Pixel Watch 2 Review: Google Refines The Smartwatch
In addition to the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, Google unveiled its second Pixel wearable at its Made By Google event this month. Pixel Watch 2 builds on last year's Pixel Watch and addresses its shortcomings to improve it overall. Has Google done enough?
The different options for smartwatches and wearables help determine what type of smartwatch you buy. With Pixel Watch 2, you get a watch focused on comprehensive fitness and workout profiles, countless health monitoring capabilities, and the best possible smartphone integration.
All this requires a large watch size and high power consumption. We get a rather bulky watch with limited battery life. The Pixel Watch 2 is in the same room as the Apple Watch 9 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 6.
This makes the Pixel Watch 2 an active watch for me. You have to think actively about wearing your watch, because it needs to be charged every day. If you forget to turn off the charger during the day, put on your flat watch before going to bed. Luckily, Google increased the battery life of the first Pixel Watch, meaning you can use this watch for just over 24 hours. No need to charge throughout the day like I did with last year's watch.
Google has switched from Qi charging to a magnetic pogo pin. I had trouble using a charger other than the one that came with my Pixel Watch, so I always took the charging cable with me when traveling. Switching to a Pogo Pin charger doesn't make much of a difference when using your phone. Charging time is usually around 45 minutes, so I rarely have to wait for the Watch 2 to charge. A full cycle from zero to 100 percent in about an hour and a half.
There are other improvements to the Pixel Watch 2, but the improved battery life is probably the most important factor in breaking the all-day barrier.
Pixel Watch 2 uses the Fitbit platform to track, measure and record workout and health statistics. Everything syncs automatically between your watch and the Fitbit app on your phone, and then to your Fitbit account in the cloud. If you rarely use sports tracking features, the automatic workout tracker will prompt you to start recording when it detects that you have created something suitable. From time to time the security guard had to remind me that I walked every day so as not to get lost in my travel documents.
Pixel Watch 2 gives you the most important information during your workout. For example, if four "heart rate zones" are displayed, you can adjust the workload according to your desired zone; You can also get notifications when you reach a zone, so you don't have to constantly look at your wrist during your workout. My main goal is to set a pace that suits my walking, jogging and running needs.
Thanks to updated software and hardware from last year's model, the watch's new sensors make these numbers more accurate than the previous Pixel Watch. The most important innovation is the multi-channel heart rate sensor. Essentially, it uses points on the underside of the watch to measure your heart rate, and multiple signals at different angles and intervals can be combined to provide more accurate measurements than a single sensor.
The heart rate sensor is one of many sensors that collect information throughout the day. Google envisions the Pixel Watch 2 as a device that helps you monitor your overall well-being, track stress, keep mood logs, and check your mental state. It's not exactly accurate, but it's comparable to other devices in this price range.
In my opinion, the Pixel Watch 2 is aimed at consumers who want something to stay in touch with their body, track their exercise and daily routine, and not provide a ridiculous amount of data. Other smartwatches and tracking apps offer detailed views of your body. The Pixel Watch 2 is a budget gem at a great price. I think that's enough for most people.
Pixel Watch 2 runs Wear OS, updated to version 4. Much of the interface and experience introduced in the first version of Wear OS 3 for Pixel Watch has been carried over to the latest version. There's support for more apps (like direct support for WhatsApp, which is now available on your wrist).
I like the convenience of security checks. You can quickly activate this feature, and after a set amount of time, the watch will ask you to confirm the action via an on-screen notification. If there is no answer, the application notifies a predefined list of contacts. This is a nice feature for a number of reasons, but in the right situations it's worth it.
The biggest change to the Pixel Watch 2 is the move to Qualcomm's W5 Gen 1 chipset. Everything feels a little smarter, a little faster, and a little slower than it did on the first watch. With the first two new apps in development, we've added support for Gmail and Google Calendar to the watch. With a small screen and limited capabilities (a small touchscreen for touch controls and a digital crown for scrolling), they are essentially "let's look at things" apps rather than completely PDA-style.
There are slight improvements in quality of life. My pick, at least for those who change phones a bit, is the ability to back up the Pixel Watch 2 to the cloud, making it easier to move phones and take your mobile device with you.
There is additional support outside of Google apps. I wonder how many of these expensive products are here because the audience has grown, or Google has kindly asked to sponsor the project.
Pixel Watch 2 is designed to be your friend and your phone's friend. It keeps track of what's going on on your phone and provides enough detail to manage notifications and sort important information. He examines your body and shows you what is right and what is wrong without going into ridiculous detail.
In my opinion, this is exactly what a laptop should be. When you need it, remember it's here. If this is not done, it will fade into the background. That's why extending the battery life of the first Pixel Watch beyond "24 active hours" was an important improvement that needed to be made.
Of course, I would have preferred a battery life of a week, which rivals fitness bands on the market, but the Pixel Watch 2's capabilities are superior to wearables, meaning the trade-off is the battery. Charging the Pixel Watch 2 once a day will take it from last year's "annoying" to "what you expect" with a charge time of half a day.
I keep coming back to the idea that this is not the second Pixel Watch, but Pixel Watch 1.5. It's essentially the same watch as last year, with a unique offering, the same strap, the same controls, the same apps, and the same interface. Optimizations fix issues from last year or improve the accuracy of the information collected from a wearable fitness perspective.
Based on last year's final version, I'd say this is the final product. Google wanted to show the Android world what a smartwatch should be. He said:
Now let's see if the market wants this.
The Pixel 8 Pro launched alongside the Pixel Watch. Read my review here...