Garmin’s Venu Sq 2 Music edition watch and Samsung Watch 5 40 mm LTE are two newer smartwatches. Venu Sq 2 series was launched in August. During the same time, Samsung unveiled the Samsung Watch 5 series. For our comparison, we have picked the Venu Sq 2 Music and Samsung Watch 5 40 mm LTE variant. Both watches have significant things going for each. It may be worth spending 10 minutes to read through the main points before getting your new smartwatch this season.
iOS and Android – Venu Sq 2 Music vs Samsung Watch 5
Garmin’s Venu Sq 2 Music edition watch can integrate with an iOS device and Android devices seamlessly. So, we can use an iPhone or any supported Android smartphone to pair with the Venu Sq 2 Music edition smartwatch.
- Venu Sq 2 Music can work with an iOS device that is running iOS 14 or a higher version.
- Venu Sq 2 Music can work with an Android device that runs Android operating system 7 or higher version.
Samsung moved over to Google’s Wear OS for smart wearables with the Samsung Watch 4. Samsung continues to work on Wear OS for the Samsung Watch 5 as well. What this means is that the Samsung Watch 5 can only work with an Android device. If you have an iPhone or any iOS device, it will not work with Samsung Watch 5. The decision to keep Samsung Watch 4 and Samsung Watch 5 within the Android eco-system seems to have been a well thought of strategy to pitch Samsung as the global leader for Android based smartwatches.
- Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 is compatible with Android operating system 8 or higher version of the Android operating system.
ECG App – Venu Sq 2 Music vs Samsung Watch 5
No Garmin smartwatch has ECG functionality. So, a Garmin Venu Sq 2 Music watch does not have the ability to take an ECG. ECG apps are useful to take on-demand electro cardiograms. However, ECG apps need to be reliable and FDA approved for United States market. ECG apps, generally speaking, require to be approved by the medical boards of different countries.
Samsung Watch 5 does have an ECG app. It uses a 3-in-1 sensor on the watch to take an ECG. The sensor includes functions of Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis sensor, Electrical Heart sensor (ECG), and Optical Heart Rate sensor.
The use of ECG app is limited to Samsung Galaxy paired smartphones. You will need the Samsung Health Monitor app to manage the ECG app for taking an ECG through the smartwatch.
ECG app from Samsung is available in specific countries. Please do ensure that your country is supported by Samsung for the ECG functionality.
Battery – Venu Sq 2 Music Edition vs Samsung Watch 5
In terms of battery life, Garmin has a huge reputation. Venu Sq 2 Music edition watches can last up to 12 days on the smartwatch mode. On the GPS mode, Venu Sq 2 Music can last up to 26 hours. Venu Sq 2 also comes with ‘Battery Saver Mode’. The Battery Saver Mode is a life saver mode. It delays battery drain. In doing so, it helps you in difficult low battery situations with no possibility of charging the watch.
Samsung Watch 5 (40 mm) comes with a battery size of 284 mAH and the Samsung Watch 5 (44 mm) has a battery size of 410 mAH. The things that works well for Samsung Watch 5, in spite of lower battery life than Garmin are:
- Fast charging of Samsung Watch 5 enables up to 45% charging in 30 minutes.
- Samsung Watch 5 also supports wireless charging with the supported charging dock or charging station.
Practically speaking, Samsung Watch 5’s battery backup cannot match the backup provided by Garmin’s Venu Sq 2 Music edition watch. But, you are back in business with a Samsung Watch 5 in a pretty fast time. So, battery’s lower life on Samsung Watch 5 can be considered a small trade-off for the various other features offered on the watch.
Sapphire Glass – Venu Sq 2 Music Edition vs Samsung Watch 5
One of the biggest improvements on Samsung Watch 5 has to be the smartwatch’s display glass. Samsung Watch 5 uses Sapphire glass for the display. Sapphire is the second hardest naturally occurring mineral in the world. Sapphire glasses are almost scratch-proof. Sapphire glasses are harder and can take normal wear and tear of the watch effortlessly.
Venu Sq 2 Music Edition comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Now, Gorilla Glass 3 is an accepted glass for the wearables industry. However, Sapphire glass is considered more premium that the Gorilla Glass 3.
There is a catch here. Sapphire glass is more premium and harder than the Corning Gorilla Glass 3. But, you may need to check its display readability. Sapphire glasses are known to have poor readability in the sun. We always suggest people to check a potential watch buy decision by taking the demo Sapphire glass watch for a sun-readability test. That should help you in taking a decision in respect of buying a Sapphire glass watch.
