Latest Snapdragon chipset on board but some Fossil Gen 5 features are MIA
Fossil Group’s Misfit is keeping the smartwatches coming, officially unveiling the Vapor X – its third smartwatch packing Google’s Wear OS.
Following the Vapor and the Vapor 2, the X is still very much all about sports tracking packing a heart rate monitor and GPS. Those features do now come packed inside of an ultra-lightweight aluminium alloy case, which Misfit says makes this its lightest smartwatch to date.
Read more: The best Wear OS smartwatches
Like the recently unveiled Fossil Gen 5 smartwatches, the Vapor X comes packing Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 3100 processor, though bizarrely lacks the jump up in RAM, sticking to the pretty standard 512MB featured on older Wear watches. It also misses out on a speaker to enable taking calls and listening to music when paired to an Android phone or iPhone. So it doesn’t quite get the full Gen 5 treatment, which seems a bit odd.
The 42mm watch features a 1.19-inch AMOLED touchscreen display with an interchangeable 20mm strap keeping it around your wrist. There’s now a redesigned Sport Strap+, too, which Misfit says should be more breathable for those sporty adventures. From these images, it also looks like the Vapor X has gained two additional buttons, bringing it in line with other Fossil watches that should mean the ability to assign your favourite features to those buttons.
Wear OS is, as we say, running the software show, offering features like the ability to view notifications, customize watch faces, view weather updates and enjoy third-party app support from the likes of Spotify, Noonlight and heart health app Cardiogram.
Other features include NFC, used to unlock Google Pay (in select countries), a microphone to support Google’s smart assistant and a waterproof design letting you go swimming with it at up to 30 metres depth.
On the battery front, the Vapor X should give you a pretty standard 24 hours, with the new battery-saving modes getting you closer to two days. A rapid charging mode means you can get you near to a full charge in an hour, too.
The Vapor X is available now for $279, but Misfit is discounting it to $199.99 as a launch special, if you want to pick it up for less.
It’s fair to say we weren’t blown away by the Vapor and Vapor 2 when we put them to the test. The fact the X doesn’t match the specs sheets of Fossil’s new Gen 5 watches is an eyebrow-raising decision, as well. We’ll reserve full judgement until we’ve had some time getting to know the new Vapor.