Fossil Q Gen3 Smart Watch - Black

by Fossil Q

749/7867

Fantastic, a really beautiful watch. A solid piece of precision engineering finished off with a high quality leather strap. My first impression from the packaging was that Fossil is now on a level with Apple in terms of quality and presentation and I wasn’t disappointed at all when I took the watch out of its box and started to play with it. I was a little concerned at first about the lack of detailed instructions, but after several, frustrating, attempts at trying to pair the watch to my smart phone I eventually discovered that it was necessary to first select the correct language on the watch before starting the phone pairing procedure. This could have been mentioned in the quick start instructions, particularly for the likes of us Technophobes. Once I had overcome that very minor issue, I found the experience of discovering new features over the proceeding weeks to be very rewarding indeed. I’m a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to watches, however the attraction of complete connectivity with my smart phone, email, computer outlook calendar and my messaging applications has now outweighed my desire to wear one of my many classical mechanical timepieces, especially as I’ve selected the option of a traditional analog watch face. I haven’t yet found the need to explore the many available watch face options on the internet as I’ve been more than happy with the ‘Classic’ watch face, which came as one of the default options with the watch, particularly as I’ve managed to customize it to display the data and shortcuts that are of interest to me. I’ve found the drop-down menus to be intuitive and very easy to navigate, even for a person of limited multi-media aptitude such as myself, although I do believe that there are still many more surprises to come over the next few week as I continue to explore and discover the many options that I believe are available with this watch. Most of my working days are spent in meetings and being able to stay in touch with the outside world by a quick glance at my watch is ideal for me, and far more acceptable than having to continually pick up my smart phone every time it beeps – so annoying when you see other people doing this in meetings. My only niggle with the whole package is that the symbol on the charging pedestal is very difficult to see in anything other than very bright light. I’m not sure that it’s important to get the charging pedestal the right way round before charging the watch but if the symbol does need to be there then please make it more visible on the next generation. Having said all of that, I’ll give the watch a solid 10 out of 10 for quality, style, functionality and for dragging me into the 21st century. Thank you very much Fossil. [This review was collected as part of a promotion.]

I wanted a smartwatch that looked like a watch and would work with my iPhone. This one ticks all the boxes. Looks good, comfortable to wear and has enough features to keep me happy. I love being able to change the watch face wheneverI like and messaging from my iPhone works fine. I can’t respond to messages or calls through the watch but you can with Android phones but it meets my needs so I’m happy.

Fossil Q3 Smartwatch Review look and feel of the product Premium look and feel. I would be happy to wear this watch both for daily work and for smart / casual occasions. I was complimented many times on the looks of the watch alone, even while the watch was in low power mode with the smart screen off. The watch fit comfortably after removing a link. I am used to wearing a TW Steel watch on a daily basis so I am used to the larger style watch faces. The Q3 felt light and very comfortable in comparison to this, I would feel fine wearing this watch all day. Features The watch 'Sleep Mode' or low power usage screen is a good feature as it allows the time to be seen on the screen at all times. During use the screen is very clear, and of a good size for reading messages. I did really appreciate that there was no charge slot on the device (or a concealed slot) and I think that contributes to the premium look and feel of the watch. I also think a good idea for the wireless charging could be that the wireless charger is plugged in but instead of a circular dongle at the end – It could be a small pillow to wrap the watch around to display the watch during its charge. I was pleased that the step counter was featured on the Q3 too, as it is an important element taken from a fitness tracker, installed into a premium watch. Steps are motivating to track in work and this should not be limited to fitness trackers such as FitBit etc. Set Up / Build Set up was simple and easy as I already had a Google Play account – Typing passwords in via mobile device was particularly impressive. Usability I found the side buttons are very useful and its a great feature that you can customise the commands when either is pressed. The gestures to wake are both functional and impressive I think the face changing features are too easily accessed (with a simple swipe from the home screen), and I think this makes a premium feature feel like a novelty. Having additional face styles on the play store is great and does give you the impression you could customise your watch to suit any occasion. I particularly like the minimalistic watch faces, and the metallic styles that move with a tilt of the wrist are great too! A major potential positive point for me was the control of music playing from a mobile device via the smartwatch. The function worked for me, however it is not quite as responsive as I was expecting – often not skipping to the next track, and then skipping three or four tracks ahead a few seconds later. [This review was collected as part of a promotion.]