Google has released its first ever smartwatch, the Pixel Watch. We find out how it compares to the reigning champion of wearables, the Apple Watch Series 8.
The Apple Watch Series 8 has a new rival: the Google Pixel Watch. Announced as part of October’s Made by Google event, it brings Google’s streamlined design and software chops to the now-familiar smartwatch. It comes in a sleek, circular, stainless-steel casing; runs on Google’s own Wear OS 3.5; offers health-and fitness-tracking software in partnership with Fitbit; and provides a helpful Emergency SOS feature.
At $350, it’s pricing puts it in direct competition with the Apple Watch Series 8, which begins from $399. However, while it has the Google name behind it, just how good is it as a smartwatch, and how does it compare to Apple’s latest wearable? We find out in this comparison test, which looks at the specs, designs, displays, software, and special features of each device.
Google has given the Pixel Watch a characteristically minimal and clean design, with the device housed in an 80%-recycled stainless-steel circle frame with a side button. It comes in three colors — Matte Black, Polished Silver, and Champagne Gold — each of which comes with its own particular strap design.
While you could argue that it doesn’t really take any design risks, its compact size and tidy sculpting help to distinguish it from the established design offered by the Apple Watch Series 8, which doesn’t really depart from the squircle form of the Apple Watch 7. This means you get a choice of two sizes (41mm and 45mm, as opposed to 41mm only for the Pixel Watch), a choice of different materials (aluminum and stainless steel), and a wide variety of bands. Again, nothing spectacular or out of the ordinary, but this design has worked well for Apple up until now, so it’s understandable that it isn’t departing from it just yet.
The Apple Watch Series 8 features an always-on LTPO Retina OLED display, with the 41mm version having a resolution of 352 x 430 pixels, versus the 45mm model, which offers 396 x 484 pixels. By contrast, the Pixel Watch houses a 1.2-inch AMOLED display, with a resolution of 450 x 450 pixels. Both offer around 1,000 nits max brightness, yet some may be put off by the fact that the Pixel Watch’s screen is noticeably smaller than even that of the 41mm Apple Watch 8, which comes with 1.69-inch display. What this means is that the Pixel has tangibly larger bezels than Apple’s device, something which may detract from its attractiveness for some.
Still, the display itself offers a similar pixel-per-inch density to that of the Apple Watch’s display, and given that it boasts a relatively new design overall, this balances out the large bezels.
