GPS watches for sports and outdoors have existed long before smart wearables came into existance and today, one of the leading name in that segment, Suunto, has announced its first Wear OS device — Suunto 7, which is also aimed at athletes that also want a day-to-day smartwatch.
Powered by Wear OS, the device is claimed to provide a versatile sports experience, along with all the latest smartwatch features that Wear OS offers. The “premium smartwatch” heavily touts “sports experience” with running, cycling, skiing, and surfing modes for a total of over 70 recognized activities.
It also comes with free offline maps with terrain details, trails, and contour lines, so that it can be used to explore new places, even without smartphone. It also offers built-in heatmaps for activities such as running, swimming and cycling.
The watch features a 1.39-inch circular AMOLED display with 454 x 454 resolution and offers peak brightness of 1,000 nits. It comes with a reinforced polyamide body with a stainless steel bezel. It is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset and includes NFC as well for Google Pay.
The company revealed that exercise can be tracked by GPS/Glonass/Galileo — as well as heart rate and elevation with barometer — for up to 12 hours. Such battery life is possible as Suunto 7 is the first Wear OS watch to leverage Qualcomm’s “dedicated Sports experience mode” on the Snapdragon Wear 3100.
Suunto 7 will be available for pre-order in the U.S. from January 6 and is slated to go on sale starting January 31 for $479. It uses 24mm interchangeable straps and color options include Black Lime, Sandstone Rosegold, All Black, Graphite Copper, and White Burgundy.
