- Garmin Fenix 8 Pro is likely to arrive soon with LTE capability
- Rather than use a third-party data plan, leaks indicate Garmin is expanding its inReach messenger service
- In-app code reportedly reveals four new subscription tiers
The Garmin Fenix 8 Pro looks set to be coming soon. While it’s hard to improve on a five-star, super-premium watch like the Garmin Fenix 8, the ‘Pro’ tag seems to indicate a feature that the standard models don’t already have: LTE capability.
For the uninitiated, LTE connectivity allows users to connect a device to the internet or a satellite network using a data plan. On the best Apple Watches and best Android watches, this is commonly done by extending your phone’s data plan to also include your smartwatch for an additional fee.
The smartwatch user can then use their watch like a ‘mini phone’ of sorts, exchanging messages, accessing internet services such as email, and even taking calls without a connected mobile phone nearby. It seems like Garmin wants to get in on this action.
However, new leaks via Gadgets & Wearables seemingly reveal it’s not doing this using third-party networks like other smartwatches. Instead, it sounds as though Garmin’s going to be expanding its pre-existing inReach service, a satellite messaging functionality accessible on dedicated Garmin devices such as the InReach Mini 2 pictured below, used to find weather information, communicate location, and send messages outside of the reach of a normal cellphone.
Rather than streaming music and accessing emails for convenience, the Fenix 8 Pro is likely to be positioned as the best Garmin watch to keep you connected while deep on the most remote trails, able to go places other watches can’t – hence the ‘Pro’ moniker.
InReach subscription tiers
Gadgets & Wearables found, in the Garmin Connect app, lines of code detailing four new inReach tier names: Enabled, Essential, Standard, and Premium.
While nothing has been announced, this is likely a new expansion of the inReach service, and rather than allow the Fenix 8 Pro to be tied to a plan from the likes of EE or Mint Mobile, Garmin will be keeping everything in-house.
The multiple subscription tiers do, at first glance, raise eyebrows: while you pay to connect a watch to a data plan, multiple tiers means that rather than pay a set price to unlock all the LTE-enabled features on the watch, you’re again paying by tier, with features artificially locked behind yet another paywall.
The situation has echoes of the backlash to the Garmin Connect+ premium tier we experienced earlier this year, when hundreds of readers emailed in to voice their displeasure that Garmin was locking features behind a paywall in its fitness app.
