Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Fossil Hybrid HR Review: The Undercover Smartwatch”.
( upbeat music, ), [, Michael ], Somewhere between a traditional timepiece and a smart watch, lies a peculiar product called a hybrid watch., And it’s a category that frankly, I’ve usually ignored.. But in my new neighborhood of Greenpoint Brooklyn, where a flashy $ 400 Apple watch still seems a little to Williamsburg-y hybrids strike a better balance for some. And the new Fossil Hybrid HR is the smartest one. I’Ve seen yet. My problem with hybrids up til now has been that in order to be both attractive and long-lasting, they’ve sacrificed the features that make them even marginally.
Smart. Watches from brands like Withings and Kronaby are beautiful, but they either make you memorize nebulous hand, movements or they compress notifications onto tiny displays.. I’Ve always found it a very compromised experience. With the Hybrid HR Fossil does things differently.. While the watch does use a proper analog watch face with physical hour and minute hands, they float atop and always on display that covers 27 of the watch. Casings 42 millimeters.
We’ve seen this approach before., Most notably on the disappointing LG Watch W7.. The difference here is that, rather than an LCD or OLED, this panel is ePaper. Similar display technology to the one used by Amazon’s Kindle.. That has a lot of benefits and a few drawbacks. For the benefits. This type of screen only uses power when it’s changing state., So most of the time like when it’s just sitting there, showing you the date and the weather, it’s consuming, almost no energy.
That lets Fossil promise. Two weeks of battery life between charges. In my usage, I’ve found the drain rate a little higher than that. About 10 % per day., But in a world of Apple and Wear OS watches that need to be charged every other night.
It’S wonderful., There’s also rapid charging.. So a full charge only takes an hour. Another benefit to this display.., It’s visible under almost every lighting condition., When it’s dim or dark like in our new studio space. That’S still awaiting a proper lighting grid., You can double tap. The watch and four sidelights will fire up to illuminate the display., The drawbacks that tap doesn’t always register on the first try and those LEDs don’t light the watch face uniformly, which makes it look more like a Timex from the early 90s before they figured out Indiglo..
Also, this display is monochrome, not color and it refreshes more slowly than an LCD or OLED making scrolling through messages or menus a little janky by comparison.. But look if you want smooth scrolling and all the features you buy a proper smartwatch.. The whole point of a hybrid is to give you some of those features in a more spartan package. And this one over delivers.. When your wrist buzzes, you can’t miss that strong vibration and you can read entire text messages or chunks of an email without taking out your phone..
The heart rate sensor, in conjunction with the accelerometer means you can track both exercise and sleep., And while the watch doesn’t have the GPS found on more serious fitness trackers, it can connect with both Under Armor and Google Fit.. And what I really appreciate are the little things that make it a better watch.. You can use the app which is nice and clean to build your own watch faces for different scenarios like working out or traveling.. There’S no touchscreen to complicate things..
You just use the three pushers for everything. And you can program them to your own. Shortcuts. Call me boring, but I still find I get the most use out of the old timer and stopwatch presets. And if the hands ever get in the way, while you’re trying to read something you just flick, your wrist and they’ll do a little dance to. Let you see what’s underneath.
The Fossil Hybrid HR is available today for $ 195.. Now initially, I thought that excessive, given the complaints I have about the shoddy side lighting and the battery, not quite trending toward the full two weeks.. But then I took a look at the competition.. You need to spend 100 bucks more to get Fossil’s fully fledged Gen. 5 SmartWatch.
Kronaby charges way more for more attractive hybrids with far fewer capabilities, while Withings actually undercuts Fossil by about 20 bucks, but also delivers fewer features.. I think Fossil has really hit the sweet spot here by giving us a hybrid that promises only what it can. Deliver.
And deliver well. Toss in the company’s reputation for excellent customer service and I’m sold. For me, I’m more of a full smartwatch kind of guy.
So I’d probably go for one of the other Fossil Gen 5 offerings that I’m about to cover in a video. Coming very soon stay tuned for that., But if you’re in the market for something between a timepiece and a smartwatch, the Fossil Hybrid HR should be near the top of your list. Disclosure.
This review made possible by a Fossil Hybrid HR review sample provided by Fossil.. Mrmobile. Does not produce paid reviews, however, and Fossil did not receive a copy of this review in advance. They’re, seeing it at the same time, you are.
Shout out to David Imel of Android Authority and David Cogen of the Unlocker for their help. Composing, this video. Be sure to subscribe to them and please subscribe to the MrMobile on YouTube and share this video. If you’d like to see more reviews like this. Until next time, thanks for watching and stay mobile, my friends .