Earlier this summer, the US FDA greenlit the sale of over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids, and now we're seeing some from one of the largest audio companies in the world. Sony has announced the availability of its first OTC hearing aids, the $1,000 CRE-C10 and $1,300 CRE-E10, built in partnership with WS Audiology.
The devices are built for daily use for those with mild to moderate hearing loss. They're controlled via Sony's "Hearing Control" app that guides users through setup and allows them to personalize settings like volume control. It also allows a "self-fit" that adjusts to appropriate pre-defined hearing profiles "based on thousands of actual, real-life audiogram results," Sony said.
Sony Electronics, Inc.
The CRE-C10 model (above) offers a battery life of up to 70 hours of continuous use. Sony says they're one of the smallest OTC hearing aids on the market, offering a discreet design that's "virtually invisible when worn" and "exceptional sound quality." It goes on sale this month for $1,000 at Amazon, Best Buy, and select hearing-care professionals.
Meanwhile, the CRE-E10 (at top) has a more earbud-like design, powered by a rechargeable battery with up to 26 hours of life between charges. It's Bluetooth compatible as well, so users can connect to devices and listen to streaming audio or music, though only on iOS, Sony says. Those will go on sale for $1,300 sometime this winter at Sony's website.
Last year, Bose and Lexie unveiled their own OTC hearing aids with the SoundControl lineup, and launched the first B1 model for $900 a couple of days ago. Companies like Jabra have also leaped in. And last year, Sennheiser sold its consumer audio business to the hearing aid specialist Sonova. While the prices are still not what you'd call cheap, they're far less than prescription hearing aids that can run $1,000-$4,000 per ear, according to Consumer Reports.
Yes, we’ve got full reviews of Google’s new flagship phones as well as its first smartwatch. The phones fare better than the wearable, but we are on the seventh generation of Pixel smartphones, so that’s to be expected.
In addition to new software features and Tensor G2 chip, the Pixel 7 Pro gets a number of extra hardware upgrades compared to the standard Pixel 7. There’s a longer 5x telephoto zoom, and its ultra-wide cam can also take macro shots. The Pixel 7 Pro’s battery doesn’t last quite as long as its smaller, cheaper sibling, but it will easily last a day. But most importantly, priced at $899, the Pixel 7 Pro offers more for your money than most of its rivals.
With the $599 Pixel 7, the specs and hardware haven’t changed a ton since last year’s device, but battery life is good, lasting almost 18 hours on our video rundown test. It’s also got a nicer matte finish compared to the glossy Pro. Check out our full review of both phones here.
Meanwhile, we have all the big Microsoft news, including early impressions of some new Surface PCs.
The Pixel Watch, well, just feels good. As Engadget’s Cherlynn Low puts it, it’s like a “smooth, shiny pebble.” As a smartwatch, though? The software is competent, and Fitbit’s health-tracking integrations are excellent. Unfortunately, the Pixel Watch has a relatively short battery life and a Fitbit Premium paywall barricades many health metrics. But if you’re looking for an Android-friendly wearable that feels as premium as Apple, this might be it.
It's been four years since we got the Surface Studio 2, Microsoft’s flexible all-in-one PC. Now it’s time for a, er, mild upgrade. The Surface Studio 2+ is indeed significantly faster than before, thanks to Intel's 11th-gen CPU and NVIDIA's RTX 3060 graphics. But we've also spent most of this year being impressed by Intel's terrific 12th-gen hybrid chips, which deliver vastly better performance than 11th-gen CPUs. It's not called the Surface Studio 3 for a reason, I guess, but prices still start at $4,300.
The Surface Pro 9 is pretty much what we expected: a jump up to Intel's 12th-gen CPUs. But Microsoft surprised us with a huge shakeup for its tablet PCs. There's also a Surface Pro 9 running a custom SQ3 ARM chip, which includes built-in 5G. Choices! Either way, you're getting tablet PCs that can easily transform into functional laptops with their keyboard cases.
The SQ3 Arm model also has a few features the Intel version doesn't, thanks to its neural processor. That includes some real-time enhancements to video chats, like blurring your background. According to Microsoft, it's possible to bring those features to Intel chips when they have their own neural chips, but unfortunately, those aren't available in Intel's current lineup.
Researchers who grew a brain cell culture in a lab claim they taught the cells to play a version of Pong. Scientists from a biotech startup called Cortical Labs say it's the first demonstrated example of a "mini-brain" being taught to carry out goal-directed tasks. DishBrain received a strong and consistent feedback signal (effectively a form of stimulus) when the paddle hit the ball and a short, random pulse when it missed. Apparently, after playing Pong for 20 minutes, the culture improved at the game.
