Who says smartwatches can’t be stylish?
As functional as the Apple Watch or the FitBit are, they aren’t the most attractive of watches. If you’re appreciative of classic watch styles and can’t stomach the idea of walking around town with your typical clunky smartwatch on your wrist, you might be more interested in the Fossil Q line. With a classy leather wristband and a watch face that looks more QG than iPhone, the Fossil Q Explorist is a stylish device that gives you all the functionality you’re looking for – without all the clunk.
And what kind of functionality is that? Starting with all the smartwatch basics: It’s powered by Google’s Wear OS, which connects it to your phone through Bluetooth and allows you to make use of push notifications, text alerts; you can take phone calls, send texts and reply to emails, all with just your fingertips, thanks to the small-but-responsive touchscreen embedded into the 46mm round case. There’s also activity tracking, keeping score of the steps you take, the distance you travel and how many calories you burn (roughly). You can control your music through Spotify, Pandora, Google Play, Apple Music and even SoundCloud; there’s a built-in microphone for phone calls and recordings; it automatically syncs to your phone wirelessly; and there’s even a built-in LED flashlight.
You can customize all the settings and interfaces to your own liking, using any Fossil or Wear OS design, adjust the colors as you see fit. And, like all the best watches, it’s compatible with an array of wrist straps: simply choose an 22mm watch strap you desire and customize your ensemble to fit your own personal style.
Battery life is rated at an impressive 24 hours of average usage – about 20% more than an Apple Watch. And the wireless charging is super easy, using an inductive charging magnet. Just put it down on top and it will charge.
The watch case is a 46mm stainless steel and is rated to IP67 standards of water-resistance. It’ll work with both Android 4.4+ and iOs 9.3+. Finally, it has 4gb of storage.
Whether your prefer a gunmetal or leather case, if you’re looking for a smartwatch that is versatile and stylish enough to work with virtually any outift, you could do a lot worse than the Fossil Q series. At about $275, it’s a relative bargain, too.
