Garmin might be primarily known for making large and muscular smartwatches aimed at (mostly male) outdoor enthusiasts and capable of shaming the rugged Apple Watch Ultra line with their incredible and sometimes literally unbeatable battery life, but the company also has a family of wearable devices that can be considered in many ways the exact opposite.
The decidedly petite but not necessarily fragile Lily smartwatch unveiled in 2021 is today getting an arguably even more elegant sequel with a more robust anodized aluminum case that's already up for grabs in the US starting at $249.99.
That makes the aptly named Garmin Lily 2 a little pricier than the OG $199.99 Lily, and the same unsurprisingly goes for the $279.99 Lily 2 Classic when compared to the first-gen $249.99 Lily Classic.
What's new, what's (exactly) the same?
Although Garmin is claiming that the Lily 2 series brings "big updates" to the table over the original female-centric smartwatch duo, we're going to be honest with you and say that we're not seeing any major changes apart from what's abundantly obvious at first glance.
For the most part, the Garmin Lily 2 and Lily 2 Classic seem to be employing largely the same tricks and boasting the same key selling points as their forerunners with an identical 5-day battery life rating, nice hidden touchscreen capable of displaying all of the health information you care about, and a set of sensors that can monitor everything from your heart rate to your body battery energy, all-day stress levels, blood oxygen, respiration, sleep quality, and menstrual cycle.
Of course, that's already a pretty impressive list of features for a smartwatch focused on fashion more than anything else, so it's hard to imagine what more you could have realistically expected the Lily 2 to offer. Yes, standalone GPS connectivity would have been nice, but it would have also increased the aforementioned price points and reduced running times between charges.
As things stand, it's really hard to argue with this value proposition when you consider the neatness of a display that doesn't show up unless you need it to, a health monitoring arsenal that includes pretty much everything many of the best smartwatches out there also offer, and those undeniably gorgeous leather and nylon band options of the Classic model.
Garmin also doesn't happen to have a lot of competition in the tiny "smartwatch for women" space, with the cheaper and more rudimentary Fitbit Luxe tracker coming to mind as probably the only half-decent alternative out there right now, so it seems safe to assume that the Lily 2 series will sell like hotcakes and eventually prompt a threequel with hopefully built-in GPS support at last.
What else is new?
Somewhat oddly enough, the company is not unveiling any other new smartwatches for the CES 2024 trade show in Las Vegas, updating however its Connect app and website "extensively" to provide a "more simplified and personalized homepage experience."
The main focus of the update will unsurprisingly be on making it easier for users to follow and track their personal health and fitness goals, and if you want to be among the very first people to experience that, you can try out a beta version of the refreshed Garmin Connect platform starting today.
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It's unclear exactly how long these public beta tests will run for, as Garmin is only ready to commit to a full and proper release for the masses at an undetermined time "later this year." That could mean February... or it could mean December, so you may want to arm yourselves with patience and expect the occasional beta-specific bug while you test-drive the "refreshed" Connect experience.
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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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