Nvidia’s GeForce Now is upgrading to RTX 5080 GPUs and opening a floodgate of new games
It’s been two and a half years since Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service got a big boost in graphics, latency, and refresh rates — this September, Nvidia’s GFN will officially add its latest Blackwell GPUs. You’ll soon be able to rent what’s effectively an RTX 5080 in the cloud, one with a whopping 48GB of memory and DLSS 4, then use that power to stream your own near-maxed-out PC games to your phone, Mac, PC, TV, set-top, or Chromebook for $20 a month.
The news comes with some caveats, but a bunch of other upgrades, too, the biggest of which is called “Install-to-Play.” Nvidia is finally bringing back the ability to install games without waiting for Nvidia to formally curate them. Nvidia claims that will double the GeForce Now library in one fell swoop.
No, you can’t just install any old PC game you own — but every game that’s opted into Valve’s Steam Cloud Play will immediately be available to install. “Literally the moment we add the feature, you’ll see 2,352 games show up,” Nvidia product marketing director Andrew Fear tells The Verge. After that, he says Install-to-Play will let Nvidia add many more games and demos to GFN on their release dates than Nvidia can manage on its own, just so long as publishers tick that box.
Currently, Steam is the only platform compatible with Install-to-Play, but Fear tells me many publishers tend to opt in through Valve’s distribution network, including Ubisoft, Paradox, Nacom, Devolver, TinyBuild and CD Projekt Red.
One important caveat is that Install-to-Play games won’t launch instantly like curated titles; you’ll need to download and install them each time, unless you pay Nvidia extra for persistent storage at $3 for $200GB, $5 for 500GB, or $8 for 1TB per month. Installs should be fast, though, since Nvidia’s servers are linked to Valve’s Steam servers. When GFN originally launched with a similar feature, I remember downloading games far faster than I’ve ever done at home.
And Nvidia has a new use for your home bandwidth, too. If you’ve got enough, GFN will also now let you stream at 5K resolution (for both 16:9 monitors and ultrawides) at 120fps, or at up to 360fps at 1080p.
There’s also a new optional Cinematic Quality Streaming mode you can toggle that Nvidia claims can reduce color bleed and restore detail to dark and blurry areas of a scene as it’s streamed over the net, and you can now stream at up to 100Mbps, up from 75Mbps previously, to help maintain that quality. (It uses HDR10 and SDR10, with YUV 4:4:4 chroma sampling, streamed over AV1 with an added AI video filter and some optimizations for clearer text and HUD elements.)
Plus, Steam Deck OLED owners will be able to stream at its native 90Hz refresh rate (up from 60Hz), LG is bringing a native GeForce Now app directly to its 4K OLED TVs and 5K OLED monitors — “no Android TV devices, no Chromecast, nothing, run it directly on the television,” says Fear — and Logitech racing wheels with haptic feedback are now supported too.
How much more performance will you truly get from an RTX 5080 in the cloud? That’s the real question, and we don’t have a clear answer yet. For one thing, Nvidia isn’t promising you’ll always have an RTX 5080-tier GPU for every game you play. The company’s $20-a-month GFN Ultimate tier will still include RTX 4080-class cards too, at least for the time being.
Fear says there’s no ulterior motive there — it’ll just take time for 5080 performance to roll out “as we add the servers and bring up capacity.” He also rattles off a laundry list of popular games that’ll have 5080 performance right away, including Apex Legends, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Baldur’s Gate 3, Black Myth Wukong, Clair Obscur, Cyberpunk 2077, Doom: The Dark Ages… you get the idea.
The other caveat is that while Nvidia claims its new Blackwell Superpods are up to 2.8 times faster at gaming, that’s only if you have DLSS 4 generating three fake frames for every real frame (4x MFG) and being OK with any resulting lag. We weren’t blown away with the uplift from RTX 4080 to RTX 5080 in our review of the physical card, and latency is even more important when you’re streaming over the net.
That said, Tom and I have been impressed with GFN’s latency in the past. I’ve parried Expedition 33 foes and Sekiro bosses with it — and in lightweight games, Nvidia’s latency may have gotten even better this gen thanks to partnerships with ISPs like Comcast, T-Mobile and BT for low-latency L4S tech and the new 360fps mode. The company claims the 360fps mode can deliver end-to-end latency of just 30ms in Overwatch 2, a game where you don’t need multi-frame generation (MFG) to get that many frames.