It’s launching a video doorbell, cameras and smart bulbs.
Roku is expanding beyond home theater setups and into smart home devices. The initial batch of Roku Smart Home products, which it collaborated on with Wyze, includes a smart doorbell, cameras, smart bulbs, smart light strips and smart plugs. The company didn't reveal specs for the devices in advance, but previous reports suggested they are rebadged versions of Wyze products, including Cam v3, Cam Pan V2 and Bulb Color. You'll also be able to use the Roku Voice Remote to bring up live camera feeds on your TV. Roku didn't offer a breakdown of pricing, but said its cameras "start below $27."
It’s always nice to see something beyond what we’d expect from Microsoft. Microsoft has unveiled an Audio Dock that, as the name implies, combines a speaker with a laptop hub. The design centers on an omni-directional speakerphone and includes a 60W USB-C connection for charging your computer, two regular USB-C ports, an HDMI 2.0 jack and a single USB-A port. The company is leaning heavily on the Audio Dock's usefulness for meetings, whether that’s from the office or the home office. You'll find large dedicated buttons for the microphone toggle (handy for working from home) and launching Teams. Because Microsoft.
Back in 2020, Microsoft announced that it would be changing the name of its Office 365 subscription to Microsoft 365, acknowledging that it had become more than just a work app. Now, it's removing most of the remaining Office branding, according to new updates spotted by The Verge. "In the coming months, Office.com, the Office mobile app, and the Office app for Windows will become the Microsoft 365 app, with a new icon, a new look, and even more features," a FAQ states.
Currently, you can access Microsoft's Word, Excel and other apps online at Office.com, but that will soon be switched to Microsoft365.com — with a new six-sided logo replacing the current square one. The changes will happen next month, and the Office app for Windows, MacOS, iOS and Android will be rebranded in January.
The app names themselves won't change, as you'll still be using Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Outlook, Clipchamp, Stream and Designer. There will also be a Microsoft 365 app on mobile and desktop that will act as a centralized hub for information, showing meetings, files, documents and more.
The Office name will remain for one-time purchases through Office 2021 and Office LTSC that offers apps through volume licensing. However, it's now considered a legacy brand, so any new features will be for Microsoft 365 and not Office, according to The Verge. Microsoft added that "there are no changes to Office 365 subscription plans."
Microsoft's $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard will have to gain approval from various regulators around the world before the deal can go through, including the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The CMA, which first announced its investigation in July, published a summary of its initial probe in September and recommended a more in-depth inquiry. As Ars Technica notes, a Phase 2 investigation could end up prohibiting a merger or requiring the entities involved to sell parts of a company. Now, shortly after the CMA published the full text (PDF) of its decision, Microsoft released a scathing response (PDF), accusing the regulator of relying "on self-serving statements by Sony."
In its response that it has shared to Ars, the tech giant said the CMA's decision was rooted in the concern that Activision's catalogue of games, specifically the Call of Duty franchise, will allow Xbox to "foreclose its competitors." Microsoft called that concern "misplaced," arguing that the CMA is overstating the importance of Activision Blizzard's games when it comes to competition in the space. It also said that it plans to make Call of Duty more accessible by adding Activision's titles to its Game Pass subscription service.
Sony did not welcome the idea of this "increased competition," the company said, stressing that its rival "protect[s] its revenues" by not making newly released games available through PlayStation Plus. Microsoft also said that there's no basis for the idea that making Call of Duty available on Game Pass would make people more likely to buy an Xbox console. The company said CoD games would also be available for purchase on PlayStation and buying them would be cheaper than buying an Xbox for Game Pass access.
The CMA has adopted Sony's complaints "without the appropriate level of critical review," Microsoft continued. It added: "The suggestion that the incumbent market leader, with clear and enduring market power, could be foreclosed by the third largest provider as a result of losing access to one title is not credible." Microsoft wrote in its response that it's looking forward to working with the CMA through Phase 2, and it sounds like it's determined to make the regulator understand the benefits of the deal.
As for Sony, a spokesperson repeated its stance in a statement sent to Reuters, calling the deal "bad for competition, bad for the gaming industry and bad for gamers themselves." Microsoft's acquisition would give the Xbox ecosystem "a unique combination of tech and content," they said, which in turn would give the tech giant a dominant position in gaming that would have "devastating consequences for consumers, independent developers, and Sony itself."
