![]() ![]() ![]() The Apple Watch’s rectangular face squeezes more pixels into the screen and looks more like a calculator watch. The Pixel Watch’s circular face more closely resembles a traditional watch, which I’m partial to. The biggest difference between the Pixel Watch and the Apple Watch is the design. The watch can be set up to mirror notifications for text messages and place phone calls - features that work well. Like the Apple Watch, the Pixel Watch has aspects that make the accessory serve as an extension of a smartphone. In general, both wearables needed to be charged daily to keep up with my routines. Google said in a statement that its watch and the Apple Watch used different algorithms and that it believed the Pixel Watch’s heart-rate tracking was accurate.īoth devices had battery life that lasted a bit more than a day the Pixel Watch lasted a few hours longer than the Apple Watch before needing a charge. Throughout the workout, I counted my heart rate the old-school way by taking my pulse and got the same measurement as the Apple Watch reading. In a few instances, like when I was sitting down to rest, both watches showed the same heart rate. In easier climbs, the Apple Watch measured about 130 beats per minute and the Pixel Watch 110. During tougher climbs when I was definitely feeling winded, the Apple Watch gave a heart rate reading of 150 beats per minute, and the Pixel Watch gave a reading of 125 beats per minute. ![]() To my surprise, the Pixel Watch consistently measured a lower heart rate than the Apple Watch. As I climbed for half an hour, both watches measured my heart rate and estimated the amount of calories I burned. I’m a rock climber, so on the Pixel Watch I selected the indoor climbing workout in the Fitbit app, and on the Apple Watch I picked the climbing exercise in Apple’s Workout app. From there, you choose from a selection of workouts, including bicycling, hiking and martial arts. To track a workout, you press a side button and select the Fitbit Exercise app. The Pixel Watch relies heavily on Fitbit’s software. To start gathering health data on the Pixel Watch, you must download the Fitbit app and set up an account. You point an iPhone camera at the watch face to link it to your data, and you then add some biometric information, like your height and weight. (Yes, I probably looked a bit odd.) Here’s what I learned. To make side-by-side comparisons, I spent a few days wearing a Google Pixel Watch on my left wrist and the latest Apple Watch on my right. Keep that in mind before you consider buying a Pixel Watch or an Apple Watch. In the end, if we buy one of these watches, it becomes harder for us to later switch to an iPhone or Android phone if we ever become dissatisfied with either ecosystem - because in addition to dumping a phone, there’s a watch to get rid of, too. But the company concluded that an Apple-dependent watch would keep iPhone users loyal to the brand and could persuade some Android users to convert. According to my sources who worked on the Apple Watch, Apple years ago considered making its watch work with Android phones to increase sales - similar to how iPods became popular in part because they were compatible with Windows computers. That’s precisely a page from Apple’s playbook. If the watch becomes a hit, it could give iPhone owners a reason to switch to Android. ![]() So while the Pixel Watch, with its sleek, polished design, is a worthy rival to the $400 Apple Watch, it’s disappointing that Google limited its compatibility to Android.įrom a business perspective, it makes sense for Google to tie the Pixel Watch to Android. It requires an Android device to run apps and gather data. The $350 Pixel Watch, which features Fitbit’s health monitoring software and will be released on Thursday, is the first Google-branded smart watch resulting from that merger. In 2021, Google acquired the company for $2.1 billion. One of its selling points was that the trackers worked with phones running either Google’s or Apple’s software.īut not long after the Apple Watch was introduced in 2015, Fitbit’s sales shrank and its stock tanked. Nearly a decade ago, Fitbit was a widely adored brand that made fitness-tracking bracelets and tiny pedometers for counting steps. The only losers in the ongoing feud between Apple and Google, however, are us. It’s the Pixel Watch, which is essentially a Fitbit designed to work only with Android phones and seemingly a direct counterattack to Apple’s wearable that works only with iPhones. It’s 2022, and Google finally has a response to the Apple Watch. ![]()
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