IFA 2019: Michael Kors announces 3 smartwatches as part of its Fall collection

Designer brand Michael Kors has announced not one but three new smartwatches as part of its Fall collection. Unveiled at IFA 2019, Access Lexington 2, Access Bradshaw 2 and Access MKGO combine next generation technology with stylish looks.

Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets

The first two are upgrades to previous generation models but slap on some additional features and slightly tweaked designs. The last is a new model aimed at sporty types. All three come with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 3100 chip and are powered by Wear OS.

Lexington 2 and Bradshaw 2 are for fashionistas, the first is designed for men the second for women. What’s new is the ability to take calls from the wrist thanks to the addition of a built-in speaker. Michael Kors will be rolling out a new app in late September that will enable users to connect via Bluetooth with their smartphone to take calls, talk to Google Assistant, play music, hear sound alerts and more.

Another upgrade are multiple battery modes. There are a total of four to choose from allowing users to extend the life of their watch to “multiple days” on a single charge. There’s also a “Daily Mode” which features an always-on display. Its name indicates, though, that it will require charging each night.

In addition to the more powerful chip, the watches come with 8GB of storage and 1GB of RAM. This should keep them running very smoothly.

The main attraction here is the premium design and you certainly get that from Michael Kors. Both watches come with a 1.28 inch 328 ppi resolution AMOLED screen that fits in a 44mm stainless steel case and bezel.

Lexington 2 can be picked up in gold-tone, rose gold-tone, silver-tone and two-tone stainless steel designs; the Bradshaw 2 in gunmetal, rose gold-tone, gold-tone or silver-tone stainless steel. The two watches actually look very much alike apart from subtle differences in design.

You’ll also be able to pretty them up with custom watch-faces. A new micro-app, My Dials will let you choose from pre-set categories or let you create one of your own. 

Access Lexington 2 and Bradshaw 2 start at $350 and go all the way up to $425 for the more premium gold models. Lexington 2 is available now while Bradshaw 2 will launch on September 25th.

So what about Access MKGO?

This one is slightly different and arguably the most interesting of the lot. Michael Kors Access MKGO is engineered to be very lightweight and is for those who are into the active lifestyle.

The watch comes in 43mm aluminium and nylon casing and a choice between pink, black, white and red silicone straps. It’s thinner measuring only 7mm (versus 12mm), it comes with a smaller 1.19″ display which is not AMOLED and it has half the memory of the other two (4GB of storage and 512MB of RAM).

All three watches come with a heart rate monitor, accelerometer, altimeter, built-in GPS, a swim-proof design and NFC for contactless payments. But Access MKGO is the better option if you’re into the active lifestyle. It’s more lightweight, it comes with battery life of around 36 hours and Google Fit pre-installed.

The device is also the cheapest of the lot coming in at $295. We are at IFA so will make sure to post a few pics and put in some time with the new watches.

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