That’s more responsive than a home console — assuming you’re close enough and peered well enough to Nvidia’s servers to get 10ms ping, like I do in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The good news is, you won’t have to pay an extra cent for the RTX 5080 performance boost either way. GeForce Now Ultimate will remain $19.99 a month for now. “We’re not going to increase our price at all,” says Fear, in a group briefing. When I ask him privately whether Nvidia will increase it later, he can’t say, but claims GFN has only ever increased price when Nvidia saw a big increase in power usage or needed to rebalance currency exchange in some regions. “Nothing’s written in stone, but we’re saying for now no plans to make a price increase.”
Additionally, Nvidia is trying an intriguing new experiment that bakes GeForce Now into Discord so gamers can instantly try new games for free right from a Discord server, no GeForce Now login required. Epic Games and Discord are the first partners demoing the technology at Gamescom this week.
“You can simply click a button that says ‘try a game’ and then connect your Epic Games account and immediately jump in and and join the action, and you’ll be playing Fortnite in seconds without any downloads or installs,” says Fear. He tells The Verge that it’s merely a “technology announcement” as of today, but that Nvidia hopes game publishers and developers will reach out if they’re interested in potentially adding it to their games.
I hope so, as I’ve been in awe of try-before-you-buy cloud gaming ever since Gaikai introduced the idea 15 years ago, but Gaikai’s founder told me years later that publishers didn’t necessarily want it.
I’m looking forward to trying GeForce Now’s 5080-class servers when they launch in September, alongside the new 90Hz mode for Steam Deck OLED, and I’m curious whether the influx of games will finally make it feel like a true console alternative for me. One of my last big remaining reservations is how many of my Steam games are still missing.
Speaking of which, don’t expect to see Sony or Rockstar games like Grand Theft Auto on the service anytime soon. “I have no updates, they have chosen not to be on GFN, and you should go ask them,” Fear tells me.
Nvidia gives fake Harrison Ford better hair using spheres
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be the first game to get Nvidia’s new RTX Hair features next month. Instead of using triangles to model hair, Nvidia will use spheres to improve Harrison Ford’s virtual hair in the Indiana Jones game.
RTX Hair is designed to improve lighting and shadows, all while maintaining performance in the game and not taking up too much extra memory. It also makes Ford’s hair look fuller and more realistic, and will be available as an update to the real-time path tracing mode in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
The RTX Hair improvements use new hardware capabilities in RTX 50-series GPUs, as Nvidia added hardware acceleration of ray tracing for hair and fur and support for the linear swept sphere (LSS) primitive. Nvidia says LSS is a “big step toward rendering high-quality digital humans in real time.”
Nvidia’s app gets global DLSS override and more control panel features
The Nvidia app is getting improvements to DLSS override, more control panel features, and Project G-Assist changes this week. Nvidia has been gradually improving its new app over the past 18 months since its release, and it’s getting closer to fully migrating all the legacy control panel options.
This week’s Nvidia app update will include anisotropic filtering, anti-aliasing, and ambient occlusion options, meaning you won’t have to navigate to Nvidia’s older control panel app to improve classic games. The setup tool for Nvidia Surround will also be part of the Nvidia app now.
You also won’t have to configure DLSS override features on a per game basis anymore, as Nvidia is now adding a global option. You can set your DLSS preferences across all override supported games, and Nvidia’s overlay will also show which DLSS settings are active if you toggle this option on.
Nvidia is also bringing its new Smooth Motion feature, which was previously exclusive to RTX 50-series GPUs, to all RTX 40-series owners. It’s a driver-based AI model that enables smoother gameplay for games that don’t support DLSS Frame Generation. Smooth Motion can be applied to games running with DLSS Super Resolution, at native resolution, or even titles with other upscaling technologies. Nvidia says it will typically double “the perceived frame rate.”
If you’re a fan of Nvidia’s G-Assist AI assistant, Nvidia is changing the AI model behind the scenes so it will use 40 percent less memory. The smaller footprint won’t affect performance either, as it’s designed to respond even faster to queries.
These latest Nvidia app changes will arrive on August 19th for beta users at 9AM PT / 12PM ET, followed by a general release next week.
