From Galaxy Watch To Garmin Venu 3: What to Expect

In a few days from now I will have a birthday (thank you!) and my present will be a new smartwatch – Garmin Venu 3. It will replace my Galaxy Watch 4. This will be my first ever Garmin. 

I was researching this topic for some time, and still not absolutely sure if I will be satisfied with this move (but I really hope so – Venu 3 is not cheap).

If you are considering a similar switch – you can be interested in the information below.

But please not – everyone has their own needs and priorities – what is important for me can be irrelevant for you and vice versa.

👍First let me list the new benefits I expect from Venu 3: 👍

1. Real continuous HR. So, in case of concern I can really see how it was changing during the day. Hourly Max-Min proved to be useless for me, especially if something went not well
2. HRV in general and HRV during nights – again, several times when I did not feel that well in the morning  I wanted to check how my HRV or stress were during the night, but GW does not register stress when you sleep (this is a feature, not a bug).
3. More reasonable sleep tracking. Sorry, Samsung, but I do not agree that 4h 49 mins can be classified as a “good” sleep
4. Body battery
5. Morning report (like I had on my Tizen Galaxy Watch 3)
6. Battery life which allows me to use the watch when I need it, wear it overnight for alarm and sleep tracking without a need to reserve an hour during the day to charge it
7. Do not think about battery when I hike 
8. More interesting challenges and badges (yes, I like gamification, and samsung global challenges become boring)

But what about loses in comparison of a real smartwacth?

Luckily, sometime ago I wrote a post where I listed how I do use my Galaxy Watch – that time I counted 21 main use cases. Therefore, now I can check how well Venu 3 will cover my current needs.

Below is the list of these functions and my expectation about future Venu 3 experience:

1. ✅Check the Time – Venu 3 supports many watchfaces and Always on Display
2. ✅Find my phone – I use it very, very rarely, but Venut 3 has this feature
3. ✅Be sure that my phone is with me – feature is there
4. 🟨Timers – Venu 3 has timer feature, but according to the review I have seen, the UX is worse (for example it does not support a list of recently used times)
5. ✅Inactivity reminder – it is there
6. 🟥Working out in a gym – it sounds very strange, but it looks like that fitness-first Garmin has much worse gym support than Galaxy Watch + GymRun. Garmin is much better than Samsung Health in this department, though.
7. ✅Semi-Personal alarm – alarm itself is more or less the same, but charging routines related to this are much better
8. ✅Controlling Resting Hearth Rate – no doubts, Garmin has it. But to my surprise, Garmin measures RHR during nights what directly contradicts RHR definition I read on Wikipedia
9. ✅Steps and walking – yes and yes
10. ✅Hiking – I rely on Komoot on my phone with its big screen and auto-reroute feature. Ideally, my watch should be a powerfull companion for my main device. Neither GalaxyWatch not Gaming can this. It looks like usability of the watch will stay the same, but GPS accuracy and ability to track long hikes will increase.
11. ✅Stress Monitoring – simply “yes”
12. ✅Notifications in general – in two years I never typed an answer using keyboard or voice to text from the watch, but I expect to see photos
13. ✅Working with TODOs – should be possible
14. ✅OTP (one time passwords) – still a notification
15. ✅Answering calls in strange cases where I cannot use phone – Venu can do this
16. ✅Calendar – Venu should be able to show it. I expect it be less capable, but on the other hand morning report is a advantage. 
17. 🟨Checking the Weather & UV Index – I read mixed feedback about Garmin weather functionality. Unlike wearos, I cannot install different weather apps which support different weather providers
18. ✅Flashlight – it is mostly the same
19. 🟨Voice recorder – exists, but less capable 
20. 🟥Google Map Navigation – I will miss you Google Map
21. 🟥Google keep – formally I lose it, practically I hardly use it on my Galaxy Watch
22. 🟨Remote camera control – I have used 2-3 times during two years, but there should be an app for Garmin as well.
23. 🟥Sleep and DND mode synchronization

Ok. What about Google Home, Google Assistent, WhatsApp, TickTick/Todotist, voice2text in the keyboard, smart things, body composition and blood pressure measurement, google pay and so on?

I do not use them now, therefore I will not lose/miss them.

Everything what is written above are my expectations – I do not have watch yet – I few weeks I will see what the real experience will be!

Update: now you can check my two comparison articles based on the real-life experience: Part 1, Part 2.
As usual, real-life differs from the expectations.