Google Pixel Watch assessment: it’s a better Fitbit

I used to be cautiously optimistic — dare I say, excited? — following my hands-on with the Pixel Watch final week. While I hadn’t been impressed with the handfuls of leaks and official renders, the $349.99 ($399.99 for LTE) Pixel Watch left a a lot stronger impression in individual. That, and the bar for the Pixel Watch is low. This watch’s one job is to not suck. But after per week of testing, it’s honest to say I’ve tempered my expectations. The Pixel Watch is an effective first try from Google, however the firm has a whole lot of rising pains to work out for the following iteration of the watch. That is, assuming it doesn’t prematurely kill it off. 

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From the curved glass to the digital crown, Google isn’t shy that it took its design cues for the Pixel Watch from Apple. It’s a wise transfer, really. Whether it’s blinged-out Fossil watches or Samsung’s subtler Galaxy Watches, Wear OS gadgets by and enormous go for a extra analog really feel. Leaning into an elegant, minimalist vibe is a straightforward manner for Google to visually set the Pixel Watch other than its rivals. And it really works. 

The 41mm show can be a lot smaller than the official renders would have you ever consider. That makes for a cushty, compact watch that measures 12.3mm thick and weighs 36g. The digital crown is simply the fitting dimension, and the facet button doesn’t protrude an excessive amount of from the case — all of which emphasize the watch’s modern profile. I had no points carrying this in a single day for sleep monitoring, and it by no means caught on any of my jacket sleeves. 

It feels smaller than the 41mm Apple Watch and just like the 40mm Galaxy Watch 5. However, the rounded case edges assist the Pixel Watch feel and appear even slimmer on the wrist than its measurements recommend. Google additionally determined to solely provide one dimension, which bucks the norm. Generally, smartwatch makers provide at the least a small and enormous dimension. It’s nice that smaller individuals received’t be neglected, however people with bigger wrists or who like oversize watches won’t be happy with how delicate this seems.  

One factor that’s laborious to inform from these footage is how straightforward it’s to modify up the Pixel Watch’s total look. It seems trendy with the default silicone straps, however the mesh metallic and leather-based straps add a fake lug that elevates the complete really feel. Suffice to say, this can be a watch that may simply transition between informal and formal events, offered you don’t thoughts shelling out for Google’s proprietary straps. There aren’t any third-party straps at launch, and Google is charging out the nostril for a number of the fancier straps. The metal links band, for instance, will value a whopping $199.99 whereas the mesh strap will set you again $129.99 once they arrive within the spring. The other bands vary from $49.99–$79.99. 

While Google doesn’t declare it, the lugs on its leather-based straps might be faraway from the strap utilizing a spring bar device, and inside is a typical 20mm spring bar. So, when you purchase one of many leather-based straps, you may swap in one other 20mm watch strap you like. We assume there shall be third-party lugs obtainable on Amazon in some unspecified time in the future within the close to future, very similar to there are adapters for standard watch straps for the Apple Watch.

Speaking of bands, the Pixel Watch’s band mechanism comes with a studying curve. It’s meant to imitate the best way lenses snap into place in your digital camera — and it’s related, however that description is a little bit of a stretch. I don’t want anybody to elucidate how you can swap out digital camera lenses, however I undoubtedly wanted a primer on how you can swap out these bands. The band launch button blends in with the remainder of the case, and you may simply miss it when you don’t know what you’re searching for. You should press it down earlier than sliding the strap off. To reattach the strap, you need to line it up with the button and press down earlier than sliding it again on. It’s easy when you get the hold of it, however I nonetheless struggled after getting an in-person demo. It wasn’t till my editor Dan Seifert defined it but once more that it lastly clicked. 

As for the display itself, the 1.2-inch OLED show seems crisp, and reward be, there’s no flat tire. Although the show is small, the intense colours used within the watchfaces guarantee every thing stays readable. Animations — just like the handwashing timer — are pleasing to look at. You’ve additionally obtained the choice for an always-on show, even when it’s a battery hog. The AOD dims when not in use, however you may nonetheless simply learn the time in brilliant gentle. Speaking of which, the Pixel Watch additionally has a Sunlight Boost characteristic that brightens the show to a most of 1,000 nits when in direct daylight. That’s clutch when you do a whole lot of out of doors actions and wish to look at your stats.

