Can a not-so-newbie from Google take on the venerable Apple Watch?

October 15, 2022
Technology

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So all the smartwatch-y stuff – like email and calendar notifications, voice assistance, electronic wallet, music storage and control – is already pretty well dialed in.

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A single day’s worth of battery life is pretty paltry for a Fitbit device, though. The Sense 2 promises six days between charges. I’ve been getting seven.

But the Pixel Watch only works with Android smartphones. Some Wear OS watches do work with the iPhone, and so do Fitbit-branded wearables. So that may not always be true., but it is now.

To see if the Pixel Watch received preferential treatment from Google smartphones, I paired it with both the Pixel 7 Pro, which debuts tomorrow along with the watch and the Pixel 7, and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4. I haven’t noticed any difference.

The built-in LTE has worked well, which means that you can text, take and make calls, stream music – anything that requires a connection. The watch does work as well with YouTube Music as it does with Spotify, which is something I haven’t seen before.

The Pixel Watch only comes in one size. I wish Google also offered a larger 45mm option as Apple and Samsung do, but that’s just a personal preference.

Indeed, it doesn’t take away from the fact that this is a very nice premium watch. Yes, there are some obvious areas for improvement that I expect will be addressed next time.

But don’t forget, the Pixel Watch is also priced below the Apple Watch. And it is, after all, the new kid on the smartwatch block.

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USA TODAY columnist Mike Feibus is president and principal analyst of FeibusTech, a Scottsdale, Arizona, market research and consulting firm. Reach him at mikef@feibustech.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikeFeibus.

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