SMART, ELEGANT, FAST
The Pixel Watch may not have the most attractive bezels, but everything else in this smartwatch is great. Wear OS 3.5 is fast and smooth, and Google has packed plenty of power under the hood.
for
- gorgeous design
- Best of Wear OS 3
- Deep integration with Fitbit
- great watch face
Against
- big bezel
- Battery life could be improved
- It is troublesome to change to a band made by another company.
Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition
Good for basic
Fossil’s Gen 6 Wellness Edition ships with Wear OS 3 out of the box, but the overall experience is still a bit cluttered. You will not be able to use the Google Assistant and the performance will be poor.
for
- Works on both iOS and Android
- sophisticated design
- super fast charging
Against
- Google Assistant is not currently included
- Battery life is not up to par
- Only 8GB of storage
- no electrocardiogram
Google has been rumored to be working on a smartwatch for years, but the Pixel Watch wasn’t announced until 2022. Meanwhile, Fossil has been in the smartwatch game for years, and the Gen 6 Wellness Edition was the company’s first wearable to ship with Wear OS 3 out of the box. But the story goes further when comparing the Google Pixel Watch to the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition.
Google Pixel Watch vs. Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition: Design and Specs
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Despite being Google’s first attempt at a smartwatch, the Pixel Watch is one of the best-designed smartwatches on the market. Use one of Google’s preloaded watch faces for a sleek look.
That’s because the Pixel Watch “has” one of the largest bezels we’ve seen on any smartwatch. So to address the complaint, Google had to think outside the box so its first wearable wouldn’t be laughed out loud in the open.
| Header Cell – Column 0 | google pixel watch | Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition |
|---|---|---|
| screen | 1.2 inch AMOLED (320ppi) | 1.28 inch AMOLED (326ppi) |
| material | stainless steel | stainless steel |
| navigation | Touchscreen, rotating crown, one button | Touchscreen, rotating crown, two buttons |
| processor | Exynos 9110 SoC with Cortex M33 coprocessor | Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100+ |
| depository | 32GB | 8GB |
| battery | 294mAh; up to 24 hours | 590mAh; up to 80 hours |
| wireless charging | yes (proprietary) | yes (proprietary) |
| sensor | Accelerometer, Altimeter, Ambient Light, Blood Oxygen, Compass, ECG, Gyroscope, Heart Rate Monitor | Accelerometer, Altimeter, Ambient Light, Compass, Gyroscope, Off Body IR, PPG Heart Rate, SPO2 |
| connectivity | LTE (optional), GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BeiDou, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi, NFC | Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy, Wi-Fi |
| case size | 41mm | 44mm |
| software | Wear OS 3.5 | Wear OS3 |
Fossil, on the other hand, has plenty of experience in this area, and the Gen 6 Wellness Edition is proof of that. Instead of the curved, rounded display, Fossil opted to use the same flat screen found in the regular 6th generation and nearly all previous smartwatches.
Comparing the Pixel Watch and the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition, it’s worth keeping in mind the actual case size. With a 1.24-inch display, the Pixel Watch has a case diameter of 41 mm and comes in only one size. The 6th Gen Wellness Edition only comes in one size with a 44mm case housing a 1.28-inch AMOLED display.
The Gen 6 Wellness Edition also has an advantage when it comes to band replacement. You can use all your favorite 20mm watch bands and easily swap them out whether you bought them directly from Amazon or Fossil.
Google, on the other hand, tried an Apple Watch-like approach and offered a variety of first-party bands, but there seemed to be no support for third-party bands. That is until I discovered that the strap could be removed from the band connector. Then simply use one of the best Pixel Watch bands. If you want to stay out of trouble, there are third-party adapters for pairing with different bands.
When it comes to interacting with these Wear OS 3 smartwatches, the Pixel Watch has a rotating digital crown on the side, with buttons right above it. Fossil’s Gen 6 Wellness Edition has a swivel crown on the right side and rows of buttons on the top and bottom.