‘Play Instantly on Discord’: Fortnite will be Nvidia and Discord’s first instant game demo
Nvidia’s GeForce Now is getting a big upgrade next month — and it’s also part of an intriguing new experiment. Nvidia, Discord, and Epic Games have teamed up for an early test of instant game demos for Discord servers, which could theoretically let you immediately try a game without buying it, downloading it, or signing up for an account.
Sound familiar? That’s probably because instantly try-before-you-buy was the original vision for Gaikai, one of the first cloud gaming services, and Google’s Stadia cloud gaming service also tried it many times by letting you demo games in a web browser or even in Google search. Now, Nvidia will be showing off the idea at Gamescom this week by letting people try Fortnite from within Discord.
“You can simply click a button that says ‘try a game’ and then connect your Epic Games account and immediately jump in and and join the action, and you’ll be playing Fortnite in seconds without any downloads or installs,” says Nvidia product marketing director Andrew Fear.
Here’s a screenshot of what it might look like, from an Nvidia video, which also shows the Fortnite demo is currently limited to a 30-minute free trial:
It doesn’t sound completely frictionless if you still need an Epic Games account to play, and it’s not clear if Nvidia, Epic and Discord will offer the demo outside of Gamescom just yet. Nvidia is calling it a “technology announcement” rather than a confirmed feature, one that’ll hopefully see game publishers and developers reach out if they’re interested in potentially adding it to their games.
After Sony bought Gaikai in 2012, it initially suggested it would offer instant try-before-you-buy game demos on the PlayStation 4 too, but that never happened. Years later, Gaikai’s founder told me that publishers didn’t necessarily want it.
YouTuber Mark Rober is getting a Netflix series
Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer now known for his science-focused stunts he publishes to more than 70 million subscribers on YouTube, will launch a competition show on Netflix in 2026. Rober will also bring “some of his most beloved, ambitious, and informative experiments to Netflix later this year,” Netflix says.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that Netflix had talked to Rober. According to that article, Netflix has also had discussions with the creators at Dude Perfect, a channel with more than 60 million YouTube subscribers, about a new series. And earlier this year, Netflix brought videos from Ms. Rachel, known for her videos for toddlers and early education, to its platform.
The push from Netflix into bringing on YouTube creators follows the success of MrBeast’s Beast Games game show on Prime Video. That show debuted last year and quickly became Prime Video’s “most-watched unscripted show ever.” It has been renewed for two more seasons.
The best Garmin watches for training and everyday life
Few brands are as synonymous with outdoor sports as Garmin. You’ll find these fitness trackers and smartwatches on dozens of wrists at any 5K, marathon, or Ironman. You’ll also find Garmin devotees among divers, thru-hikers, golfers, kiteboarders — you name it. But these devices aren’t just for athletes. The company’s made significant strides in its lifestyle offerings, so regardless of your fitness level, there’s a Garmin for everyone.
If you’re coming from a more traditional smartwatch, Garmin’s core strengths lie in fitness, GPS, adventuring, and durability. These are hardy devices that are meant to withstand the elements and last weeks on a single charge. Several models come with offline maps, advanced navigational features, and more training metrics than any other platform. Garmin devices tend to be on the pricier side, and the company announced in March that it would begin putting its newest features behind a paywall. That’s a bummer given Garmin spent years publicly stating it had no intention of charging its users extra.
Garmins aren’t too shabby on smarts, either. While more fitness-focused than anything from Apple, Google, or Samsung, there’s enough to get you the basics like notifications and then some. For example, most Garmins have fall detection and safety features, and several Garmins released since 2023 have an FDA-cleared EKG feature. (You’ll need a phone on hand, however, as only one Garmin model has cellular connectivity.) Many Garmin devices also support offline music playback and come with a small third-party app ecosystem.
There are a lot of Garmin watches to choose from. No, seriously, there are six major lineups, and each has a multitude of models. But no worries — I test several Garmins every year and can help point you in the right direction.
The best Garmin for runners
Garmin Forerunner 265 / 265S
Garmin’s midrange Forerunner watch adds a new OLED display, a week’s worth of battery life, and dual-frequency GPS for better accuracy.
Score: 9
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Sizes: 42mm w/ 18mm straps; 46mm w/ 22mm straps / Weight: 39g (42mm); 47g (46mm) / Battery life: Up to 15 days (42mm); 13 days (46mm) in smartwatch mode / Display type: OLED touchscreen / GPS: All-systems GNSS and dual-frequency GPS / Connectivity: Bluetooth, Ant Plus, Wi-Fi / Water resistance: 5ATM / Music storage: 8GB
Garmin has many running watches, and a lot of them are great. But the Forerunner 265 or 265S (if you have petite wrists) strikes an excellent balance between price, feature set, battery life, and a vibrant OLED display.
