When
Fossil
announced
it
was
leaving
the
Android
smartwatch
space,
I
wasn’t
surprised.
The
signs
had
been
there
for
a
while.
What
I
didn’t
expect
was
how
sad
it
made
me
feel.
Fossil’s
smartwatches
had
never
been
the
best.
Their
battery
life
was
meh,
health
tracking
could
be
iffy,
and
before
Wear
OS
3,
the
company
was
often
let
down
by
Google’s
neglect.
But
now
that
Fossil
has
called
it
quits,
it’s
left
a
massive
vacuum
in
the
Wear
OS
ecosystem.
Who,
if
anyone,
can
fill
that
void?
Is
there
even
a
point
when
Google
and
Samsung
dominate
that
space?
It’s
been
a
few
months,
and
I’m
still
not
sure
there’s
a
real
answer.
Throughout
Wear
OS’s
dark
days
—
back
when
it
was
Android
Wear,
even
—
Fossil
soldiered
on.
It
continued
to
make
platform-agnostic
flagship
smartwatches
with
an
emphasis
on
style.
That
increasingly
became
a
rarity.
Before
2021,
it
wasn’t
that
odd
for
smartwatches
other
than
the
Apple
Watch
to
work
on
both
Android
and
iOS.
Wear
OS
2
watches,
of
which
Fossil
made
many,
only
necessitated
downloading
the
Wear
OS
app
on
iOS
or
Android.
Related
But
in
2021,
Google
and
Samsung
teamed
up
to
create
Wear
OS
3.
After
that,
Samsung
gave
up
on
luring
over
iPhone
users.
Google’s
Pixel
Watch
was
also
Android
only.
That
left
Fossil
as
the
main
Wear
OS
watch
that
worked
across
both,
but
the
Wear
OS
app
was
deprecated,
which
meant
that
Fossil
had
to
develop
its
own
companion
app.
(There
was
also
the
Montblanc
Summit
3,
but
at
$1,290,
it’s
not
what
I’d
call
accessible.)
It
didn’t
help
that
there
was
obvious
favoritism
from
Google
and
Samsung
toward
their
own
products.
Google
Assistant
would
arrive
on
Google’s
and
Samsung’s
watches
but
remain
missing
on
many
third-party
Wear
OS
3
devices.
Fossil
eventually
got
it
on
its
watches,
but
it
took
so
long,
it
turned
to
a
partnership
with
Amazon
Alexa
to
fill
the
gap
in
the
meantime.
Delays
were
par
for
the
course,
so
it’s
no
surprise
Fossil
decided
the
juice
wasn’t
worth
the
squeeze.
The
OnePlus
Watch
2
is
the
closest
thing
to
a
real
Google
or
Samsung
alternative
I’ve
seen
yet.Photo
by
Amelia
Holowaty
Krales
/
The
Verge
I
thought
a
lot
about
Fossil
while
reviewing
the
OnePlus
Watch
2
—
mainly
because
it
was
the
first
time
in
four
months
when
I
thought
to
myself,
“Could
OnePlus
be
the
new
Fossil?”
On
the
surface,
it
feels
like
it
could
be.
It’s
a
nice-lookin’
watch,
particularly
if
you’re
a
fan
of
more
classic
timepieces.
The
battery
life
is
superb,
far
outlasting
Samsung’s
Galaxy
Watch
series
and
the
Pixel
Watch
lineup.
There’s
decent
fitness
tracking,
too,
along
with
dual-frequency
GPS
—
things
neither
Samsung
nor
Google
has
implemented
on
its
watches.
At
$300,
it’s
also
competitively
priced.
Like
Fossil,
it’s
missing
LTE
connectivity,
EKGs,
and
safety
features,
but
I’ve
heard
from
plenty
of
folks
who
aren’t
quite
as
interested
in
much
beyond
the
basics.
It
ticks
most
of
the
boxes
Fossil
did
except
two
major
ones:
variety
of
style
and
platform
interoperability.
The
latter,
I
understand.
Wearables
are
increasingly
the
tool
companies
use
to
keep
people
happily
within
an
ecosystem.
For
Android
watchmakers,
going
after
iPhone
users
doesn’t
make
sense,
unless,
like
Montblanc,
that’s
what
the
majority
of
your
existing
clientele
use.
OnePlus,
like
Samsung,
makes
Android
phones.
Meanwhile,
Fossil
had
a
veritable
horde
of
smartwatches
from
various
designer
brands
under
its
umbrella.
Off
the
top
of
my
head,
there
was
Diesel,
Armani,
Michael
Kors,
Kate
Spade,
and
Skagen.
There
were
ladies
watches
with
so
much
pavé,
my
eyes
were
blinded
by
bling.
Skagen
had
that
Scandinavian
minimalist
elegance.
It
experimented
with
E
Ink
hybrid
watches.
OnePlus
has
exactly
one
style
of
watch
in
one
size.
(There
are,
however,
two
colors.)
Mobvoi
suffered
many
of
the
same
woes
Fossil
did.Photo
by
Amelia
Holowaty
Krales
/
The
Verge
The
only
other
serious
Wear
OS
contender
here
is
Mobvoi
—
and
that’s
another
concerning
story.
Mobvoi
has
had
loyal
fans
for
its
TicWatch
smartwatches
for
a
long
while
now,
but
a
lot
of
that
goodwill
eroded
over
the
last
two
years.
Its
Snapdragon
Wear
4100
watches
were
announced
as
eligible
for
Wear
OS
3
in
July
2021
but
didn’t
get
the
actual
upgrade
until
December
2023.
Making
the
switch
meant
losing
Google
Assistant.
Meanwhile,
its
first
Wear
OS
3
watch,
the
TicWatch
Pro
5,
was
heavily
delayed
and
ended
up
launching
two
weeks
after
Wear
OS
4
was
announced.
That
watch
also
didn’t
have
Google
Assistant
(and
still
doesn’t).
About
a
year
later,
Mobvoi
has
finally
announced
the
Wear
OS
4
beta
program
is
open
for
applications.
All
of
this
sounds
awfully
familiar
to
what
Fossil
slogged
through.
And
like
OnePlus,
Mobvoi
also
doesn’t
offer
the
same
range
of
styles
or
platform
interoperability
Fossil
did.
Fossil
also
experimented
with
E
Ink
hybrids.
Who
else
is
going
to
take
up
that
mantle
now?Photo
by
Victoria
Song
/
The
Verge
The
question
I’m
left
asking
is
whether
it
pays
to
try
to
be
an
alternative
to
the
tech
juggernauts.
Fossil
certainly
didn’t
think
so.
Mobvoi
hasn’t
given
up,
and
OnePlus
has
entered
its
hat
into
the
ring
—
but
I
don’t
think
it’s
a
coincidence
that
both
have
similar
limitations
and
constraints.
It’s
even
less
surprising,
then,
that
truly
platform-agnostic
fitness
trackers
are
now
multisport
watches
like
Garmins
or
much
more
pared-down
devices
like
hybrid
analogs
from
Withings
—
and
that
smart
rings
are
starting
to
look
like
appealing
alternatives
to
smartwatches
entirely
while
budget
trackers
are
starting
to
fall
by
the
wayside.
I
hope
that
OnePlus
and
Mobvoi
stick
it
out.
It’d
be
good
for
Wear
OS
if
they
did.
But
going
forward,
I
don’t
think
we’ll
see
a
wearable
company
like
Fossil
anytime
soon.
It
takes
a
lot
of
patience
to
operate
out
of
someone
else’s
sandbox
—
and
that
really
is
a
shame.
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