Skagen Falster 2 Review: One Of The Best Smartwatch in India

Skagen Falster 2 was recently given to me by the company for reviewing and I had published the Initial impressions about the watch. You can check out the initial impressions about the watch here. Skagen Falster 2 has lot to live upto. Previous generation Skagen Falster lacked many of the essential features which have now been introduced in the Falster 2. First generation smartwatch was one of the best designed smartwatch of its time. also, the follow up watch promises much more on paper.

With the launch of the generation 4 watches from Fossil Group, Skagen Falster 2 got what was missing from its previous generation. The smartwatch now comes with NFC, Heart Rate Tracking and a GPS.

In my Initial Impressions – I had already appraised the watch for its design and pure wear os experience. But is it as good to use? Here’s my full verdict on the Wear OS-packing Falster 2.

Skagen Falster 2: Design

Skagen launched the first generation smartwatch in early 2018 and at end of 2018 we have the Falster 2, its a very fast upgrade launched and with major improvements, I must say. The crown now helps you navigate through the menu. Wear Os has been updated to provide a better user experience. The design from the previous generation is improved with Two extra buttons above and below the crown. The extra added buttons are customizable and you can launch any application you might like. With NFC, the Falster 2 now supports Google Pay, so if you’re a user of Google’s payment service you’ll probably want to assign it to one of these shortcut buttons for convenience. Currently in India Google Pay has restriction and because of which I wasn’t able to try the Google Pay feature on the watch.

The case is 2mm smaller this time, now measuring 40mm to give it more unisex appeal. Fit within that is a 1.19-inch touchscreen which, thanks to Skagen’s specially designed watch faces and the OLED technology, does a good job of hiding the bezel. There are plenty of colors too, mixing different stainless steel finishes with various strap options. And once again you can swap in any 20mm band of your choosing, thanks to the universal fitting. Add to that 30 meters of water resistance and you’ve got a pretty versatile smartwatch.

Skagen Falster 2 despite having all these features and hardware is still light. Skagen deserves a applause here for keeping the watch light weighed and managing somehow squeeze more tech into less space in less than a year. Skagen Falster 2 is an Impressive watch without any doubt.

Skagen Falster 2: Features

Skagen Falster 2 has tried to tick all the right check boxes this time. The watch has all the hardware and features which was previously missing in the Skagen Falster. The Falster 2 is not only designed as smartwatch but also as a fitness watch as well. The Falster 2 offers up a heart rate sensor on the back, built-in GPS and a waterproof design. It also gets NFC this time around, meaning you can take advantage of Google Pay and make purchases from the wrist (at supporting payment terminals).

The default watch faces offered in the watch are all based on the Danish concept of “hygge”. These faces remove the clutter and are more sparing with the colors, opting for more blacks that look nice and deep on that OLED screen. The default watch faces offered on the watch take advantage of the black color background to hide bezels on the watch.

Skagen Falster 2 is ready for the latest wear os 2.3. I was prompted to update the watch as soon as it got connected with my wifi. After few updates the watch was running wear os 2.3 right out of the box. The updated interface helps in navigating through the digital crown.

Skagen Falster 2 runs on Qualcomm snapdragon 2100 where as the the newer one available right now is Snapdragon 3100. But there’s a slight difference in the battery life with the new wear 3100 chipset and rest everything is same. With the new devices starting to emerge with the latest chipset, this decision would be harder to accept.

This is mostly felt in the battery life, which only nets about a day on average – the same as the first Falster. It feels like Skagen could have waited just a little longer and opted for the updated silicone, which would have allowed it to optimize the battery better, stretching it out for longer.

Skagen Falster 2 is snappy and works as it is expected to. The watch responds well to the gestures and touch. On very few occasions I found the watch lagging a bit but it’s not the case always and this could be easily resolved through software optimisation. Everything can be fixed, Battery life can’t be. I just don’t see why Skagen couldn’t have waited a little longer and delivered something better.

Skagen Falster 2: Fitness and activity tracking

Skagen has loaded this watch with the fitness features , but how well do they work in practice? For starters, let’s talk about the software, because you’re really still getting the stock Wear OS experience in terms of apps. Google Fit comes pre-installed on this watch.

If you have an android phone, you can easily sync the fitness data with the Google Fit application. but iPhone users are stuck with just the Wear OS app for now, which only offers a basic glance at your daily activity. If you want to properly track your workouts, we’d recommend downloading an app like Endomondo or Runtastic onto the watch. I would recommend runtastic because of it’s cross platform connectivity and plenty of workout tracking.

The Skagen Falster 2 gives you pretty accurate readings from your workout. I have tried matching the steps count and heart rate during the activity with other smartwatch and the results were close to each other. The heart rate sensor works as it expected to. The GPS locks on quickly and gives you perfect data on the trail of activity in the Google Fit application.

Skagen Falster 2: Battery Life

Honestly, the battery life of the watch isn’t that great. Before even I could start reviewing this watch, I have received various comments on my Instagram where the users have complained of poor battery life. Yes, the battery life could have been improved if Skagen could have waited a little bit more to take advantage of the new chipset. I could get through the day on a single charge with using the fitness features for an hour. If you want more than a day’s battery life you can use the watch with power saver mode and you can easily stretch the battery to a day and half.

Skagen Falster 2: Pricing and Availability

The Falster 2 is priced at ₹21,995 in India. The watch comes with metal and silicone straps and you can even change the straps later on, thanks to standard 20 mm strap size. The watch is available at all leading watch stores and Online at Amazon, Flipkart and Tata Cliq. Do watchout deals on Tata cliq for exclusive offers and cashback.