Wearable Review: Fossil Hybrid HR review

For the purists

The Fossil Hybrid HR may be a breath of fresh air that explores the underserved middle ground between smartwatches that snap at quite they will chew and fitness trackers that appear as if toys. it's a really cherry-picked feature set, which can appeal to some users. For those specifically trying to find a hybrid, this is often one of the simplest new options.

(+)FOR

Classy design
Reliable 15-day battery
Novel e-ink display

(-)AGAINST

Notifications cannot be interacted with
Not the foremost intuitive
Intro, Price, Design, Display
Features, Fitness, Verdict

No price information

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The Fossil Hybrid HR is that the company’s first attempt at creating a hybrid from the bottom up, including the software side. it's squarely targeted at those that need a smartwatch experience but don't want to sacrifice on the planning or battery reliability that we’re wont to expecting from traditional watches. Considering that, it's a reasonably good first attempt at creating a replacement platform that deserves to possess more generations within the future.

For Android users, smartwatch options either come from Samsung or the Fossil group. While they need matured tons over the past few years within the absence of competition, the experience often fails to justify the worth tag. Moreover, as counter-intuitive because it may sound, adding more features and capabilities have done little to slow the tide of Android smartwatches.

With that knowledge in mind, the Fossil Hybrid HR ventures with a special approach to the wearable game; one that interestingly doesn’t aim to exchange your smartphone. In fact, one among the primary things you’ll notice during the initial setup process is how unapologetically this watch is supposed to only extend notifications from your phone. this is often the theme that will be prevalent through this review.

Price and availability

The Fossil Hybrid HR is priced at Rs 14,995 in India. The variant we tested was the Hybrid Smartwatch HR Collider within the Smoke finish with a chrome steel band, which is priced at Rs 16,495. It is often purchased from Amazon and Fossil’s website.

Design

Design preferences on tech products are generally subjective, except for smartwatches, the polarity is far lesser as these are part-time fashion accessories. The Fossil Hybrid HR nails this aspect with what's one among the best-looking watches we’ve seen, hybrid or otherwise. it's beautifully clad in metal on all sides with sturdy lugs and a rather comfortable band.

It looks sort of a conventional watch, which may be a major factor for hybrids. The backplate has an embedded pulse sensor that kicks in at intervals to record your pulse. There are three pushers on the proper side for navigation, because the face isn't a touchscreen. the dimensions and weight, however, makes it unsuitable for people with slimmer wrists.

Most smartwatches look too geeky for his or her good and are difficult recommendations to fashion-conscious people. The Fossil Hybrid HR will win many such hearts. We got unanimously regeneration around its look.

Display

Coming to the foremost exciting little bit of the watch, we have a daily watch with hands adorning the front. But, a better look will reveal an alphanumeric display underneath. It is a 1.06-inch e-ink display for viewing your notifications and complications. This inherently brings extremely low power consumption and unparalleled sunlight legibility. but a couple of older Pebble watches, and therefore the Fossil Hybrid HR is one among the rare wearables which implement an e-ink display. we expect this trend deserves more adopters as display brightness and battery life are plaguing smartwatches for years. They don’t get to be super colorful to urge the work done that they're destined to.

Having said that, like most e-paper panels, this one suffers from terrible refresh rates. It takes almost a second to reply to input sometimes. With the buttons being the sole thanks to interacting with the things on the screen, the slow display often made us hit the buttons quite needed, thinking that it didn’t register the push within the first try.

Thankfully, the hands of the watch are programmed to never are available the way of the content on display and can move to the three and 9 positions to hide the smallest amount area. For all the opposite scenarios where the hands are within the way, you'll just simply flick your wrist to urge the hands to bop around and obtain out of the way for a couple of seconds.

The display isn't backlit by default and can be challenging to look at in darker environments with no direct light. Fossil has equipped the watch with a sensible implementation where four LEDs will illuminate the watch face from the corners with a double-tap on the glass. once more, this sounds good, but actually, never worked within the first try. The taps got to be really strong, almost as if you’re looking to play it. We hope this is often something that gets addressed within the next version

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