Fitbit Versa 3 Vs Fossil Gen 5 Julianna: Fashion over Fitness?

Fitbit Versa 3 Vs Fossil Gen 5 Julianna: Oldies

To those of you who are familiar with Fossil Gen 5 and Fitbit Versa 3, you’d know they are not the latest version by their respective companies.

It has been a few years since their lifecycle began. Fossil Gen 5 was released by Fossil in late 2019 while Fitbit Versa 3 was introduced not much later after it.

But does that take away anything from the merit they still hold?

Or should it?

If it does for you and you want something that has just arrived you might want to check out Fossil Gen 6 and Ticwatch Pro 3.

However, if it doesn’t and you’d be okay either way, I have good news for you: Fossil Gen 5 and Fitbit Versa 3 remain to this day one of the best options for Android Phones.

BODY In Question

As much we try to convince ourselves and others how something ‘looks’ doesn’t matter. It just isn’t true all the time, and it is alright. After all, it is a privilege to admire beautiful things in life, and our smartwatches shouldn’t be denied – admiration.

Fossil and Fitbit have distinct visions.

Despite being in a competing environment they don’t share similarities. Fossil is an almost luxury brand. Their 40 years of history stand on the very basis of design and feel. While Fitbit on the other hand is a modern approach to healthy practices. Their legacy isn’t around the legacy but the future that stands afar.

So it is not a surprise their vision and ideas seep into the products they manufacture. Fossil Gen 5 has the design to appeal. Fitbit Versa 3 has a design to ponder.

Built Quality

Just like the basic practices Fossil Gen 5 and Fitbit Versa 3 have quite a difference when it comes to screen size.

• Fossil Gen 5 Julianna has a screen size of 1.28 inches wide with a circular shape.
• Fitbit Versa 3 stands at a much bigger value of 1.58 inch wide oddly squared-shaped dial.

A Note To Remember: Fossil Gen 5 Julianna is the variation for the Gen 5 series. With special emphasis on femininity, Gen 5 Julianna comes with soft rose gold and pink, rose gold with a tortoiseshell leather strap, rose gold with a silver mesh strap, and yellow-gold with a mesh strap colorways.

In other words, you have a lot of options to modify your Fossil smartwatch with replaceable bands.

“What about Fitbit Versa 3?

Fitbit Versa 3 has also customizability to offer, with 5 different colors to pick from, you have complete freedom to choose the band of your dreams and have it fitted to the premium aluminum body.

Display Screen

In terms of display, I don’t see anything major that can make or break it for either party. Both Fossil and Fitbit had done enough to make Gen 5 and Versa 3 respectively to hold their own even in the year 2023.

• Fossil Gen 5 Julianna is based on AMOLED technology.
• Fitbit Versa 3 is also based on AMOLED technology.

Due to the bigger screen size, it might be more appealing to use Fitbit Versa 3 to catch more colors, there isn’t any significant change. For a casual user, it would be just the same.

Yes, In comparison to what the market has to present now, Fossil Gen 5 and Fitbit Versa 3 might not have enough to hold against the current best. They are still the current best. Or at least one of them.

Crunchy Display. Bright Colors. Always On Feature.

It’s all there. All of them.

Resistivity Prowess

If you are someone who happens to have a lot of accidents you’d be pleased to know Fitbit Versa 3 and Gen 5 Julianna are also waterproof. While Gen 5 can hold itself for 30 meters and Versa 3 for 50 meters. It makes sense Fitbit is inclined toward sporting activity. They tend to be more – rugged.

Although that doesn’t mean Fossil Gen 5 doesn’t have what Fitbit does…

• Both of them are sweat resistant.
• Both of them are dustproof.
• Both of them are sand resistant

Sweet? No

FEATURES At Time

If the design of a smartwatch is its face then the features of a smartwatch should be its heart and brain. And you don’t want to have a secondhand brain. And Fossil and Fitbit understood it and took it to heart. Because Gen 5 and Versa 3 are one of the most featured heavy smartwatches in the market today!

Sensors Sensing Everything?

A quick search on Google would tell you Sensors are defined as a device that detects or measures a physical property and record, indicates, or otherwise responds to it. However, a quick question from someone who loves smartwatches would tell you Sensors are: LOVE.

We love Sensors!!!

If you are one of us who gets just as excited to see a minute device within a minute device detecting changes in physical conditions and then reporting back to the minute device using analog to digital signals.

You are at the right place.

As were the Fossil and Fitbit when they were manufacturing Gen 5 and Versa 3.

