Google's Pixel Watch is finally here and it looks amazing

[Shawn Knight]

In brief: Google on Thursday unveiled the Pixel Watch, a flagship wearable positioned to go toe to toe with the Apple Watch and other mainstream smartwatches in the growing wearables category.

The Pixel Watch features a 41mm case made of 80 percent recycled stainless steel that measures 12.3mm tall and weighs 36 grams without a band. The 320 PPI AMOLED, always-on display boasts up to 1000 nits of peak brightness and is coated in custom 3D Corning Gorilla Glass.

Under the attractive exterior is a Samsung Exynos 9110, a dual-core SoC with Mali-T720 MP1 graphics, alongside a Cortex M33 co-processor, 2GB of SDRAM and 32GB of eMMC flash. Dedicated sensors include a compass, altimeter, blood oxygen sensor, an optical heart rate sensor, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, an ambient light sensor and a multi-purpose electrical sensor.

The watch is also loaded with an array of navigation sensors including GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou and Galileo. Wireless connectivity options include 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz. The integrated 294mAh battery is said to offer up to 24 hours of runtime on a single charge, and you can get a 50 percent boost in about half an hour.

It all starts with the aesthetic, and Google seemingly has a winner on its hands. The wearables are reminding me a lot of the vintage Nike watches from around 2000 or so. Cherlynn Low with Engadget said it's possibly the prettiest smartwatch she has ever touched. The Verge's Victoria Song notes that it very much feels like it fits within the Pixel family. Lisa Eadicicco from CNET believes it could be the Apple Watch alternative that Android users have been waiting for.

The Pixel Watch starts at $349.99 for the Wi-Fi only model and $399 for a unit equipped with 4G LTE capabilities. It is available to pre-order as of this writing in your choice of black, silver or champagne gold color schemes and comes with a free six-month trial of Fitbit Premium plus three free months of YouTube Music Premium. It ships and hits stores on October 13, the same day the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro launch.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/96230-google-pixel-watch-finally-here-looks-amazing.html

 

[yeeeeman]

I must say, I also like very much the curved to the side glass, even though it isn't the most durable design. this is actually the reason I bought myself a galaxy watch active 2, which has a similar, but not that extended wrap around glass design instead of the more newer watch 4 which has flat edges and bezels, which I do not like...and by the way, this pixel watch has the same hardware as the galaxy watch active 2 and frankly that isn't a bad thing. I've heard many stories about watch 4 having bad battery life and I've also played with it in stores and it kinda gets hot to the touch. my galaxy watch active 2 doesn't get hot at all and the battery if quite good, I get easily 3-4 days of battery life with bt on and tracking of pulse and activities (no gps) and no aod, just raise to wake.
so somehow this old exynos 9110 chipset made on 10nm is better in battery life than the w920 5nm chipset from watch 4...
the only bad thing is that the pixel watch looks only suited to women.

 

[Slappy McPhee]

Finally! Have been waiting so long for this especially the heart related bits since Samsung are a bunch of db@gs blocking their ECG and other heart related bits behind their phones. For those that think it is a technology issue it is not. There is actually a 3rd party developer that unlocked and hacked the Samsung Smart Watch OS to be able to use those features with plenty of other mainstream Android phones. It's Samsung pulling an Apple.

 

[sorten]

Google canceling it in 3, 2, ...

It is a good looking watch.

 

[p51d007]

No rush for me. I prefer a metal crown around my watch, to somewhat protect it from bumps.
This one looks like glass to the edge.

 

[p51d007]

Finally! Have been waiting so long for this especially the heart related bits since Samsung are a bunch of db@gs blocking their ECG and other heart related bits behind their phones. For those that think it is a technology issue it is not. There is actually a 3rd party developer that unlocked and hacked the Samsung Smart Watch OS to be able to use those features with plenty of other mainstream Android phones. It's Samsung pulling an Apple.

Take a run over to the xda forums section on the galaxy watch 4. Quick download and install of a couple apps and you can have ALL the functions of the watch working perfectly on a non samsung phone. HR, Blood pressure, ECG all work on my watch 4 classic, coupled to a Pixel 6 Pro phone.

 

[kiwigraeme]

Jony Ive or whatever his name is will love that first image - simplicity with curves

 

[toooooot]

Design is beautiful. If I ever need a smartwatch this one would be among my options to consider.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

No metal band option? If not, not at all interested, can't stand leather or other materials.

Definitely a bit effeminate IMO, wife would like it.

 

[Eldritch]

Google canceling it in 3, 2, ...

It is a good looking watch.

And Stadia was a good service.

https://killedbygoogle.com/

 

[psycros]

Why round? Square is far better as a screen. Dumb design.

 

[netman]

"The integrated 294mAh battery is said to offer up to 24 hours of runtime on a single charge"

That's the deal breaker...!

 

[ScooterVNeuter]

So much more attractive than my uber-ugly Apple Watch.

 

[Slappy McPhee]

Take a run over to the xda forums section on the galaxy watch 4. Quick download and install of a couple apps and you can have ALL the functions of the watch working perfectly on a non samsung phone. HR, Blood pressure, ECG all work on my watch 4 classic, coupled to a Pixel 6 Pro phone.

One could do that yes, but once the dev decides to stop doing it with each update that Sammy releases then it becomes a brick....thanks, but no thanks.

 

[p51d007]

One could do that yes, but once the dev decides to stop doing it with each update that Sammy releases then it becomes a brick....thanks, but no thanks.

I've had 2 watch updates (last to ui 4.5) and all functions still work without having to update the "mod" apps for BP & ECG

 

[Slappy McPhee]

I've had 2 watch updates (last to ui 4.5) and all functions still work without having to update the "mod" apps for BP & ECG

That is great for you, but at the end of the day it is still a hack and therefore could end up losing support. I would rather not spend hundreds of dollars risking it. Also why would I want to support a company that makes anti-consumer practices like that?