New Garmin touchscreen sports-watch hits the FCC
A new Garmin sports-watch has just hit the FCC (Federal Communications Commission).
Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets
The filing was made public earlier today. The documentation does not reveal the name of the watch or much in terms of specs. Instead, it refers to a “Body-Worn Transmitter”. Other info that can be gathered includes that will be a touchscreen device with a round display and a single physical button on the right. It will also have an NFC chip for contactless payments, BLE and the ability to connect to ANT+ sensors.
We are expecting a soon-ish launch of the Forerunner 245 and Forerunner 935 plus (or 945), but considering the design specs this is unlikely to be a device in the Forerunner line. None of them have a touchscreen and they have two physical buttons on the right, not one.
A watch that does fit these specs is the Vivoactive 3 (and Vivoactive 3 Music). Could it be that Garmin is planning on upgrading the devices in this range and bumping them up to 3 Plus or 4? The Vivoactive 3 was launched about a year ago, and the Music version this June.
The Vivomove HR also has a round touchscreen, but it doesn’t have a physical button on the right. The other alternative, of course, is that this could be an entirely new device.
We wrote recently about a sport watch called MARQ. In June this year, Garmin registered the trademark in the category – Computer & Software Products & Electrical & Scientific Products/Jewelry Products. The accompanying documentation suggests that devices under this brand will feature GPS capabilities and a wide variety of fitness and navigation sensors. The product description specifically mentions the presence of an altimeter, barometer, temperature sensor, digital compass and wireless connectivity.
December is not a great month to launch new devices, although Garmin did surprise us last year by releasing the Vivofit 4 in the last week of the year. A more likely launch date for anything new is CES 2019 in January. The “Short Term Confidentiality Letter” from Garmin in the FCC filing asks that further details about the device (such as photos, user manual, etc), are withheld from the public until January 7th. CES 2019 starts on January 8th.
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