Before you ask, sure, the bezels are thick by at present’s requirements, however there’s no purpose to freak out over them. I’m respectfully asking everybody to relax. The domed display and darkish backgrounds do job of constructing certain you’ll hardly discover them. Believe me, I cranked up the font dimension to the most important the Pixel Watch would permit, and it was completely superb. The solely time you’re going to note them is when you go for the Photo watchface or use the Google Camera app on the wrist to take photographs. Both of those situations are avoidable when you discover the chunky bezels too offensive to abdomen.

More regarding is the truth that my colleague Chris Welch already ended up cracking the display of his assessment unit. While the case is fabricated from sturdy stainless-steel, there’s no sapphire crystal show. It’s simply common Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Chris stated he hadn’t completed something out of the atypical — no excessive sports activities or banging this factor towards a door — so it’s unclear how this occurred. Still, I had a suspicion that the extraordinarily domed show could be inclined to wreck, and this appears to substantiate it. I haven’t had points on my unit, however when you’re laborious in your gadgets, it’s one thing to concentrate on.  

When the Pixel Watch was introduced, I used to be most involved in regards to the chip. As it seems, the Pixel Watch is powered by Samsung’s last-gen (and four-year-old) Exynos 9110. That’s a 10nm chip that we final noticed on the Galaxy Watch 3. It’s a hell of quite a bit higher than the Snapdragon Wear 3100 used on most Wear OS 2 smartwatches in addition to the 12nm Snapdragon Wear 4100 chips. The foremost distinction from different Exynos 9110 smartwatches is that it’s obtained a Cortex M33 co-processor to assist optimize battery life — a technique that Qualcomm additionally makes use of on its wearable chips to various levels of success. Plus, Google’s opted to amp up efficiency by stuffing 2GB of RAM within the Pixel Watch. That’s a primary so far as Android smartwatches go.

I’ll lower to the chase: it does job, but it surely’s not excellent. Swiping by way of screens is fast with no stuttering, it downloads apps on-device with ease, and total, it’s a significantly better expertise than what you’ll get on a 3100-powered Wear OS watch. That stated, I did expertise some latency when utilizing the Pixel Watch as a viewfinder for Google Camera. Nothing horrible, but it surely was noticeable.

Aside from the processor, the Pixel Watch has all of the sensors and sensible options you’d anticipate on a contemporary flagship smartwatch. For connectivity, you get Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi, optionally available LTE, built-in GPS, and NFC for contactless funds by way of Google Wallet. For sensors, you’ve obtained an accelerometer, gyroscope, altimeter, compass, ambient gentle sensor, an EKG sensor, steady coronary heart charge sensor, and SpO2 sensors for blood oxygen monitoring. 

As far as UI goes, the Pixel Watch is sort of equivalent to the Fitbit Sense 2 and distinct from Samsung’s tackle Wear OS 3. You can swipe left or proper to entry Tiles, that are widgets for apps like climate, Fitbit dashboards and exercises, EKGs, a handwashing timer, common timers, alarms, and extra. Swiping down will get you the management panel, whereas swiping up exhibits you notifications. Compared to Samsung’s watches, it’s much less flashy and never as properly suited to the spherical face.

But whereas Wear OS 3 on the Pixel Watch received’t knock your socks off, it doesn’t exclude any Android customers. Unlike Samsung’s Wear OS Galaxy Watches, there aren’t any options which are unique to Pixel telephones. For instance, if you wish to take an EKG, it doesn’t matter when you’ve paired the Pixel Watch with a Pixel 6, a Samsung Z Flip 4, or a Microsoft Surface Duo 2. So lengthy as you may entry the Play Store and obtain the Google Pixel Watch and Fitbit apps, you’re good. The solely telephone customers the Pixel Watch excludes are people on iOS. (Who, to be honest, are most likely extra inclined to purchase an Apple Watch.) 