It’s no surprise that both of these smartwatches have hardware. With the Pixel Watch, Google relies on Samsung’s Exynos 9110 paired with a Cortex M33 coprocessor, along with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage.
This gives you plenty of space for all your favorite apps, music, and podcasts, while also giving you the most storage of any smartwatch with Wear OS. The Gen 6 Wellness Edition is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 4100+ SoC and combines 1GB of RAM with 8GB of storage. It’s not meant to be very robust, but I can’t help but feel like Fossil is doing the bare minimum here.
Google Pixel Watch vs. Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition: Software and Health
It’s no secret that the Wear OS 3 rollout is frustrating. Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 series was the first smartwatch to feature the latest version, followed by the Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro. On the bright side, Fossil was able to ship his Gen 6 Wellness Edition with Wear OS 3 right out of the box, but it’s not exactly the same experience.
For one thing, you can’t use the Google Assistant with Fossil’s wearables, and you’ll be using Amazon Alexa instead. This is no doubt a surprising omission, but given that assistants are known to eat some of the wearable’s battery life, it’s probably for the best.
Google’s Pixel Watch also runs Wear OS 3.5, but the Gen 6 Wellness is “stuck” on Wear OS 3. A slight upgrade to Google’s own hardware pays off big when it comes to fluidity and optimization when using the Pixel Watch.
Comparing these two smartwatches is a bit complicated when it comes to health tracking. increase. This means your health and fitness metrics are collected and stored within the Fitbit app.
Both of these smartwatches can track SpO2, VO2 Max, heart rate, activity, and sleep. Fossil also implemented automatic workout detection, in contrast to the Pixel Watch, which tries to identify workouts after the fact.
But your biggest problem probably isn’t Fossil’s actual health tracking. Instead, it’s a companion app that’s new to Wear OS 3, and it’s more bare-bones than you’d expect. But if you’re fine with just being able to see your metrics for the day at a glance, that’s probably fine.
Google Pixel Watch vs. Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition: Battery Issues
Moving on to the batteries, both the Pixel Watch and the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition can last up to 24 hours on a single charge. Unfortunately, both wearables are going to have a hard time reaching these “time ratings.”
But Fossil still uses pin-based chargers, and the 6th Gen Wellness Edition can charge from 0-80% in about 30 minutes. Google’s wireless charging pack, on the other hand, is inefficient and does not work with other Qi wireless chargers. So we’re seeing our own Charger battle that no one wins.
As you can imagine, if you plan to use one of these smartwatches with Always-on Display enabled, you’ll be lucky to get 12 hours of use on a single charge. Fossil has several battery saving modes implemented, but your best bet is to leave his AOD turned off.
The same sentiment applies to the Pixel Watch, even with Google’s Wear OS 3.5, which offers its own hardware-specific optimizations. Still, the only way to make the wearable last as long as possible was to turn off the AOD.
Google Pixel Watch vs. Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition: Which Should You Buy?
One aspect of these smartwatches that we haven’t mentioned yet is the price. The Pixel Watch (Wi-Fi only) retails for $349 and the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition is $299. Since each launch, various deals and sales have taken place, withdrawing a few dollars here and there.
With that in mind, you’ll have to pay an extra $50 for the Pixel Watch over what Fossil currently offers. A smoother experience, more storage compared to the 6th Gen Wellness Edition , and a more enjoyable software experience.
Perhaps things will change when Qualcomm’s latest wearable processors actually start making their way into Fossil wearables. But despite being announced in June 2022, we’re still waiting for the Snapdragon Wear 5+ to actually launch.
almost perfect
There are definitely complaints about the Pixel Watch, but the Fitbit integration and Wear OS 3.5 fluidity more than make up for those complaints.
Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition
compromise city
The price may be cheap, but the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness doesn’t do enough to justify its price. But if you want a bigger smartwatch with Wear OS 3 and don’t mind sacrificing speed, it’s fine.
