Google's Fitbit acquisition is finally paying off

Google's smartwatch platform has been around for years, and the company has been rumored to be working on a wristwatch of its own for almost as long. 2022 is the year when the Google Pixel Watch sees the light of day at last. Google's first smartwatch has a lot going on, but its Fitbit integration for its health features is what stands out.

Armed with Fitbit's know-how of personal fitness, it looks like the Pixel Watch is the one to give the Apple Watch a tough fight from the Android side. But will these health features alone be enough to make the Pixel Watch a perfect match for Android?

Round cases are generally associated with some of the most notable Wear OS smartwatches, as the Apple Watch has created a unique identity for itself with a squircle design.

The Pixel Watch doubles down on the circular style. However, it's available only in a 41mm dial size, leaving out those who prefer larger wristwatches. When you pair that with thick bezels, you get a smaller amount of usable screen estate. So, when you're out for a morning run, tapping the right thing on that teeny display will be a task.

A square display is better suited for smartwatches as they need to display text and buttons instead of having three clock arms running in circles.

Where the Pixel Watch shines (quite literally) is its stainless steel case, which is more durable than aluminum that you get on similarly priced Apple Watches. But Apple's timepiece uses a sturdier cover glass for its display, while the Pixel Watch comes with a rounded Gorilla Glass 5.

Apple and Google offer a range of sports straps for their respective smartwatches. Since they have their proprietary attachment mechanisms, the first-party options tend to be priced on the higher side. The problem is even more concerning for the Pixel Watch since it doesn't have a robust third-party band ecosystem like Apple just yet.

Fitbit trackers have long been synonymous with workout and general health tracking. When Google acquired the company, it left us wondering how it would turn out for Google's fitness products. And we finally have an answer!

Fitbit powers the Pixel Watch's health features. This is good news for the Google watch as it would've otherwise used Google Fit. Long-time Fitbit users will spot several familiar features, such as Active Zone Minutes, which is a more evolved form of activity tracking that doesn't rely solely on step counts to measure your overall health. You also get a breakdown of your sleep pattern in stages and insights to chart the improvements over time, just like other Fitbit trackers.

But Google's machine-learning prowess is also at play here. The Pixel Watch uses a new heart rate tracker (not the one found on recent Fitbit Sense and Versa watches) that uses ML to provide a more accurate heart reading.

The Pixel Watch and the Apple Watch Series 8 are neck and neck when it comes to workout profiles and essential sensors. They both can take your ECG on the go, but where the latest Apple Watch takes the lead is with things like blood oxygen measurement, a body temperature sensor, and improved menstrual cycle tracking.

Buying a new Pixel Watch gets you six months of complimentary Fitbit Premium, while Apple Watch bundles three months of Fitness+ subscription to try out.

Subscribing to either service comes with advanced tracking metrics, guided exercises, and challenges. But only Fitbit Premium lets you upgrade to one-to-one coaching. Its paid tier also gives you a Daily Readiness Score, which considers every metric to provide you with personalized daily recommendations.

Going with either paid fitness service will cost you $10 a month or $80 when you pay for an entire year.

Google was the first to introduce car crash detection on Pixel phones using all the sensors that already exist in our smartphones. But Apple Watch Series 8 takes things to a different level by offering dedicated hardware to aid this security feature, making it capable of measuring up to 256 g-forces.

In comparison, the Pixel Watch can only measure up to 32 g-forces. The Pixel Watch cannot do car crash detection at all, while fall detection is coming in 2023. The feature will allow the Pixel Watch to dial 911 automatically if you don't respond after a hard fall. This could turn out to be an excellent safety feature, especially for outdoor sports.

The app situation on the Pixel side is a little confusing because Google just introduced a separate app to set up and manage your Pixel Watch. And you will need the Fitbit app to access your health metrics from the Pixel Watch, ditching its existing Google Fit app.

This two-app approach isn't very different from what Apple follows. You need the Watch app for all the watch functions, while the Apple Health app takes care of your well-being data.

But the Google Pixel Watch is ahead of the Apple Watch in one key area: it works with more smartphones right out of the box. It's compatible with all Android phones running version 8 and up (except Android Go), which covers a majority of smartphones currently active worldwide.

Meanwhile, the Apple Watch will have few takers in countries where iPhones don't command a sizable market share.

While the Pixel Watch is rated to last 24 hours between charges versus 18 hours for the Apple Watch Series 8, the real-world difference may not be as drastic. Both should last you a work day after accounting for outdoor activity with GPS tracking turned on, making daily recharges a must. And if you get the LTE variant, the battery life is bound to dip further.

The Pixel Watch is to the Wear OS what Pixel phones are to Android. It showcases the best of Google's software chops combined with the health-tracking expertise of Fitbit. The Pixel Watch covers basic fitness tracking and borrows some of the best features from Fitbit, without relying on the rudimentary app that Google Fit is.

Google has generously added a full 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a coprocessor, but that doesn't mean much when the main processor is several generations old, and the Pixel Watch asks for a premium price. Unless there's something specific about the Pixel Watch that you cannot live without, most Android users would be better off getting the Galaxy Watch 5. You'll save some cash and will also be able to pick a larger case size.

While the Pixel Watch gives a good fight to the Apple Watch's health features, Apple's smartwatch remains the more mature product between the two in nearly all areas. Like Pixel phones, the Pixel Watch will entice enthusiasts and lead the way for other Wear OS watches while Samsung and Apple do the actual business.

We've been waiting for Google to make a watch for the better part of a decade, and the Google Pixel Watch has finally arrived. The first Android smartwatch with Fitbit health tracking, the Pixel Watch aims to help you stay fit or get fit easily, while Wear OS 3.5 brings us Google's vision for a wearable UI and exclusive Wear OS apps for Google services like Google Home.

Karandeep has been with Android Police as a freelance writer since 2019, covering reviews for India, buyer’s guides for the US, and handy tutorials for everyone. He cares more about the impact of technology on people’s everyday lives than the superfluous features companies keep adding each year, which is central to his reviews and product recommendations. In his previous life, he worked with Android Headlines to cover everything Android. He also wrote and edited for a handful of publications in India during his writing journey, which started in 2014. Ever since his first Symbian phone that had the iconic Ovi store to download apps, he has stuck to Android phones and is currently using a Google Pixel 6a. In his free time, he’s usually busy clearing his ever-growing backlog of movies and TV shows or tracking down an eatery he hasn’t been to yet. Chats about food go to Twitter DM and everything tech to karandeep (at) androidpolice (dot) com.