At a look
Knowledgeable’s Ranking
Execs
- Attractive, repairable design
- Beautiful domed show
- New fast charging dock
- Consumer-friendly and feature-rich
Cons
- Fitbit Premium wanted for some options
- Sluggish loading at instances
- Gemini doesn’t all the time do what you count on
Our Verdict
It would look the identical, however Google has made plenty of vital upgrades to the Pixel Watch 4 whereas protecting the value the identical as its predecessor. Fitbit Premium stays the largest sticking level, however a 6-month trial will let you resolve if it is advisable to pay for it. Small points right here and there don’t stop it from being the very best all-round Put on OS smartwatch. It must be prime of your shortlist for pairing with an Android telephone.
Value When Reviewed
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Greatest Pricing At the moment
Smartwatches are nicely and really half of our every day tech ecosystem, and time flies if you’ll excuse the pun, as a result of Google is already on its fourth technology of Pixel Watch.
It took Google some time to get into the sport, regardless of making software program for wearables for such a very long time beforehand, however the Pixel Watch rapidly established itself as top-of-the-line alternate options to the Apple Watch.
The Pixel Watch 4 may look extraordinarily much like the final mannequin, however that’s no unhealthy factor and Google has made varied enhancements and upgrades that are exhausting to see at a look.
With the Galaxy Watch 8 collection from Samsung proving one thing of a disappointment, the Pixel Watch 4 may be the very best Put on OS smartwatch of the 12 months. I’ve been utilizing it for almost three weeks to search out out.
Design & Construct
- A acquainted Pixel Watch look
- New Moonstone color
- Now repairable
The Pixel Watch 4 appears to be like very comparable to the Pixel Watch 3 and, actually, all the way in which again to the unique. As tech reviewers, we regularly name for design overhauls however on this case, I don’t assume one is required but.
Apple’s sq. design has by no means been to my style and only a few spherical smartwatches completely suited me both. That was, till the Pixel Watch got here alongside. Google’s glass-pebble-like design was beautiful again then and it nonetheless is now.
Final 12 months, Google mounted a main downside and launched a bigger measurement. That’s the case once more this 12 months, so you may go for 41- or 45mm fashions and I’m testing the bigger one right here within the new Moonstone colourway, which I assume appears to be like good but delicate, with unisex enchantment.
Chris Martin / Foundry
This, like a number of the different colors, can presumably be matched with the Pixel 10 telephones for those who choose the precise mannequin. It’s not easy although, as Moonstone is simply out there in 45mm and Champagne Gold is simply out there in 41mm.
In any other case, your selections are between Matte Black and Polished Silver.
As soon as once more, the Pixel Watch 4 is extraordinarily comfy to put on on a regular basis. The graceful form and light-weight aluminium physique (solely 37g for the bigger measurement) are a match made in heaven.
As typical, you’ve gotten the digital crown on the aspect to entry your apps and scroll and, though I by no means appear to make use of it, a button above it to see your just lately used apps.
There are two extra design parts to cowl earlier than we transfer on, and the primary one proves to be higher than anticipated in particular person.
Google has moved the charging pin connectors to the aspect to make use of with a brand new dock (extra on that later). These had been seemingly purposely stored out of pictures of the watch. This led many, together with me, to fret that they’d look relatively ugly – however thankfully they don’t.
In case you put on the watch in your left wrist, you’ll barely ever see them.
Chris Martin / Foundry
The opposite design factor is invisible as such, as a result of though the machine appears to be like primarily the identical as earlier than, Google has redesigned it to be repairable.
That was a well-liked request from followers and now the Pixel Watch 4 display and battery can each get replaced if wanted. That’s nice information you probably have an accident or need to put a brand new battery in to increase the lifetime of the machine, plus you would even soak up on your self.
Now held along with screws relatively than glue, it’s potential to restore the Pixel Watch 4 at house. It ought to even retain its IP68 mud and water resistance.
Ifixit even gave it a repairability rating of 9/10, calling it: “Essentially the most repairable smartwatch available on the market.”
Hopefully, you don’t want this performance any time quickly, however it’s price noting that the Pixel Watch 4 doesn’t have a sapphire glass cowl like some rivals however Gorilla Glass 5 as a substitute.
