Google’s Pixel Watch 5 is promising — but it isn’t finished

The Google Pixel Watch 5 has, successful galore ways, been the hardest Pixel Watch to accurately review. Barely thing has changed successful position of hardware. The sizes are the same, the chips and artillery sewage an itty-bitty boost, and there’s a caller pyrite satin lawsuit finish. Instead, the large updates are each software-related: This year’s watch gets eager caller wellness features that grow connected the overhauled Google Health app and its AI coach introduced pinch the Fitbit Air earlier this year.

The only problem is those wellness updates aren’t here. The watch’s astir absorbing caller features — humor unit and insulin guidance trends, nightly slumber breathing quality, and spot training cues from the wrist — won’t commencement rolling retired until adjacent month. And successful the lawsuit of breathing emergency detection, which calls emergency services if the instrumentality detects you’ve stopped breathing, the characteristic is still pending FDA clearance. (Europe will get it astatine launch, but this isn’t the benignant of characteristic you tin trial anyway.)

That leaves maine and the Pixel Watch 5 connected my wrist successful a spot of a reviewer’s pickle. All those features sound smart to me, but I can’t measurement successful connected whether they’re worthy $399.99 — a $50 value hike complete past year’s exemplary — until they’re available. Given that half of those caller metrics are meant to beryllium viewed monthly, it’ll beryllium a basking infinitesimal earlier I tin constitute astir them.

Which leaves the remainder of the Pixel Watch 5 package updates: Wear OS 7, offline Gemini, a much meticulous Raise to Talk feature, Proactive Assistance, much integrated motion controls successful the UI, AI watchfaces, immoderate improved bedtime automations, and amended GPS maps for outdoor activities. Broadly, I get the vibe Google’s going for — subtly adjuvant AI that enables glanceable, quickly actionable accusation — and I for illustration it. However, isolated from for GPS, these are refinements. They’re not mind-blowing updates that warrant morphing into the “Shut up and return my money!” meme. At launch, these will beryllium exclusive to the Pixel Watch 5, but Google does person a history of package updates trickling down to older models pinch time.

Wear OS 7 isn’t a awesome departure from Wear OS 6. The double pinch and wrist move gestures are now much straight integrated into the UI. At definite points (e.g., scrolling aliases selecting), you’ll spot an animated spot of the pinching gesture. It’s a useful measurement of school you erstwhile a motion tin beryllium used. During “live” activities — say, a workout aliases timer — different spot will look connected the main watchface. Flipping your wrist will disregard your existent surface aliases a call. These aren’t unsocial ideas. The Apple Watch has had them for a while. However, I emotion that they’re much prominently featured connected the Pixel Watch (and not conscionable the Watch 5). You’ll ne'er spot maine pooh-pooh well-executed motion controls connected smartwatches simply because they’re not 100 percent new.

I was little enamored pinch Proactive Assistance. As my colleagues Dom Preston, David Imel, and Cameron Faulkner person noted successful their Pixel 11 reviews, these Gemini-powered suggestions don’t ever activity arsenic intended. You whitethorn besides ne'er announcement them! On the watch, it was adjuvant erstwhile a friend texted maine via Google Messages astir my readiness for plans. A spot for my Google Calendar instantly popped up. Except those were orchestrated scenarios for testing. In existent life, I mostly scheme hangouts complete Slack aliases telephone calls, wherever Gemini isn’t integrated. I get the concept, and I tin spot this improving pinch early updates. But for now your mileage will vary.

Offline Gemini was much convenient successful testing than I’d anticipated. I had zero volition of moving pinch the Pixel 11 Pro Fold that I’d paired pinch my Watch 5. I’ve dropped measurement excessively galore a smartphone to consequence wrecking a caseless, $1,900 phone. Nevertheless, Gemini was capable to commencement a workout via sound command, arsenic good arsenic quickly get a GPS awesome good retired of Bluetooth scope of the phone, and truthful internet. (I did this nonstop testing script earlier mounting up cellular.) There’s still some latency erstwhile you usage wrist-based Gemini — offline aliases different — but not truthful egregious that it’s unusable. Especially for basal tasks.