You can finally say goodbye to your dated and clunky Steam mobile app. Valve has rolled out the redesigned version of its Steam mobile app for Android and iOS, which it's been testing since at least August this year. When it was looking for beta testers for the application, the game developer said it rebuilt the app "on a new framework and modernized the design." It has also bundled the app with new features, including the ability to log in using QR codes.
The new sign-in method gives you a way to access your Steam account without having to type in your username and password. It uses the two-factor authentication credentials stored in your phone to verify your identity. If you do use Steam's QR sign-in method, the app will show you a confirmation page with details, such as a map with the approximate location of the device you're signing into, after you scan the code with your phone. That way, you can be sure that you're approving your own login attempt
If you'd rather use your username and password to log in, the app will still ask if you'd like to accept or deny the sign-in attempt. And if you want to make sure there's no device linked to your account that shouldn't be, you can now review and revoke access if needed in the Authorized Devices page.
The new Steam mobile app now also displays all your games in the Library. When you click on a game's cover image in the list, you'll find an option that lets you download the game remotely to your PC, and another that gives you the power to uninstall it. Other new features include an improved store browsing experience for mobile displays and customizable Steam notifications for sales, trades, friend requests and other categories. Based on its announcement post, Valve is also working on bringing QR sign-in to the Steam Deck and on adding the Authorized Devices page to the Steam Client and browser.
Microsoft has been gradually updating its Seeing AI app since its launch in 2017, expanding language support and general functionality over the years. Today, the company is announcing a new feature that would let Seeing AI read out detailed information when users scan the barcodes of products by healthcare company Haleon. The feature is rolling out today for US and UK users on the free app, which is only available on iOS. The company says an Android version will be available "in the future."
In a press release, Microsoft and Haleon said "With today’s launch in honor of World Sight Day, people can now hear packaging information through the Microsoft Seeing AI app by scanning the barcode of Haleon products." Users who are blind, have trouble reading or have low literacy can use the app to scan more than 1,500 Haleon products like Advil, Excedrin, Theraflu, Emergen-C and more, and their device will read out product information, instructions, ingredients "and other crucial details."
The press release also noted that "The Seeing AI collaboration with Microsoft is one of Haleon’s first new initiatives to champion health inclusivity." We may be seeing more from the healthcare company in future, but for now, it's nice to see that people with visual impairments or low literacy can more easily and independently learn about the drugs they are considering or consuming. That is, at least, if they use iOS.
The Donald Trump-backed Truth Social is live in Google’s Play Store following a months-long delay due to concerns over its content moderation policies. The two sides had been going back and forth about the app’s approval since late August, according toAxios.
Truth Social launched in Apple’s App Store back in February, but up until now Android users either had to use the web version of the service or sideload the app. Google had reportedly flagged content moderation issues on the app, including physical threats and content that incited violence.
Google requires that apps with user generated content have policies to prevent abusive behavior, like violent threats, as well as mechanisms for enforcing those rules. Truth Social’s service apparently didn’t meet those standards when it first tried to launch on Android in August. But the company has apparently now resolved those concerns.
“Apps may be distributed on Google Play provided they comply with our developer guidelines, including the requirement to effectively moderate user-generated content and remove objectionable posts such as those that incite violence,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement.
Truth Social isn’t the only app that’s received extra scrutiny over this policy. Google cited the same conditions when it took Parler out of its app store last January. The app was reinstated last month.
Following the official release of the Matter protocol earlier this month, today at its annual developer conference Samsung announced a deeper partnership with Google to make it easier for consumers to set up their smart home devices.
Currently, users are often forced to choose between a specific smart home platform like Samsung's SmartThings or the Google Home app, and trying to get these systems to work with each other can often be quite difficult. Additionally, some devices are only supported on one (but not both) platforms, which means you have to switch between ecosystems to manage all of your gadgets.
But in the future, thanks in part to Matter's multi-admin capabilities, Samsung says it's looking to streamline the smart home device onboarding process. For example, for SmartThing users, Samsung claims the app will notify users when it detects devices that have been already set up in the Google Home app and will then provide a simple way of syncing those devices in SmartThings (or vice versa).
This means users won't have to manually set up gadgets one-by-one on both platforms. And once a device has been onboarded, you'll be able to control it using both Google's and Samsung's smart home apps. And while there isn't an exact timetable for when this will happen, Samsung says Matter's multi-admin feature will roll out sometime in the "coming weeks."
