Confirmed – The Pixel Watch 4 is the new best Wear OS smartwatch

Smartwatches have firmly established their place within our tech lifestyle, and time swiftly passes—if you’ll accept the pun—because Google has already released the fourth generation of its Pixel Watch.

It took awhile for Google to join the smartwatch arena, despite having already created software for wearables for quite some time. The Pixel Watch quickly garnered a reputation as one of the best alternatives to Apple’s offerings.

Although the Pixel Watch 4 may appear strikingly similar to its predecessor, this is hardly a drawback; Google has made several enhancements that may not be immediately apparent.

With the Galaxy Watch 8 series failing to impress, the Pixel Watch 4 could emerge as the leading Wear OS smartwatch of the year. I’ve been testing it for nearly three weeks to see for myself.

Design & Construction

• Signature Pixel Watch aesthetic
• New Moonstone hue
• Now designed for repairs

The Pixel Watch 4 retains a very familiar look compared to the Pixel Watch 3 and indeed harkens back to the original design. As tech reviewers, we often call for a design refresh, but in this case, it’s not a requirement.

I’ve never been a fan of Apple’s square design, and very few round smartwatches ever felt right on my wrist—until the Pixel Watch debuted. Google’s glass-like, pebble design was stunning at launch, and it continues to impress in this latest iteration.

Last year’s enhancement involved a larger size, a trend that continues this year with options for 41mm and 45mm models. I’m testing the larger version in Moonstone, which I believe exudes a chic yet understated vibe suitable for anyone.

This option, along with other hues, can possibly coordinate with the Pixel 10 smartphones, depending on your choice of model. However, it’s not straightforward, as Moonstone is exclusively available in the 45mm size, while Champagne Gold is limited to 41mm.

Your choices outside these include Matte Black and Polished Silver.

True to past models, the Pixel Watch 4 remains exceedingly comfortable for all-day wear. Its sleek shape and lightweight aluminum construction (only 37g for the larger variant) create the perfect pairing for effortless use.

Once again, a digital crown is on the side for app navigation and scrolling, along with an additional button above it for accessing recently used applications, even if I seldom find the need for it.

Before we move to the performance, two design components warrant mention. The first is surprisingly more favorable in person.

Google has repositioned the charging pins to a side dock (more on this later), which, although not prominently featured in promotional images, thankfully do not detract from the overall design when worn. If you wear it on your left wrist, they are largely invisible.

The second design feature, while more hidden, is significant: Google has made the device repairable. This was a popular demand from users, and now you can replace the screen and battery if necessary, which is reassuring in case of accidents or to extend the device’s lifespan.

Held together with screws rather than glue, the Pixel Watch 4 can even be repaired at home, all while retaining its IP68 dust and water resistance rating.

Ifixit awarded it an impressive 9/10 repairability score, deeming it “the most repairable smartwatch on the market.”

While hopefully you won’t need repairs soon, note that the Pixel Watch 4 features Gorilla Glass 5 instead of sapphire glass like some rivals. This offers decent scratch resistance while enhancing drop protection, as previous versions have shown great durability over a year or more of use.

Display & Sound

• Innovative Actua 360 display
• Pioneering domed viewing experience
• Robust speaker with a caveat

The Pixel Watch 4 conceals its advancements well, making it hard to discern that it has a new screen beneath the glass. Google touts the Actua 360 AMOLED display as the “first of its kind,” featuring a unique domed design.

This display sets it apart from other models and predecessors. It took me several days to adapt, as it provides a slight fish-eye effect, akin to glass beer taps, allowing side viewing.

While not overly dramatic, the experience is enjoyable, leading to a more expansive active area than before.

Other specifications are largely unchanged, maintaining the same resolution and dynamic refresh rate of 1-60Hz. The maximum brightness has been improved to 3000 nits, rivaling many premium smartwatches.

Testing in relatively dull weather did not hinder my experience, even on a particularly sunny day spent outdoors.

The speaker on the left side of the Pixel Watch 4 produces sound of satisfactory quality, sufficient for hearing Gemini’s responses. It also supports phone calls if needed.

However, it does not allow playback from streaming apps like Spotify, which isn’t a dealbreaker but could have been a useful addition.

Capabilities & Software

• Equipped with a new Snapdragon chip
• Runs Wear OS 6 alongside Gemini
• Features Material 3’s Expressive UI

The Pixel Watch 4 combines a new processor with the latest operating system. Wear OS 6, Google’s most recent smartwatch software, operates on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W5 Gen 2.

Though I faced some performance glitches in the initial week, these were resolved through a firmware update. Overall, navigation and menu scrolling run smoothly.

