Garmin’s updated Venu 2 watch adds calls and voice control

Garmin’s Venu smartwatches can do a lot, but there has always been one thing missing: voice control.

Until now, that is. The company has just announced its new Venu 2 Plus smartwatch that does everything the Venu 2 does well – mainly health and wellness features such as fitness and activity tracking, built-in GPS, tracking respiration rate, sleep monitoring and keeping an eye on your blood oxygen levels – and added the ability to take calls and use your smartphone’s digital assistant right from your wrist.

It may be something you never thought you'd need, but the voice integration could have its uses. "Garmin has quite literally answered the call for adding on-device voice capabilities to the latest Venu smartwatch," said Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales. "For the active lifestyle customer, multi-tasking is crucial, and now Garmin customers have the ability to answer a call or send a text without digging through their pocket or bag."

Will you feel a bit funny about talking to your wrist? Possibly. But like many things in life we thought we would never get used to (including ordering around our digital assistants), you never know how you’ll take to it until you try it.

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The Venu 2 Plus also comes with a bright Amoled display and a battery life that lasts up to nine days. There are workouts preloaded on the watch, and you can add more through the Garmin Connect app. Don’t like Pilates? Swap it out for swimming or yoga. HIIT (high-intensity interval training) not your thing? You can choose another cardio option. There are more than 75 preset animated workouts for cardio, yoga, strength, HIIT and Pilates to help you refine your technique. You an also use the Venu 2 Plus with the Garmin Coach free adaptive training plans for improving your running.

There is also the ability to download up to 650 songs, including playlists from Spotify, Amazon Music, and Deezer; pay with NFC through Garmin Pay (assuming your bank is compatible), and it works with both Apple and Android smartphones.

[ garmin.com ]