As for the rest of the SmartThings ecosystem, Samsung says Bixby is also getting deeper integration into the company's smart home platform, which will allow developers to support a wider range of voice-based interface experiences. Meanwhile, on the security front, Samsung also announced a new blockchain-based platform called Knox Matrix that will allow eligible devices to create a "shield" designed to protect connected devices like TVs and appliances from outside hacks.
The company says Knox Matrix will employ mutli-layered mutual monitoring to prevent bad actors from gaining unauthorized access to your devices. Supported gadgets will also be able to share login info and other sensitive data directly with each other in order to simplify the login process between trusted devices. And while it's still a bit unclear how this system will actually work in the real world, it's nice to see Samsung thinking about ways to bolster security for a broader range of internet-connected devices that might not get regular security patches like you do on a phone or laptop.
After the big move to its custom Tensor chip last year, Google is continuing its quest to use machine learning to unlock enhanced apps and features on the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro. While the specs and design aren't major departures from its predecessors, the addition of smarter software, upgraded cameras for the Pixel 7 Pro, and aggressive pricing result in two of the best flagship phones for the money.
Hardware
On the outside, the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro have gotten a subtle makeover including a fresh range of colors and a more refined chassis. You still get Google's signature camera bar in back which spans the width of the device. The main difference is that now it wraps seamlessly around the sides of the phone, hopefully adding a bit of durability in the process.
Similar to last year, the Pixel 7 features a matte, brushed aluminum finish while the Pixel 7 Pro gets more polished sides. But if you ask me, I kind of wish Google used the matte texture on both. Not only does it hide fingerprints better, it also makes the Pixel 7 a bit less slippery. And that’s even with Google softening the Pixel 7 Pro’s edges to be about 20 percent flatter than before.
Notably, while the size of the Pro's display has stayed pat at 6.7-inches, the standard Pixel 7's 6.3-inch screen is slightly smaller than the 6.4-inch panel on the Pixel 6. It's not a huge change, but it's just enough to make everything a bit easier to do one-handed. Especially if you don't have huge meat claws like me.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
As for the displays themselves, just like last year (noticing a pattern?), the Pixel 7 gets a 2400 x 1080 90Hz OLED screen while the Pixel 7 Pro features a higher-res 3120 x 1440 panel with a slightly faster 120Hz refresh rate. That said, both screens look great, pumping out excellent brightness, deep blacks and lively colors. Additionally, while Google has brought face unlock back to the Pixel line, you still get an under-screen fingerprint reader. You’ll need that for more sensitive functions like online payments. And for general durability, the Pixel line has retained an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, which is good for dunks up to five and a half feet deep for up to 30 minutes.
Performance
While the new Tensor G2 chip may have unlocked some enhanced machine learning capabilities, everyday performance is pretty much the same. In fact, the main Cortex X1 cores are only 5Mhz faster than last year's silicon. That's not to say you can't play games or edit videos on this thing, but if you're the kind of person who gets really jazzed up about transistor counts or teraflops, you're better off going for a phone with one of Apple's A-series chips or even a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
I also noticed that during the initial setup and some more intense workloads, the backs of both the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro got warmer than most phones. Don't get me wrong, it's not toasty enough to cause anything more than some sweaty palms. And while performance was generally smooth and hiccup-free, I feel like Google's Tensor chips just don't have quite the same level of performance overhead as you might get from silicon in other high-end handsets.
New software and features
However, what the Pixel 7 line lacks in raw horsepower, Google makes up for with a long list of sophisticated software. One of the biggest additions is expanded functionality for the Direct My Call feature, which is designed to help you better navigate those awful automated voice menus you run into when calling big businesses. But now, by using Duplex to pre-cache options, you'll be presented with a text-based menu as soon as you connect, instead of having to wait to hear all the choices first.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Granted, Direct My Call's new caching abilities don't work on smaller mom-and-pop shops. But stuff like this along with other features such as Hold For Me, the truly excellent Pixel Recorder app and the new Audio Message Transcription ability, combine to provide a really thoughtful software experience that can often save you some time and a headache or two.
Cameras
Of course, the other area where Google really flexes its ML-based powers is with its cameras. In terms of hardware, the Pixel 7 still packs a 50MP main camera and a 12MP ultra-wide shooter, with the Pixel 7 Pro getting a slightly longer telephoto cam with a 5x optical zoom (up from 4x on the Pixel 6 Pro). Both phones also get the same 10.8MP front cam, which even without a true autofocus system like you get on the iPhone 14 line is more than adequate for snapping selfies.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Thanks to the Tensor G2, low-light photo processing using Night Sight is up to two times faster, and that's a difference you can really feel. On previous Pixels, I've had to wait six seconds or more to shoot a pic when it's really dark. But when you can cut that time in half, it's a lot easier to hold the phone steady while the Pixel 7 does its thing. Face Unblur has also been improved, though the effects are subtle.