At times, things aren’t as responsive as expected. Loading specific apps, including Spotify and invoking Gemini, can take a brief moment, which feels extended during initial interactions. When connecting to live feeds from Nest cameras, you also need to wait a moment.

Similar to Pixel smartphones, this model features an unadulterated version of Wear OS 6 (in contrast to Samsung’s One UI 8 Watch overlay), coupled with Google’s Material 3 Expressive design language.

This style is functionally effective on the smartwatch, showcasing optimized shapes, striking animations, and vibrant colors. It exudes a stylish feel rather than an immature one, a contrast to how it sometimes appears on phones in my opinion. The device provides a dozen pre-installed watch faces, but acquiring more is simple.

Tiles on either side of the watch face (essentially widgets) enable swift access to information and functionalities, customizable to keep your most-used features readily available.

A fresh haptic feedback mechanism further enhances user interaction, providing precise and responsive feedback from scrolling through notifications to general operations.

Gemini, which has replaced Google Assistant on the Pixel Watch 4, can even be configured for raise-to-wake functionality if desired.

I’ve found myself utilizing Gemini significantly more on my watch than on my phone, but it can often be unclear what its limitations are. It can field questions, but despite an initial prompt claiming it could provide information on heart rate, it merely leads me to the real-time BPM.

Other AI capabilities, like Smart Replies, aim to offer tailored suggestions in your messaging. However, my experience has shown that it doesn’t always resonate with my preferences. For example, when asked about beverage choices, it served me suggestions of varying approaches to asking for a black coffee—which, coincidentally, is a type I don’t prefer. In a group chat, it resorted solely to suggesting “hahaha.”

It seems to be more of a guessing game rather than providing tailored responses, which isn’t ideal. Google has indicated that onboard processing means “the AI doesn’t learn from your responses or improve as you continue to use it.”

Thankfully, other reply methods—such as the tiny on-screen keyboard—function brilliantly.

It’s also noteworthy that Smart Replies require a Pixel phone (9 or newer, as per this support page or the 8 Pro or later, according to the official store).

Even if I haven’t needed to utilize them, the Pixel Watch includes various safety features (regardless of whether you have a Pixel phone), such as fall detection, pulse loss tracking, check-in options, crash detection, and emergency SOS. Just be aware that LTE models are required for satellite connectivity.

Wellness & Fitness Monitoring

• No new tracking sensors
• Reliable core tracking capabilities
• Fitbit Premium requires additional payment
• Enhanced dual-band GPS

Google didn’t introduce upgraded tracking sensors compared to the Pixel Watch 3, yet it delivers all the usual flagship smartwatch capabilities.

Step counting, calorie tracking, elevation calculations, and more are faithfully monitored (and displayed around the edge of the larger 45mm screen on the default watch face). Additionally, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, skin temperature, and exercise data can be accessed through the Fitbit app, which is undergoing a major redesign soon.

The Pixel Watch 4 offers a comprehensive view of your activity, allowing deep dives into various metrics on the watch itself and through the Fitbit app on your smartphone. In my assessments, tracking accuracy has been solid, including sleep monitoring, which provides a score and a detailed breakdown of your nightly patterns.

Using Fitbit Premium, which comes at £7.99/$9.99 monthly or £79.99/$79.99 annually, allows access to “advanced insights, tailored recommendations, and energizing workouts,” prominently featuring the Readiness score. This score aggregates various data to help determine how much activity you should undertake on a given day.

Remarkably, the Pixel Watch 4 includes a 6-month complimentary trial of Fitbit Premium, giving you a good opportunity to determine its value before commitment. Basic features like the Morning Brief, which summarizes your sleep, weather, and calendar events, do not require a subscription.

Through Fitbit, Google excels at presenting your metrics and aiding you in reaching fitness goals.

Fitness aficionados (unlike myself) may find metrics like Cardio Load particularly interesting, and the Fitbit app offers a wide selection of workout videos along with a running coach (though the AI personal health coach is limited to the US, which means I couldn’t test that feature).

If fitness tracking is especially important to you, alternatives like a Garmin device may be more suitable, but the Pixel Watch 4 performs well as a mainstream smartwatch.

For exercise tracking, it offers 52 sports modes, many of which can be auto-tracked. While some rivals boast more than a hundred modes, the Pixel Watch’s selection feels a bit peculiar, excluding boxing while including pickleball.

With dual-band GPS now available for tracking walks and runs clinging to accuracy, I found it remarkably efficient at acquiring a signal in mere seconds. Although I don’t reside in a heavily wooded area where tracking tends to suffer, it demonstrated stunning accuracy while monitoring my local excursions.

I remain skeptical about the body responses feature (which appears on competitive watches), aiming to evaluate your emotional state. It still feels preliminary and primarily detects elevated heart rates, which could stem from various situations.

