The Fossil Q Nate is one of the 100 wearables that Fossil had announced last year. The device has an analogue dial, accompanied by some smart features.
In the tech industry, smartwatches have pretty much been like diamonds in the rough. Companies want you to believe that these wearables have a bright future, but really, there isn’t a smartwatch around that proves this. Functionality has been limited, and although improvements have been made over time, the abandonment rate in the industry is alarmingly high.
We recently reviewed the Michael Kors Access Hybrid Slim, a watch first and smartwatch later, and in working with the Fossil Q Nate, almost everything is the same. Of course, both the watches are made by Fossil, along with the Emporio Armani Connected, about which you shall read here very soon. The three watches are part of the 100 wearables Fossil said it would launch, last year.
Build and Design
Much like the MK Access Hybrid, there are no questions asked about the Q Nate’s build quality or design. The traditional metallic strap feels better, more rugged and more premium than literally any smartwatch out there, including the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier and Apple Watch. It’s also quite heavy, which is something that watch lovers may really enjoy. I know I did.
Also, being built as a watch first means you can take it to any watchmaker to get strap size changed. In fact, if you have the right tools and know how to do it yourself, it’s a five-minute task. Preserve the removed links for later, just in case you want to hand it down to others who may need to change the size.
Much like my colleague Adamya did with the MK Access Hybrid, I wouldn’t recommend wearing this watch too tight on your wrist. The buttons on its right side can dig into your wrist, especially if you’re going out for a run or for sports. I played football while wearing this watch and came back with distinct red marks on my wrist.
The stainless steel design is as premium as it gets, and at just about Rs. 16,000, this qualifies as one of the most premium smartwatches out there. It’s just suited for men, with its big dial and rugged looks. Personally, I don’t see many women going for this kind of a watch on their wrist.
The Fossil Q Nate is also Splash Resistant, which actually is disappointing. It can stand up to 30 metres in the water, but doesn’t get an IP67 or IP68 certification, which would have made it much more dependable.
Between the Fossil Q Nate, the MK Access Hybrid and Emporio Armani connected, Fossil reaches three distinct groups of people. The Q Nate is for those who want a rugged watch on their wrist, while the MK Access Hybrid is for the more sophisticated and sleek freaks. On the other hand, the Armani watch falls somewhere between the three, being rugged, but with a flashy look to it.
Personally, the Fossil Q Nate reminds me of smartwatches from old school movies, where the hero presses a button on their watch for something cool to happen. It’s stainless steel full black finish makes it look like a watch that Batman would wear.
Lastly, the analog dial looks like any traditional watch and Fossil has added a secondary dial within it, to aid the smart features.
The smart things
From start to finish, the Fossil Q Nate is watch first, smartwatch later. It uses the watch hands and secondary dials to show you various notifications and also has the capability to track steps and sleep. Frankly speaking, I don’t see anyone wearing this watch to bed. It’s just too heavy to make for a comfortable accessory in bed.
Nevertheless, step tracking is reasonably dependable. It pairs to your phone via Bluetooth, and through the Fossil Q app (which we shall talk about in a bit). However, unlike something like a Gear S3 Frontier, there are no exercise tracking features, nor can the watch automatically determine what kind of activity you’re doing.
The Fossil Q Nate uses its analog watch hands to show you what’s up. It allows you to choose six contacts and six apps that the watch will notify you for. This includes apps like Facebook, WhatsApp etc. However, it’s limited, in the sense that both the hour and minute hands point to a particular number associated with an app/contact. So, if you have your mother placed on number 1, a call from her would move the watch hands to that number, while vibrating a couple of times.
I have two problems here. Firstly, the Q Nate can’t differentiate here. For instance, let’s say your mother is contact number 1 and the Messaging app is app number 4. What I would ideally like is for the watch to tell me who’s messaging, not just that I have a message. If your mother messages you, the Fossil Q Nate will simply point to the number 4, depicting a text message. The same happens for calls etc. Also, be sure to choose the “All Calls” and “All Texts” options if you want to be notified about every call.
If you thought smartwatches are limited in functionality, the Fossil Q Nate is even more so. That’s fine for those looking for a novelty gadget that looks good, but as far as the “smart” aspects are concerned, I see nothing here that I really need.
You can set the buttons on the right for some pre-defined tasks. For example, the one on the bottom can ring your phone, play or pause music or take photos, while the one on top can show the date. When pressed, the hand on the second dial moves to show what the watch is showing, while the primary watch hands will move to the date. You can also set alarms on the watch and have a second time zone as well.
A distinct fallacy in the way things are implemented is how the watch vibrates. You can customise the vibration strength, between low, medium and strong, but that’s it. Irrespective of what kind of notification you get, you can’t really change the type of vibration. That is, the watch won’t vibrate continuously when you get a call. Instead, you get a couple of quick vibrations whenever any kind of notifications arrived, making it near impossible to actually know what happened, unless you happen to be near your phone. That defeats the purpose of a smartwatch, even one so limited in functionality.
The Fossil Q app
It’s no surprise that Fossil is good with any form of design. The Q app is one of the simplest and well designed smartwatch apps I’ve seen. Of course, Samsung etc. have to add complexity to integrate their app stores and cover all the features, but Fossil makes the best of what it has here. You’re greeted with three simple swipe options, showing goals, steps and sleep.
The app doesn’t run always, which means it’ll sync whenever you open it. You can use the burger button on the top left to check your connected devices, customise notifications, alarms and other aspects. There’s also a button on the top right to change goals, leave feedback and jump to the current day.
The step counter also shows a calorie count, showing how much you’ve lost during the day. Fossil’s FAQ section says the company uses complex algorithms to determine when a step has been taken, and I’ve noted these algorithms to fail, with there being times when steps were counted while I travelled in a car.
Nevertheless, you can also sync with apps like Google Fit and Apple Health for activity tracking.
Battery
Fossil estimates the Q Nate’s battery life to be about six months and I have no reason to doubt that. Watches like this and the Timex Metropolitan Plus have promised year-long battery life as well, and given the primarily analogue nature, it should do so too. Changing the battery is not very difficult and can be done by a watchmaker, while a simple button cell is all you need to replenish the battery. You do get a tool to remove the battery in box, and you can use it to replace the battery yourself.
Bottomline
The Fossil Q Nate is obviously not meant to solve existing issues with smartwatches. Instead, it’s meant for people who’re torn between buying a good watch and a smartwatch. For them, the Q Nate is a premium and rugged option that will give them just a hint of smartness on their wrist, but with lots of style. Fossil has the watch available in three colours, but most online listings in India seem to offer just the brown leather and the black stainless steel options right now.
If you’re buying this watch, you probably want a watch first and smartwatch later, and that’s completely fine. My only note to you would be to not go expecting “smart” features. Given that no smartwatch has really made an impression on me, though, I’m much more inclined to recommend the Fossil Q Nate, despite its limits, than any other. That’s simply because it is everything a watch needs to be, and then a bit of a smartwatch too. Most smartwatches today have been getting the watch part completely wrong.
If it were up to me, the perfect smartwatch would be one that has the Fossil Q Nate’s looks and analogue dial, but with something look an HUD on top for more notifications and smart features.
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Prasid Banerjee
Trying to explain technology to my parents. Failing miserably. View Full Profile