I used to be additionally happy with the Pixel Watch’s sensible options. Google Assistant was straightforward to arrange, and it’s a heck of quite a bit higher than Bixby. Using it to make calls, ship texts, or work out the climate was straightforward and environment friendly. I additionally used it to activate my two sensible lights. I’ve largely pared down my sensible residence — ’tis the lifetime of a renter in New York City — however establishing Google Home was as simple because it will get. Google Wallet was additionally a breeze to arrange, and I had no points paying for the occasional Gatorade at my native merchandising machine or a trip on the NYC subway. 

Responding to texts and making calls from the wrist have been additionally what you’d anticipate. Call high quality was good, although one time, my husband couldn’t hear me properly from the din of a espresso store. (That’s fairly frequent with smartwatch calls, nevertheless.) The Pixel Watch’s show is simply too small to actually kind comfortably on, however voice dictation labored like a attraction. You can even set off an emergency name by quickly urgent the digital crown 5 occasions. It’s a foolish strategy to activate the characteristic, particularly when you’re in a state of affairs the place you might be panicked, however hey, it labored! I canceled the decision earlier than it may really alert native emergency providers, but it surely was additionally straightforward to modify it to an emergency contact as an alternative. I wasn’t capable of check fall detection, as that received’t arrive till later this yr. And not like the newest spherical of Apple Watches, the Pixel Watch doesn’t have any crash detection options.

All in all, nothing blew my thoughts as each Samsung and Apple have completed this already and completed it higher. For instance, Apple’s handwashing timer can be automated, whereas you need to manually begin Google’s model by searching by way of the app menu or swiping to a Tile. Samsung and Apple’s contactless fee shortcuts are smoother. You solely should long-press a button. On the Pixel Watch, you might want to double-press the digital crown to deliver up Google Wallet — and there’s a slight lag, because it brings up the complete app menu first. Neither Apple nor Samsung provides an audible chime to emergency calling options, which prevents you from discreetly calling for assist.

There are a ton of little quirks like this. But what caught with me was that Google managed to ship these flagship sensible options with out fully falling flat on its face. It’s boring, but it surely at the least offers a basis for Google to enhance upon going ahead. That’s all I may moderately ask for from a first-gen machine — not to mention from Google, which has dropped the ball on the wearable entrance for years.

While these of us with petite wrists thank Google for making a smaller smartwatch, the compact dimension comes with a value. Battery life on the Pixel Watch is middling at finest — and horrible if you wish to use the always-on show.

The Pixel Watch’s 294mAh battery comes with an estimated 24 hours on a single cost. Last week, Google spokesperson Andrea Holing informed The Verge that it arrived at this estimate with the always-on show turned off and average exercise outlined as 50 minutes of tethered navigation, a 45-minute exercise with LTE and GPS whereas streaming an offline YouTube Music playlist, a five-minute LTE telephone name, 240 notifications, and 280 time checks. I obtained related outcomes with the always-on show turned off, however there are caveats.

For starters, I did a roughly 55-minute run with GPS alone with the always-on show turned off and no music playback. That zapped my battery by a whopping 25 p.c. Another 30-minute run with the always-on show enabled with GPS monitoring and offline music playback drained it by 30 p.c. In each instances, that’s not nice, Bob! Before that 30-minute run, I additionally known as my partner and despatched a couple of textual content messages. That was about an hour of futzing round on the watch, and I went from 71 p.c to 30 p.c.

If you do allow the always-on show, you ought to be ready to hold your charger with you or high off a number of occasions day by day. I obtained about 12–15 hours with gentle to average utilization and ended up topping up the battery about twice day by day. You would possibly get away with as soon as per day when you’re not eager on sleep monitoring, however I had no such luck. Meanwhile, the Pixel Watch will routinely observe your sleep, but it surely received’t flip off the display or disable notifications except you manually activate the sleep mode earlier than drifting off to dreamland. 

