And for everything it gets wrong with its fitness tracking, it's actually an alright health tracker. The Pixel Watch's batch of health features is the closest replication of what it's like to use a Fitbit smartwatch and is clearly where Google leaned on that brand acquisition the most. The Pixel Watch does offer a lot of useful health apps like heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, and stress management. I hope Google will implement a fix via a future firmware update. As someone who's fairly active and wears and tests fitness trackers every day, I can't look past it. If fitness features aren't a priority, then its inconsistent syncing and spotty tracking capability may not matter all that much. To me, this is a major flaw, and something that should give most Pixel Watch users pause, especially active folks. While reviewing that watch, we found the exact same GPS issues and tracking inconsistencies, so it's disappointing to see that the problem persists beyond just the Versa 4 (the Fitbit Sense 2, to its credit, tracked and synced perfectly fine). I've seen poor tracking like this before and it happens to come from another wearable in Google's broader lineup: the Fitbit Versa 4. I may not be training for any specific race or event but a discrepancy of that size renders my training data useless. The result would be a tracking inaccuracy of anywhere between a minute and a half and two minutes off my normal mile time. However, I'd go an entire multi-mile run without it ever syncing. This wouldn't be so much of a problem if the GPS just synced shortly after the workout started. While this is happening, you can see the watch attempting to connect to GPS but instead of waiting for that connection, the watch just begins the workout. As soon as you hit the start icon, a short, seemingly un-pausable countdown begins before the timer starts. The issue seems to lie directly with how quickly the watch starts a workout. It got so bad during testing that I decided to wear a second watch just to get an accurate read of my workouts. Not only did its built-in GPS routinely have trouble connecting during a workout, but that lack of connection would throw the tracking entirely out of whack. Tracking inaccuracies and bad GPS syncing make fitness tracking a nightmare on the Google Pixel Watch. It was a seamless experience whether I needed to check app notifications, log a workout in Strava, or take a quick phone call on my wrist. What impressed me most about its smart features is just how easy they all were to use. Voice-to-text, in a quiet area, worked well, too. I found it to be a pain typing out long texts on the somewhat small watch face, but with short messages, I was all for it. The Pixel even lets you make phone calls right on the watch, in addition to receiving and responding to text messages. This includes apps like Spotify, Strava, and, of course, Fitbit. Whereas a smartwatch like the Fitbit Sense 2 is hamstrung by a restrictive operating system that doesn't allow third-party app support, WearOS enhances the Pixel's usefulness.įor instance, it offers Google-branded support via features like Google Assistant, Google Wallet, and Google Maps, as well as a wide selection of apps from the Google Play Store. One of the Pixel Watch's biggest strengths is its smartwatch capability, led by its intuitive and easy-to-use operating system, WearOS. The Pixel Watch's best feature is how it functions as a smartwatch.
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If Google can find a way to fix its syncing issues, the Pixel Watch would be a top competitor as one of the best Android smartwatches you can buy. Otherwise, I was impressed with its smartwatch functionality and health features.
And while this is a first-generation watch that's bound to experience growing pains, I still expected Google to nail the fitness aspect. Despite Fitbit being an in-house brand, the Pixel Watch is plagued by inaccurate activity tracking due to unreliable GPS syncing. There's a variety of available apps, the interface is simple to navigate, and you can send texts and emails and even make and take phone calls.īut as a fitness tracker, the watch falls flat on its face. Using the Android-based (and Google-made) operating system, WearOS, it does almost everything you want in a smart wearable. After wearing one every day for a month, I found this to be only partially true.Īs a smartwatch, the Pixel Watch is outstanding. Before I even unboxed the Google Pixel Watch, I assumed it would function like a souped-up version of the now-Google-owned brand, Fitbit.
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