Fossil takes on Apple, launches its own Android Wear smart watch
The Apple Watch might be winning new customers left, right, and center, but that hasn’t stopped manufacturers from taking a chance on Google’s own Android Wear platform. In fact, Fossil has just entered the smart watch market for the first time ever with a brand new wearable designed to work alongside Android Wear.
It’s all about what’s under the hood
Called Fossil Q Founder (and pictured above), the smart watch is priced at $275. It features a stainless steel link bracelet design that seems poised to challenge the mid-tier Apple Watch, offering customers a similar-level device for a fraction — that is, roughly half — of the price. Most notably, it’s powered by an Intel Atom processor (as opposed the Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 400, which features more commonly in Android Wear smart watches), yet beyond this the device seems fairly average.
Android Wear by any other name is still Android Wear
Fossil’s Q Founder nevertheless still runs Android Wear, and in this respect it’s similar to what’s already on the market. Of course, it delivers notifications to the wrist, it features an activity monitor, and you can use Android Wear’s card-based OS in order to navigate through content using the circular screen. Much like the Apple Watch, it features enough battery life to get users through the day, but little more.
No match for the Watch
In fact, the closer you look at Q Founder, the less impressive it becomes. The device doesn’t feature a built-in heart rate monitor, for instance. And on iOS, Android Wear is still as limited as ever. It’s nevertheless cheaper than the low-end aluminum Apple Watch Sport (which starts at $349), and in this respect it could capture a portion of the market which finds Cupertino’s device too pricey to consider. Yet if you were to ask us, Android Wear is still a smart watch OS which iPhone owners shouldn’t dare to consider.
Fossil’s Q Founder.
Our advice? Look out for a decent Apple Watch deal this Black Friday, instead.