I wasn’t anticipating greater than 24 hours on the Pixel Watch. Despite Samsung’s claims on the Galaxy Watch 5, I obtained an identical quantity on my 40mm assessment unit. Meanwhile, Apple has been getting round 18–24 hours on its Series watches for a very long time. But I used to be stunned by how briskly the battery drains with regular utilization. Sure, you’ll be capable of get 24 hours when you take concerted battery-saving efforts — however that’s the rub. It requires you to make a aware effort. And when you’ve obtained to veer out of your common schedule, you’ve obtained no buffer of battery life to assist make it by way of. 

Fast charging does take a little bit of the sting out. In truth, I not often topped up the Pixel Watch to one hundred pc this previous week. Instead, I largely caught the Pixel Watch on its charger for a couple of half-hour earlier than I needed to depart the home. That would often get me someplace between 50 and 80 p.c, which was sufficient to get again residence after a couple of half-day out and about. 

When it involves well being and health, the Pixel Watch is basically a better Fitbit. Literally. While you may obtain Google Fit when you select, the Pixel Watch has a built-in Fitbit integration and a six-month trial of Fitbit Premium. Sure, it means you need to use a minimal of two apps to regulate the watch, however the tradeoff is you get a number of the finest holistic well being monitoring options round. Kind of.

The caveat right here is that Fitbit just isn’t for hardcore athletes. It by no means has been. Fitbit’s platform has at all times been finest fitted to informal exercise and newbies seeking to construct higher health habits in a mild, holistic manner. This could be a professional or a con, relying on what you’re searching for. 

On the one hand, this heavy reliance on Fitbit will get you FDA-cleared EKGs, glorious sleep monitoring, industry-leading stress administration, and good restoration options. Unlike Apple and Samsung, Fitbit additionally has a way more helpful metric for gauging whether or not you’re getting sufficient train in Active Zone Minutes (AZM). You get one AZM for each minute the place your coronary heart charge is within the Fat Burning Zone and double the AZM for each minute spent in Cardio and Peak Zones. The default aim is 150 AZM per week, which is in step with the American Heart Association’s tips for 150 minutes of average exercise per week. (Of course, you may edit this larger or decrease relying in your wants.) 

AZM, mixed with Fitbit’s Daily Readiness Score metric, provides the Pixel Watch an edge over Samsung and Apple in terms of restoration monitoring. The Daily Readiness Score takes under consideration your current exercise ranges, sleep high quality, and coronary heart charge variability to provide you a way of whether or not it is best to take it straightforward or push it on a given day. Instead of prioritizing streaks or closing rings, this offers newbies higher flexibility. If you’re busy in the future or simply not feeling it, you’re not penalized. Instead, you’re given suggestions for lively restoration, when you’re so inclined. 

But whereas utilizing Fitbit’s platform is usually a power, there are some oddities as properly. For starters, my 30-minute interval run was precisely recorded as 2.61 miles on the Pixel Watch, Apple Watch Ultra, and the Runkeeper app on my telephone. The maps, nevertheless, didn’t match. The map recorded by the Pixel Watch ended roughly two- to three-tenths of a mile early for no apparent purpose. 

For my lengthy runs, I’ve to run up an indoor stairwell to cross a bridge. This results in some hilarious GPS maps, as you may see within the screenshots beneath. The Pixel Watch isn’t the one responsible celebration. As you may see, my iPhone additionally did a not-so-great job of monitoring that section in comparison with the extra correct multiband GPS on the Apple Watch Ultra. It’s superb when you merely need credit score for the exercise you’ve completed, but it surely’s one thing to concentrate on when you’re coaching for a race or care about getting probably the most correct maps potential. 

Likewise, there was a noticeable lag within the Android Fitbit app with regard to logging my Active Zone Minutes for a 55-minute night run. Based on my coronary heart charge knowledge, I’d anticipated about 90–110 AZM. Instead, I used to be given 66 AZM. It confirmed up precisely within the iOS Fitbit app syncing to my account, however the quantity didn’t replace appropriately on my Pixel 7 Pro till midday the following day. I requested Fitbit and Google why these points might need occurred however haven’t but obtained a response. 

