Alongside the new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro phones, Google has announced the Pixel Watch 2, refining on last year’s model with performance improvements both inside and out, and bringing in new features.
Hardware and Design
While the new Pixel Watch 2 may look the same as the original with the same curved glass design, however it’s been improved inside and out with the new model 10% lighter and now made from 100% recycled aluminium in the body which retains the same shape that makes it comfortable to wear even while you’re sleeping.
The Pixel Watch 2 will be available in four colour combinations which include a flurolastemer band in two sizes to ensure it fits well on your wrist. Colour options will include Polished Silver/Bay, Polished Silver/Porcelain, Matte Black/Obsidian and Champagne Gold/Hazel.
The Pixel Watch 2 will use the same band attachment mechanism, so all your original bands will work on the new model, and there’s new design with ‘Metal Slim’ and ‘Active Sport’ bands offering new ways to dress it up or fit better at the gym.
The buttons have been made more integrated and refined, while the crown has been tucked in to allow for smoother navigation.
The internal hardware has been refined with a faster Qualcomm Snapdragon SW5100 SoC with a Cortex M33 co-processor for a more buttery smooth performance overall, and improved battery life that Google says will last up to 24 hours without tweaking and includes having the Always-On-Display on by default.
The 306mAh battery can also be charged faster with the puck allowing you to get either a full-day charge in 75 minutes or 50% charge in 30 minutes to ensure you can track all your performance data including your sleep tracking.
The Pixel Watch 2 is now powered by the with 32GB of on-board storage and 2GB of RAM enabling some of the improvements in battery life that Google is promising. The battery life on the Pixel Watch 2 won’t just be relying on these improvements, with the battery jumping up to 306mAh.
The Pixel Watch 2 has been revamped with three new sensors – a multi-path heart rate sensor offering up to 25 times the LEDs and photodiode inputs, and with Google’s Machine Learning, it offers a more accurate result.
There’s also a skin temperature sensor and the new cEDA (Continuous Electrodermal Activity) sensor, which can monitor for microscopic beads of sweat, and combined with other sensor input including heart-rate variability and skin temperature, can alert you to signs of stress.
Wear OS Features and Fitbit
Wear OS 4
The Pixel Watch 2 will launch with Wear OS 4 which will bring with it new apps from Google including Gmail, Calendar and more, as well as including a host of new features covering health, fitness, safety and productivity.
You’ll also be able to back up and restore your watch using Google One, making it easier to swap between smartwatches.
Pixel Watch 2 will see the first of six new families of clock faces, offering options for discrete, personalised or data rich watch faces and complications to allow you to see the personalised information you want on your wrist when you want it.
Pixel Watch 2 has a focus on safety, including offering Fall Detection which arrived on the original Pixel Watch, as well as introducing new features including Emergency SOS and Safety Check.
Safety Check allows you to set alerts which need to be responded to in a timely manner, otherwise it can trigger the Emergency Sharing feature. Emergency Sharing will alert pre-selected emergency contacts, offering them your real-time location. You can also share Medical Info including blood type, allergies and conditions with emergency services.
Fitbit
The Pixel Watch 2 will also seamlessly blend Google’s intelligence and helpfulness with Fitbit specialised, top tier health and fitness experience.
The Fitbit experience will range through activity tracking including the ability to detect seven common workouts automatically including running, outdoor cycling and more, prompting you to start and stop tracking your workouts.
You’ll also get Heart Zone Training, offering you a guided workout to meet your goals with both voice and haptic cues to move through the four personalised heart-rate zones to keep you on track throughout your workout, and Pace Training to get you back to your ideal pace if you fall behind.
Fitbit also offers weekly fitness and sleep reports, so the improved battery life allowing for sleep tracking is important for getting you a more wholistic view of your general health – of which sleep is a big part.
Offers
Of course with all this talk of Fitbit, the Pixel Watch 2 comes with a six-month Fitbit Premium membership for both new and returning users.
The Fitbit Premium offer includes access to a range of features including a Daily Readiness score to recommend workouts, as well as a library of workouts led by Fitbit’s expert trainers and leading fitness brands covering High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), Cycling, Dance, Cardio and more.
The premium coverage also includes mindfulness sessions as well as sleep tracking, with a sleep profile generated based on monthly trends.
There’s also a one-month trial of YouTube Music Premium to check out how listening to music from your watch will help.
Availability
You can pre-order the Wi-Fi Google Pixel Watch 2 from today for $549 through the Google Store, as well as JB HI-FI, Officeworks and Harvey Norman. You can also pre-order the 4G LTE version for $649 through Telstra, JB HI-FI and Optus.
