Google’s Pixel Watch is Real, and It’s Coming Later This Year

After so many leaks and waves of copious hypothesis, Google has lastly introduced the existence of the Pixel Watch. The firm teased it throughout its Google I/O 2022 keynote, although you received’t be capable of get your palms on it but. The Pixel Watch will launch alongside the remainder of the renewed Pixel lineup later this 12 months.

Android followers have been ready with bated breath for this smartwatch. After Google launched Wear OS 3 finally 12 months’s developer convention, of us had hoped that it meant new Google-led watches had been on the horizon. But so far, solely Samsung has delivered a worthy smartwatch operating a (hybrid) model of Wear OS 3.

You’ll nonetheless have to attend for the total Pixel Watch particulars to return later this 12 months. Google has but to inform all about what sort of distinctive options the watch will pack and the way it will relate to different Android smartwatches, and we nonetheless don’t know the total breadth of its Fitbit-powered wellness choices or what sort of battery life it’s going to boast. And though Google has teased that it’s constructed customized silicon for the watch, there’s nonetheless extra to uncover about its efficiency.

Meet the Pixel Watch

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Despite Google’s reveal, we’re nonetheless not totally positive what the physicality of the Pixel Watch will likely be like, although we now have numerous renders. Google confirmed us that the Pixel Watch has a round, domed design. It additionally has a protruding tactile crown, and the chassis is made out of recycled chrome steel.

It’s unclear how the watchbands will work and the way thick or skinny they are going to be. The watch itself seems to be svelte in Google’s renders, although that restaurant leak from a couple of weeks in the past implies there will likely be some thickness to the precise watch physique. Google additionally revealed the watch will are available in a number of colorways, although it’s not clear what the ultimate choices will likely be. We solely know that they’ll match the Pixel 7’s bottom look.

The Pixel Watch will supply an improved Google Wear OS expertise. According to Google, the interface ought to really feel “fluid and easy to navigate.” It must also be “more glanceable than ever,” which doubtless refers to how the widgets and different display problems will seem if you raise your wrist. There are some screenshots of what the Pixel Watch’s interface will appear to be, and there’s a definite distinction in aesthetics in comparison with the Galaxy Watch 4.

Like different Wear OS watches, the Pixel Watch will supply contactless cost, turn-by instructions via Google Maps, and entry to the Google Assistant—one thing that Samsung continues to be engaged on. Google additionally showcased sensible house controls that appear to be extensions of the Google Home app’s per-device toggles.

Full Fitbit integration

The different marquee function of the Pixel Watch will likely be its deep integration with Fitbit. We’ve been ready to see what this may be like after Google formally acquired FitBit in 2021. Rick Osterloh, SVP of {hardware}, mentioned the Fitbit expertise could be “imbued throughout this device.”

The Pixel Watch will likely be able to a lot of what Fitbit’s smartwatches and health trackers already do, together with steady coronary heart charge monitoring and sleep monitoring. The Pixel Watch may even rely Active Zone Minutes as you’re figuring out and monitor your progress in opposition to your private health targets, which you’ll doubtless set via an app in your smartphone. However, we’re nonetheless determining whether or not it will occur via the Fitbit or Google Fit app.

The query stays if that is all the Pixel Watch will do. We’re undecided which sensors will include the watch or the specifics of different wellness-centric options.

Google additionally hasn’t confirmed the processor contained in the Pixel Watch, one of many fundamental ache factors of previous Android smartwatches. If Google goes customized just like the Tensor CPU on its Pixel telephones, it may supply higher battery life than the final era of subpar Android smartwatches operating on Qualcomm’s middling chips. It may additionally assist facilitate on-device Assistant capabilities so to command the watch a lot quicker than its predecessors.

The Pixel Watch is just appropriate with Android and Pixel units. We nonetheless have months to go earlier than it’s absolutely unveiled alongside the upcoming Pixel 7 and seven Pro flagship units.