Review: Fossil Q Grant – Smartwatch in hybrid design

April 15, 2020

 Image: www.techstage.com

Smartwatches with a large display want to be recharged daily. With the Q Grant, Fossil wants to prove in the now second generation that a watch can be smart and still runs for a long time: analog hands and Bluetooth connection. Our Review report shows whether the previously largely unknown concept is convincing.

Fossil Q Grant: design

The Q Grant works like a classic analog watch. Brown leather strap with silver clasp, round case, dial, analog hands and three buttons on the right side. Display or microUSB connection? Nothing. At first glance you can't see the technology.

The silver case has a diameter of 44 millimeters and a height of 13 mm. The processing and the materials as well as the seams on the bracelet look high quality. If you turn the watch over, the quick-release fasteners of the bracelet can be seen. A light push on the lever is enough and the strap can be exchanged with any Fossil model. As with the Apple Watch, changing to a different design is possible without fiddling and special tools. As an alternative to leather, there are various models in nylon, cotton, silicone or metal to choose from.

The ticking of the clock is inconspicuous and pleasantly quiet; the hands are coated with luminescent paint. So you can easily read the watch in the dark for several hours.

Fossil Q Grant: equipment

The Q second generation grant is waterproof and is dustproof. Waterproof according to ATM 5 means: The watch can be worn when washing hands, taking a shower or in the bath. But it's not meant for swimming or diving.

The most important functions include pedometer, sleep tracker, various notifications, music control and camera remote trigger for the smartphone. It also includes an alarm function, date display, display of multiple time zones and the display of personal fitness goals.

Due to the lack of a display, the displays are reduced to a minimum and work with the help of the analog hands and the vibration alarm. According to Fossil, the built-in button cell (CR2430) lasts about six months and can be replaced by the user. If the vibration function is used intensively, the battery runtime will of course be shortened – we will get a corresponding note when setting up the watch. An energy-hungry pulse sensor is not installed. The cost of a new battery is around 6 euros.

Fossil Q Grant: Q App

The added value of the hybrid watch only becomes apparent after installing the Fossil Q app. It is free for Android in the Google Play Store and in Apple App Store for the iPhone available. Before the watch can be paired with the smartphone, the user must register with personal data such as email, name, gender and date of birth. Too bad a missed opportunity: by not having to register, Fossil could certainly have opened up another target group with its hybrid smartwatch, which cannot get used to the business models of Apple and Google.

The actual coupling then works easily. Activate Bluetooth, start the app, select the device type, place the cell phone and smartwatch side by side and press the middle button of the watch for about five seconds. Shortly afterwards, the app reports that smartwatches have been found. We choose our watch and the app starts to sync. The time and date are not set on the Q-Smartwatch itself, but come from the cell phone. The supposed crown of the watch is actually another, freely assignable button.

In the app you set which functions you want to use and how the buttons on the watch should be assigned. Actions such as the photo trigger for the smartphone camera, the music control or the cell phone search are easy to understand and require no further configuration. There are other options for using destinations, notifications, other time zones or the alarm function. After changing settings, the smartphone and watch synchronize – this works without problems as long as they are no more than a few meters apart.

We like to use the smartphone search, which plays a ringtone on the cell phone at the push of a button and thus helps to find it quickly. In our opinion, the remote release for the smartphone camera is also a practical extra. As a third function, we have mostly selected Change Mode. This enables the alarm time and date to be displayed. The small pointer in the lower area of ​​the clock shows the currently selected function, the clock hands the alarm time or the date.

We also briefly tested target tracking. To do this, we first store a target. In our case: Drink eight glasses of water a day. We press the function key for each glass, the clock counts. We can then check the result in the Q app.

The progress of our fitness goal (desired number of steps per day) is permanently displayed on the small percentage scale below the clock.

The alarm function works great and very discreet. Instead of a clattering cell phone, only a slight vibration on the wrist reminds us. This is probably not suitable for getting late risers out of bed, but it reports, for example, when to go to the bus.

Sleep tracker and pedometer work inconspicuously in the background and can also share their data with other apps on the smartphone.

We think it's a shame that the software doesn't seem to be up to date. When setting up the watch, there is both the Hybrid Smartwatch and Q Grant options in the model selection. Confusing: Although we have a Q Grant, we have to choose hybrid watch. The other option is probably for the first generation models. Hopefully Fossil will bring an update soon to make this clearer.

Fossil Q Grant: Variants

The Q Grant is available in light brown leather, dark brown / black leather, blue stainless steel and soon also in black / gray stainless steel.

Fossil Q Grant: buy?

We really like the watch. Despite a wide range of functions compared to a smartwatch with a large display, the hybrid variant also has its advantages. The most important point is the battery life: who wants to charge their watch every day? On the other hand, the visual appearance is a real plus. Especially for fans of classic wristwatches.

What we also lack is haptic feedback on the keys. A simple push of a button is enough for the watch to count up the destination, for example. You can only see whether you have pressed really hard enough in the app. Feedback via vibration would be desirable.

The other functions all work without any problems. So if you have been using a fitness tracker without a pulse sensor so far, you can safely switch to a much more stylish hybrid watch. If you like to wear watches, the Q-Grant is a model with real added value. At less than 200 euros, the hybrid variant is also not significantly more expensive than a normal watch of similar quality.

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