{"id":463479,"date":"2022-10-07T00:47:47","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T22:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=463479"},"modified":"2022-10-07T00:50:17","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T22:50:17","slug":"pixel-watch-launched-google-smartwatch-meets-fitbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/gadgets\/463479-pixel-watch-launched-google-smartwatch-meets-fitbit.html","title":{"rendered":"Pixel Watch launched \u2014 Google smartwatch meets Fitbit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google unveiled<\/strong><\/a> its first-ever full-featured premium smartwatch \u2014 the Pixel Watch \u2014 during Thursday’s Made by Google event.<\/p>\n

The company said the smartwatch was made with durability and comfort in mind.<\/p>\n

“The Google Pixel Watch is sophisticated for a night out or a business meeting, can endure your activities and workouts, and is pleasant to sleep in,” Google stated.<\/p>\n

The Pixel Watch features a circular domed glass design with significant curves on the sides and stainless steel body.<\/p>\n

It sports a tactile crown on the side for on-screen scrolling, using shortcuts, and launching the app tray. There is also a side button above the crown to open recently-used apps.<\/p>\n

This design should come as no surprise to those familiar with the leak that happened in April 2022<\/strong><\/a> after an employee supposedly left a prototype of the smartwatch in a bar.<\/p>\n

Google said the Pixel Watch was scratch-resistant and water-resistant up to 50 metres.<\/p>\n

For the smartwatch’s band, Google says it designed a new attaching mechanism that makes it easy to change bands and transform the watch’s overall look.<\/p>\n

It will offer 20 different bands in woven, stretch, active, and leather styles, with metal launching next year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Back of the Pixel Watch case<\/p><\/div>\n

The Pixel Watch can be paired with any smartphone running Android 8.0 or newer.<\/p>\n

It comes with Wear OS by Google version 3.5, which also runs on Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 and is in beta for the Galaxy Watch 4.<\/p>\n

At launch, owners can choose from one of 19 customisable watch faces with adjustable colours and layouts, effectively providing thousands of options.<\/p>\n

As expected, Google Assistant comes built-in to allow fast, hands-free voice commands to control smart home devices.<\/p>\n

That includes changing the thermostat temperature, turning lights on or off, and interacting with a Google Nest doorbell.<\/p>\n

Other features are much the same as what’s available on many other smartwatches.<\/p>\n

Users can receive and respond to notifications for emails and calendar events, make\u00a0 NFC-based contactless payments with Google Wallet, use Google Maps navigation, and listen to YouTube Music with songs stored directly on the device.<\/p>\n

Customers will get a three-month subscription to YouTube Music Premium for free.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Other popular supported apps include Strava, Spotify, Adidas Running, Calm, and MyFitnessPal. Users can download additional apps through the Google Play Store.<\/p>\n

Google said it has deeply integrated the Pixel Watch with Fitbit, which it acquired in early 2021, for leading health and fitness features.<\/p>\n

That includes its “most accurate heart rate tracking yet”.<\/p>\n

“With on-device machine learning and deep optimisation down to the processor level, it gives you an accurate measurement of your heart rate continuously tracking at once per second,” Google said.<\/p>\n

The smartwatch also offers 40 exercise modes to track workouts and all-day activities, packs built-in GPS, and an ECG app for detecting signs of atrial fibrillation.<\/p>\n

Sleep, breathing rate, and heart rate variability tracking are also supported.<\/p>\n

Availability and pricing<\/h3>\n

The Pixel Watch is offered in two main configurations \u2014 one with built-in 4G or a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi-only version.<\/p>\n

The 4G-enabled version is $399 (R7,153, excl. VAT) in the US, while the Bluetooth\/Wi-Fi-only variant costs $349 (R6,257).<\/p>\n

For reference, the 41mm entry-level version of the Apple Watch Series 8 also starts at $399 but does not feature cellular connectivity.<\/p>\n

Band prices for the Pixel Watch range between $49 and $199 (R878-R3,568).<\/p>\n

Google has launched Pixel Watch pre-orders and said it would be available from 13 October 2022 in the US and eight other countries, but not South Africa.<\/p>\n

Google has not officially offered its smartphones or other devices in South Africa, but they are often imported by third-party online tech stores like GeeWiz, Connected Devices, and Cellucity.<\/p>\n

\n

Now read: Xiaomi launches 12T Pro with 200MP camera<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Google unveiled its first-ever full-featured premium smartwatch \u2014 the Pixel Watch \u2014 during Thursday’s Made by Google event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":463501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64635,167,60939,78074,47386,53165],"class_list":["post-463479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gadgets","tag-fitness-bands","tag-google","tag-made-by-google","tag-pixel-watch","tag-smartwatches","tag-wear-os"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463479"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463479"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":463513,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463479\/revisions\/463513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}