For years, the allure of smartwatches largely eluded me. I preferred the simplicity of an analog timepiece or a basic fitness band like the Xiaomi Band 6 for step tracking. The daily charging, constant notifications, and perceived lack of necessity kept me from fully embracing devices like the Apple Watch. However, a recent opportunity to test the new Google Pixel Watch 4 has completely shifted my perspective, making me reconsider the place of smartwatches in my daily life.
Design and Display Excellence
My preference has always leaned towards circular watch faces, a fondness sparked by early smartwatches like the Moto 360. The Pixel Watch 4 beautifully captures this aesthetic with its curved, domed Actua 360 display. Compared to its predecessor, it boasts noticeably thinner bezels, contributing to a more immersive visual experience.
While my review unit was the 41mm model, I personally lean towards the 45mm variant for its larger display and enhanced battery capacity. The display itself is a standout feature, offering an impressive peak brightness of 3,000 nits, which ensures excellent readability even in direct sunlight.
Battery Life and Rapid Charging
Even with the smaller 41mm size, the Pixel Watch 4 delivers commendable battery life. On days with lighter activity, I consistently managed to get more than a full day's use out of the device. This is a significant improvement for someone who previously avoided smartwatches due to charging concerns.
Although the Pixel Watch 4 utilizes a proprietary puck-style charger, its rapid charging speed largely compensates for this. Google advertises a charge from 0% to 50% in just 15 minutes and a full charge (0% to 100%) in 45 minutes. My real-world tests showed charging times very close to these figures. This rapid charging capability is a game-changer, allowing for quick power boosts during brief breaks, like making coffee or doing a quick chore, ensuring enough power to last through the day.
Fitness Tracking and Software Experience
My primary use for the Google Pixel Watch 4 in terms of fitness involved tracking pickleball sessions and walking. While it provided calorie burn data, I found a lack of specific insights related to sports-specific movements. For gym workouts, beyond basic treadmill and elliptical modes, the watch offers general categories like core training, weights, or a generic workout mode, rather than specialized options for particular equipment.
The watch does offer more advanced features for runners, though current air quality conditions in Delhi made testing these impractical. Its automatic cardio workout detection, which triggers after 15 minutes of continuous activity, proved inconsistent during my walks. Similarly, the floor count feature often provided inaccurate readings, sometimes overcounting during simple walks to a cafe and undercounting on days I ascended my terrace multiple times.
Initially, I wasn't accustomed to wearing a watch to sleep. However, to fully utilize the Pixel Watch 4's capabilities, I consciously trained myself to wear it overnight to gain insights into sleep and readiness scores. After a few weeks, this became a regular habit. While the watch provides daily summaries of these scores, it notably lacks additional or actionable insights directly on the device. Suggestions related to readiness are available through the Fitbit app, but Google could enhance this area, especially as other fitness apps increasingly integrate AI-driven analytics.
The new Material UI design for the watch is visually appealing and seamlessly matches the aesthetic of my Pixel Fold. The weather application, in particular, offers a clean and informative display for both hourly and daily forecasts. One minor critique is the exercise app's limitation to only three quick-start workout options. While raising my wrist to interact with Gemini is a neat feature, I found its utility primarily limited to setting timers, checking occasional sports updates, and initiating workouts, rather than requiring its constant presence.
A recent update to the Pixel Watch 4 introduced convenient pinch gestures, which I've found incredibly useful. These allow me to dismiss notifications, play or pause media, and even dismiss calls with a simple wrist movement, enhancing the overall user experience.
Final Verdict
Despite a few minor quibbles, the Google Pixel Watch 4 has proven to be an impressive device in daily usage. Its fantastic display, combined with a generally great software and fitness experience, marks a clear upgrade from the previous generation. However, the most compelling aspects that cemented its place on my wrist are the exceptional combination of battery life and rapid charging.
Ultimately, the Pixel Watch 4 stands out as one of the best Android smartwatches currently available, successfully rekindling my appreciation for wearable technology.
