Fossil Q Nate Review: Great hybrid watch with several attractive features but not a smartwatch

Wearable market is gaining momentum, but slowly. The promising market is filled with different products and recently Fossil, a well-known name in the industry, brings its hybrid smartwatch Q Nate.

It's a quartz watch with smart features which can be accessed via the app available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store; Android OS 4.4 and iPhone 5 or iOS 8.2+. In the first look, it appears like a simple quartz wrist watch with the large 50mm dial. The dial is made of stainless steel with leather straps.

Look and feel: It has neither screen nor any software, it's a quartz watch holding chipset beneath that tracks your activities and communicate with smartphone. The combination turns the watch into hybrid smartwatch that blends analogue design with smart connectivity. The big dial has a minute and an hour hand, and a small dial inset at the bottom, still you can see date, set alarm and time in 24-hrs format. The small dial comes with two functions, numbers in orange color show the percentage of achieved goal while the bottom half shows function performed by the button press.

Smart features: For smart features, you need to simply connect the watch to your smartphone using Fossil Q app and Bluetooth. Once connected, it asks for some basic information including your name, height, weight, etc. and then let you set daily fitness goals. It's not all, you can set an alarm, view 24-hour time, compare time in multiple time zones and track everything from steps to calories to sleep.

Moreover, you can control your phone as well using the hybrid watch - press the bottom pusher to take a photo. The watch notifies you whenever you receive texts, calls, emails and app updates, etc. whatever you choose. You can control your music with your phone's selected music player whether it's Spotify, Pandora, Soundcloud, Google Play, iTunes or Apple Music. It can even help you to track your phone by playing an audible alert on your phone.

The massive battery: Fossil Q Nate has a massive battery life of up to six months, it's not rechargeable so you need to replace with the new one as like you do with traditional wrist watches. It could be good for some while others can complain about it as most of the smartwatches come with the rechargeable battery, but they have life of few days.

It's a watch combined with several features: Though, the market is flooded with smart bands and watches, which come with screen and loaded with a suite of apps. This watch won't offer that but it's a true quartz watch with added smart features. It doesn't have screen, so no need to use any gesture or press any button to see the time, simply look at it as like your traditional watch. It connects to your phone to visually track your activities or you can see the achieved goals on the watch by using the small dial. So, it can work alone as well as with your smartphone.

It's a hybrid watch offering several tracking options but it's not a smartwatch so you won't get visible notification however phone will vibrate for your chosen apps. The dial is large, so while wearing on skinny hands it may feel awkward as well as heavy as it weighs 454 grams.