Garmin unveils Venu 2 smartwatch in two sizes with double the battery life
Garmin unveiled the second generation of the Venu smartwatch, which was its first with an AMOLED display. The new models come in two sizes, the Garmin Venu 2 measures 45mm in diameter and packs a 1.3” display, the Venu 2S is 40mm with a 1.1” display. They have 416 x 416 px or 360 x 360 px resolution, respectively, and an optional Always On Mode.
The displays are protected by Gorilla Glass 3, the bezel around the glass is stainless steel and the body of the watch is fiber-reinforced polymer. As before, the Venu watches are rated at 5 ATM water resistance (pool swimming is supported).
The big upgrade this generation is the battery – it’s double what the old models could achieve. The 45mm version can last up to 11 days in smartwatch mode, the 40mm one can go on for 10 days. The original was available in a single 43mm size and could only manage 5 days on a single charge.
A key selling point of the Venu line is the GPS tracking and the endurance of that has gone up as well – up to 8/7 hours on the Venu 2, up from 6 hours on the original model (and that’s with music playing). Charging is fast too, 10 minutes add 1 day of smartphone mode or 1 hour of GPS tracking.
Note that besides GPS, GLONASS and Galileo are also supported, there’s a compass on board as well as a barometric altimeter. Also, Venu 2 duo is the first with the new Elevate V4 optical heart rate sensor.
A major new exercise mode is High Intensity Interval Training (aka HIIT). This includes support for TABATA, AMOM, AMRAP and variations – you can read more about those here. Hiking, indoor climbing and bouldering are also new.
Sleep score • Health Snapshot • Hydration • HIITOther upgrades of note are the more advanced sleep tracker that calculates a sleeping score based on heart rate, respiration, blood oxygen and stress. Light, deep and REM stages are still tracked. The new Health Snapshot records a 2-minute session to give you an instant reading of your health status, including things like heart rate variability.
Features carried over from the original are 24/7 heart rate and respiration rate tracking, blood-oxygen saturation monitoring, stress tracking, plus hydration and women’s health features.
Quick release straps (22 mm and 18 mm) • Downloadable watchfaces, apps and more
As for smartwatch features, you will get text messages from your phone (Android owners can even reply from the watch), calendar reminders, weather information and more. You can download watch faces, widgets and apps from Connect IQ. Garmin Pay is on board so you can go out without a wallet or even a phone.
Speaking of, the new watches can store up to 650 songs (up from 500 on the original) from Spotify, Amazon or Deezer. In gigabytes, that’s 7 GB, up from 3 GB (or so). And if you do have your phone with you, there are music controls on the watch.
More storage for songs • Text messaging • Garmin Pay • Customization from Connect IQThe Garmin Venu 2 and Venu 2S are available now, at a price of $400/€400 (yes, both cost the same). You can find them on garmin.com.
