report Fossil Q Explorist 3rd Gen), the Q Explorist HR does not charge wirelessly, but via two spring contact pins and a ring-like receiving area on the underside of the watch. There is no explanation for the regression on the part of Fossil. The manufacturer's website explicitly states: “Simply place your Fossil Q on the induction charger to charge it. No plugging and unplugging, no annoying cables. ”Charging with a 5 V power supply takes two hours. Also included is a quick start guide.

Q Explorist HR: design and processing

At first glance, the Q Explorist HR looks like an analog wristwatch. Individual pixels of the AMOLED display are only visible when you take a closer look and you can see that it is a smartwatch or digital watch. Appearance and design are a matter of taste, but in fact Fossil has got a nice and understated look. Masterfully crafted from high-quality materials such as glass and metal, the Q Explorist HR is like a classic men's watch. The waterproof case is 13 mm deep and, together with the brown leather strap, weighs 75 g. The watch is heavier on the metal link bracelet, which is a welcome affair for some users.

Speaking of the bracelet: Fossil uses a hybrid bracelet design. The outside of the band is made of leather, while the inside is made of a soft and hypoallergenic surface that is designed for water and sweat. Fossil does not prescribe anything for its tapes and supports the open standard with 22 mm. A tool to change the bracelet is not necessary; the bracelet has a quick change mechanism.

The Q Explorist HR can be operated via several input options. In addition to the touch on the display and by voice with "Ok, Google", it also has two physical and freely assignable buttons on the right side. In addition, it has a rotary wheel for scrolling the display content.

Q Explorist HR: hardware

The new Fossil watch comes with old hardware: Inside is a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 2100 with 512 MB RAM. The processor was introduced in early 2016 and has since been replaced by the Snapdragon 3100. The latter promises more power and reduces energy consumption, so that a runtime of more than a week should be possible. First tests in the near future will show whether the chip maker Qualcomm keeps its promise.

The Q Explorist's memory offers 4 GB. Music files for wireless transmission to Bluetooth headphones can be stored on it, or Wear OS apps can be installed from the Google Play store. It is not possible to stream music content from services such as Spotify, Google Play Music, Deezer and Co. The watch lacks the apps and / or its own and self-sufficient internet connection via LTE. In addition, telephoning and voice output via the Q Explorist HR were not possible; in the previous generation, this worked perfectly via a loudspeaker.

The Q Explorist has a GPS and a heart rate sensor with optical recording, which is new compared to the older generation. This makes the watch interesting for joggers. Localization via GPS takes five to ten seconds. The measurement of the pulse agrees with other devices.

The biggest criticism of the new Fossil watch is the short battery life of 10 hours on average. Removed from the charging station at 8 a.m. in the morning, it reaches the 5 to 10 percent remaining capacity of the battery by 5 p.m. A newer and energy-efficient processor would certainly have counteracted this.

The large AMOLED display has an extremely high resolution of 454 × 454 pixels. It is bright and easy to read even with strong sun rays.

Q Explorist HR: software

The operating system of Q Explorist HR is Wear OS by Google, formerly known as Android Wear OS. Google has slightly revised the look and feel. In fact, handling has become a bit more user-friendly. The control elements have gained in surface area, which makes them easier to click on. No separate third-party apps are installed on the watch from the factory. The essentials such as alarm clock, weather, timer and Co. are included. Google's fitness application counts steps and measures the heart rate.

Q Explorist HR: Variants

Leather bracelet (light brown)

Link bracelet (gray)

Silicone wristband (black)

Leather bracelet (dark brown)

Link bracelet (silver)

Leather bracelet (black)

Conclusion

The fourth generation of the Fossil smartwatch looks attractive and wears comfortably. Technically better positioned than all of its predecessors, it convinces with a large display and strong vibration alarm. Unfortunately, the battery life is insufficient, which would be longer with the newer processor.

If you are looking for an inconspicuous Android smartwatch with GPS and heart rate measurement and occasionally want to read your notifications on your arm, the Fossil Q Explorist HR is a good choice at a fair price of 299 euros. The price should tend to fall in the coming weeks. In the price comparison above the conclusion is the currently cheapest price.

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