After contenting itself with designing the OS for connected watches, Google should soon launch its first smartwatch, the Google Pixel Watch. Even before its launch, that’s all we know about Google’s first connected watch.
The Google Pixel Watch // Source: John Prosser and Rendersbyian
In 2014, Google launched Android Wear – which has since become Wear OS – an operating system intended to equip the connected watches of its partners. However, unlike smartphones where the company has not hesitated to launch its own references, the Nexus and Pixel, Google has so far refused to design its own connected watch.
It ultimately appears to be the case and that the Google Pixel Watch is slated for the next few months. Many leaks indeed report a watch designed directly by Google intended to highlight its own ecosystem. It must be said that Google has become a major player in the connected watch industry in recent months. Not only has the firm teamed up with Samsung to merge Wear OS and Tizen, but Google has also acquired one of the world’s leading smartwatch makers: Fitbit.
This first Made by Google connected watch should therefore have been designed in partnership with the Fitbit teams. Known by the code name “Rohan”, however, it will indeed be a watch launched under the Google Pixel brand and equipped with the manufacturer’s OS: Wear OS.
Design of the Google Pixel Watch
While the Pixel Watch has been the subject of rumors for several years now, things accelerated last April. Leaker Jon Prosser then announced that he had got his hands on “Tons of photos” of a connected watch designed by Google and already known under the code name Pixel Watch. In order to protect the source that transmitted these images to him, the leaker then had 3D renderings made to discover the design of the watch.
These 3D renderings already made it possible to perceive a connected watch with particularly thin screen borders which extend onto the contours of the case. The watch as it was presented would also have a proprietary strap system, like what Apple offers with its Apple Watch.
Google Pixel 6 and Pixel Watch // Source: Jon Prosser
In addition, as on the Apple Watch, the Google Pixel Watch would have a button on the right side also acting as a rotating crown.
If the rumors died down during the summer, the month of December was again conducive to revelations. The Business Insider site went there with its ads obtained from current and past Google employees: “Unlike the Apple Watch, Google’s smartwatch is round and has no physical edges based on artistic renderings obtained by Insider and the employees who viewed it. Like the Apple device, it will measure health and activity data ”. The American site did not then deliver new information, but the publication corroborated the previous leak of Jon Prosser.
In the process, Jon Prosser went even further, by posting, in a YouTube video, several photos of the Pixel Watch. Presented as coming from the internal documentation of the firm, these images seem to be intended to be used for communication around the Pixel Watch. What to suggest that its launch would be particularly close.
Importantly, the images show a watch with a design very similar to the renderings shown as early as April. We can also see a watch with a very large screen. Not only would the glass go all the way to the edges of the watch, but so would the slab, which is curved. We can also perceive at least four colors of bracelet: black, cream, yellow or orange.
Google Pixel Watch hardware and health sensors
For now, the information is still quite thin as to the measures that will be offered by the Google Pixel Watch. Business Insider indicated in early December that the watch “Has a heart rate monitor and offers basic health tracking features like step count”. These are traditional functions for a watch or a connected bracelet in 2021 and it is not yet clear whether the Pixel Watch will allow the measurement of oxygen saturation in the blood (SpO2), will allow electrocardiograms (ECG) or even if it will be able to measure voltage, a measurement expected on the next generation of Apple Watch and already available on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic.
The Exynos W920 SoC equips the Galaxy Watch 4 // Source: Samsung
Regarding Samsung, it also seems that the Korean manufacturer will not be totally far from this Google Pixel Watch. While, until now, Qualcomm has been the main processor supplier – if not the only one – for watches running Wear OS 3, Google has decided to turn to Samsung to design the chip for its smartwatch. Last May, the leaker Max Weinbach already indicated that Samsung would have provided Google with an SoC engraved in 5 nm to power its connected watch. Information corroborated at the end of December by 9to5Google. According to the specialized site, several elements within the source code of Wear OS bring together the code name of the watch, “Rohan”, to that of a Samsung Exynos chip. “We do not yet know if it will be the same chip as that of the Galaxy Watch 4, the Exynos W920”, however tempers the specialized site. This partnership between Google and Samsung is not surprising given the merger of the two manufacturers around Wear OS 3. In addition, Google’s SoC for smartphones, the Tensor chip, is also designed by Samsung.
Despite this Samsung processor, apparently engraved in 5 nm, the watch would not, however, offer revolutionary autonomy. According to information from Business Insider, the watch could run for at most a day and would require a daily charge. “An employee who tested the watch indicates that the charge is slow”, also specifies Business Insider. It must be said that Wear OS 3 is a system requiring resources and that it is complicated for manufacturers to offer watches exceeding two days of autonomy.
Google Pixel Watch software and watch faces
At present, there are still few connected watches on the market to take advantage of the latest version of the Google system, Wear OS 3. Only the latest watches from Samsung, the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic are equipped with it. . However, the Korean manufacturer has added its own software interface, called One UI Watch. A Reddit user has nevertheless posted different images of the clean interface of Wear OS 3. A way to discover the potential menus of the Pixel Watch without the Samsung touch on its own connected watches. We can in particular see a beautiful place left to the gradients and menus presented in oval lines. In addition, again like on Android 12, it seems that it will be possible to choose the accent color of the menus according to the color of the dial.
During the month of December, 9to5Google was also able to get its hands, within the source code of Wear OS, available in the emulator, on various watch faces offered on Wear OS 3. These watch faces are missing from One UI Watch and should be related to the Google Pixel Watch. Information corroborated by Jon Prosser who had based precisely on these dials last April to make the 3D renderings of the watch.
A video could hint at the first interface of the Pixel Watch. // Source: 9to5Google
A video could hint at the first interface of the Pixel Watch. // Source: 9to5Google
As often, the faces of the Google Pixel Watch should give pride of place to the black background. As on Android 12, we would also find pastel color gradients to potentially adapt to your style. Some dials should highlight the hands in particular while others would offer more complications such as the number of steps, heart rate, weather, date or the number of floors climbed. One of them also features the Fitbit logo, which suggests that the new Google subsidiary could offer functions exclusive to the Pixel Watch.
The new Google Assistant would be offered on the Pixel Watch // Source: 9to5Google
In addition to the dials, the Google Pixel Watch could also take advantage of a few exclusive functions. By digging into the source code of several Google applications, the 9to5Google site discovered that the Pixel Watch, referenced under the code name Rohan, should benefit from the latest generation of the Google Assistant voice assistant. Concretely, as on smartphones, the assistant could be woken up by voice from any application of the watch. It could also be used to launch certain actions on third-party applications and even operate without an Internet connection thanks to local management.
Google Pixel Watch price and release date
Last April, Jon Prosser was particularly optimistic about Google’s marketing plans, sensing an announcement sometime in October 2021, at the same time as the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. In the end, it did not happen, and, at the twilight of 2021, it is clear that the Google Pixel Watch is still long overdue.
While the Business Insider site is confined to a simple release forecast for the course of next year, Jon Prosser put a piece back in the rumor machine in early December. He then indicated that the Google Pixel Watch would be announced during the first quarter of 2022. Still, the context is particularly complicated for manufacturers, in particular because of the shortage of semiconductors. It could be that Google has decided to postpone the announcement of its watch and that this postponement is renewed early next year.
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