While it can be a bit hit-or-miss, the more exciting new camera feature is Photo Unblur, which can sharpen old photos, regardless of when they were taken or what camera took the shot. It's the kind of thing that can save old photos that might otherwise be considered unsalvageable – and all you have to do is find the setting inside the Google Photos app. Take for example a shot of my wife and I at a wedding back in 2018. In the original photo, everything is soft. But after using the Photo Unblur tool, suddenly my face has definition. Though as you can see from the remaining blurriness on my wife's face, things aren't perfect. In another even more impressive example (not seen here), Photo Unblur removed almost all the softness in my face, so you can really see how upset I was about blowing up a giant pool floaty without the help of a pump.
For video, the big new feature is Cinematic Blur mode, which attempts to add a soft bokeh to the background of your clips to create a more film-like look. In general, the results are pretty good, though it's not completely foolproof. Depending on the scene, you might notice some spots where that bokeh is applied unevenly or where it pops in and out as things move around, which can be a little distracting.
As for the Pixel 7 Pro, not only does it get the ability to shoot macro shots using the phone's ultra-wide cam, it also has a longer 5x telephoto lens and improved zoom processing. Taking macro shots is as easy as moving the phone close to your subject, at which point the P7 Pro will automatically switch to macro mode. There are no buttons or settings to activate, and the results aren’t bad either.
Meanwhile for zoom shots, the Pixel 7 Pro produced a sharper image than the S22 Ultra at 5x, while also keeping it close at 10x, despite Samsung's phone costing an extra $300 and packing a longer 10x lens. Despite Google's improvements to Super Res Zoom, there's only so much algorithms can do, because at 30x, it's pretty clear the S22 Ultra has an advantage in optics.
But, for general photography, the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro are still in a class of their own. Compared to the S22 Ultra and the iPhone 14, the Pixel 7 line routinely captured pics with superior dynamic range. This leads to photos with more vibrant colors, less blown-out highlights and just generally sharper details. Same goes for low light, where Google's Night Sight consistently captured more well-exposed pics with better textures and richer hues.
Battery life
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
When it comes to longevity, both phones offer solid battery life. However, the Pixel 7 delivers a pleasant surprise, because thanks to its smaller, lower-res screen, it survived a touch longer than the Pro in both benchmarks and real-world usage. On our standard video rundown test, the Pixel 7 lasted 17 hours and 54 minutes, which isn't quite as good as the 21:17 we got from the iPhone 14 Plus, but still respectable. Meanwhile, the Pixel 7 Pro fared just a touch worse with a time of 16:42. But regardless of which phone I was using, even with moderate to heavy usage, the Pixel 7 Pro always had at least 25 percent left in the tank at the end of the day, while the standard Pixel 7 often had upwards of 30 percent still in reserve.
Charging is also largely unchanged from last year, with both phones getting 30-watt wired charging, wireless charging and support for reverse power sharing, in case you need to send some excess juice to a different device in need. The one caveat is that while wireless charging can go up to 20 watts for the Pixel 7 or 23 watts on the Pro, that's only when using the Pixel Stand 2. If you opt for a standard Qi wireless charging, speeds top out at a less impressive 12 watts.
Wrap-up
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
When stacking Google’s latest handsets up against the competition, it's best to tackle each phone separately. For the Pixel 7, even without much in the way of new hardware, you're getting a phone with a great screen, even better battery life and one of the best software packages around — now with new perks like an improved Direct My Call and enhanced photo processing. But most importantly, with a starting price of just $599, it's a way better value than the basic flagships from Apple and Samsung. The one drawback is that if you need mmWave 5G, you'll have to go with one of the slightly more expensive $699 carrier models sold by Verizon, AT&T and others.
Meanwhile, with a price of $899, the Pixel 7 Pro is like an even more well-equipped version of the S22+ for the same money. You get a big 6.7-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a longer 5x zoom and superior camera quality. I also think the Pixel 7 Pro flat-out looks better too. That leaves stuff like an ultra-wide cam that can also shoot macros as a nice cherry on top. Also, if you don't care about stylus support, I'd argue that the Pixel 7 Pro makes a lot more sense than the super expensive S22 Ultra. And I haven’t even touched on Google’s new and improved Real Tone processing mostly because, even though I’m biracial, both sides of my family are lacking in the melanin department, and I just haven’t had time to really put it through its paces. But regardless of which one you prefer, with the Pixel 7 line and Tensor G2, Google is really showing how a software-first approach to phone design can really shine.
