Fossil introduced a slew of new Wear OS smartwatches within its family of fashion labels during CES 2021, including the LTE-equipped Fossil Gen 5.
As Fossil's first smartwatch with independent cellular capabilities, the Fossil Gen 5 LTE Touchscreen Smartwatch lets Android users who use Verizon as their provider free their wearable from their smartphone. That means users can take calls, send messages and use Wear OS apps even when their smartphone is MIA.
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- See all our CES 2021 coverage
Leading smartwatches like the Apple Watch Series 6 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 have offered LTE options for several years now. It's about time a reputable Wear OS model offered the same freedom.
Although we had — and still have — some qualms about Google's smartwatch platform in our Fossil Gen 5 smartwatch review, it's still one of the best smartwatches running Wear OS with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 3100 chip. This LTE version of the Gen 5 costs $349 and is coming this spring.
If Fossil's native brand isn't your style, you have three other smartwatches from the Fossil family to consider this year: The $350 Darci and $250 MKGO from Michael Kors, as well as the $195 Jorn Hybrid HR from Skagen. The Darci is a crystal-encrusted watch with sleek metal links, while the MKGO's silicon straps make it more sporty. It reminds me of the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2, but glitzier.
As its name suggests, the Jorn Hybrid HR bares a traditional watch face, but has hidden smartwatch features like basic health metrics and a notification interface. It's not as high-tech as Fossil's other 2021 wearables, but gets up to two weeks of battery life.
There's no shortage of new smartwatches on the way. Between Fossil's expanded offerings, a new pair of affordable watches from Amazfit and more, this CES is turning out to be an exciting one for wearables. Stay tuned to our coverage for all the announcements coming from tech's biggest trade show.
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