Back when Fossil introduced the fifth generation of its smartwatches, the company made clear that the energy management enhancements in the form of custom battery modes would also come to its Gen 4 watches. As promised, this software improvement has now started rolling out across these devices, such as the Sloan HR, the Sport, the Venture, and the Explorist.

Fossil's battery modes come in four flavors intended for different usage patterns, as our own Corbin Davenport already explained in his Fossil Q review: 'Daily' is meant for nightly charging and leaves on most features except for the always-on display. 'Extended' disables all radios except Bluetooth, and you'll need to turn on the watch by pressing the side button. 'Time Only' turns off Wear OS altogether, and 'Custom' lets you choose which features to turn on and off. It's still a band-aid solution compared with the Apple Watch's reliable battery life out of the box, but it's better than what other Wear OS watches offer.

As Droid Life reports, all Fossil Snapdragon Wear 3100 watches that haven't already received the battery modes will get them in a 700MB big update, currently rolling out over the air. Since Fossil also produces smartwatches for its other brands, products like the Misfit Vapor X and the Kate Spade Sport (among others) will also benefit from the software.

UPDATE: 2020/01/07 5:15am PST BY MANUEL VONAU

Wear OS H in tow

As confirmed by tipsters, the update also elevates the Gen 4 devices to Wear OS H based on Android 9 Pie. This explains why the OTA file is so big. The new version of Wear OS gives you some more goodies like improved off-body battery efficiency, smart app resume for all apps, and a quick two-step power off option.

Thanks: Nick Cipriani, revanmj

Source: Droid Life