That said, the Forerunner 265 / 265S is a bit of an odd duck. It comes a mere nine months after its predecessor, the Forerunner 255, and is, in many ways, pretty much the same watch. The main difference is the 265 has an OLED display compared to the 255’s memory-in-pixel screen. Usually, that means worse battery life, but in this case, we got about a week on a single charge with the always-on display enabled. Without it, you can get up to 15 days. Given that OLED is easier to read and just, well, looks nicer, that gives the 265 lineup an edge over the 255.
The 265 also has dual-frequency GPS (also known as multi-band). The gist is you get much more accurate maps in challenging environments like cities and dense forests because you can access both the L1 and L5 satellite frequencies. And even with dual-frequency GPS enabled, you still don’t lose a whole lot of battery life. I wore it during a half marathon with that and the AOD enabled, and I still had over 80 percent battery by the time I got home. This is also an excellent price, as the majority of multi-band GPS watches cost well over $600.
My main complaint is that $450 (outside of a deal, at least), while not bad for Garmin, is still a lot when you consider that’s the same price as smarter smartwatches with great running features. Some runners won’t care. But if you’re on a budget — or you’re new to running and feel iffy about spending that much — then consider the Forerunner 165 series. It starts at $249.99 (add another $50 for onboard music) and does almost everything the 265 series does. The main things you’re missing are dual-frequency GPS and a few more niche sport profiles. But if you’re mostly sticking to running, gym equipment, cycling, swimming, and hiking, you’re covered.
Garmin Forerunner 165 Music
The Garmin Forerunner 165 Music gets you in-depth training metrics but leaves out some of the more advanced features in exchange for a more palatable price.
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Neither has all of Garmin’s training features, but it’s got what you’ll need to run anything from a 5K to a full marathon. That includes a Race Predictor, which gives you an estimate of what your best time would be based on your actual training. You can also use PacePro to figure out your pacing strategy for a race. You also get Garmin’s Training Readiness feature to help gauge load and recovery, Garmin Coach plans, and a host of running form metrics. It also supports offline music and safety features like fall detection. The only thing they lack is advanced mapping. (They still have trackback, point-to-point navigation, and real-time breadcrumb trail support, however.)
On the other hand, if your budget allows, you could also consider the Forerunner 570 and Forerunner 970, which were released in June and cost $549.99 and $749.99 respectively. Both models have a built-in speaker and microphone, OLED screen, skin temperature sensors, flashlight, and built-in EKG reader with atrial fibrillation detection. They also give you a daily evening report with suggestions on how much sleep you should get, plus a digest of your upcoming events, workouts, and the weather. You also get access to Garmin Coach, a free multipart workout program, which allows you to upload your course and receive notifications when you’ve hit certain distance benchmarks.
While both smartwatches have a lot in common, they do have some key differences, the main being that the 970 has maps. The Forerunner 570 comes in 42mm and 47mm sizes, and Garmin says its battery lasts up to 10 or 11 days based on which model you pick (with the always-on display off.) The Forerunner 970 only comes in a 47mm size, and Garmin says it can last up to 15 days per charge. The Forerunner 970 also includes three exclusive metrics: running tolerance, running economy, and speed step loss.
These three tools will give you a weekly maximum mileage recommendation (with the option to adjust it up or down), and assess running efficiency. The running economy and step speed loss features require Garmin’s $169.99 HRM 600 heart rate monitor.
The Forerunner 570 is a definite step up from the Forerunner 265, but not a big enough leap to recommend it to everyone instead of that model, especially because it doesn’t offer offline maps. The Forerunner 970 may be overkill for all but the most avid runners, but it’s good to see Garmin continually adding new features to the top of its line.
Read my full Garmin Forerunner 265S review.
The best Garmin for endurance sports
Garmin Epix Pro Sapphire Edition (42mm)
The Garmin Epix Pro comes in three sizes, includes a handy flashlight, and has multiband GPS. Plus, it lasts over a week on a single charge.
