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Three years after acquiring Fitbit, Alphabet<\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span> is selling its first Google-branded watch with the fitness-tracking technology. It’s called Pixel Watch, and consumers can find it on store shelves starting Thursday.<\/p>\nI’ve been testing Google’s new Pixel products for the past several days. In addition to the Pixel Watch, there are the new phones, the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, which go on sale at the same time.<\/p>\n
Most of the Pixel 7 phone upgrades are minor when compared with the last generation Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. Last year’s phones were the first to debut Google’s self-made Tensor processor and a brand-new design. The $600 Pixel 7 and $900 Pixel 7 Pro run on Google’s new Tensor G2 chip and are the company’s latest effort to establish a foothold in the global smartphone market, which apple<\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span> and Samsung<\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span> dominate<\/p>\nThe core of this review focuses on the Pixel Watch since it’s the first time we’re seeing how Google is incorporating Fitbit, which it bought in 2019 for about $2.1 billion.<\/p>\n
The Pixel Watch starts at $350 for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and $400 for 4G LTE. For smartwatch users, there’s not much new here. Heartrate tracking, fitness tracking and sleep tracking have been available for years in products from Fitbit and other companies, notably Apple.<\/p>\n
I was hoping Google’s first Fitbit tie-in would bring some more groundbreaking innovations to the wearable game, especially for the price. The new Apple Watch SE is just $250 and has the same main features as the Pixel Watch. The same is true for Samsung’s Galaxy Watch5, which costs $280.<\/p>\n
Google’s Pixel Watch is the company’s premium watch, whereas the Apple Watch SE and Galaxy Watch 5 are base models. But the features each offer are pretty similar.<\/p>\n
The main benefit I can see to the Pixel Watch is the beautiful, inconspicuous design. The round face and domed glass design make the Pixel Watch feel more luxurious. It’s also made out of stainless steel, which is more expensive than cheaper aluminum smartwatch base models.<\/p>\n
Overall, it’s too little, too late for Google. There aren’t enough exciting features to justify the price, and all of the important stuff is available on other cheaper smartwatches.<\/p>\n
Here’s what you need to know before buying the new Pixel Watch and what I noticed about the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro phones.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n