Venu 3 Phone calls and Voice Assistant not working on Android

Same here. No updates, I went through warranty and they did some "bug reporting" but nothing ever came of it. Anyone that sees this, don't hold your breath - Garmin is not going to fix this issue. Do not buy the Venu 3 or 3s in the hopes of having the phone calling/assistant features working consistently. Huge disappointment, since that is a large reason why I upgraded. 

There are so many of us dissatisfied. I don't understand how Garmin can't fix this.

I regret paying extra for a "branded" product. It needs to be spread more so people don't buy. Then maybe Garmin will understand.

What I found at first after a phone [Pixel 7] and watch reboot and good BT connection was that the Watch was triggering my Alexa app rather than Google.  Once I made Google specifically the default, it would work for a while.  Next came frequent failures with the watch saying "No Phone Connection".  However, the was a connection as the data synched fine.  This issue, I believe, is the switching between Bluetooth Low Energy mode and back to Active mode.  It is the Active mode that is required for the Voice Assistant [and for the Venu 3 Phone app Dial Pad] to function.  On the Pixel phone, the top notification line shows the BT logo only in Active mode.   If the watch is away from my phone at marginal BT range, like overnight, it sometimes does not re-establish active mode.  I see this by the absence of the BT logo on my Phone.  This sometimes recovers in short order, but Power Off and Restart on the watch restores the BT logo, restores the name "Venu 3" and makes the Voice Assistant work again.  [This also re-activates the Venu 3 Phone app dial pad which is otherwise X-ed out.]

After clearing Google default, I got Bixby to work today. However, it takes 10-20seconds for the mic to show up. It then works. Of course, that's a no-go as well. 

I am also getting the dreaded "no phone connection". Going into BT on the phone and tapping on Watch or Venu 3 gets it back. 

I am having a 60-70% success rate with the tasker routines and Google Assistant. 
forums.garmin.com/.../1761628

Also hoping that this is going to be fixed in the future. 

Makes me crazy. I literally bought this for Google Assistant. I had a Pixel Watch 2 that had GA, and I loved it. It worked hands free as well. But, the battery life was horrible. It also wasn't measuring HR properly when working out.

Same! Super frustrating. Literally would be the perfect watch for my use cases if the feature worked as advertised. There aren't any good alternatives either!

I'm not seeing anyone complain about Bixby. I've never used it, but I know people who do. Seems like the best alternative. I'm due for a phone upgrade, and I'm wondering if I just want to discontinue any use of Google assistant. I was just reading that Google is dropping 17 features of GA. One of those features is to no longer allow reply to texts with voice! Talk about going backwards! 

well, if you look at my Bixby experience above, then there is at least one data point that indicates it's not perfect either. I can't use it with a 10-20s wait for voice input. 

What type of Samsung phone do you have? If you don't mind me asking...