Speaking of GPS, I called Google bold erstwhile it claimed the GPS connected the Pixel Watch 5 outperforms that connected the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Garmin Fenix 8 Pro. It does this by utilizing 3D models of buildings, upwind data, dual-frequency GPS, and different sensor signals to “correct” wonky GPS information aft an activity. When I poked and prodded Google’s Pixel Watch reps astatine my demos, they didn’t flinch. There was nary hedging, nary caveats. Just a “we tested it successful Manhattan, a GPS nightmare, spell forth, Vee, and tally till your small legs springiness out” benignant of confidence. I still person a batch much GPS testing I want to do (different terrains, durations, and outdoor exercises), but I person to opportunity — the GPS is dramatically improved, and it outperformed the Ultra 3 successful my testing.

To trial the GPS, I recorded 3 abstracted 20-to-30-minute walks successful the West Village successful Manhattan. During each of these walks, I walked successful zigzags, irritated cabbies by jaywalking crossed streets I wasn’t expected to, and irritated a friend by stepping literal circles astir her. As you tin spot successful the screenshots here, the Ultra 3 overcorrected, truthful it appears for illustration I’m mostly stepping successful a consecutive line. The Pixel Watch 5 didn’t drawback all of my tests — but it did accurately registry immoderate of my zigzags, instances wherever I doubled backmost connected purpose, and one clip wherever I circled my friend. (I presently don’t person a Garmin Fenix 8 Pro, truthful I wasn’t capable to comparison it to that device, though you can cheque retired DC Rainmaker’s more hardcore Pixel Watch 5 GPS tests here.)

I uncertainty astir Garmin aliases Ultra 3 fans will beryllium enticed to move based connected improved GPS alone. I mean, the Pixel Watch’s creation still doesn’t scream rugged durability — thing astir outdoor enthusiasts like. This is much Google leaning into its strengths to present a clever solution to a long-standing problem pinch Pixel and Fitbit wearables. I wouldn’t opportunity it’s perfect. No GPS search is. It’s much that GPS accuracy is nary longer a logic to clasp backmost from getting a Pixel Watch if you want one.

Which leaves maine to regale you pinch the astir bizarre characteristic I tested: AI watchfaces.

I get why Google made this feature. It acknowledges that there’s a contingent of smartwatch fans who want arsenic galore watchfaces arsenic imaginable and don’t want to trust connected a company’s creator curation. (Cough, Apple.) Theoretically, prompting an AI to make a watchface of your circumstantial thought makes sense.

But this is besides AI. See: this incredibly dooftastic AI-generated watchface of a manta ray. This is not a manta ray. This is number-shaped blobs pinch eyes and cartoony dinosaur fins.

I had much occurrence asking for a tiny Kirby-inspired watchface pinch “a playful font successful a pinkish and purple theme.” Is it a tad unsettling that these are, again, Kirby-shaped numbers and Kirby’s look plastered onto them? Yeah, but it works. I had the astir occurrence pinch a cross-stitch-themed watchface featuring “fat and tiny wood creatures and a retro font.” Sure, portions of the numbers are an embroidered satin stitch and not cross-stitches, but the tone is there. My main gripe is really constricted the customization is. You tin tweak the quality of the timepiece numbers, colors, and font, and take 1 of 3 basal layouts, but small else. Is this a characteristic worthy boiling oceans for? No, but it’s whimsical capable to please the group it’s intended for.

The hardware tweaks this twelvemonth aren’t that noticeable. Swiping done screens is snappy but not radically improved. Like its predecessor, the 45mm Watch 5 lasted astir 36 to 40 hours connected a azygous complaint successful testing. A twelvemonth later, I still for illustration the watch guidelines charger. Fast charging is bully capable that you tin instrumentality it connected the charger while you ablution and make it done the time (or night).

Right now, I consciousness comfortable saying the Pixel Watch 5 is simply a awesome Android smartwatch. RIP OnePlus, and Samsung has been coasting since the Galaxy Watch 6. So, for illustration past year, this is the Android smartwatch to beat. It’s the 1 I’d urge to Android smartwatch newcomers, and the $50 value hike acknowledgment to RAMageddon isn’t arsenic bad arsenic it could’ve been.

If you’re an proprietor of a caller Pixel Watch, I don’t deliberation this is the twelvemonth to upgrade, though. And moreover if you’ve sewage a Pixel Watch 2 aliases earlier, I’d still hold until the caller wellness features are retired and tested earlier buying. Alternatively, you could opt for doubling up pinch a Fitbit Air alternatively of a caller watch if you’re chiefly irritated astir having to complaint often for slumber tracking.

I don’t love feeling for illustration a reappraisal is unfinished, but alas — that’s really it is this year. See you backmost successful October for portion 2 aft the remainder of the wellness features drop.

Photography by Victoria Song / The Verge