There’s finally a Wear OS smartwatch that works the way Google intended it to. Here's our Pixel Watch 4 review.
The Google Pixel Watch 4 is priced from Rs. 39,990 in India
It's been a while since I have come across an Android smartwatch that checks all the boxes for a Wear OS-powered device. Time and again, Google and major Android manufacturers have tried, but have always come up short in one area or another. At times, it's the battery life; at others, it's just a poorly designed or overly complicated UI. With Google's Pixel Watch, performance has also been a problem. Consistency is another area which has always been my pain point with Wear OS devices from big names like Samsung or OnePlus. The UI is never consistent, as Google apps always look different from Samsung's One UI skinning. Given how power-hungry WearOS is, most smartwatch brands have lately also steered clear of it, designing and building their own chips and operating systems that help deliver better battery life. And so, in India, customers can only pick between Google and Samsung when buying a Wear OS-powered smartwatch.
Since OnePlus hasn't launched its Watch 3 in India this year, a lot is riding on the other two brands to keep Wear OS alive and kicking. We have already reviewed the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 and Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, and it's now time to check out what Google has been up to with its Pixel Watch 4.
I received the Pixel Watch 4 in the basic Satin Moonstone Aluminium case, along with the Moonstone Active Band, for review. The Polished Silver Aluminium case is the one to get, as it costs the same as the basic one and suits all occasions. There's also a Champagne Gold Aluminium case for those who want something flashy.
The Google Pixel Watch 4 has a rounded pebble-like design, which does appear similar to its predecessor
Its rounded pebble-like design is the closest one can get to a traditional timepiece. Its case is curved from every angle, so it is naturally very comfortable to wear. Given that my regular watches have a 47mm case, the Pixel Watch 4's 45mm case is a perfect fit for a fitness-tracking device, as its new display is large enough when I need to interact with it.
The domed Gorilla Glass 5 display bends aggressively, like a large water droplet, as it seamlessly merges with the metal case halfway into the sides. At the point where the domed glass meets the case, there is a very traditional-looking crown that can be used to scroll through the UI or open and close the app drawer. Almost invisible (and mostly forgettable) due to its placement underneath, is another button above the crown that shows a Recents menu with all the recently launched apps. Long-pressing it opens Google's Gemini Assistant for some quick queries. I could also raise my wrist close to my face to access the same feature, so I rarely used the button for it.
The revamped Actua 360 display reminds me of some oil-filled dials from the unique and exclusive Ressence timepieces
The Moonstone Active band is very comfortable for daily use. But the fastening mechanism is a bit complicated, as Google uses a new slide-to-fit mechanism. It requires the user to use the band, to press the band lock/release button, and then slide the band to lock it into place. I found that locking the band into place is much easier than removing it, as it requires pressing the button (with one finger) and moving the band outward over the same button with your other hand to detach the strap. Regardless of the annoying mechanism, it's far more secure than Apple's slide-in and slide-out mechanism, which is easy to dislodge.
Detaching the custom straps can get a bit annoying
The downside to this custom strap-swapping mechanism is that you cannot attach a regular aftermarket strap to the watch. To make things worse, none of the fancier band options (Crafted Leather, Metal Links, Woven, etc.) have officially arrived in India via the Google Store. It would have been great if Google had designed a 22mm strap link or adapter (like with its Crafted Leather band) that would let users mount any traditional 22mm strap on it.
There's also a new charging mechanism that now has just two pins (instead of 4 on the Watch 3), placed on the left side of the watch. These are located on either side of the speaker cavity and snap onto the magnetic charging dock (provided in the box), holding the Watch 4 upright. While this sounds convenient and shows the time and other details while charging, it also means you have to place the watch and dock on a flat surface, as it cannot be hung while charging.
The crown looks very traditional, but has good haptic feedback
The charging system isn't as skin-friendly as on an Apple Watch (which is wireless), but at least moves the pins away from the bottom to the sides, which is a step in the right direction. However, it remains to be seen how well those pins hold up to sweat and dust in the long term.
