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Fossil Q Marshal – Smartwatch Performance Test
Fossil is one of the first watch manufacturers that brings smartwatches on the market. The Fossil Q smartwatches look like a classic wristwatch, but combine this with smart technology. We tested the Fossil Q Marshal paired with iPhone. Find out more about design, customization, battery life and iOS compatibility in our Fossil Q Marshal review.
Contents
First impression
The smartwatch makes a great first impression. It fits comfortably around the wrist and is intuitive in usage. The display appears to be sharp, although it only has a ratio of 320×290 pixels. You will notice that this watch has been developed by a manufacturer with many years of experience with watches as part of the Fossil Q connected accessories..
The smartwatch has a touch screen with LCD clock face, which has a round shape. The watch is IP67 certified so that the Fossil Q Marshal is waterproof until 1m depth for max. 30min and dustproof.
The only downside of the smartwatch is the cropped display because of the built-in brightness regulator at the bottom. If you are using the analog clock face, the number 6 will be partially gone. By the way, the indicated wheel around the display only is just for decoration purposes.
Customization
The clock face can be customized on the touch screen with the 50 different designs. The watch counts steps and the burnt calories, as well as notifies you about inbound calls and messages. Many functions can be controlled via speaker and microphone by using voice commands. Music control, LED flashlight and Google Maps are additional features that can be used with the smartwatch.
Fossil Q Marschal iOS compatibility
To be able to use all functions of the Fossil smartwatch for iPhone, you have to get the free Fossil Q watch app for your iPhone. This application allows you to change the settings, to keep track of your daily activities, and to determine which of your contacts are worth a notification. The Fossil Q smartwatches are operated by Android Wear and are compatible with iPhone 5 and more recent iPhone models/iOS 8.2+. The pairing of Fossil Q Marshal and your iPhone works without problems most of the time. It can sometimes happen that the connection gets lost so that the step counter and notifications are not completely reliable. This problem is not specific to the iPhone. Android smartphones show this connection problem as well.
After the successful iPhone pairing, your Fossil Q Marshal is ready to go. The smartwatch will show all notifications that are also shown on the iPhone. However some features only work to a limited extent on the Fossil Q Marshal, like WhatsApp messages or text messages. You cannot send messages directly from the smartwatch. Overall, the Fossil Q Marshal partly reacts to iPhone directions delayed or apps load slowly.
Battery life fluctuates strongly
A disadvantage of the smartwatch is the Fossil Q Marshal battery life. Sadly the smartwatch has a very weak battery. It can be charged with a provided induction charger and is supposed to have power for up to 24 hours (depending on the intensity of use). In reality, the battery lasts less than that. If you use it with the “Display permanently on” mode, in which the display reacts to touch, motions or buttons, the battery lasts for only 10 hours. If you don’t use this mode and have a normal daily use, the battery will last for around two days. The charging time is 3 to 4 hours.
Conclusion
The Fossil Q Marshal smartwatch is especially interesting for people, who‘d like to have a smartwatch, but prefer a classic watch design. Fossil offers numerous possibilities to customize the smartwatch depending on the own preferences. This contains the clock faces on the one hand, but also ringtones and wristbands on the other side.
In the end, Fossil Q Marshal looks very good but forfeits many features that the Apple Watch has (just to name an example). However, Fossil scores with an easy and intuitive user interface, which isn’t a given for every smartwatch. Another benefit is the relatively low price because it’s around one-third of the Apple Watch’s average price.