It was only at the start of 2018 that Skagen launched the first Falster, so the Falster 2, arriving less than a year later, is an unusually fast iteration. And in fact the design doesn’t stray too far from what came before, save for two new buttons on the side and a middle button that now works as a rotating crown. Wear OS has evolved into a very scrollable interface, so it’s great we’re seeing companies like Skagen take advantage of that. The bottom line here is that the Skagen Falster 3 had made some impressive strides in the areas that needed it most. It's no secret that the biggest gripe most people had about the Falster 2 was the performance, which is pretty important on a smartwatch. While some of that could be attributed to Wear OS, there's no way around the fact that the limited memory/storage and an outdated processor were also to blame. The Falster 3 fixes that and seals the deal by throwing in smart battery modes, a built-in speaker, and a larger case. When all is said and done, this is a worthy upgrade through and through.

The Skagen Falster 2 has three buttons on the side. The larger middle button is a rotating crown that's used to open up your apps menu, as well as scroll through options. At least Google apps like Gmail allow for replies right from your wrist whether you have an iOS or Android phone, plus there's support for both Apple and Google Calendar. Google Pay works seamlessly too and is a huge advantage in saving you from carrying bank cards wherever you go. Fitness Skagen offers a standard one-year limited warranty on the Falster 2 in the U.S., which covers manufacturing defects. Our Take Another notable improvement is the new rapid charging feature, which allows your watch to reach an 80% charge in under an hour. You also have a built-in speaker, so you can hear Google Assistant answers, notification sounds, music, and phone calls without having your Bluetooth headset connected. Bottom line You might think there’s no difference between the Falster and the Falster 2, but the changes are subtle. The bezels around the screen have slimmed down a little, and the case size has shrunk from 42mm to 40mm. The watch is also now 1mm thinner than its predecessor, which altogether means the Falster feels more compact and lighter on the wrist than ever before.

We expect this watch to last two years before battery life starts to deteriorate. Smartwatches don’t have a long shelf life, and two years is just about the right amount of time before you’ll want to upgrade to a newer model. The Falster 2 does have improved 3 ATM water resistance, so it can handle a bit of water. Should you buy it? The Skagen Falster 2's screen sums up a lot about the watch - it's straightforward in its effectiveness. Its screen is a 1.19-inch circular AMOLED with a 320 x 320 resolution. By comparison, Apple’s Watch Series 4 quotes 18 hours of life, and that lined up with what we saw in our tests. Newer Wear 3100 Wear OS watches — like the Fossil Sport— can last just a little over a day, but not much more. Smartwatches that use a less attractive display, like the Garmin Forerunner 645 Music, can last up to five days. Like you’ll find on all Wear OS watches, notifications are more streamlined and easier to interact with, and swiping them away dismisses them on your phone. You should know, however, that some functions of Wear OS are limited on the iPhone, such as the inability to respond to iMessages.

Perhaps the most noticeable change with the Falster 2 is the addition of two buttons flanking the crown. They’re not as springy as the crown, and more rigid, but they open two shortcuts of your choosing. We opted to use the top button to open our Reminders, and the bottom button for Google Pay. It’s a handy way of limiting the need to scroll through the app drawer. Speaking of scrolling, the crown can also now rotate, which means you can use it to scroll through the Wear OS interface. That means fewer fingerprint smudges on the Falster 2’s screen — though we’d have liked scrolling to feel a little smoother. Somewhat sluggish performance The daily mode enables key sensors, including the always-on display while extended battery mode turns off most sensors except heart rate and notifications. You also have custom mode, which lets you turn on/off any sensor you want. Then there's the less popular time-only mode, which only tells the time. The Falster 2 has the same 300mAh battery as its predecessor, which never got us through a day. Does the addition of a heart rate monitor, GPS, and NFC make battery life even worse on the Falster 2? Surprisingly, no. We found the Falster 2 delivered about the same length of battery life, if not slightly better. That doesn’t mean battery life is good, though. Alternatives

Stylish, understated and underpowered

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 colours 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 metres of water resistance and you've got a pretty versatile smartwatch. Utilizing a small design, the smartwatch's fully circular display is now 40mm, down from the Skagen Falster's 42mm size. It's also 1mm thinner than the original watch, so it feels suitably sleek to hold. You'll soon forget you're wearing it, that's how lightweight it is. This isn't exclusively the case with the Skagen Falster 2, of course, but it's worth noting for iOS owners considering any Wear OS watch. It will work, but not quite as effectively as if they're pairing it with an Android phone.

There are still many other new watches that use the Wear 2100 processor, including the Misfit Vapor 2, the Michael Kors Access Runway, and the Fossil Q Venture HR, and they’re all solid watches. While we would have liked to see all of them utilizing the latest processor (like the Fossil Sportor the Montblanc Summit 2), the latest Wear OS update really does improve the experience a lot more. Newest Wear OS makes every watch betterThe Falster 2 comes ready to support the latest version of Wear OS, which I was prompted to update to right out of the box, and again, the updated interface is better for scrolling with the digital crown. Performance is decent, though not flawless. Apps can be slow to open and scrolling through the app drawer or asking Google Assistant a question can be choppy. It’s still better than the original Falster, and the new Wear OS update can take the credit. Google’s most recent Wear OS updatebrought a major redesign to the platform. When swimming, the Skagen Falster 2 hardly misses a beat however, and that silicone strap really is useful for drying off afterwards.

And at for the version with a leather or silicon band or for the more luxurious model it's not crazily priced for a Wear watch. So far, so good.

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On a technical level, it’s disappointing to find that, with a new wearable chipset from Qualcomm rumoured to be just around the corner, the Falster 2 is still lumbered with the now-dated Snapdragon Wear 2100. Despite this, the Wear OS experience felt perfectly snappy in my brief encounter with the watch and as such, it’s more a case of how performance degrades after long-term daily use. There are also two other buttons that can be set as shortcuts. By default, one is set to adjust the color of the watch face, while the other opens Google Fit. We'd recommend immediately changing one to Google Pay for convenience. Skagen typically bills the Falster as a men’s watch but it looks and feels small, light and compact enough to wholly justify itself as a unisex offering.