The Google Pixel Watch 4 has made me love smartwatches again

For the past few years, I’ve been wearing either an analog watch or a Xiaomi Band 6 to track basic steps and time. I didn’t choose the Apple Watch because I wasn’t constantly active, didn’t feel the need to check notifications, and didn’t want to think about charging the watch every day.

This year, I had the opportunity to test out the new Google Pixel Watch 4, which made me feel like I might start wearing smartwatches again.

I’ve always had a soft spot for round watches. One of the first smartwatches I owned was the Moto 360, and I loved its rounded design.

The Pixel Watch 4 has an Actua 360 curved dome display with thinner bezels compared to last year’s watch. I have a 41mm watch as a test unit, but personally I would choose the 45mm size for the battery and larger screen. The screen is also brighter with 3,000 nits of peak brightness, making it easier to use in daylight.

Battery life is great on the Pixel Watch 4, even with the smaller size. I’ve been able to get more use out of the watch on those days when I’m doing light activities.

Although the Pixel Watch 4 has a proprietary charger where you can place the watch on the stand like a dial, the charging speed makes up for that.

Google advertises that you can charge this watch from 0% to 50% in 15 minutes and from 0% to 100% in 45 minutes. Although the real-world timing doesn’t exactly match these numbers, I’ve seen charging times that come close to these numbers. The advantage of this fast charging is that you can always charge your watch while making coffee or doing a quick chore around the house, and have enough juice for the whole day.

Fitness software

I’ve largely used the Google Pixel Watch 4 to track baseball and walking sessions. Aside from burning calories, there were no specific insights into exercise-related movement. For the last 15 days, I’ve started going to the gym, and apart from walking mode and elliptical, there aren’t any dedicated modes for specific gym equipment. Instead, you have to choose from options for things like core training, weights, or a general exercise mode, depending on the workout you’re doing.

The watch has more features for someone running, but that’s not possible in Delhi’s weather with the terrible Al Qaeda presence in the QI area at the moment. It also detects cardio after 15 minutes of continuous activity, but while walking, it’s hit or miss for me. Another measure that was off for me was the number of floors. On days I walked into a coffee shop and saw too many for that, and on days I went up to my balcony so many times, the number of floors climbed was incorrect.

I’m not someone who’s used to wearing my watch or bracelet to sleep. With the Pixel Watch 4, I had to mentally train myself to keep the watch on so I could better understand sleep scores and get ready. After a few weeks of use, I was regularly wearing my watch to bed. However, you don’t get additional or actionable insights related to sleep or readiness score on the watch in the daily summary. You can get suggestions on the Fitbit app for getting ready, but that’s about it. As fitness apps add more AI to their apps, Google needs to step up its game.

Google’s new Material UI design for the Watch is refreshing and matches the theme on the Pixel Fold. The weather app is very nice to look at for both hourly and daily forecasts. My only issue is that I wish the workout app allowed more than three types of workouts to be available through Quick Start. I could pull up my watch to talk to Gemini, which was great, but outside of starting timers, asking for occasional sports updates, and starting a workout, I didn’t need Gemini to always be there for me.

I’ve been a fan of the recent Pixel Watch 4 update that lets me use a pinch gesture to dismiss notifications, play or pause videos or music, or even move my wrist to reject calls.

The complaint I had about the watch didn’t bother me in daily use. The screen is great, the software and fitness experience is great overall, and the screen, along with the new design, is an upgrade from the last generation. However, what attracted me most to the watch and made me stick with it was the combination of battery life and fast charging.

Overall, the Pixel Watch 4 is one of the best Android smartwatches.