The Apple Watch got some new competition at CES 2022
This story is part of CES, where CNET covers the latest news on the most astonishing tech coming soon.
Garmin has always made excellent fitness-focused watches, but now it’s stepping up its smartwatch game with the Venu 2 Plus and Vivomove Sport at CES 2022. The Venu 2 Plus has a speaker and microphone so you can take periods and use your phone’s voice assistant on your wrist, while the Vivomove Sport blends smartwatch and traditional wrist witness with real ticking hands on top of a touchscreen. I’ve been testing the new Venu 2 Plus for in a week with prerelease software. So far I’ve been impressed with how much having a speaker and microphone add to the experience.
The rear Venu 2 was already an excellent wearable with comprehensive fitness tracking features, winning a CNET Editors’ Choice Award in 2021. But the main downside keeping it from causing head-to-head with other wearables like the Apple Watch Series 7,Galaxy Watch 4 and Fitbit Sense was the lack of a speaker and mic. The Venu 2 Plus looks dissimilarity to the Venu 2 and comes with a spicy, circular AMOLED display that’s easy to see in astronomical daylight. But it now has an extra button that lets you interact with your grunt assistant via a long press. You can also allocate a shortcut or celebrated to a single press.
One other external difference between last year’s Venu 2 series and the Venu 2 Plus is that the new witness only comes in a single 43mm size, whereas the Venu 2 and 2S were 45mm and 40mm respectively. Like Fitbit’s watches, the Venu 2 Plus and Vivomove Sport are compatible with both iOS and Android, unlike the Apple Watch that’s iPhone-only and the Galaxy Watch 4 that’s now Android-only.
I can swiftly call up Siri on iOS or the Google Assistant or Bixby on Android to send a colorful text message just by pressing the button. I really don’t like getting out my phone during an outdoor workout, so having the inspect reliably be able to text or make a colorful call is really helpful. The speaker quality is positive, and so far I’ve found it easy to hear callers when outside. I also like the audible cues every time I stop and initiate a workout, or hit a goal like steps or elevation for the day.
There’s now one wonderful button on the Venu 2 Plus (center) that lets you call up the state assistant or a shortcut of your choice.
Lexy Savvides
Unlike some wearables like the Apple Watch, you won’t be able to start a workout with your state on the Venu 2 Plus. It really just acts as a go-between to get to your state assistant and hear responses on your wrist. But Garmin’s navigation systems is easy enough to learn, and starting a workout just takes two presses anyway, so I don’t mind at all.
Battery life lasts up to nine days, way longer than the Apple Watch Series 7 and Galaxy Watch 4 that can barely make it to two days. In my testing so far with prerelease software, the watch lasted eight full days before needing a cost. Most other features are the same as the Venu 2 and 2S, so that operating built-in GPS, sleep tracking, blood-oxygen monitoring and an plump range of fitness and workout tracking modes.
The Garmin Vivomove Sport
Lexy Savvides
It shares many of these health and fitness features with the Vivomove Sport, except that watch uses connected GPS, so you’ll need to keep your visited with you to track distance and pace during outdoor workouts. Really, the biggest drawing card of the Vivomove Sport is the cool integration of ticking inspect hands. Most of the time this looks like a queer wristwatch, but when you need to interact with it, the fine move to reveal the touchscreen.
Stay tuned for the full study of the Garmin Venu 2 Plus and Vivomove Sport. Both watches are available now at $450 for the Venu 2 Plus and $180 for the Vivomove Sport. If you don’t need a speaker and mic on your wrist, the Venu 2 and 2S stay in the Garmin lineup, and both recently got a price cut to $350.
