Google Announces The Pixel Watch With Fitbit Heart Rate Sensor, All-Day Battery Life, and a $349 Starting Price
The new Pixel Watch was initially previewed in May at Google’s I/O 2022. In terms of design, the Pixel Watch features a circular, dome-shaped top and bottom, which is 41mm wide and 12.3mm thick. According to Google, the display with Always-On functionality is protected by a “scratch-resistant custom 3D Corning Gorilla Glass.” To make it more durable, the screen does not go edge-to-edge and features noticeable bezels. The new Pixel Watch also features a rotatable crown on the right that doubles as a button. You will also find another button right above the crown. The case of the Pixel Watch is made from recycled stainless steel, which is available in three distinct finishes - Gold, Silver, and Matte Black. The default watch band is made of fluoroelastomer for a soft finish and can be attached via a proprietary strap connector. As mentioned earlier, the Pixel Watch comes with a new mechanism to attach the band with a “band secure button.” It involves a pressing and sliding mechanism to connect the band. Apart from this, the protruding end of the Pixel Watch houses all the health sensors. On the bottom, you will find a heart rate sensor that detects beats at 1-second intervals. Moreover, you will also be able to track your sleep, measure blood oxygen, and take ECG readings right on your wrist. According to Google, the wearable houses “Fitbit’s most accurate heart rate tracking yet.” The watch comes with Emergency SOS calling through the Personal Safety app along with an ambient light sensor, accelerometer, altimeter, compass, and gyroscope. Furthermore, Google stated that it will add Fall Detection in a future WearOS update. Check out more details here. As for the battery, the new Google Pixel Watch comes with a 294mAh battery which is rated for 24 hours of usage. Similar to the Apple Watch, the Pixel Watch comes with a magnetic USB-C charging puck as well. In terms of what is powering the device is an Exynos 9110 SoC conjoined with a Cortex M33 co-processor, 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of onboard storage. Connectivity includes Bluetooth 5.0, WiFi, NFC, and GPS capabilities. The Pixel Watch will run WearOS 3.5, which comes with dozens of unique analog and digital watch faces. You will also find support for Find My Device and Fast Pair for headphones. The Pixel Watch starts at $349 for the base model, and the LTE model will start at $399 with a cellular plan. Pre-orders start today. Google has also announced the new Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, so be sure to check that out as well.