Years. Some of us in the industry have been waiting close to ten years for the long-rumored Pixel Watch. Now that it’s here, expectations are naturally high. After all, Google had all that time to finetune its first smartwatch, and everyone’s been anxious to see if this could be the product that rivals the Apple Watch. The Pixel Watch doesn’t just have an eye-catching design, but the software also seems promising. Wear OS has been a mess, but by collaborating with Samsung and finally integrating Fitbit’s health-tracking features, Google may have finally addressed its greatest weaknesses.
Design
Of all the things about the Pixel Watch, Google was most eager to show off its design. And rightly so. The Pixel Watch’s case is a thing of beauty. In pictures, it’s almost nondescript — just a plain round face with what appear to be thick bezels. In person, though, the Pixel Watch catches light at some angles in a way that makes it look elegant and, pardon the cliché, like jewelry.
More importantly, for a person who’s into tactile sensations like me, the Pixel Watch just feels so good. I love flipping it over and over in my palm like it’s a smooth, shiny pebble, but I also just enjoy stroking the screen. There’s something about the domed shape and glossy finish of the screen that makes swiping across the interface feel luxurious.
On the right edge sits a dial that almost twinkles in the sun, along with a button above it that pulls up recent apps. In my few days with the Pixel Watch, I’ve used this latter button exactly once. I don’t know if it’s the placement or that I haven’t needed to pull up recent apps much, but the one time I pressed this was to confirm it was there when I was writing this part of the review. It requires more force to depress than its counterpart on the Apple Watch, which sits below the Digital Crown and is more obvious. I rarely used Apple’s button, too, so this is not a ding on Google.
Unlike most other Android watches, the Pixel Watch doesn’t have lugs. Instead, straps attach directly to the case via a mechanism that Google describes as similar to the lens locking system on DSLR cameras. To connect a band, you push one end of it into a button at the bottom to the groove and slide it in.
To remove, you push the catch on the side and twist it off. It took a bit of getting used to and I still can’t say I’ve nailed the process, but I also haven’t swapped bands yet. I’m sure whenever I receive different straps, like the gorgeous metal mesh or the comfy stretch option, that I’ll be performing this change a lot.
I’m pretty impressed by the bands that Google has made. Sure, they’re basically adaptations of options that Apple offers, like the Milanese loop or solo loop. But paired with Google’s round case, these look like conventional watches and wouldn’t seem out of place at formal, fashion-forward events.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
The basic sport strap that I received with my review unit uses a peg-and-hole closure system that doesn’t offer a good fit for me, unfortunately. I either felt like the watch was too loose or that the case was strapped too oppressively on my wrist. This is an easy problem to fix, at least, by getting a different strap. But I’d have to buy one of Google’s own options because of the proprietary attachment system, and they start at $50 for the Active band. The stretch band that I like costs $60, and everything else is at least $80.
While the 41mm case sits nicely on my relatively petite wrist, I wish Google had made a larger version. I think the Pixel Watch looks good on most arms, but there are people who prefer a bigger screen. When it comes to something as personal as a wearable, one size does not fit all.
Wear OS 3.5
While it seems like Google may have pretty much nailed the hardware, one of the biggest problems plaguing Wear OS watches in the past was their namesake — Wear OS. Google’s software was criticized for everything from its overly swipe-heavy navigation to being too basic. It also was very power-hungry, despite not running a lot of background health tracking. Wear OS watches notoriously delivered day-long battery life at best, while the competition pushed well past 24 hours and into multi-day runtimes.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
When the company teamed up with Samsung to co-engineer Wear OS 3 last year, it was able to bring performance and power consumption improvements. That laid the groundwork for it to add a more robust health and activity tracking system with Fitbit, which it completed its purchase of in January last year.
The result is Wear OS 3.5 — Google’s own expression of its smartwatch software. This interface is very familiar in many ways. It’s not a huge departure from the Tizen-esque platform that we saw on the Galaxy Watch 5. You can download music to stream offline from the Pixel Watch, get turn by turn Maps directions, remotely control your camera and ask the Assistant to set timers or tell you the weather. You can also control your Google Home devices from your wrist. The main differences are Google’s new watch faces and the Fitbit integrations.