This implies it’s not as scratch-resistant, nevertheless it must be higher in a drop or some form of influence. The identical glass has been used on earlier generations and we’ve not had any issues with watches which were used for a 12 months or extra.
Display & Audio
- New Actua 360 show
- First-of-its-kind domed view
- Stable speaker with a catch
The Pixel Watch 4 hides its upgrades very nicely as a result of you wouldn’t comprehend it had a brand new display underneath the glass entrance. Google calls the Actua 360 AMOLED display the ‘first-of-its-kind’ and includes a domed show.
It’s genuinely very totally different from others and its predecessors. A lot in order that it really took me a number of days to get used to. It presents a slight fish-eye kind view, a bit of such as you get from glass beer pumps in bars, with the intention to see what is out there from the aspect.
It’s not that dramatic, however expertise is nice, plus it leads to a bigger ‘energetic space’ than earlier than.
Chris Martin / Foundry
Elsewhere, the specs are largely the identical, together with the decision and dynamic refresh charge of 1-60Hz. There is a brand new peak brightness of 3000 nits, which matches many ‘Extremely’ degree smartwatches.
It’s been fairly boring climate whereas I’ve been testing the Pixel Watch 4, however I had no points throughout one very sunny day spent within the backyard carrying it.
Chris Martin / Foundry
The speaker on the left aspect of the Pixel Watch 4 is first rate and is completely adequate to listen to Gemini responding to you. You can too make use of it to have a telephone name if you want.
What it can’t do is play audio from apps resembling Spotify, which is hardly a significant omission however might come in useful typically.
Efficiency & Software program
- New Snapdragon chip
- Put on OS 6 with Gemini
- Materials 3 Expressive UI
The Pixel Watch 4 has a mixture of a brand new processor and new working system. Put on OS 6, Google’s newest smartwatch software program, is operating on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W5 Gen 2.
I had some glitchy efficiency points within the first week, however these had been quashed with a firmware replace. Typically, the smartwatch runs very easily for navigating and scrolling by way of menus and so on.
Chris Martin / Foundry
There are events when issues aren’t snappy. Loading some apps, together with Spotify, and summoning Gemini can take a second or two, which may really feel like an age, however it’s sometimes on the primary attempt. In case you’re connecting to a stay feed of a Nest digital camera, you’ll additionally must be affected person.
Like Pixel telephones, this has probably the most vanilla model of Put on OS 6 (Samsung, for instance, places One UI 8 Watch excessive) and the Pixel Watch 4 comes with Google’s Materials 3 Expressive design language.
It really works very well on the smartwatch, with optimised shapes, animations, colors that pop and extra. It feels extra trendy than infantile, which is how a few of it comes throughout on telephones for my part. There are a dozen watch faces pre-installed, however it’s simple to get extra.
Chris Martin / Foundry
As soon as once more, Tiles on both aspect of the watch face (primarily widgets) offer you fast entry to info and options, and could be customised to what you want probably the most.
A brand new haptic suggestions engine enhances the expertise additional, which is crisp and responsive from scrolling to notifications.
Gemini replaces Google Assistant on the Pixel Watch 4 (the AI bot is being rolled out on each machine you may consider) and you’ll even set it to activate with raise-to-wake for those who like.
Chris Martin / Foundry
I’ve discovered myself utilizing it much more on the watch than my telephone, however it’s typically exhausting to know what its limitations are. It may reply questions, after all, however regardless of a welcome information when it put in saying it might do issues like “inform you about your coronary heart charge”, this command is solely a shortcut to my real-time bpm.
There are additionally AI options resembling Sensible Replies, which goals to supply up personalised strategies in the way in which you write. The instance on the Google Retailer is a selection of a few coffees when somebody has requested what espresso you’d like.
Fortuitously for me, this works with WhatsApp the place I do all my messaging, nevertheless it doesn’t seem to know me very nicely. As for the espresso query, it gave me three other ways to ask for a black espresso, which is about the one espresso I don’t drink. In a gaggle chat, it solely steered “hahaha”.
So, it’s simply guessing what espresso I like? Not supreme, and Google says that onboard processing means “the AI doesn’t study out of your responses or enhance responses as you proceed to make use of it”.
