Garmin brings battery life improvements to new high-end smartwatches with first update
Garmin has delivered the first update for its Fenix 9 family. To recap, the company announced the Fenix 9 and Fenix 9 Pro (curr. $1,249 on Amazon) simultaneously on August 25. Shortly afterwards, fresh evidence emerged to indicate that an Enduro 4 remains planned, too. However, Garmin has yet to officially confirm when or whether it intends to replace the Enduro 3.
In the meantime, the company has delivered System Software 6.48 for Fenix 9 and Fenix 9 Pro smartwatches running stable software. Replacing System Software 6.38, the new update has bypassed Garmin's Beta Program altogether. Despite being the first update for either smartwatch, System Software 6.48 focuses on bug fixes rather than adding new features or making other sweeping improvements.
Specifically, Garmin has included seven fixes for bugs that it has found in Fenix 9 series release software. Arguably, the most important of these is a fix for potential battery drain occurring on Fenix 9 Pro smartwatches with activated inReach plans. Moreover, Messenger Calls should now appear correctly when a Fenix 9 or Fenix 9 Pro is connected to a paired smartphone via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).
On top of that, Voice alerts should no longer come through when the Fenix 9 or Fenix 9 Pro is set to Silent Mode. Also, Garmin Locate will no longer display what Garmin describes as 'confusing' locations and times after updating to System Software 6.48. Furthermore, the company claims to have addressed a bug that prevented the microphone from working correctly if an incoming call interrupts the Voice Assistant.
Currently, Garmin states that System Software 6.48 should have been offered to around 20% of Fenix 9 and Fenix 9 Pro smartwatches. As always, one can request the update manually by heading through the main menu to Settings, System and Software Update before selecting 'Check for Updates'. The full changelog between System Software 6.38 and System Software 6.48 is as follows:
- Fixes Garmin Locate displaying confusing locations and times.
- Fixes Messenger Calls not coming through correctly when watch and phone are still BLE-connected.
- Fixes microphone not working if Voice Assistant is interrupted by an incoming call.
- Fixes potential battery drain issue for Pro devices with activated inReach plans.
- Fixes some watchface translation and layout issues.
- Fixes voice alerts coming through when in Silent Mode.
- Fixes volume increment/decrement.
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