I wish the Fitbit features were better meshed into Wear OS. It feels like a missed opportunity, or some sort of reluctance to give up the Fitbit logo and branding. The process of launching a workout session on the Pixel Watch isn’t that different from Samsung and Apple watches. You still have to go into their respective apps to start the activity, though on the Pixel Watch this is called “Fitbit Exercise”. If you want to see your progress, you can go into Fitness on Apple’s watches or Samsung Health. On the Pixel Watch, it’s “Fitbit Today.” The distinction is in your face — for Fitbit fans this might be familiar and welcome. For those expecting a pure Google experience, it can be jarring.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
While the constant presence of Fitbit branding throughout the system makes the fitness and health tracking features feel disjointed, it was nice to see Wear OS finally deliver stand reminders. As of December 2020, Wear OS fans on Reddit still had to look for third-party apps to deliver the alerts that came baked into watchOS and Tizen. During my testing, the Pixel Watch and the Apple Watch Ultra generally reminded me at the exact same time that I needed to get off my butt and walk around to meet my movement goals.
It was also nice to see things that Fitbit devices never had, like notifications for messages from basically any app on your phone, as well as the ability to reply to messages using a keyboard, dictation, emojis or suggested responses.
Google didn’t just embed Fitbit features into Wear OS, it also added new watch faces, some of which are familiar because they’re quite similar to Apple’s. As a narcissist, my favorite is the Photos option, which lets you pick up to 30 pictures from Google Photos to set as your background. You can then choose a clock style and set a single complication. Just as you’d have to on watchOS, you’ll need to use your phone to select the images for your wallpaper.
I also enjoy the complication-heavy faces, like Utility and Index, which let you basically surround the clock with up to five fields. Because most of these use a black background, they tend to blend nicely into the bezel, making the borders seem invisible. But the Photos face makes the thick edges painfully obvious. One of the pictures I picked is so cramped that the top of my friends’ faces are cut off and we look extra squished together. Unlike the Apple Watch, the Pixel doesn’t let you move and scale your pictures.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
Since I mostly use a non-Photos face, the thick bezels don’t bother me too much. Every bit of information I want to see is easy to read, and the colorful text on black background is great for readability. I sometimes wish fonts were bigger or thicker, but by and large I didn’t have trouble.
Google likes to take potshots at Apple for copying its ideas like crash detection and always-on display, but is happy to mimic watchOS features itself. The new watch faces with complications on them are ripped right off an Apple Watch, while the side-swiping navigation is basically Samsung’s Tizen interface. There’s nothing wrong with incorporating great ideas into your product — just don’t be a pot calling the kettle black.
That said, setting up your Pixel Watch and monitoring your data through your phone is very similar to the experience on Samsung and Apple devices. On all three, you have a separate app to do things like customize watch faces, organize the order of your tiles and choose which apps can send notifications to your wrist. To view your exercise or sleep data, you’d have to go into each company’s respective Health app (or in the Pixel Watch’s case, Fitbit). These are all pretty typical, other than Google’s app not being named Google Health.
The good and bad of Fitbit’s health and fitness tracking
There’s good and bad news with the Pixel Watch basically relying on Fitbit’s system to deliver health and fitness tracking, and I fear the bad may outweigh the good.
Let’s start with the positive: Fitbit has arguably the best wellness-tracking system around. It was one of the first to start tracking your heart rate during sleep to determine what zones you are in. It was also among the earliest to introduce cycle-tracking, and its workout page does a great job of showing what cardio zones you’re in through a ring around the screen.
Fitbit is one of the few companies in the space that makes sure to incorporate rest and recovery into its depiction of your overall wellbeing, giving you a readiness score based on your sleep and stress data. By virtue of being a pioneer in the fitness tracker industry, Fitbit also has comprehensive knowledge of how to translate user behavior and heart-rate info into useful insights and features.
I could go on about how accurate Fitbit’s sleep-tracking is but here’s an example that says it all. On Sunday night, after doomscrolling in bed for about an hour, I took one last look at the screen to check the time right before I flipped over and finally gave in to sleep’s heavy pull. It was 1:04am, and I can’t remember anything after that. According to the Pixel Watch, I fell asleep at 1:05am. Most other smartwatches don’t get this close.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
It’s hard to tell just how accurate most consumer-grade heart rate trackers are. All I can say is that the Pixel Watch’s readings always came within one bpm (beat per minute) of the Apple Watch Ultra, which itself was always within two bpm of Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5. If we’re using the industry’s leading smartwatches as the benchmark here, then the Pixel Watch performs as expected.