Fortuitously, the opposite reply strategies – even the tiny on-screen keyboard – work very nicely.
It’s additionally price noting that you just want a Pixel telephone for Sensible Replies to work (9 or later, based on this assist web page or 8 Professional or later, based on the official retailer).
Though I’ve not wanted them, there are numerous security options out there too (Pixel telephone or not), together with fall detection, lack of pulse detection, test in, crash detection and emergency SOS. Simply observe that the LTE fashions are required for satellite tv for pc connectivity.
Well being & Health Monitoring
- No new sensors
- Stable core monitoring
- Fitbit Premium prices further
- Upgraded dual-band GPS
Google hasn’t upgraded the monitoring sensors from the Pixel Watch 3, however it does the whole lot you’d count on from a flagship smartwatch.
Steps, energy, flooring and such like are all accounted for (and you’ll see them across the fringe of the bigger 45mm display on the default watch face). There’s additionally coronary heart charge, blood oxygen, pores and skin temperature and varied bits of train info all inside the Fitbit app (which is getting a giant redesign very quickly).
The Pixel Watch 4 offer you a holistic view of your exercise and you’ll delve into totally different areas on the watch and on the Fitbit app in your telephone, too. In my testing, it’s all correct, together with sleep monitoring, which provides you a rating and a breakdown of your evening.
Chris Martin / Foundry
You’ll need Fitbit Premium, which prices £7.99/$9.99 per 30 days or £79.99/$79.99 per 12 months to get “superior insights, personalised suggestions and energising exercises” and this contains top-of-the-line options, the Readiness rating, which takes all info into consideration to present you an concept of how a lot it is best to tackle that day.
The Pixel Watch 4 does include 6 months of Fitbit Premium free, so you may no less than give it an excellent attempt earlier than deciding whether or not it’s price paying for. You gained’t want it for Morning Transient, which provides you an summary of issues together with your sleep, climate and what’s in your calendar.
Through Fitbit, Google does an excellent job of presenting all the knowledge and serving to you obtain your targets.
Chris Martin / Foundry
If you’re extra of a health fanatic (not like me), you may pay extra consideration to issues just like the Cardio Load metric and the Fitbit telephone app has a wealth of exercise movies and a operating coach (although the AI private well being coach is restricted to the US, so I’ve not been capable of attempt that).
Positive, you may go together with a Garmin or comparable if health is especially vital to you, however I’d say the Pixel Watch 4 does an excellent job for a extra mainstream smartwatch.
For train monitoring, there are 52 sports activities out there and it may possibly auto-track plenty of these. Different watches can do many extra, typically means over 100, and the choice is a bit of unusual contemplating boxing is AWOL however pickleball (no matter that’s) is true there.
Chris Martin / Foundry
For walks and runs and so on, you now have dual-band GPS for extra correct monitoring, and I discovered it acquired a sign in only a few seconds. I don’t stay in a dense forest the place the tech has extra influence, nevertheless it tracked my walks across the neighbourhood with very excessive accuracy.
I’m nonetheless not satisfied by the physique responses function (and comparable issues on rival watches), which goals to maintain observe of how you’re feeling. Nonetheless, this nonetheless appears rudimentary and seems to detect a raised coronary heart charge, which could possibly be from nearly something.
You’ll get a notification and the choice to log your temper, which could possibly be blissful or confused, for instance. After I might bear in mind what I used to be doing on the time said, it was usually one thing mundane like getting my daughter prepared to depart the home and the restricted choice of ‘emotions’ meant I might not often choose how I actually felt.
Chris Martin / Foundry
Even after I might, there’s nothing groundbreaking right here, with the watch largely saying ‘maintain onto that feeling’ if it’s an excellent one. For me, all that is extra of a faff than it’s price and, paradoxically, annoying.
I haven’t examined it for apparent causes, however after being launched on the Pixel Watch 3, the machine can observe your menstrual cycle with doubtlessly helpful data like cycle standing and predictions.
Battery Life & Charging
- Barely larger batteries
- As much as 30/40 hours battery
- New charging dock
Google has managed to suit the Pixel Watch 4 with a barely larger battery, for each sizes, and meaning you may rise up to 30 or 40 hours (41- and 45mm respectively) of use with the show all the time on.
