Fossil Men's Gen 6 44mm Stainless Steel and Silicone Touchscreen Smart Watch, Color: Black (Model: FTW4061V)

Reading these reviews, it is clear not everyone knows how to use their smartwatch, which means updating their device. So before giving my review, I will use my review to educate people. First, plug your smartwatch into your charger. Tap the top of the screen and swipe down. Next, tap on the gear icon. Tap the bottom of the screen and swipe up until you see "system," then tap on it to select "system." Tap the bottom and swipe up again until you see "about" and then tap on it "about" to select it. Tap and swipe up (again) and select "System updates," and install the available updates. Your smartwatch will reboot, AND you will need to repeat this process until there are no more updates. Fossil, like any Android device, is not without its partnerships. Unfortunately, that is part of why the battery may drain faster; for example, you do not need two (2) heart monitoring apps. The excellent news is Fossil had the foresight not to lock in those bundled apps, and you can uninstall (remove) them safely. To bring up the list of installed apps, quickly press the middle button. A long press will bring up Google Assistant, so be sure to press fast to bring up the app menu instead. Next, select "Play Store," and within "Play Store," swipe down to "My apps." Select the app you may wish to uninstall (remove). You can always reinstall (re-add) if you change your mind, and the system (important) apps are protected and do not have the option to remove, so you have nothing to worry about and can do this safely. In the Wear OS app (on your phone or tablet), you should also disable any notifications you do not need to be sent to your smartwatch. My phone already receives a lot of notifications, and not all of them do I need to be passed onto my smartwatch. This, too, can save battery power. Now my opinion is Fossil did an excellent job of making a smartwatch. Although this is the 1st smartwatch that I own myself, I have experienced using a few other brands (Apple, Fitbit, Samsung, Amazfit). The truth is the technology, no matter if you use Android or Apple, is not perfect. For example, if I wake up but remain lying in bed playing with my phone, it may still be counted as "sleeping." And if I try to measure my exercise inside my house, taking 100 steps may be counted as only 80 because the GPS and step counting are not perfect if you remain in a confined space. This is the same for every brand smartwatch I have used; there is a small margin of error. If you are expecting absolute perfection, the technology, in general, is not there. That said, Fossil's battery, when you disable the "always-on screen" (located in the display setting), is suitable for well over a day with all the features enabled. The smartwatch is also durably made of solid stainless steel with a sold screen. They did not go cheap on the quality of the watch. I even took a long warm, soaking bath, going a bit above the swim test, and my smartwatch works fine. Fossil also supports both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, so I have the best of both worlds. Overall, I am satisfied with my Fossil smartwatch.

First of all, the body, band and crystal are all Fossil and offers a smartwatch with style that is not boring and typical like an apple or Samsung. I love it. It's rugged and comfortable to wear. It's important to recognize that what is behind the crystal is quality hardware that is not uniquely Fossil. Rather, it's a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with plenty of memory and battery. Outside of the Fossil splash screen on startup this is where Fossil ends and a quality smartwatch begins. The operating system is Wear OS by Google. This is the same as that on Samsung and tweaked some by Fossil to work with the buttons on the watch and have Fossil watch faces. Having read the negative reviews prior to buying this watch and now having used it for a month, I'd like to mention some considerations that should be made before buying. Before buying any device ask,"how am I going to use it?" This is a fully functional device that does everything, and it comes with everything turned on and multiple apps that do the same thing. This is so you can discover all that functionality. That is definitely not the way to leave it. If you do, you'll run into some confusing scenarios, battery drain and sluggish performance. So, I uninstalled the Nike apps. I've used MyFitnessPal from UnderArmor for years. I have it on my phone and links seamlessly with Google fit that comes part of the OS. I've deactivated Alexa. Google pay links with PayPal on my phone. I've uninstalled the 3rd party pulse, O2 and step counting apps. The native apps with WearOS work perfectly with the 3rd party apps on my phone. Media control works with Pi music player. I did have to install Outlook to see MY email but that was too easy. Now that I've had it for a month, I'm totally satisfied. It is only running what I need and everything else has been removed. As such the battery it's lasting for days (3 at least). I make changes to it all the time and it's safe to say all that I have now is a stylish arm piece that does exactly what I need, when I need and only what I need. Oh, don't buy the cover glass recommended by Amazon. Get glad what is described as rounded or beveled. Though any 9H glass will protect the center of the screen is frustrating to tap the cut edge of the cover glass and have it spur and crack. Broke 3 glass covers in 2 weeks. The rounded edge is superior.