Score: 8
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Sizes: 42mm w/ 20mm straps; 47mm w/ 22mm straps; 51mm w/ 26mm straps / Weight: 42mm: 63g stainless steel, 58g titanium; 47mm: 78g stainless steel, 70g titanium; 51mm: 98g stainless steel, 88g titanium / Battery life: 42mm: up to 10 days (4 with AOD); 47mm: up to 16 days (6 with AOD); 51mm: up to 31 days (11 with AOD) / Display type: OLED / GPS: All-systems GNSS and dual-frequency GPS / Connectivity: Bluetooth, Ant Plus, Wi-Fi / Water resistance: 10ATM / Music storage: Up to 32GB
The Epix Pro will get you most fitness features that Garmin has to offer. You have topographical maps, turn-by-turn navigation, and more training metrics than even a seasoned triathlete would know what to do with.
The Pro is more size-inclusive than the standard second-gen Epix, which only comes in 47mm. You can get the Pro in that size, too, but it also comes in 42mm and 51mm. This was a major complaint I had with the second-gen Epix, and you love to see companies actually take this sort of thing seriously. The best part is that the Pro models start at the same price as the regular Epix did. You’ll have to pay $100 extra for materials like titanium and sapphire crystal, but that’s also true of the standard Epix.
Garmin Fenix 8
The Garmin Fenix 8 adds smart features like the ability to take calls on the wrist, and an on-board voice assistant. Read our review.
Score: 7
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That said, it muddies the waters if you’re trying to pick between the Epix Pro, Fenix 7, Fenix 7 Pro, and now, the Fenix 8. The main difference is the Epix watches all have OLED displays. One reason I prefer OLED is that they’re much easier to read indoors — where most of us spend the majority of our time. The Fenix 7 series’ memory-in-pixel displays (plus solar charging if you opt for it) allow for weeks and weeks of charge, but the smallest Epix Pro can get around 10 days with normal usage. The 47mm and 51mm Pro models can go longer between charges due to bigger batteries, but I felt that the 42mm has enough juice to satisfy most use cases. Garmin also has so many battery-saving modes and options that I highly doubt this will ever be an issue.
Not helping matters is the fact that the Fenix 8 lets you choose between an OLED or a MIP display. You also get smart features like an onboard voice assistant, the ability to take calls from the wrist, and the Garmin Messenger app. The main problem is the starting price is now $350 more (barring any deals) than the standard Fenix 7 and right about on par with the Epix Pro. My personal feeling is the Fenix 8’s smart features are just okay and that you’re really not missing much by not having them. We also often see discounts on older models, so I would put on my bargain-hunting hat for a discounted Epix Pro or Fenix 7 Pro while inventory is still available.
But really, the winning feature of the Epix Pro is the hands-free flashlight. It’s so useful in my day-to-day life, and all you have to do is double-press a button. It’s as bright as your smartphone, comes with a red light option if you want something easier on the eyes, and can act as a strobe in an emergency situation. The Fenix 7 Pro and 8 watches also have a flashlight, so a lot of this is going to come down to personal preference for the display, price, and whether you care about smart features.
Garmin Fenix 7S Pro
Like the Garmin Epix Pro, the Fenix 7 Pro line has an updated optical heart rate sensor for improved accuracy. It also has excellent battery life, a slightly brighter MIP display, solar charging, and the option of upgrading to sapphire crystal.
Score: 8
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If you’re set on the most battery life possible, I recommend the Fenix 7 Pro over the standard 7 for a few reasons. Its MIP display is slightly brighter, all sizes have the flashlight, and, like the Epix Pro, it has an updated sensor array. I also recommend it over the MIP versions of the Fenix 8 because it comes in more sizes, and costs around $300 less. Especially since the Fenix 8’s smart features are a bit half-baked.
Read my full Epix Pro review.
The best Garmin on a budget
Garmin Vivomove Sport
Garmin’s entry-level hybrid smartwatch looks like a Swatch at first glance. However, it sports a hidden OLED display that delivers notifications without sacrificing fitness tracking.
Score: 8
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Sizes: 40mm w/ 20mm straps / Weight: 19g / Battery life: Up to 5 days / Display type: “Hidden” OLED touchscreen / GPS: Tethered GPS / Connectivity: Bluetooth, Ant Plus / Water resistance: 5ATM / Music storage: N/A
What I love most about the Vivomove Sport is that it doesn’t look like what most people expect from a Garmin. It’s a hybrid smartwatch, which means it looks like a regular watch but can track fitness and deliver notifications. Garmin’s hybrids are also unique in that they all use an OLED display that stays hidden until you need it.
