Fossil had previously confirmed that it would be launching powerful new smartwatches to take advantage of Google’s Wear OS 3, and now a leak from the reliable WinFuture shows off the upcoming watch. With a Snapdragon Wear 4100 processor, 8GB of storage, and all-day battery life, it might just prove to be a force when it comes to hardware.
Going into the specs, WinFuture says that the Fossil Gen 6 will have a 1.28-inch OLED display with always-on functionality. It will reportedly be available in 42mm and 44mm sizes, and be water-resistant up to 5 meters. There will also be options for straps, with leather, fabric, and metal variants planned. Fossil will also offer different designs for men and women, with the internal components and material choices remaining the same regardless.
Performance- and power-wise, the device is said to have a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 chip. The chip is a lot more powerful than the older one that was found in previous Wear watches, as a result of its 12nm process and faster GPU (and it is already a known quantity as a result of the TicWatch Pro 3). The Gen 6 is also said to have 24-hour battery life, with a power-saving mode that extends this to “several days”, courtesy of the Wear 4100.
Other niceties to come with this device include a variety of sensors for tracking sleep, step count, heart rate, oxygen saturation, as well as the usual GPS for logging your runs and walks. It is also equipped with 8GB of internal storage.
As for its pricing, the Fossil Gen 6 is reported to cost either 299 or 329 Euros ($350 to $385) from Amazon listings, with a street date of September 27. If true, then we could expect an official announcement from Fossil in the coming weeks.
Unfortunately, it seems unlikely you’ll be able to buy this with Wear OS 3 anytime soon. While Samsung can already ship its Galaxy Watch with the new operating system, Fossil’s devices will be getting it in mid-late 2022. If you’re not a fan of Samsung, this watch would remain a tempting option, however, with its more recent hardware elevating it from other middling Google Wear watches in the past.
The OnePlus Buds Clip are a new pair of open-ear earbuds built around a simple convenience. They join Sony’s LinkBuds Clip in the growing ear-cuff category, but either OnePlus bud can go on either ear.
Sensors recognize how the earbuds are being worn and route the audio channels accordingly. There’s no label to check before putting them on, and the feature also works when only one bud is used.
We buy fitness bands and activity trackers to keep tabs on our exercise, but it is easy to forget to start tracking or switch modes when moving between different activities. For Fitbit and Pixel Watch users, that could soon become a lot less annoying, as Google is rolling out a major upgrade to automatic activity tracking that can recognize more than 100 types of exercise, up from just 10 before.
Google first showed off the improved tracking earlier this month alongside the Fitbit Edge. It is now coming to Fitbit Air and the Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5, and Google claims the added context behind the system makes workout detection nearly twice as accurate while cutting missed activities by more than half. Fitbit Edge will support it too.