The Pixel Watch, just like the Fitbit Sense 2, can be a sufferer of a confused lineup. But whereas Google nerfed the Sense 2’s smarts, the Pixel Watch doesn’t get a couple of key Fitbit options, regardless of having the suitable {hardware} for it. 

For instance, the Pixel Watch doesn’t have the same automatic workout tracking as a Fitbit. You should manually begin an exercise if you need it to be counted in full. However, sure actions — say, a brisk 15-minute stroll — will present up later within the Fitbit app. You simply received’t see it in your wrist. I had this occur a number of occasions. Likewise, you received’t get irregular coronary heart rhythm and excessive / low coronary heart charge notifications regardless that the Pixel Watch has an EKG sensor. The Pixel Watch has SpO2 sensors, but it surely received’t observe your nightly SpO2 proportion. Instead, you’re restricted to the Estimated Oxygen Variation graph, which visualizes how your blood oxygen fluctuates by way of the night time. (Frankly, the latter is extra helpful, but it surely’s nonetheless a weird omission.) And unhealthy information for swimmers: the Pixel Watch doesn’t observe swimming strokes, both.

As I wrote in my Sense 2 assessment, this feels an terrible lot like Google not figuring out what to do with the truth that it has the Pixel Watch, Sense 2, and Versa 4 in its wearable portfolio. Given that the Pixel Watch is barely $50 greater than the Sense 2, it’s clear the corporate needed to offer you incentives to get one over the opposite. It simply falls flat because the Sense 2 finally ends up being a not-so-smart “smartwatch” whereas the Pixel Watch’s well being and health options are unnecessarily curtailed. 

The Pixel Watch was presupposed to be Google’s massive debut into the world of smartwatches. Instead, it feels extra just like the premium Fitbit Wear OS watch that Fitbit CEO James Park promised final yr however by no means ended up making. Pixel DNA is within the combine someplace, clearly, however this really feels extra just like the modern smartwatch that Fitbit by no means knew how you can make by itself.

But regardless that the Pixel Watch looks like a Frankensteinian machine proper now, I think about that, over time, we’ll see extra of Google’s priorities creep into future Pixel Watches, particularly because you’ll want a Google account to even log in to Fitbit by 2025. The good factor is that almost all of my points with the Pixel Watch are fixable, both by way of software program updates or in future iterations. 

The rub is that it is dependent upon Google to decide to the lengthy haul… and everyone knows that Google’s fame on that entrance isn’t nice. On the one hand, Google’s made a whole lot of noise about its imaginative and prescient for ambient computing. Wearables appear to be an integral a part of that. On the opposite, all of us noticed how Google uncared for Android Wear, after which Wear OS, for years earlier than it began reversing course in 2019. Call me an optimist, however I’m of the thoughts that Google’s invested manner an excessive amount of at this level to throw within the towel.

Still, you shouldn’t purchase a tool based mostly on its promise. And on that entrance, the Pixel Watch is a good-but-not-yet-great smartwatch for Android customers. At $349 (or $399 for LTE, not together with service charges), the Pixel Watch is competitively priced. It’s about $70 greater than the 40mm Galaxy Watch 5, however I’d argue it’s the higher selection for anybody who doesn’t have a Samsung telephone. (It’s additionally possibility for Samsung homeowners, although the Galaxy Watch 5 lineup is a barely higher possibility when you’re all in on Samsung providers.) And even with its flaws, the Fitbit integration goes to get you a greater well being monitoring expertise than Google Fit on Wear OS 2 ever will. Fitbit Premium is an additional $70 annual payment as soon as the six-month trial ends, but it surely’s additionally optionally available. 

I’m hesitant to say that is the very best Wear OS smartwatch simply but. Samsung’s watches, regardless that they exclude non-Samsung telephone homeowners, ship a extra polished total expertise. And, we’ve but to see what Fossil’s next-gen smartwatches powered by the extra highly effective Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Plus platform will seem like. But even with all my gripes and quibbles, the Pixel Watch provides me hope that Wear OS has brighter days forward. The Pixel Watch was begin. The Pixel Watch 2 shall be higher.