Fossil Gen 5 smartwatches get stripped of more than half of its watch faces
Times have been rough for Fossil smartwatch owners and admirers. The Fossil Gen 6 was very recently made official, and to the disappointment of many, it will be launching with an outdated operating system.
Buyers of the latest Fossil wearables will have to wait until sometime in 2022 to get the new Wear OS 3 that the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic are already running. The Fossil Gen 5 family, on the other hand, will not be getting any updates at all.
To add some insult to injury, the smartwatch manufacturer has gone as far as to strip down the Fossil Gen 5 of more than half of its available watch faces through a Play Store update currently rolling out.
There are a few key factors that separate a smartwatch from a normal one—functionality, connectivity, and customization. Now, we all know how refreshing it feels when we change the wallpaper for our home and lock screens and rearrange the layout of the apps and widgets, which also stands true for smartwatches.
To be frank, the update brings two new additions called “Fitness Digital” and “Dashboard Digital”. You can take a look at them in the screenshots below.
Reviews in the Play Store hint that the update has been rolling out for the past week or so. There is not much clarity as of yet, but this change will most likely also come to Fossil Gen 5E and the Gen 5 LTE versions.
If you have put on one of the ditched watch faces, the update will force your smartwatch to the default look. Some users have reported getting an ‘optimization’ notification, while others received no heads up whatsoever.
Buyers of the latest Fossil wearables will have to wait until sometime in 2022 to get the new Wear OS 3 that the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic are already running. The Fossil Gen 5 family, on the other hand, will not be getting any updates at all.
There are a few key factors that separate a smartwatch from a normal one—functionality, connectivity, and customization. Now, we all know how refreshing it feels when we change the wallpaper for our home and lock screens and rearrange the layout of the apps and widgets, which also stands true for smartwatches.
As stated by 9to5google, Fossil is taking out 33 of the 55 Gen 5 watch faces, which has left owners frustrated and disappointed. Unfortunately, the company is yet to give an explanation for getting rid of these options.
To be frank, the update brings two new additions called “Fitness Digital” and “Dashboard Digital”. You can take a look at them in the screenshots below.
Both look good, especially the fitness-oriented one, which offers a good amount of tracking info. However, in the “face” of all the removed variety, this does little to compensate.
Fossil Gen 5 removed watch faces:
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If you have put on one of the ditched watch faces, the update will force your smartwatch to the default look. Some users have reported getting an ‘optimization’ notification, while others received no heads up whatsoever.
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