Indeed, one of the biggest improvements about the Google Pixel Watch 4's design is that it is easier to service. Google has been following this mantra lately with the new Pixel Buds 2a as well. The watch can be serviced by a user, provided they can get their hands on the tools and replacement components from iFixit.
The all-new Actua 360 display is a joy to behold. It looks drop-dead gorgeous from every angle, even more so because both the glass face and the display beneath it are domed. So, it's not some optical illusion being created by the domed glass. The black bezel (barely visible against Wear OS' black background) is now 16 percent smaller and delivers 10 percent more display than the Watch 3.
The domed display is properly legible outdoors
And with this gorgeous display comes some very interesting watch faces. Google takes advantage of the bezel-less domed design by letting the watch faces stretch to the very edges of the display. And it gives the appearance of an oil-filled dial with digits floating at the edges.
The new displays are also brighter. Google claims a peak brightness of 3,000 nits, and I had no trouble viewing it in bright outdoor conditions. The display can also get very dim, with a claimed peak brightness of just 1 nit. This works well for the AOD and helps save battery life.
Google wants its Pixel Watch 4 to be a great example of how the company's Material 3 Expressive design philosophy adapts to small displays. After using it for weeks, I must say this is the most consistent Wear OS-powered software experience I have used on a smartwatch.
Google's Material 3 is Expressive in its purest form on a smartwatch
There are plenty of springy animations and bouncy effects with the Material 3 Expressive, be it in the watch faces, swipe gestures, and loading icons, visible everywhere in the interface. Every watch face also has its own themes (along with plenty of preset options) that are applied to the rest of the Wear OS interface, like on a Pixel smartphone. I also liked how many app elements hug the edges of the display and change shape accordingly. The software, for once, also feels like it's been designed to work with the hardware powering it, with no visible or noticeable lag or stuttering when using the watch. You can open apps, multitask, and it all works smoothly, pretty much like an Apple Watch does. However, using a complicated watch face (like Corsa), with a lot of animations, can slow the interface down a bit. Weirdly, Corsa is one of the watch faces Google advertises (and my favourite after Concentric). So, I hope it's further optimised in future updates.
AI-powered smart replies are crisp but useful
Software design aside, I found the AI-powered smart replies useful, even though they were crisp and very short. According to Google, these replies are generated on-device. I also liked the new Raise to Talk feature, which requires you to raise your hand close to your face. This triggers Google's Gemini assistant, which can then quickly answer queries. I found the feature useful when I was busy with another task and had a quick query or calculation that could be done without pulling out my phone.
Companion Apps
I tested the Pixel Watch 4 using a Pixel smartphone. And just like an Apple Watch, you have two apps. There is a Watch app for setting up the watch, changing its watch faces, tiles, and customising notifications. Then there's the Fitbit app for reviewing and making sense of all the health-tracking data that the smartwatch generates.
The Google Pixel Watch app
The Watch app by Google is very basic, with just one main page that provides access to the watch face and watch tile libraries. Below it, you get access to everything you can see in the Pixel Watch 4's Settings app. It does make it a bit easier to customise and change the settings of your watch if you don't like fiddling with the watch display.
The Fitbit app is where all the action's at. It has three sections—Today, Coach and You—which neatly lay out all of your health data. ‘Today' shows all the activities of the day, including the cardio load and daily readiness score.
The Fitbit app
The ‘Coach' section basically does what it says, which is to coach you through different activities. Select a run, choose a warm-up period, set targets, or have an open run, then set a cool-down period. Once activated, the watch will then coach, instruct and remind you to stick to the program.
Lastly, there's ‘You', which basically shows your Fitbit profile along with what's happening in your network or community.
The Google Pixel Watch 4 packs the latest Qualcomm processor and a second co-processor to handle apps and sensing. The co-processor, in particular, is used mainly for sensing, allowing the watch to track a user's health and fitness while drawing little power.
