Garmin spent 2018 struggling to maintain enough market share to remain one of the world’s top five wearables companies, so it’s no shock that it’s somewhat late to the LTE-enabled smartwatch category. Today, Garmin is finally announcing its first LTE watch: a currently Verizon-exclusive upgrade to the Vivoactive 3 Music, a variant of the Vivoactive 3.
The good news is that the LTE watch will be able to transmit text messages and handle Garmin Pay transactions over the cellular network, as well as offering real-time GPS tracking services to friends or family. Garmin is also including automatic fall and impact detection features, plus a single-button contact feature that will message a person of choice in the event of an emergency.
Unfortunately, battery life notably drops from the company’s standard “five days” down to four hours when LTE, GPS, and music playback are all active. Another issue is that the LTE functionality can’t be used to stream music. Just as with the non-LTE version, users are supposed to download songs directly onto the watch and listen with Bluetooth headphones. There’s currently no Spotify support either, though that is expected at an unknown date.
The LTE Vivoactive 3 Music will be arriving within the next five to eight weeks at an unspecified price tag, most likely higher than the $300 starting price of the standard Vivoactive 3 Music. Verizon will be the only carrier supporting the LTE features at first, and a monthly data plan will be required to enable the cellular texting, GPS, and Garmin Pay transactions. The Verizon model will be black with red accents and slate-colored hardware.
