A barrage of Android Wear-powered smartwatches are on the way, and Fossil Group is leading the charge. At IFA 2017 in Berlin, the sprawling fashion empire announced a “massive expansion” of its wearables lineup across brands like Diesel, Emporio Armani, Michael Kors, Misfit, Relic, Skagen, Michele, and Tory Burch.
“Today our wearables segment is the fastest-growing part of our business,” Greg McKelvey, chief strategy and digital officer at Fossil Group, said in a statement. “Clearly, this distinct combination of the best design and the best tech is winning with fashion-conscious customers who were long neglected by other wearable brands.”
Fossil highlighted the Diesel On Full Guard, a smartwatch collection that’s on pre-sale now, and launches on September 25; and the new Emporio Armani watch, which features 11 interchangeable leather, silicone, and stainless steel straps and goes on sale September 14. The Misfit Vapor, a music-playing, swim-proof (up to 5ATM) wearable with a heart rate monitor, hits store shelves in October, and new Michael Kors Access touchscreen watches ship on September 25.
Fossil’s giving old watches a fresh coat of paint — and making them available more places. The Fossil Q Venture and Fossil Q Explorist, Fossil’s first full-round touchscreen smartwatches, are now available in new styles, and the Michael Kors Access Sofie and Access Grayson touchscreen smartwatches are now on sale in hundreds of brick-and-mortar stores globally.
By the end of 2017, Fossil says it will have launched more than 300 watches across 14 of its brands.
Every watch in Fossil’s late 2017/early 2018 collection will run Google’s Android Wear 2.0, the company said, which is fully compatible with both Android and iOS phones. As with other Android Wear watches on the market, you can download apps from the Google Play Store and swap digital dial designs, color combinations, and watch faces.
Fossil credits its success to close collaboration with Google.
“Our partnership with Fossil Group has been a driving force for the growth of Android Wear’s device portfolio, which has allowed us to offer users choices and diversity,” David Singleton, vice president of Android engineering at Google, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to continue the partnership into 2018 and implement new ways to connect fashion and technology, leveraging the flexibility of Android Wear and the design capabilities of Fossil Group and its brands.”
Fossil says its connected devices division doubled in size the last 12 months alone, and that its watches are now active in 50 countries and 20 languages.
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.
Samsung's next budget fitness tracker may look a lot like its predecessor. Although the company has yet to share any details about the device, Android Authority has obtained videos showing the Galaxy Fit 4 in three colors, offering a closer look at a wearable that appears to retain the same basic design as the Galaxy Fit 3.
Samsung may be playing it safe with its next fitness band