Razer X Fossil Gen 6 Review

First Impressions

The Razer X Fossil Gen half dozen is a limited edition version of a Wear OS wearable nosotros reviewed final twelvemonth. It offers a few aesthetic tweaks to the original version that aim to make appeal more to Razer's gaming focussed following. This ways that it'due south great as a slice of hardware, just until information technology's upgraded to Wear OS 3 later this twelvemonth, it's probably not going to be the Apple Watch rival we've been waiting for.

Availability

USA RRP: $329

Cardinal Features

Snapdragon Wear 4100+ chipset A power boost from the latest Snapdragon Wear processor
SpO2 tracking Keep tabs on your blood oxygen levels
Bluetooth 5 Upward to 4x stronger connectivity than the Fossil Gen 5

Introduction

The Razer X Fossil 6 Gen is a limited edition version of the Clothing Bone three-ready smartwatch we reviewed at the cease of terminal year.

The main describe for buyers is that it's been "redesigned" in collaboration with Razer, the firm backside some of the best scoring gaming peripherals and laptops we tested last year.

In terms of hardware it's all merely identical to the regular Fossil Gen 6, which scored three.five/5 in our in-depth review. The only big additions are minor visual tweaks, like a new neon green strap, and three new exclusive Razer picket faces.

Is that enough to brand it a must have buy? Hither's what I found during my opening few hours playing with the Razer Fossil Gen 6.

Design and screen

The Razer 10 Fossil Gen 6 is pretty similar to the base Gen vi. This ways it has a classic spherical lookout man face with a 1.2.eight-inch AMOLED display panel.

The lack of updates isn't terrible because, as noted in our Fossil Gen 6 review, the wearable is one of the prettiest on the market. Measuring in at around 1cm thick the lookout is suitably compact to not describe the eye in the way some more than focussed fitness trackers, like the Garmin Fenix 6, can.

The metal design also feels solid and during my time with the spotter I constitute it is surprisingly scratch resistant despite having the same black cease as Razer'southward Blade laptops. After a cursory period being used as a hockey puck by my cats, it remained totally unscathed. Outside of the Apple Watch half dozen, you'll struggle to notice a nicer looking wearable at this cost.

The control system is likewise groovy, as it is on the base Gen 6. Every bit well equally a touch screen it features three concrete controls along its left side. These tin be customised merely out of the box the pre-programmed deportment are pretty intuitive. The principal crown acts equally the quick shortcut to get to the app menu and acts equally a back push afterwards that. In menus it can as well be turned to scroll up and down. The functionality is very similar to what you lot'd get on older Tizen Samsung Milky way Watches.

The only immediate difference you'll notice is that in the box in that location are two silicon watch strap options. One blackness, one green. The colors are matched to Razer'due south branding guidelines, which means, if you care nearly dressing to match your laptop or gaming headset, this is the picket to get.

I tin't run into the neon Razer green strap highly-seasoned to anyone other than the virtually diehard of gamers or ravers, but the black version is fairly nice and adds to the X's discrete aesthetic. Whichever you utilise, I plant the straps are comfortable to wearable based on my first few hours with the device.

It is a fleck disappointing that Razer and Fossil haven't made more changes to the hardware. The screen is a prime number example. The AMOLED panel isn't bad by any ways. Colors look punchy, but not overcooked, and it'due south sharp plenty to easily read incoming alerts and navigate menus comfortably. Max brightness levels appear solid, with the screen remaining legible even when I held it under a very bright lamp.

But I have one key issue: information technology'southward still not got a variable refresh rate. A variable refresh rate, also known equally VRR, is a nifty trick that lets a display change how many images per second information technology renders based on what process a device is running. This lets information technology show more to offering smoother scrolling when there's a benefit and then drib it to a lower charge per unit to conserve battery when in that location's non.

The tech is a key feature that lets devices, similar the Apple Sentry Series 6, offer always on display functionality without destroying the lookout man's bombardment life. Considering Razer's gaming full-blooded and experience with VRR it seems like an open goal to take not dabbled with the tech on the X special edition.

Software and fitness tracking

With that in mind you may exist wondering what else is and so "special" about the limited edition Razer X Fossil Gen half-dozen. Software-wise the respond is over again, non a lot. Out of the box the device runs the same Wear Os ii.27 software with an upgrade to the infinitely better Clothing Bone 3 confirmed for an unspecified point later this year.

The latter is important every bit Wear OS three is a huge upgrade on Clothing Os 2. To give you lot the cliff notes, Wear OS two doesn't even take proper back up for YouTube Music or Google Maps.

Wear Os iii, which we first tested on the Galaxy Watch 4 last year, is incrementally ameliorate supported and more feature rich by comparing – highlights include support for Maps, a more intuitive UI, better fitness runway and general operation and battery life optimisations.

The but deviation is that yous go iii Razer sectional picket faces pre-installed. These include Analog, Text, and Chroma options. Sadly, for reasons unbeknownst to me the final Chroma option wasn't available on my review unit. I've contacted Razer for annotate when it'll be added and will update this page when I hear dorsum.

Like the straps, the counterpart and text options are purely artful sectional that offering custom designs, not new functionality. The only positive is that, again like the straps, they utilize the same fonts, colors and brand guidelines as Razer's other devices.

Under the hood it also features the same fitness tracking sensors as the base Gen 6, which is no bad matter. These include an in-congenital GPS, Bluetooth v.0 functionality and an SpO2 sensor. The SpO2 sensor is a key characteristic for people that want to monitor their blood oxygen level. This is mainly important for hikers and trail runners that regularly find themselves at high altitudes.

I haven't had enough time to check the Razer X Fossil Gen 6 fitness tracking features, but based on our experience with the regular model it's GPS should be fairly snappy, though until the Wearable Bone 3 update rolls out its fettle tracking options won't be as diverse every bit what you'll notice on a dedicated tracker from the likes of Garmin.

Razer X Fossil Gen 6 analogue watch face

First Impressions

The Razer X Fossil Gen 3 doesn't feel that different to the base model outside of a couple of aesthetic tweaks and the addition of some pretty new watch faces. Only considering how much we liked the base model of the Gen iii's hardware this isn't a terrible affair. Though my unit is missing the Blush watch face listed in Razer's promotional cloth I tin still see it appealing to fans of the make, eager to go a wearable that matches their Blade laptop. The just downside is the lack of significant hardware or sectional services. This means it will keep to suffer the same app back up issues typical of all Vesture OS ii wearables until the promised upgrade to Wear Os 3 finally begins rolling out.

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Availability

United states RRP: $329

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A 'hands on review' is our first impression of a product only - information technology is not a full exam and verdict. Our writer must have spent some time with the product to describe an early sense of what information technology'southward like to use. We call these 'easily on reviews' to make them visible in search. All the same these are ever unscored and don't give recommendations. Read more about our reviews policy.

Jargon buster

SpO2

An abbreviation for determining 'claret oxygen saturation', namely the levels of oxygen establish within the bloodstream at whatsoever given fourth dimension. A low SpO2 count can exist the result of a serious illness.

GPS

An abridgement of the Global Positioning System, which uses satellite communication to pinpoint your location. Some smartwatches are able to attain this communication without the use of a smartphone.

Refresh Rate

The number of times the screen refreshes itself per second.

OLED and AMOLED

Types of displays that use self-lighting pixels to provide greater contrast and more than vibrant colours than a typical LCD display, also as sharper blacks.