Michael Kors Women Gen 5E Darci Touchscreen Smartwatch with Speaker, Heart Rate, GPS, NFC, and Smartphone Notifications

Product Information

We’ve put the latest version of Michael Kors’ sporty smartwatch to the test to see if it can serve up both style and substance this time around.

The battery can last 24 hours, but that depends on how you use the smartwatch. For example, cranking up full-screen brightness, using GPS and taking heart rate readings will significantly drain it.She’s passionate about helping people wade through tech jargon to find useful products they’ll actually use – with a focus on health and wellbeing. Fossil smartwatches are currently on Gen 5 hardware – and now Michael Kors has updated two of its lines to run on the latest hardware: the sportier Gen 5E MKGO and sparkling statement Darci Gen 5E Smartwatch. This isn’t the first MKGO. We reviewed the original MKGO in 2020 and found that, although it looks good, it didn’t deliver in the fitness department. Michael Kors was one of the first fashion brands to embrace wearable tech and the MKGO Gen 5E is the latest in the company’s line-up of smartwatches. On the inside of the Gen 5E Darci, you’ll find the same smarts as the Fossil Gen 5E smartwatch, including a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor and 512MB of RAM. Performance was good and felt improved on previous versions of Michael Kors smartwatches.

If you’re attracted to the smarts but usually opt for something light and minimal, the Gen 5E Darci is unlikely to suit you. Google and Samsung announced a unified platform that combines Samsung's Tizen OS with Wear OS - which is called Wear OS 3 - though the Gen 5E Darci smartwatch won't be able to run this software. Size-wise, the watch is 43mm with a 1.19-inch AMOLED screen. There’s a pavé-studded bezel and a crown on the side with the MK logo etched into it. Push it to open up an app menu or long-press to activate Google Assistant.The Michael Kors Gen 5E Darci smartwatch offers a lovely and solid design - if you're into that style. It's got a premium build quality, runs smoothly, and delivers some great features - including the specific Michael Kors features that come with the MK Access app. The Snapdragon 4100 is now out, but has only made it to one smartwatch so far – the TicWatch Pro 3. So the 3100 is a capable processor that will delivers a decent experience. The on-the-go girl’s essential, Michael Kors smartwatches help you streamline your day-to-day look. They boast iPhone and Android compatibility, Bluetooth-enabled calling, Spotify functionality and a heart rate and activity monitor. Our family of Michael Kors Access smartwatches helps you stay organised and stay in touch too. Enjoy the benefits of high-tech features while staying true to your style personality. From sports-inspired silicone watches to watches with polished hardware and pavé detailing, there is truly something for everyone. Get The Best From Your workout With A Fitness Watch

If you really start pushing yourself the heart rate sensor does struggle to keep up – but for general gym workouts or runs – it's a solid performance that will give you a good estimate of your exertion and make post-workout data relevant and useful. Becca is also interested in how scientific developments and technological advances will impact us all in the near future. Many of her features ask big questions about what’s in store for wearable technology, especially the potential of virtual reality and artificial intelligence. The main issue - especially when connected to an iPhone - is that you can't do much with the notifications that come through. You can answer a call, though it gets transferred to your phone to continue the call, and we had a number of occasions where it cut the call off too, as well as the battery draining quite a bit during a long active call. There is also no way to reply to messages so the information is delivered but functionality of what you can then do with that is limited. The graph in the Whoop app showed much more sensitivity, but most people would be more than happy with the way Google Fit presents the data from the MKGO 5E – and you could always get a third-party fitness app if you wanted to try other options. For iOS users, the Wear OS platform is nowhere near as fluid as Apple's watchOS platform and the Apple Watch, but for Android users everything is a little more seamless, as you would expect.Becca has been writing about technology for nearly ten years. In that time she’s covered topics from robotics and virtual reality to simulated universe theory and brain-computer interfaces for a wide range of titles, including TechRadar, New Scientist, Wired UK, OneZero by Medium, Stuff, T3, Metro and many more. The casing is made of stainless steel and has a stainless steel 7-link bracelet. The watch comes in rose gold, gold, silver and two-tone rose gold and silver. We had to have five links removed, so that’s worth bearing in mind if you have smaller wrists.

Around a day’s worth of battery life is what you can expect from an MK smartwatch – as well as all Fossil smartwatches using the same tech. This is similar to some of the top smartwatches, including the Apple Watch Series 6, but still might be frustrating if you don’t want to charge it up most days. At 70g, it’s also lightweight compared to Michael Kors alternatives, which makes it a better option for fitness and more wearable every day than the hefty Darci Gen 5E at 80g. If you want a Michael Kors watch geared up for fitness, look at the MKGO Gen 5E instead. Its strap and design is, at least in our opinion, much better for working out. Although the MKGO Gen 5E has a more minimal design than other smartwatches from Michael Kors, it’s still unashamedly fashion-focused with plenty of sparkles thanks to a pave-studded ring around the edge of the screen.

All Michael Kors smartwatches are based on the brand’s regular watches but with a digital display. This design is perfect for anyone who loves the look of a traditional watch – so wouldn’t want to opt for an "techy" looking Apple Watch or Fitbit Versa – but wants smart features baked in.