Garmin Venu X1 is an Apple Watch Ultra for your Android phone

If you’ve always liked the look of an Apple Watch Ultra smartwatch but don’t own an iPhone to pair it with, the Garmin Venu X1 could just be the next best thing.

Compatible with both iOS and Android, the Garmin Venu X1 has a 2in scratch-resistant display (Garmin’s biggest) and is housed in an 8mm titanium case (Garmin’s thinnest) that’s waterproof down to about 50m.

The screen’s 448×486 resolution should be ideal for showing its full-colour maps, whether you’re navigating your way to the top of a mountain or just to the closest Lidl. It’ll also show you things like your real-time heart rate, SPO2, and Body Battery, which is Garmin’s way of working out how much energy you have, so you’ll know whether you’re ready to embark on one of the 100+ activities that it’s capable of tracking.

It’ll also show notifications from your phone, so you’ll have no excuse for missing that text reminding you to pick up some knock-off Monster Munch, and with support for Garmin Pay onboard you can tap it at the checkout too. 

The watch has a built-in speaker and microphone so you can use it for calls if you’ve got your hands full with shopping, plus there’s also support for voice control. And if it’s dark by the time you get home, there’s even a built-in torch to help you navigate your way safely to the front door.

How long the battery will last depends on which features you have turned on, but it’ll do eight days in smartwatch mode, although that drops significantly to two days if you have the display in always-on mode. Use the GPS for any length of time and it’ll fall to as little as seven hours if you also have music playing.

Not all of its features are available when using the Venu X1 with iOS; you can’t reply to texts from your wrist or view photo messages on the watch’s screen, but that’s still much more than an Apple Watch will do with an Android phone. 

The Garmin Venu X1 is available in two colours – black or moss with matching nylon straps – and it’ll set you back £680/$800.

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Tom Wiggins Contributor

About

Stuff's second Tom has been writing for the magazine and website since 2006, when smartphones were only for massive nerds and you could say “Alexa” out loud without a robot answering. Over the years he’s written about everything from MP3s to NFTs, played FIFA with Trent Alexander-Arnold, and amassed a really quite impressive collection of USB sticks.

Areas of expertise

A bit of everything but definitely not cameras.