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Garmin announced the $799 Venu X1 fitness watch today. It offers a 2-inch square AMOLED screen and seems like a shot at the Apple Watch Ultra 2, given its similar square design and titanium body, even though the company’s other watches already offer similar features to Apple’s flagship wearable.
It’s sort of like a square version of the Fenix 8 or Forerunner 970 watches, just with shorter battery life and some other trade-offs. Garmin says it’ll last about two days with the always-on display active (or up to 8 days with it off), compared to seven days of always-on with the 47mm AMOLED Fenix 8. And, while it has a built-in flashlight like those other watches, it lacks ECG support and multi-band GPS. It also has full-color mapping, which isn’t normally found on Garmin’s Venu watches.
The Venu X1 features a scratch-resistant sapphire lens and a titanium caseback, along with a built-in speaker and microphone for calls or voice commands. Garmin notes that you can use some voice commands, like “start a running activity” or “set a timer for 5 minutes,” without having a smartphone paired.
The Venu X1 also has a suite of health and fitness tracking features with over 100 activity profiles, as well as a pulse oximeter to measure your blood oxygen saturation.
The Venu X1 will be available in black and dark green when it launches on June 18th.
