After the Samsung Galaxy Watch, the Fossil Q Explorist HR is another one of my favourite smartwatches out to date, it's slick, has a great screen and it just works.
The first thing you'll notice is it's premium look, it's finished in metal and this all-black version looks stealth on the wrist until you wake it up. It's 45mm in case size and is probably on the bulky side for those with a smaller wrist, but I like big watches so this sits well with me. If you want something different, you can get it in blue, silver, rose gold, gunmetal and of course this black one here. It doesn't stop there, you can also have a leather strap, metal or silicon. The silicon one here makes it suitable for sports as well as when you need to look the part for business functions.
The Fossil Q Explorist HR is water resistant with a 3ATM rating so if you're the swimmer type, you can wear it and since you can control the UI using the crown and the two other buttons on the side, you'll be able to use it with wet hands. On the outside, it looks just like a watch, but really and truly it's more than that; it includes a GPS so you can track your running route, for example, an HR monitor to measure your training intensity, water resistant and swim tracking and the usual stuff like running, walking etc.
One thing Google is investing in is fitness, and with the Explorist HR based on Google's ecosystem, you get access to Google Fit and Google Fit Workout apps. The HR monitor will measure your heartbeat at intervals throughout the day and also kicks in when exercising so you can concentrate on what matters the most. With a built-in GPS, it means you can leave your phone at home and still track your route or distance, although take into consideration how long it will take to get the Explorist HR's GPS connected.
Elsewhere, the Explorist HR runs on Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset which isn't the latest but works just fine, it has NFC built-in which works well with Google Pay so you can use your watch for payments and with Wear OS, you can download compatible apps to your watch.
With the latest chipset, we expect to get a better battery life so hopefully, the next Explorist device will last longer than the current 24 hours span that you get. Using it for payments, controlling my music, morning runs with GPS and HR monitoring, notifications and Google Assistant, the Explorist just about last the day so keep that in mind. It also uses its own charger so you can't just top it up at work unless you take that charger with you.
And I know a lot of people kept asking if you can make calls on it, no you can't. It has a built-in mic for Google Assistant.
Overall, the Explorist HR is a great piece of kit, it's lightweight and comfortable to wear all day, different straps and colours are available, useful for staying fit, has Google Play, Google Fit and Google Pay support and more. If there's anything I hope they change, it would be that the battery life gets a massive upgrade.
0 Comments