Fossil Gen 5 vs. Samsung Active 2: Full Comparison

It’s pretty inspiring that almost all watch manufacturers have started to produce their own smartwatches. At the beginning of the smartwatch industry, you would only hear certain names being spoken, and now, the market is chock-full of them coming from everywhere in the world.

So, today we decided to put a Google WearOS smartwatch in a comparison with a Samsung smartwatch in order to showcase the differences and similarities between them. So, without further ado, let’s check our Fossil Gen 5 vs. Samsung Active 2 comparison.

Comparison Table

ModelSamsung Active 2Fossil Gen 5
ECGYesNo
Battery Life5 days20 hrs
LTEYesNo
ATM Rating53
SoftwareTizen OSGoogleWear OS
Contactless PaymentSamsung PayGoogle Pay

Fossil Gen 5 vs. Samsung Active 2: Full Comparison

Vitals Tracking

Nowadays, vitals tracking in a smartwatch is essential, and companies are incredibly competitive with what they can offer for their users.

With the Samsung Active 2, you’ll be getting a bunch of sensors in addition to an ECG sensor or electrocardiogram, which is highly helpful for people who suffer from heart problems and need to continuously check on their health.

Moreover, it also features PaceCoaching, a sleep tracker, stress sensors, and it doesn’t stop there. As a matter of fact, using the integrated Calm app, it’ll help guide you on how to reduce your stress levels and improve the quality of your life.

On the other hand, the Fossil Gen 5 comes with a great package, including heart rate, activity trackers, and GoogleFit to track your exercise and keep you on the right track.

LTE

LTE, or Long-Term-Evolution, is a variant of 4G. It’s a much faster and more efficient technology. Hence, having it in a smartwatch is pretty awesome, to be honest, and the Samsung Active 2 is pretty awesome as you can choose to either have the LTE option or go without it.

The same can’t be said regarding the Fossil Gen 5, as you don’t have that option. LTE significantly ups the game of smartwatches as everything is taken to the next level in regards to speed of navigation.

Read also: Fossil Gen 4 vs Gen 5 [Which smartwatch is better for you!]

Battery Life

Battery life is essential for all smartwatches, and the rule of thumb is that smartwatches tend to last the day and a bit more when they’re being used normally.

Both of our companies today know that, and they’ve decided to take their game to a higher level by providing battery-saving options that allow their smartwatches to operate for more than one day.

Nevertheless, these options block certain facilities of the watch to conserve energy. So, you need to get to know them thoroughly.

As for the Samsung Active 2, it can go for around five days using the battery-saving options, and if you’re ever in a rush, you can charge it using your Galaxy smartphone, which can come in pretty handy.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Fossil Gen 5 comes with not one, not two, and not three, but four different options to help save your battery life.

Water Resistance

Another thing that companies strive to include in their smartwatches to make them more durable and way more appealing to the public is water resistance. You don’t want to be fussing over your watch every time you wash your hands or even if you fall into the water for any reason.

Hence, both these watches are water-resistant. Yet, the Samsung Active 2 enjoys an ATM rating of 5, while the Fossil Gen 5 enjoys an ATM rating of 3.

Still, the Fossil Gen 5 is marketed as swim-proof, which makes tracking your swimming exercises less complicated.

Software

The last thing that you’ll need in a smartwatch is lagging, and that’s why the smartwatch software is a crucial factor to think of before purchasing one. Also, you must understand how the software will interact with the software of your phone.

The Samsung Active 2 runs Tizen OS, which is supported by Linux but developed by Samsung. The system is highly practical and efficient and catered towards acclimatizing Samsung smartwatches with all software on all devices. Hence, it’s compatible with both iPhones and Android smartphones.

As for the Fossil Gen 5, it runs Google WearOS, which focuses on Google’s apps and brings them to the tip of your finger with much ease. Nonetheless, it still has a long way to go to be completely compatible with all smartphones and all different devices.

Contactless Payment

Even though contactless payment emerged way before COVID-19, it did come incredibly handy during these challenging times. At first, people didn’t want to handle cash at all, and now, you don’t want to be getting out your card, and then putting it in every machine to pay for something.

As a result, contactless payment forms are the best way to go, and both of these watches support that; the Samsung Active 2 in the form of Samsung Pay, and the Fossil Gen 5 in the form of Google Pay.

You may see also: The 5 Best Smartwatches for Google Pixel in 2021 – (Pixel 4, 3, 3A, 2)

Size and Color Options

It’s always so much fun to pick out the size, color strap, and all of the little accessories that come with a smartwatch, and that’s why we’ve got quite the variety here.

The Fossil Gen 5 comes in two variants; the Carlyle and the Juliana. The Carlyle is directed towards the musculin taste, while the Juliana is more feminine. In addition to the vast variety of straps that fit the Fossil Gen 5 in general.

On the other hand, the Samsung Active 2 comes in five different colors to suit everyone’s tastes. One great attribute of the Samsung Active 2 will have to be its size options.

You can purchase the 40mm watch or the 44mm variant according to the size of your wrist and how comfortable you feel carrying the watch during the day.

Price

Budget is, of course, always a detrimental factor in everything that we do. Still, the difference in price between these two watches isn’t at all huge. There’s a difference, but it’s not $100; actually, it ranges $20-$30 on average. So, you can choose to go with either watch according to what fits you best.

Display

Last but certainly not least is the display of each of these watches. Both of them support a ton of different apps. It’s not just a watch anymore; you can finish a lot of tasks through your smartwatch.

As a result, you need not just a good display, but a great display that won’t bother you at all, and both watches deliver that, even if they’re not the same.

The Samsung Active 2 comes with a super AMOLED display with a resolution of 360x360ppi, which is pretty awesome for 1.2 and 1.4-inch displays. Yet, Samsung doesn’t stop here as it has added Corning Gorilla Glass DX+ protection over its screen to further immune it to scratches, falls, scrapes, and all of that.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Fossil Gen 5 comes with a 1.28-inch OLED display. The resolution here is a little bit lower at 328x328ppi, but it’s not too low.

Final Thoughts

This is the end of our Fossil Gen 5 vs. Samsung Active 2 comparison. As you can see, there are so many differences between the two watches, and yet, the price isn’t so different.

So, if that is your budget, you can easily choose to go with either one of these watches according to your preferences.

Whether you need an ECG, your watch tends to get into many accidents, or if you want to go 50 meters underwater rather than 30, then the Samsung smartwatch will be a better fit for you.

But, if you want something lighter and more focused on Google services, then the Fossil will suit you better.