This is best suited for a casually active person who wants style and value in a lightweight package. Think wellness, more so than fitness. It gets you continuous heart rate monitoring and blood oxygen level monitoring, and can even provide abnormal heart rate alerts. You also get access to more in-depth metrics like respiration rate, fitness age, stress, and Body Battery, which is Garmin’s tool for visualizing how well-rested you are. For smart features, you get all the basics, like notifications, alarms, and timers.
The Sport isn’t quite as full-featured as some other Garmin watches you’ll find on this list. For instance, you’re giving up built-in GPS in favor of tethered GPS through your phone. There are no contactless payments, nor is there a microphone or speaker for taking calls on the wrist. But this is a budget pick, and you get a lot, considering this is an entry-level gadget that could pass for a Swatch at a glance.
I don’t love that the battery life is short for a hybrid, at around three to four days. Even so, that’s still much better than what you’ll get on an Apple Watch or Wear OS 4 watch. If you’re willing to spend about $100 more, the $269.99 Vivomove Trend has more chic materials, gets you more screen real estate, and wireless Qi charging. Otherwise, this is a great lifestyle wearable that can serve as a classier alternative to your typical fitness band.
Garmin Lily 2
The Garmin Lily 2 is a simple yet chic hybrid analog smartwatch that delivers basic fitness tracking, notifications, and up to five days of battery life.
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If you prefer something newer to the Sport that’s also stylish, the Garmin Lily 2 is another good option, especially if you’ve got particularly small wrists or prefer something extremely lightweight. The swipe and tap gestures are still a little fiddly to use — which was also the case with the first-gen model — but the fresh design is a fun way to lightly monitor your fitness without bogging yourself down with notifications. Garmin also offers the Lily 2 Active, which adds a physical button, GPS, and support for more sports tracking for a starting price of $299.99.
Read my full Garmin Vivomove Sport review.
The best Garmin to replace a Fitbit
Garmin Venu Sq 2
The Garmin Venu Sq 2 is a great replacement for a Fitbit smartwatch. Not only do they look similar, but the Venu Sq 2 has way more fitness features, long battery life, and no subscription.
Score: 8
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Sizes: 40mm w/ 20mm straps / Weight: 38g / Battery life: Up to 11 days / Display type: OLED touchscreen / GPS: All-systems GNSS / Connectivity: Bluetooth, Ant Plus / Water resistance: 5ATM / Music storage: 4GB (for Music Edition)
If you were disappointed by the Fitbit Sense 2 and Versa 4, the Venu Sq 2 is the next best thing (and, in some ways, better).
At a glance, the Venu Sq 2 could easily be mistaken for an Apple Watch. On the wrist, you’ll notice it’s made of plastic, but it still looks quite chic and extremely lightweight. The screen is bright, easy to read, and looks better than any Versa or Sense ever did.
The feature set is also great for the price, with built-in GPS, a ton of watch faces, emergency safety features, and contactless payments. If you pay $50 more for the Music Edition, you’ll also get about 500 songs worth of storage, but we wouldn’t recommend it. This doesn’t have cellular connectivity and, therefore, isn’t truly standalone. You’ll most likely be carrying your phone with you anyway.
As for health features, the Venu Sq 2 basically has everything you’d get on a Versa or Sense smartwatch but with Garmin’s treasure trove of metrics as well. That includes heart rate tracking, blood oxygen tracking, intensity minutes (how much moderate exercise you get in a week), stress tracking, hydration tracking, respiratory rate, period tracking, and Garmin’s recovery feature, Body Battery. As far as fitness goes, you also get access to Garmin Coach, which provides free 5K, 10K, and half marathon training plans. You love to see it.
Another big leg-up Garmin has over Fitbit? None of these features or metrics are locked behind a paywall, even if Garmin’s AI-powered insights and a few other expanded features will only be available as part of Garmin Connect Plus ($6.99 a month / $69.99 annually).
Read my full Garmin Venu Sq 2 review.
The best Garmin smartwatch
Garmin Venu 3S
The Garmin Venu 3S adds a new heart rate sensor, a wheelchair mode, and much-improved sleep tracking and nap detection.