The new speaker layout, along with the charging pins
The mic and new speaker work well for a number of features, including using the Gemini assistant. When placing calls with the watch, the caller sounded clear and sufficiently loud. The caller could also hear me clearly. The alarms, notifications, and ringtones are also well done, with very precise, crisp haptics.
As for the basics, the auto-health tracking features include sleep tracking, heart-rate monitoring, and SpO2, which is tracked only when sleeping (not on demand). Temperature sensing also happens during sleep. So, you get a combined report of sleep, SpO2 and skin-temperature measurements in your daily sleep report.
Activity Detection on the Fitbit app
Activity Detection is an interesting new feature from Google. Instead of starting an activity manually (for tracking), Google claims that its new Pixel Watch 4 will automatically detect activities and prompt via the Fitbit app, before adding it to your activities list. The feature definitely works as expected, and I could conveniently add an activity in case I forgot to manually set it before commencing. However, one needs to keep in mind that GPS will not be turned on for automatically detected exercises. So, you will not get location tracking details when Activity Detection is used. Also, your Watch 4 needs to be connected to a smartphone before it can prompt you about an activity.
Sleep tracking on the Google Pixel Watch 4 is quite accurate and, unlike the past, is now powered by a Convolutional AI model (versus statistical models). Prior to getting the relevant and accurate sleep analysis data, you will have to wear the watch for an entire week. It's also nice to see that the watch will automatically detect when one falls asleep and goes into a DND-like sleep mode. Given that my sleep schedule is erratic, I did notice that the watch exited DND whenever it detected that I was awake or moving around. But then it would automatically go back into DND if I slept off again. I really like how this works, but I wish that the sleep data in the Fitbit app, which is laid out beautifully otherwise, were more interactive, as it was hard to pinpoint the exact time when I kept waking up using the graph.
Fitness tracking on Pixel Watch 4 (left) versus Apple Watch Series 8 (right)
I took the Google Pixel Watch 4 out for a short run and a long walk. The data obtained from both activities appears quite accurate in comparison to the Apple Watch Series 8. For the short run, everything from stride length to vertical oscillation to ground contact time seemed to fall within the same margins as the Apple Watch. As for GPS accuracy, Google's dual-frequency GNSS-based positioning system is very accurate, even between tall buildings, tree cover and more. This was far more accurate than the Apple Watch Series 8. But this is justified given that the Apple Watch is now several generations old.
The Google Pixel Watch 4 lasted about 2 days with AOD, all smartphone notifications, and sleep tracking (which also includes SpO2 measurements). Add one hour of GPS-connected workouts, and it will drop to 1.5 days, which is great for a Pixel Watch (and even a Samsung Galaxy Watch) but not too great compared to a OnePlus Watch that easily lasted 2.5 days (with all features on) in my review.
The new magnetic charging dock works well, but needs to be placed on a flat surface
Charging is mighty fast with the Pixel Watch 4, reaching 91 percent in just 30 minutes, after which it slows and completes the charge in 44 minutes. I tested this connected to a 100W PD charger, but the initial speed bump is useful when you are out of charge and simply need a quick top-up before you leave for home (after work), or need some juice for one night of sleep tracking (only takes up 15 percent battery with SpO2).
The best of Google on a smartwatch
Yes, Google's latest Pixel Watch 4 does check all the boxes for a Wear OS-powered smartwatch. It has the best Wear OS experience on a smartwatch and will meet the expectations of most users who want to pair it with an Android smartphone. If you want more health-tracking features and cannot do without cellular connectivity, consider the Galaxy Watch 8, which also offers blood pressure monitoring. OnePlus' now old and outdated Watch 2 still offers the best battery life and can get up to a week of battery life on its RTOS-powered Power Saver mode.
Is it a worthy upgrade over the Pixel Watch 3? Definitely. There are performance improvements, better battery life, bigger and brighter displays and better location tracking. But none of these are necessities, and given that the Pixel Watch 3 already offers most of the fitness and health-tracking features of the new model, you may not need to upgrade.
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