Update #4, May 2023, final Well, this watch is just as bad as the rest of them. Today it ceased communicating with my Samsung Z Flip 3 phone. Even the Fossil app said there were no connected devices. Numerous restarts and re-pairings did not solve anything. Removed the third party faces, no joy. Reset everything, no joy. Bluetooth was working, wifi was working, it would connect to my phone (according to the Settings menu) but the watch would not display anything other than time. No date, no widgets, nothing. There have been other anomalies over the last 5 months, most notably about once a week the watch would be at 100% in the morning (I charge overnight) and by noon it was in low battery mode, even without using the d**n thing for calls or anything else. Back on the charger for the rest of the day, using my old quartz watch (which always worked at least to let me know the time of day). This is my FIFTH smart watch, the second Fossil. It was the best yet, but still not ready for prime time. I will give it this: the audio quality for phone calls was very good, and I never had to switch to my real phone mid-call. And with the "always on" display it always had a dim readout of the time and date, so I never had to shake my arm like I had palsy to get the time. Those are, at this point, the ONLY two things that are positives about the watch. As for settings, battery anomalies, and the occasional switching off of Bluetooth on its own, I have had to demote this watch to 1 star. Too late to return it, so in frustration I smashed it. I will never waste money again on a smart watch. They are just toys and not serious devices. Here are my prior reviews of this disaster: Out of the box this watch was easy to setup with my Samsung Z Flip 3 smartphone. Load the WearOS by Google app on the phone, but then read on here. Don't do too much adjustment of settings at first because it will want to do a software update. Charge it, then let it do the update. Any customization you did will be lost with the update, so just wait on customizing. Next, another system update will probably be needed, For this one, the WearOS app will not work and your watch will be useless. The trick is to remove the WearOS app from the smartphone and then install the Fossil Smartwatch App instead. NOW continue with setting up the watch. WARNING! If you use this watch to answer your phone, then you cannot use an earpiece or car interface to do the same. By now most phones will switch over to the car phone when it senses that but I guess that little convenience slipped by the Fossill/Google programmers. I'm still not sure about that. I am still in the return period and that issue may be a deal-breaker for me. I like the watch, but the interface on the phone, the very slim face selection, and the car interface all make this software look several years old. Hence the deduction of 2 stars. I've had other smartwatches that had better options and a good car phone interface, all android styles, so I know this can be better. Update #2: Either a phone or watch update has corrected the car/watch issue. In the car the phone reverts to the car's audio system and goes back to the watch when the car is off. Like it should. Update #3: The heart rate measurement does not work well. A few counts off is expected, but mine regularly 15 counts high or more. Fortunately I do not need to know this info, so it is just an observation. But if you really need a heart rate monitor, this may not do the job for you. I have taken this feature off the dial face.

I love this watch! The first day was spent figuring things out, I got mine on sale and used. It showed up in excellent condition, like new really, but with zero original packaging, no paperwork, nothing other than the watch and charging cable. I got a lot of help from some reviews here, and also some YouTube videos. Yes, the battery is bad until you turn some stuff off, but mine lasts all day now with everything I want running. (Work notifications, health apps, weather, my calendar, etc) The watch does need to be monitored settings wise, it sometimes turns things back on that I have turned off, mostly the adaptive brightness and sometimes it turns wifi back on, but it seems like every day it has to be done less...almost like it is figuring things out? The watch looks and feels great, WAY better looking than my Galaxy 5, so it's my everyday work watch now, and the Galaxy is for exercise and sleeping. (The Galaxy is a lot lighter, so I don't notice it while in bed) The Facer app is also great, thousands of faces to choose from, but it is a subscription service. (Worth it to me for $9.99 a year, next year will be 35, we'll see) Anyway, it's a great watch, don't be discouraged about the reviews harping on the battery unless a full day is just not enough for you.

The Fossil Gen 6 is a handsome smartwatch with a classic design that seamlessly blends with both casual and formal attire. The stainless steel and silicone build quality is solid, and the touchscreen is responsive and easy to navigate. While the smartwatch offers a range of features, including heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, and NFC payments, the battery life could be better. Overall, the Fossil Gen 6 is a decent smartwatch for those who prioritize style and basic smart features. However, if you're looking for a smartwatch with top-notch performance and battery life, you might want to consider other options.