This extends to 48 or 72 hours with Battery Saver on, however you gained’t need to use the watch in that mode until you need to.
The battery life you’ll get relies on what you want a smartwatch for. I’ve been testing the 45mm mannequin and I can get two days and nights from a single cost, typically extra, however that is with a lighter degree of use.
These monitoring intensive exercises with GPS every single day and utilizing the display in vivid daylight, together with different battery-draining options, might want to cost extra usually.
Nonetheless, whenever you do, it’s very quick and Google’s new Fast Cost Dock is a a lot neater answer than the earlier chargers.
Chris Martin / Foundry
The dock is small and will do with being heavier to remain flat (cable administration is vital right here), however I a lot favor it to the earlier model (and most rival options). The display will inform you if the opposite finish of the cable isn’t plugged in or the contacts aren’t fairly aligned and, when it’s charging, info together with how lengthy is left and the time.
I anticipated the display to remain on on a regular basis whereas charging, however this has to be enabled within the developer settings. It may typically wrestle with the orientation of the show when docked, however not too typically.
Charging is extremely fast (25% sooner than the Pixel Watch 3), even for the 45mm with an even bigger battery, with my checks exceeding even Google’s claims. From utterly useless, I noticed it attain 50% in quarter-hour and 89% in 30.
Chris Martin / Foundry
As talked about within the design part, a key function of the Pixel Watch 4 is that the battery is replaceable and chances are you’ll even really feel assured sufficient to do it your self at house. This could possibly be essential within the machine lasting many extra years earlier than it is advisable to improve.
Value & Availability
Regardless of the assorted upgrades, the Pixel Watch 4 is available in on the identical value as its predecessor, that means you may choose one up from £349/$349.99.
In fact, that may get you the smaller 41mm measurement within the WiFi/Bluetooth mannequin, so including LTE connectivity or selecting the bigger 45mm will value you extra.
Right here’s the total Pixel Watch 4 pricing:
- Pixel Watch 4 (41mm Wi-Fi) – £349/$349/€399
- Pixel Watch 4 (41mm LTE) – £449/$449/€499
- Pixel Watch 4 (45mm Wi-Fi) – £399/$399/€449
- Pixel Watch 4 (45mm LTE) – £499/$499/€549
You should purchase it from Google in addition to retailers resembling Amazon, Argos, Currys, Very, John Lewis, and Greatest Purchase for these within the US
The value sits between the Apple Watch Sequence 11 (£369/$399) and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (£319/$349.99), so it’s particularly reasonable. As talked about, you may must pay for Fitbit Premium to get probably the most out of it.
Examine our record of the very best smartwatches to see our present prime 10 suggestions.
Chris Martin / Foundry
Do you have to purchase the Google Pixel Watch 4?
For my cash, the Pixel Watch 4 is the very best Put on OS watch on the market, with only some small points to complain about.
It’s the very best wanting watch (although chances are you’ll disagree) and Google has finished an excellent job of constructing it repairable so you may change the display or battery – presumably your self, at house.
Efficiency is easy for probably the most half, the domed display is a delight, the interface appears to be like and works nice, the brand new Fast Cost Dock is a boon and well being, health and smartwatch options are plentiful.
There’s nonetheless a bit of labor to be finished with Gemini and Sensible Replies are restrictive, plus you will get a longer-lasting smartwatch for much less cash within the OnePlus Watch 3.
Nonetheless, the Pixel Watch 4 is a wonderful all-rounder and simple to suggest if you’re searching for a flagship smartwatch that does nearly the whole lot nicely.
Specs
- Put on OS 6
- 41 or 45mm
- Actua 360 show, AMOLED, 1-60Hz, 3000 nits peak
- Snapdragon W5 Gen 2
- 2GB RAM
- 32GB storage
- Coronary heart charge monitor
- SpO2
- ECG
- Pores and skin temperature
- Microphone
- Speaker
- Wi-Fi 6
- Bluetooth 6.0
- Satellite tv for pc SOS (LTE fashions)
- Extremely Wideband
- Twin-band GPS
- eSIM
- NFC
- 325/455mAh battery
- Fast Cost Dock
- Gorilla Glass 5
- IP68/5ATM
- 31/37g