You receive a notification allowing you to log your emotions, though the limited options mean it can be challenging to accurately describe how you truly feel.

When logging feedback, there aren’t groundbreaking insights; the watch typically encourages you to “hold onto that feeling” when your mood is positive. Ultimately, this function feels more cumbersome than helpful, inadvertently contributing to stress rather than alleviating it.

For obvious reasons, I couldn’t evaluate it thoroughly, but the Pixel Watch 3 already supports menstrual cycle tracking, presenting valuable information such as current cycle status and predictions.

Endurance & Charging

• Enhanced battery sizes
• Lasts up to 30/40 hours
• Revolutionary charging dock

Google has successfully integrated slightly larger batteries into both Pixel Watch 4 sizes, leading to a battery life of up to 30 hours for the 41mm and up to 40 hours for the 45mm version, even with the display in always-on mode.

This can stretch up to 48 or 72 hours when Battery Saver is activated, though one might want to avoid this mode unless absolutely necessary.

Your actual battery life depends significantly on how you use the smartwatch. While testing the 45mm model, I consistently managed to achieve two full days and nights off a single charge during lighter usage.

Those who engage in daily, GPS-heavy workouts may need to recharge more frequently due to the power-hungry features.

However, recharging itself is remarkably swift, courtesy of Google’s new Quick Charge Dock, which is significantly more compact and aesthetically pleasing compared to previous models.

The dock is compact but may benefit from additional heft for stability (cable management is essential here), yet I find it preferable over previous designs (and most competing options). A charging screen displays notifications if the wiring isn’t correctly aligned, along with estimated charge time and current time during charging.

I anticipated the display to remain lit continuously during charging, which must instead be enabled via developer options. Occasionally, the display orientation may present challenges while cradled in the dock, but these occurrences aren’t frequent.

The charging speed is impressive (25% quicker than the Pixel Watch 3). My experimentations showed it reaching 50% from a complete drain within 15 minutes and hitting 89% within 30 minutes, exceeding expectations.

Notably, a significant feature of the Pixel Watch 4 is its replaceable battery, enabling you to potentially change it yourself at home. This could prove essential for prolonging the device’s lifespan before needing an upgrade.

Cost & Availability

Despite the multiple enhancements, the Pixel Watch 4 maintains its pricing to match its predecessor, allowing you to purchase it starting at £349/$349.99.  

However, keep in mind that this price applies to the smaller model in a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth configuration, meaning higher costs for LTE models or the larger 45mm variant.

Below are the complete pricing details for the Pixel Watch 4:

• 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 can purchase it from Google, as well as from retailers like Amazon, Argos, Currys, Very, John Lewis, and Best Buy in the United States.

In terms of pricing, the Pixel Watch 4 comfortably sits between the Apple Watch Series 11 (£369/$399) and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (£319/$349.99), reflecting reasonable value. Do keep in mind that you’ll need a subscription to Fitbit Premium to maximize its potential.

Be sure to check our curated list of the top smartwatches for the latest recommendations.

Is the Google Pixel Watch 4 Worth Buying? 

In my view, the Pixel Watch 4 stands out as the finest Wear OS watch currently available, with only a few minor downsides to note.

Its aesthetic appeal is undeniable (though that may vary among individuals), and Google’s commitment to making it repairable adds significant value since users can replace the screen or battery—potentially at home.

Performance is generally smooth, the domed display is exceptionally engaging, the interface looks sharp, the new Quick Charge Dock enhances convenience, and health, fitness, and smartwatch features are robust.

While Gemini and Smart Replies require some additional refinement, the OnePlus Watch 3 presents a less expensive alternative with longer battery life.

However, the Pixel Watch 4 represents an outstanding all-rounder and is an easy recommendation for anyone seeking a flagship smartwatch that efficiently enables myriad features.

Technical Specifications

• Operating System: Wear OS 6
• Available Sizes: 41 or 45mm
• Display: Actua 360, AMOLED, 1-60Hz, peak brightness 3000 nits
• Processor: Snapdragon W5 Gen 2
• RAM: 2GB
• Storage: 32GB
• Heart rate monitor: Yes
• SpO2 measurement: Yes
• ECG functionality: Yes
• Skin temperature monitoring: Yes
• Microphone: Yes
• Speaker: Yes
• Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi 6
• Bluetooth: Version 6.0
• Satellite SOS capability: Available on LTE models
• Ultra Wideband: Yes
• GPS: Dual-band
• eSIM: Yes
• NFC: Yes
• Battery: 325/455mAh
• Charging: Quick Charge Dock
• Glass: Gorilla Glass 5
• Water Resistance: IP68/5ATM
• Weight: 31/37g