Score: 7
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Sizes: 41mm w/ 18mm straps; 45mm w/ 22mm straps / Weight: 40g for the 3S; 47g for the 3 / Battery life: Up to 10 days for 3S; 14 days for 3 / Display type: OLED touchscreen / GPS: GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO / Connectivity: Bluetooth, Ant Plus, Wi-Fi / Water resistance: 5ATM / Music storage: 8GB
Garmin has shored up the smarts in its watches over the past several years, and the Venu 3 series is the smartest (and most affordable) of the bunch.
The Venu 3 series comes in two sizes: 41mm and 45mm. Like the Venu 2 Plus, it has a microphone and speaker. You can take calls directly from the wrist and issue commands to your phone’s digital assistant via Bluetooth. It’s not the same as having Siri, Bixby, Amazon Alexa, or Google Assistant built directly into the watch, but it’s a clever workaround that works well for hands-free control. It also supports safety features like fall detection and live tracking, as well as contactless payments.
Like other OLED Garmins, the display is both vibrant and easy to read. As for health and fitness, you get a nice mix of basic and more advanced features and metrics. It has Garmin’s latest heart rate sensor, which enables FDA-cleared EKG and AFib detection features. Overall, it leans a bit more on the wellness and health side of things, with intensity minutes, blood oxygen monitoring, sleep tracking, period tracking, abnormal heart rate alerts, and stress tracking. As for training, you still get built-in GPS, VO2 Max, heart rate zones, respiration rate, and downloadable training plans via Garmin Coach.
New to the 3 and 3S is a sleep coach that factors in metrics like heart rate variability and recent activity to determine your sleep needs. It also finally adds nap detection, a feature that’s been long overdue for the Garmin platform. The Venu 3 series also adds audio-guided meditation sessions, and you can view how these sessions directly impact your metrics. From an accessibility standpoint, this also adds a wheelchair mode.
Technically, the Fenix 8 is slightly smarter in that it adds an on-board voice assistant. However, it is also more than double the price and not what I’d consider a good value for the average athlete. It’s more for people who spend hours upon hours training every week.
This is the Garmin for you if you want the platform’s in-depth training without sacrificing the productivity of a smartwatch. The main things it’s lacking are cellular options and a robust third-party app ecosystem. That said, it’s got Spotify, Amazon Music, and Deezer for offline listening. It’s also a good option if you’re fed up with MIP displays and want a smarter Garmin rather than a full-on smartwatch.
Read my full Garmin Venu 3S review.
Update, August 18th: Adjusted pricing / availability.
Google Home adds scheduling for older Nest thermostats
Google has announced that users of the US and UK versions of the 3rd gen Nest Learning Thermostat and the Nest Thermostat E can now schedule temperature adjustments using the Google Home app. Newer versions of the Nest thermostats already allow you to manually set schedules in the Home app, but those older models required users to keep the dedicated Nest app installed for scheduling.
Google says the feature “began rolling out starting last week” so it may not yet be available to all Nest thermostat users yet. The company originally announced the expanded Google Home support for the older Nest models last April after revealing that it would also end software updates for the first-generation Nest Learning thermostat that launched in 2011, and the second generation model that was released a year later.
Existing temperature schedules in the Nest app are transferred over to the Home app, which also allows sensor and fan schedules to be set. Today Google also announced other improvements to its Home app for all Nest thermostats including more vibrant colors and updated descriptions making it easier to see the device’s heating and cooling state, and a refreshed energy dashboard with more details and a weekly comparison of year-over-year energy usage.
Microsoft hints at ‘more affordable’ Xbox Cloud Gaming plan
Two years ago we learned, thanks to the FTC, that Microsoft was working on a separate “dedicated” version of Xbox Cloud Gaming. Microsoft Gaming CFO Tim Stuart then hinted, a few months later, that there could be a free version Xbox Cloud Gaming in exchange for ads. Now, Microsoft is hinting at making Xbox Cloud Gaming “more affordable” again.
Jason Ronald, Microsoft’s VP of Next Generation, has appeared on the company’s official Xbox podcast today, to discuss Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Play Anywhere, and Microsoft’s next-gen chip partnership with AMD. At the moment Xbox Cloud Gaming is only part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, meaning you have to pay $19.99 a month to get access to xCloud.
“One of the things we see is there’s a lot of players who use Game Pass Ultimate to access the cloud, whether that’s the primary way they play, or an additional way to play on the go,” says Ronald. “I think for us, it really opens up the opportunity to make it much more affordable, and make it more accessible to players. Whether that’s going into new regions, or new ways to actually access the [Xbox] cloud.”
