Google has officially announced the Pixel Watch. It’s been a long time coming and it seems the first smartwatch from the search giant since it acquired Fitbit might just live up to expectations.
The Google Pixel Watch was teased at the company’s I/O developer conference back in May. But chatter had been mounting for a while, since Google introduced Wear OS 3 a year prior.
The Google Pixel Watch
Enough history, here’s what the Google Pixel Watch is packing.
Specs at a glance
- Diameter: 41 mm
- Height: 12.3 mm
- Weight:36 g (without band)
- Battery: up to 24 hours
- Compatibility: Android 8.0 or newer
- Display: 3D Corning Gorilla Glass, 320 ppi AMOLED, always-on
- Colours: Matte Black, Polished Silver, Champagne Gold
- Bands: Small fits wrists 130–175 mm, Large fits wrists 165–210 mm
Google Pixel Watch features
Our smartwatch guru Florence does a deep-dive into the ins and outs of what the Pixel Watch is capable of over here, but some stand-out features to us include the addition of Fitbit’s most accurate heart rate tracking – down to the second.
#GooglePixelWatch with @Fitbit¹ gives you an accurate measurement of your heart rate continuously at once per second—whether you’re working out or at rest—while still maintaining an all-day battery life up to 24 hours.²#MadeByGoogle
¹,²See video for info pic.twitter.com/wMoS0ORXJv
— Made By Google (@madebygoogle) October 6, 2022
In 2019, Google announced it was going to acquire Fitbit for a whopping $US2.1 billion – at the time, that translated to around $3 billion in Aussie terms. Despite the capability of Fitbit, added to that of Google’s, we hadn’t seen anything from the deal transpire into a consumer product until now. On the combo of Google and Fitbit, Google said it results in a “personal smartwatch experience like no other”.
Borrowing some proverbial leaves from the Apple book, the Pixel Watch has a pretty simple design that allows you to customise. The bands attach like a camera lens attaches to the body, making it pretty easy to swap between bands. Google also expands its Material You (customisation with wallpaper/apps) to the watch.
The Pixel Watch has some heavy competition. Just last month, Apple revamped its smartwatch, bringing with it a more premium Apple Watch Ultra, focusing on fitness and health. Samsung also came out heavy this year with its Galaxy Watch 5, and its more pro Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. We called the Galaxy Watch “the only Android smartwatch worth wearing” before, and the Pixel Watch clearly heard us, levelling up with Google hardware on top of Google software.
Google Pixel Watch Australian pricing and availability
If you buy directly from Google, the Pixel Watch will set you back:
- Bluetooth/Wi-Fi: $549
- 4G LTE + Bluetooth/Wi-Fi: $649
For the moment, it’s only via Telstra you can score the 4G LTE version. If you’re interested, here are Telstra’s SIM-only plans to help you decide.
Both Pixel Watch models will be available from Thursday, 13 October.
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This article has been updated since it was first published.