Display – Venu Sq 2 Music vs Samsung Watch 5
Venu Sq 2 Music and Samsung Watch 5 have AMOLED display. Venu Sq 2 Music has a display resolution of 320 x 360 pixels. Samsung Watch 5 40 mm variant has a display resolution of 396 x 396 pixels.
Both watches support ‘Always on Display’ or AOD mode for the display screen.
Appearance – Venu Sq 2 Music vs Samsung Galaxy Watch 5
There are significant differences between Venu Sq 2 Music and Samsung Watch 5 in terms of appearance and physical attributes.
- Venu Sq 2 Music has a Square or box shape. Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 has a round shape.
- Venu Sq 2 Music edition watch weighs 38 g and Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 (40 mm) weighs a little under 29 g. Samsung Watch 5 has a color density of 330 ppi or pixels per inch.
- The size of the display of Venu Sq 2 Music and Samsung Watch 5 is almost identical. Samsung Watch 5 has a display size of nearly 30 mm and Venu Sq 2 Music has a display size of almost 36 mm.
- Samsung Watch 5 is thinner and has a thickness of around 9.1 mm. Venu Sq 2 Music edition watch has a thickness of 11.1 mm. It may be pertinent to mention over here that Samsung has always been making thinner and slimmer watches. On a model to model comparison, Garmin watches will be always thicker by almost 25 percent over a corresponding Samsung smart watch model.
Physical appearance of the smartwatch is a completely different case. Some people prefer square look of the watch. Others are happier with a round shaped smartwatch. The decision on which of the two looks better will depend on each individual.
Music – Venu Sq 2 Music Edition vs Samsung Watch 5
Venu Sq 2 Music edition allows you to control smartphone music. In other words, you can use the Venu Sq 2 Music edition watch to control music on the paired smartphone. There is in-built storage on Venu Sq 2 Music edition watch that can store up to 500 songs on the device. So, you can listen to music offline through Venu Sq 2 Music edition watch.
Samsung Watch 5 has an internal storage of 16 GB that can be used for storing personal audio content on the device for offline listening. You can download and store more than 2000 songs on a Samsung Watch 5 smartwatch.
Speaker and Microphone – Venu Sq 2 Music vs Samsung Watch 5
Venu Sq 2 Music edition watches do not have an in-built speaker or microphone. So, you will need to connect your Bluetooth speakers to the watch for offline music listening. At the same time, you are unable to take calls or respond to calls on a Venu Sq 2 Music edition watch. You can, however, reply to text messages sent to a paired Android device.
Samsung Watch 5 has an in-built microphone and speaker. You can participate in incoming or outgoing calls directly through the watch. You can also listen to music offline on Samsung Watch 5 through the speaker on the watch.
Water Rating and Swimming – Venu Sq 2 Music vs Samsung Watch 5
Venu Sq 2 Music edition watch has a water rating of 5 ATM. It can sustain a pressure of 5 atmospheres at a depth of up to 50 meters below water surface level. Venu Sq 2 comes with an in-built profile for pool swimming. The watch is suitable for indoor swimming.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 has a water rating of 5 ATM. 5 ATM means that the watch is SWIM rated. Galaxy Watch 5 also carries an IP68 rating for dust and water ingress-protection. You can find more details about the IP ratings on the smartwatch on this page.
For all practical reasons, you can use Venu Sq 2 Music edition and Samsung Watch 5 for shallow water swimming. Both watches cannot be used for snorkeling, scuba diving, high-pressure water sports or high-speed water activities.
Price – Venu Sq 2 Music vs Samsung Watch 5
Venu Sq 2 Music edition is very conservatively priced at $299. Samsung Watch 5 40 mm variant costs $279.99. Samsung Watch 5 40 mm LTE model costs $329.99. Both watches are priced in a similar range. We believe that price may not be the main differentiator between the Venu Sq 2 Music edition watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 40 mm model smartwatch.
Summary
Venu Sq 2 Music and Samsung Watch 5 40 mm are two newest watches. I prefer Samsung Watch 5 for its Super AMOLED display, slimmer body and the ECG app. The cost of Samsung Watch 5 is very conservative. Apart from this, Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 has more storage on the watch’s internal systems.
Venu Sq 2 Music edition is suitable for iOS and Android devices. For a long period of hassle free ownership, I will prefer a Venu Sq 2 Music edition.
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Helen Kurt is a geeky nerd who loves to cover the wearables space. She has over 5 years of experience in the smartwatch domain. You can reach her on email at [email protected].