Microsoft’s hints of a more affordable version of Xbox Cloud Gaming come just hours before Nvidia has some “major” GeForce Now news. Nvidia’s cloud gaming service is far superior to Xbox Cloud Gaming, thanks to PC-powered performance, better bitrates, higher resolution gameplay, and lower latency. Microsoft has even integrated GeForce Now into its own Xbox game pages.
Ronald stops short of announcing a new Xbox Cloud Gaming tier, but it’s clear that’s been Microsoft’s thinking for a few years now. Microsoft started expanding Xbox Cloud Gaming beyond just the Game Pass library last year, with the ability to stream games you own as long as you’re an Ultimate subscriber.
There’s an opportunity to bring that Ultimate paywall down, especially for mobile streaming. Microsoft had planned to sell games directly in its Xbox app for Android and allow customers to immediately stream those games directly to their phones and tablets, but a legal battle has put those plans on hold.
Microsoft is currently preparing the next generation of Xbox Cloud Gaming, alongside its next-gen Xbox console work. “Together with AMD, we’re designing dedicated silicon and hardware to enable the next generation of gaming experiences,” says Ronald. “We’re investing deeply in the next generation of rendering technologies, such as neural rendering, which will bring a new level of quality to the games that you’re having.”
That next generation of Xbox hardware will likely see Xbox and Windows move even closer together, alongside the choice of different stores for Xbox owners. It’s also an opportunity for Microsoft to bring more AI-powered features to the next Xbox.
“We’re also investing in dedicated silicon to enable the next generation of AI capabilities, that will be transformative in how you actually experience your gameplay,” says Ronald. Microsoft will “start experimenting” with some of these AI-powered features on the upcoming Xbox Ally X device, because it has a dedicated NPU chip just like Microsoft’s Copilot Plus PCs.
Roblox is locking down sexual content and access to ‘adult’ locations after lawsuits
Roblox is updating its policies prohibiting romantic or sexual content to also forbid “content, settings, or behavior that implies sexual activity,” according to a Friday post from chief safety officer Matt Kaufman (emphasis Kaufman’s).
The changes follow recent lawsuits against the company, including one from Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill that alleges the platform creates an environment where “child predators thrive.” It claims Roblox has “directly facilitated the widespread sexual exploitation of minors and inflicted severe, lasting harm upon the children of Louisiana.”
In response, Roblox said that “any assertion that Roblox would intentionally put our users at risk of exploitation is simply untrue.” Roblox has rolled out many safety-focused features in recent months, including an age estimator tool for users to verify they are over 13 so they can chat with “Trusted Connections,” accounts parents can use to remotely manage their kids’ accounts, and blocking kids under 13 from accessing social hangout spaces. “Fix it, or shut it down!” Murrill replied.
According to Kaufman’s post, in the “coming months,” Roblox will restrict all unrated experiences — previously restricted to players who are 13 or older — to just the developer and anyone “actively working on the experience.” If a developer wants to make these experiences public, they will have to fill out a questionnaire to receive a content maturity label.
Roblox is also rolling out “new technology to detect violative scenes,” which is intended to detect user behavior that violates Roblox’s rules in experiences that are otherwise compliant with its policies, such as inappropriate drawings in an experience with a drawing feature. “If this feature detects a server with a high volume of violative user behavior, the system will automatically take that server down,” Kaufman says.
Social hangout spaces depicting private spaces like bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as experiences primarily set in private spaces and in places like virtual bars and clubs, will now only be available to users who are 17 or older and have verified their ID. Developers will have to verify that they are 17 years or older if they want to make an experience for users in that same age group.
Amazon’s Fallout season two heads to New Vegas
Prime Video has released new photos from season two of Fallout. Lucy (Ella Purnell), the Ghoul (Walton Goggins), and Maximus (Aaron Moten) return as a trio of Wasteland Wanderers whose adventures will bring them to the post-apocalyptic playground of New Vegas. Take a look.
Kyle MacLachlan, who plays Lucy’s father Hank, also returns to the show along with Lucy’s brother Norm (Moises Arias), and it looks like there’s more evil afoot in the Vaults (duh!). Season two of Fallout is set to start sometime in December, which feels a long way away, but it is definitely sooner than whenever the next Fallout game will show up.