Hands-on: Fossil Diesel On Fadelite

With the Diesel On Fadelite, Fossil is trying to make a smartwatch that’s a little more inclusive than some of its other wearables. It’s smaller, lighter and a whole lot of fun thanks to a bold design and a range of colours.

The Fadelite looks like a smartwatch for people who don’t want to look like they’re wearing a smartwatch. Instead of being ugly, bulky and clearly focussed at men like previous versions, this Diesel wearable is made from plastic and comes with rigid translucent straps that have hits of colour that fade into each other.

Price and release date

The Fadelite will set you back £249/$279 and it’ll be available from March.

Smartwatches, especially Fossil ones, tend to feel lighter than you’d expect from a classic watch but picking up the Fadelight I was surprised at just how light this was. It feels a bit like a toy watch; one that you could fling about and leave in a bag without seeing too much damage. Some may see this as a negative but I have never gotten on well with big, brash watches and I barely noticed the Fadelight as it sat on my wrist.

Plastic isn’t quite as comfortable on the wrist as leather or silicone though and it might take a bit of getting used to. It’s very rigid too, which can make buckling it up a bit of a faff. Hopefully the plastic will loosen over time and get a little bit softer.

While I do like the overall design, which has something of an 80s sci-fi flavour about it, I don’t like the brash DIESEL branding stamped up and down the strap. This isn’t quite so noticeable on the clear version.

The 43mm body also means this is quite a small watch and shouldn’t look out of place on daintier wrists. There’s a crown for navigation on the side and a secondary button for going backwards and to quickly jump to shortcuts. Interactions with the watch can also be done through the circular touchscreen, which remains sharp and bright (even when viewed outside) along with being very responsive.

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Most of Fossil’s smartwatches have similar internals and there’s nothing inside the Fadelite that’ll push things forwards. Still, there’s plenty going on here and most of the boxes are ticked. There’s GPS for phone-free runs and activity tracking, HRM and NFC for quickly paying with your watch. The grunt is provided by the Snapdragon Wear 3100 and there’s 1GB RAM for (hopefully) smooth performance.

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Early Verdict

I really love the look of the Fadelite and it’s great to see Fossil come out with some smaller watches that go for that more casual market but aren’t too sporty.

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