We will probably see many smartwatches coming through this year, tech companies are surely developing new generations of their current offerings and then there are those companies that have been making traditional watches for many years who have now started building smartwatches. Watch makers have been taking different approaches when they build a smartwatch, one is to build a device with a color touchscreen and running an operating system designed for such a small screen, another approach is to integrate connectivity options into a traditional-looking watch, so it can be paired with a smartphone.
Fossil has actually taken both of the aforementioned approaches with its Q lineup of watches and they even included a selection of smart bands to track fitness data. Recently, they introduced the Q Founder, which features touchscreen functionality and runs on Android Wear. Now, the company has announced a new smartwatch at the CES 2016. It is called Q54 Pilot and it integrates the design and craftsmanship that has distinguished the company over the years. The new watch doesn’t feature a touchscreen, but it is powered by Bluetooth connectivity in order to get LED color-coded or buzz notifications from contacts, apps or keywords. Additionally, the Q54 Pilot can measure fitness-related data such as step count or calories. This watch was made in collaboration with Intel Innovation and is compatible with devices running Android 4.4 or newer versions and iPhone 5 or newer models running iOS 8.2 or higher. It will be available this Spring and it will retail for $175 to $215 depending on the configuration options. The retail box includes a wireless charging dock.
All of the information will be handled by the Fossil Q App and there’s a new update which brings new features. Version 1.1 now displays activity reports faster, so the latest information will be available as soon as users open the app. Users now get the chance to choose the vibration pattern to get alerted, plus, they can also add or change their profile photo. Q Notifications now supports 17 additional apps, so a total of 50 apps are supported. Finally, there are four new languages supported in the app including Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Dutch and Italian.