By Bharat Upadhyay
New Delhi, Dec 26 (IANS) As India continues to see a surge in the smart wearable markets, US-based wearable major Garmin has recently launched its multiple feature-packed smartwatches Venu Sq and Venu Sq Music edition in the country.
The new square-shaped smartwatch series Venu Sq is available for Rs 21,090 and the Venu Sq Music at Rs 26,290.
While Garmin Venu Sq will be coming in three colours -- shadow grey with slate bezel, white with light gold bezel and orchid with metallic orchid bezel, the Venu Sq Music edition is available in four colours -- black with slate bezel, light sand with rose gold, navy with light gold and moss with light gold bezel.
Both smartwatches sport a 1.3-inch LCD colour display. They have a battery life of more than six days in smartwatch mode and up to 14 hours in GPS mode.
We have reviewed the Venu Sq Music 'Black' variant for a while. Let's see how it faired.
The Venu Sq series seems to be Garmin's attempt to appeal to mainstream customers.
The overall design and new look of this smartwatch is impressive. It has almost ticked all the right boxes from fitness tracking to its overall performance.
The weight of Venu Sq Music is about 37.6 grams, making it light and easy to wear for hours. It features 1.3-inch touchscreen colour display with Gorilla Glass 3 layer and 240 x 240 pixels resolution.
By connecting the watch with smartphone's via Bluetooth, you can easily read incoming alerts and messages directly on the screen.
The display is sharp and bright and with a feature like 'always-on display' makes it easier to use in extreme light conditions.
Users can download a wide range of watch faces from 'ConnectIQ' free of charge, letting them switch styles whenever they like.
The users can use the 'Face It' function to load photos or take an image on their smartphone to use as their own personal watch face.
In terms of brightness, the display worked well in various light conditions. The touchscreen features higher resolution and worked smoothly.
The smartwatch has only two buttons on the right side of the device which gives it a simple yet elegant look. There's no touch button on the screen.
The rear side of the smartwatch houses the charging pins and the heart-rate sensor.
The new Venu Sq series has over 20 built-in indoor and outdoor sports apps including pilates, yoga, strength training, running, pool swimming, cycling, golf and more. Besides, the Music edition features on-device music storage for phone-free listening.
While doing basic tasks like travelling, attending the gym sessions, the smartwatch didn't disappoint at all. It worked smoothly.
The biggest strength of Garmin's Venu Sq series is that the devices have a SpO2 sensor to identify blood oxygen levels.
Apart from the sports app, the smartwatch also comes loaded with health monitoring features including advanced sleep, respiration tracking, abnormal heart rate alerts (high and low), menstrual cycle tracking, stress tracking with relax reminders, hydration tracking and more.
Users can also track all the activities through 'Garmin Connect'. The smartwatch comes with a 5ATM ratings. This means that they are water-resistant to up to 50 metres in depth for 10 minutes.
In addition, with Venu Sq Music Edition, users can easily download songs or playlists, including from third-party music services like Spotify and Amazon Music right to the wrist.
Conclusion: Priced at Rs 26,290, the smartwatch can be the right choice for fitness enthusiasts. For those who are in search of a lightweight, decent looking and multiple-feature fitness tracker, the new Garmin's Venu Sq is one such wearable.