It hasn’t taken Garmin long to announce a successor to its Approach S2 and S3 golf watches announced earlier this year. But the latest edition to the lineup adds a feature that makes the S4 a must-have upgrade: Bluetooth, allowing the watch to relay notifications about incoming calls, emails and texts while you’re battling to make par.
Like the previous versions, the S4 — available later this year for $US350 — features a pre-loaded database of over 30,000 golf course layouts that can be accessed via the watch’s touchscreen display without a data connection — and updated without a subscription fee. And with built-in GPS the watch provides detailed analytics about how far a golfer’s last drive was, or the distance to the green and tee. If it was able to carry a bag of clubs, the sport wouldn’t need caddies anymore.
But what makes the S4 unique in a crowded market of duffer devices is the S4’s use of Bluetooth to provide wireless notifications pulled from a connected iPhone. So even though your mobile device is buried in your golf bag, you’ll still be able to receive text messages, call notifications and truncated emails while you’re hacking away at a green. [Garmin via SlashGear]