Fossil Sport brings Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset for $255 w/ NFC, 41mm case, available today

Ben Schoon | Nov 8 2018 - 3:59 am PT

A lot of new Wear OS hardware has been hitting the market in recent weeks, but only a single watch has offered up Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset. Today, though, the Fossil Sport has been unveiled with the latest chipset and a fantastic starting price point as well.

Fossil’s catalog of Wear OS watches is massive, but most have recently been refreshed with features like NFC and better waterproofing while still retaining the same Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset. With the Fossil Sport, though, we’re getting our first affordable taste of what that new silicon can do since the debut of the Montblanc Summit 2 last month.

The new Fossil Sport brings a lot of the features you would expect on a Wear OS watch at this point, including the refreshed interface, NFC, GPS, a heart rate monitor, and magnetic charging as well. The watch also has a unique Nylon and Aluminum casing which comes in two sizes – 41mm and 43mm. It even comes pre-loaded with the new Spotify app for Wear OS as well as a “peace of mind” app called Noonlight.

As for the Snapdragon Wear 3100 under the hood, it promises better endurance when using the new modes in Wear OS. In standard use, the new Fossil Sport is rated for “24+ hours” of use. Using the “battery saver” mode, though, users can pull an additional 2 days out of the watch. The new chipset also enables Fossil to use an enhanced ambient display mode which has better animations and support for more colors.

The Fossil Sport goes on sale today for $255. That makes it by far the cheapest watch to date with a Snapdragon Wear 3100, and for the time being one of the best options for the money when it comes to Wear OS. Fossil retail locations will have the Sport starting November 12th and a Fossil Sport Pop-Up shop will be at 138 Wooster St in New York City from November 9th-11th.