Image: Fossil
Fossil’s new hybrid smartwatches combine physical watch hands with a circular low-power, always-on display. The $195 (£189) Fossil HR has a monochromatic display, which is capable of showing the kind of information you’d typically expect to see on a smartwatch — including activity tracking, weather information, and app notifications — all while being power-efficient enough that the watch offers a battery life of around two weeks.
Back when news of these smartwatches leaked in September, there was speculation that they used the secret smartwatch tech that Google paid Fossil $40 million for at the beginning of the year. However, Fossil said these watches are unrelated to that deal. “There is no relation between the IP Fossil sold to Google…