• Fossil and Fitbit have heart rate sensors. Although In the case of Fossil, results might be a little uptick. Fitbit is much more accurate.
• Fossil and Fitbit have GPS to locate and denote precise locations.
• While Gen 5 Julianna and Versa 3 do have Accelerometer Fitbit doesn’t have Fall Detection yet. However, both of them can track your sleeping.

Now depending on your needs, this spec could be more than enough or the other way around. It is safe to say that perceived value holds truth. One way or another.

Connectivity Ability

Fitbit is known for Fitness, and not just Versa 3. The whole company.

It is their jam: Fitness Tracking.

So if you’d see Fitbit is edging the Fossil Gen 5 here, don’t be surprised, it is expected. However, if your need to have a smartwatch is because of any underlying issue that requires activity tacking then perhaps this is a stage where a decision can be made. Even when Gen 5 is not far behind its competing partner.

Using a Fitbit Versa 3 you can expect the following metrics to be calculated by it: Sleep, Distance, Steps, Calories Burned, Pace, Route, and Elevation.

As mentioned above Gen 5 is perfectly capable to handle a lot of it as well. What might strike as a difference between the two would be the quality and credibility of the reading. While there is no hard claim of Fossil inordinate reporting. If given the choice I’d always Fitbit Versa 3 for fitness tracking. It’s just much better not much.

And I think so, should you…

Wits To Out Wits

In terms of sustenance to maintain themselves in the competing utopia of IoT devices Gen 5 and Versa 3 have enough to remain in the game for a long time. Okay, perhaps not Gen 5, and that’s because of the uncertain future that looms over Google Wear OS 2. For Fitbit Versa 3 future might remain kinder.

And why I am so sure?

Well, Fitbit is quite up-to-date with no history of failing OS. Fitbit also supports NFC. You can do contactless payment with it. There is an option to play music through Pandora or Deezer or even Spotify (offline). Fitbit has also installed 2.5 GB internal memory to let you store essentials and download games. Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa remain ever-present. You can answer calls and respond to texts. There are many watch faces available to download for free.

But wait…

Versa 3 isn’t the only smartwatch here that can do all of it. Fossil Gen 5 is equally capable to do all of it. Heck! It has even Snapdragon 3100, 8GB internal memory, and 1GB RAM. Yes, Google Wear OS continues to remain a problem (not that much) it would be a fool’s mistake to ignore the ability of Fossil Gen 5.

And we can’t ignore lackluster Fitbit stores that have hardly 20-30 applications. Third-Party support is truly terrible there. While Fossil has Play Store to give you a million options!

So.

Buy Once. But Think Twice. But For Now. Just Think.

BATTERY Life

In all these years I’ve had the pleasure to wear and review smartwatches I still believe truly – truly – no brand or company has ever come close to solving the issue of battery life. With each feature that is introduced to solve a certain problem, persisting issue of a drained battery only gets worse.

It isn’t any different here too.

Fitbit Versa 3 vs Fossil Gen 5 Julianna continues the tradition.

Lifespan Over Lifetime

“Fossil Gen 5 Julianna runs on Google Wear OS 2”

The quoted quote should be enough to tell you why it was quoted. If not, it’s okay. Let me explain in one sentence: In the competition of Operating Systems Windows Vista would beat Google Wear OS.

And no I am not joking. WINDOWS VISTA.

Despite the many efforts of Fossil by including four battery modes that do work to an extent, there is no way your Gen 5 would last for more than a day. You can try. It just doesn’t happen.

By the next day, you’d have to put it up for charge!

In this regard, Fitbit Versa 3 is quite reassuring to see. You can go without charge for 5 days easily. On my test, it took me 4 days before it asked me to put it up for a charge, but that could be because of my excessive usage.

I had everything turned on for 96 hours.

Everything.

Charging Time

Fossil Gen 5 would take at least 2 hours or more to be fully charged. Whereas Fitbit Versa 3 would be up in 1 hour. This is quite fascinating since it provides much better battery backup than certain something coughs Google Wear OS coughs

Fitbit Versa 3 Vs Fossil Gen 5 Julianna: Verdict

In the end, your decision should be influenced by what seems the best fit for your needs and wants. If advanced fitness tracking with stable battery life is what you hope to seek in your smartwatches then there might not be a better alternative than Fitbit Versa 3

However, if your need is on the casual side of the spectrum and you put style over tracking substance then Fossil Gen 5 is a perfect match for you. There are no doubts about it.