This Fossil Gen 6 Smart Watch is very cool, yet noticeably slow responding. Not saying it’s not very smart, because it is, with Accuweather app, and yes, you can change the Face of The Watch while keeping Time. It is very digital and just a little 🔥 slow responding. Once it is working the screen is super amazing. There could be more apps for The Fossil Gen 6 Smart Watch, but at least it has YouTube Music, and The Calm app, Keep Notes 📝 as well. The Fossil Gen 6 Smart Watch also looks awesome and silver and shiny while being just the right size on my wrist. Meaning it is not too big, or too small, I can read my Fossil Gen 6 Smart Watch also Watch perfectly.

It gets the job done. Starting with the good things, setup and connection with phone is easy, I used the Fossil app instead of Wear OS, just because I thought the brand app will have a better communication and gadgets. One of my favorite things, it actually looks like a watch and feels like one too. It comes with 3 modes, daily, extended, and sleep mode. Another good thing is that you can personalize which apps will notify you, any new notifications from a new app you will get it and then you can toggle on and off on the app. You can text and even make phone calls with decent quality, although speaker isn't too loud so it may not work well in noisy environments. Another good thing is the screen colors and brightness even outside under the sun you can clearly see what is on the screen. The bad is the battery life, with the always on screen feature doesn't last even 24 hours without recharge. For my lifestyle I found I have to top off battery every 18 hours or 12 just to be sure it will not die on me. I which it came with more screen face options, I believe it only comes preloaded with 9 or 12, the good thing is you can customize some colors and widgets. The ugly if you can call it that is the responsiveness, sometimes there is a 3 to 10 seconds delay for different features, specifically when launching the wellness/training features. Also the AI assistant, I use Alexa, is really 🦥 slow. Another thing I don't feel it works the way is supposed to is the sleep tracker, I do not know if it is learning patterns, positions and other stuff but at least when I get up in middle of the night to go to the bathroom it doesn't get it or read it as me being awake or light sleep. Overall I feel it is just an okay watch but a bit disappointed we are in 2025 and things like battery and responsiveness it isn't a priority. I still remember my first smart watch, a Samsung Fit 2, many years ago, and it also got the job without many bells and whistles like this one. Although the looks and feels of this are a huge improvement.

The message is simple. All I wanted---all I've wanted for years---is a watch as good as the Fossil Gen 5, but with a battery that doesn't suck. Well, this watch is as good as the Fossil Gen 5, and its battery doesn't suck. I've been using Wear OS watches since 2014, back when it was called "Android Wear". In that time, I've come to prefer Fossil watches, since they provide the basic smartwatch features I care about (handling notifications; counting steps; NFC payment; checking weather; etc.), but look like *actual watches*. Attractive, without sticking out too much---just right! The Fossil Gen 5 was particularly nice. With one hardware button mapped to flashlight (super handy---try it!) and the other mapped to Google Pay, it fit my needs perfectly. Except... the battery. Every day, it would limp along until hitting one of the "extended battery" modes sometime mid-evening. A few times a month, it'd end up in time-only mode: oof. And poker night? Forget it: dead before I head home. "All day battery"... well, *kinda*. Why couldn't I have a watch as good in the evening as the Gen 5 was in the morning? Enter the Gen 6. The Snapdragon Wear 4100+ sets it up for significantly improved battery life. All they had to do was *deliver*, without losing any of the good points of the Gen 5. And they did! I haven't given the battery a second thought since I got the watch a week ago. Every day, it ends with 40-50%, or more. And this is with the always-on display, which I consider essential for anything that claims to be a "watch". (I'm using the Classic watch face, FWIW.) What's more, it throws in an SpO2 sensor for good measure. The reading takes a lot longer than a dedicated SpO2, but it's nice to know I'll always have it in a pinch. Much has been made about the expected long delay for Wear OS3. This doesn't bother me, since I'll be spending those months with, essentially, a Gen 5 with SpO2, minus the battery anxiety. It wasn't *all* roses. I did find the setup procedure a bit clunky. It takes a good while to finish downloading all the apps and getting everything the way I want it. Oh, and a caveat: that setup procedure seems to use a _lot_ of battery. Don't judge the battery life on your first day experience---it's not representative! Overall, if you want an attractive, performant smartwatch, with comfortably all-day battery life, this could be for you.