The bad news is, while the Pixel Watch benefits from Fitbit’s expertise, it also suffers from syncing issues that plagued the company’s older devices. Often, my data would take so long to show up on the watch or app that I thought it hadn’t tracked any activity or sleep at all. On Friday night, the Apple Watch Ultra logged my disappointingly short night of 3 hours and 50 minutes. It took the Pixel Watch until Sunday afternoon before that session showed up in the Fitbit app. My overnight data for Sunday night also took at least 10 minutes to reflect in the app, which isn’t too bad, but compared to the instant syncing of the Apple Watch and the iPhone, it felt like forever.
Similarly, the results of an outdoor walk on Sunday did not appear in the Fitbit app until hours later, causing me to panic about my progress in a friendly competition. Also, while Samsung and Apple will actually alert you when they notice you’ve been walking or exercising for awhile, the Pixel Watch remains quiet. In fact, I thought it was malfunctioning and not detecting my brisk mile, and I started to get quite angry. It wasn’t until much later when the walk showed up in the Fitbit app that I realized it had actually counted my activity.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
Once I got used to the gaslighting, I started to enjoy looking at my data in the Fitbit app. You can tap into pretty much every metric to get a detailed view of your activity over the last 24 hours. For some pieces of data, though, like your breathing rate, resting heart rate and heart rate variation, you’ll need to pay the monthly $10 for Fitbit Premium to see info beyond a week. And even then, you’ll only see the last 90 days of your trends and personal ranges.
This to me is the worst thing about the Fitbit integration. When I imagined what the Pixel Watch would deliver, I never expected any of my long-term data to be paywalled. I was especially dismayed to learn that the sleep score and data about time spent in various sleep zones would also be locked behind Premium, and that basic users would only see how much time they spent asleep. I could see why Fitbit might keep their best-in-class sleep tracking behind a subscription fee if the competition wasn’t offering anything similar, but even Apple, which has been the worst at sleep-tracking, now delivers the same reports for free. And Samsung has been doing it for years!
I worry about Fitbit Premium setting a precedent. I don't like the idea of paywalling long-term or deeper insights into your own health data turning into a trend. But what I find most egregious is that Google thought this was acceptable for its first-ever smartwatch. When you’re already facing stiff competition from Apple and Samsung, the right move isn’t to ask users to pay more for data your rivals display for free. The worst thing is — this isn’t even the worst thing about the Pixel Watch.
Battery life and performance
The most troubling and disappointing aspect of the Pixel Watch is its battery life. When Google promised 24-hour runtime on this device, there must have been a lot of caveats. I generally got through about 12 hours with the watch before I started getting low-power warnings. That’s typically with Always On Display enabled and tracking at least three workouts a day, two of those being outdoor walks using GPS.
When I left the companion phone at home, meaning I didn’t get served notifications as often, I saw a few hours more. Unfortunately, with Apple and Samsung watches typically clocking close to two days (if not more), Google’s smartwatch lags seriously behind in this department.
This sort of battery life would be fine if you don’t expect to use the Pixel Watch to track your sleep. But not only does it usually die before I go to bed, Google states that you need to have at least a 30 percent charge before it can log your results overnight. My colleague Sam Rutherford said that in his experience, you’d need closer to 40 percent for the watch to last until the morning, and that with 30 percent he wakes up to a dead screen.
The Pixel Watch also recharges fairly slowly. While it did get from 3 percent to about 36 percent within an impressively quick 18 minutes, reaching 100 percent usually took at least an hour. To be fair, Google does say it takes 80 minutes to fully charge the watch. I was able to quickly get 30 percent for a morning workout by plugging in at my gym, but had to wait painfully long for the device to completely fill up afterwards so I could do more battery testing.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
I suspect that part of the reason the Pixel Watch’s battery life lags the competition is that it reads your heart rate more frequently than others. Google said that it included a dedicated low-power coprocessor to make sure that this higher sampling rate wouldn’t tax the battery too much, though, so there could be another reason. The coprocessor also takes care of tasks like keeping the Always On Display running, while the more capable (and power-hungry) Exynos 9110 manages other processes.
In general, the Pixel Watch was fairly responsive — I was impressed by how quickly Assistant responded and transcribed my questions, and I loved the little bumps of haptic feedback and cute noises that played throughout the interface. But trying to create or edit new watch faces often resulted in lag, and I frequently had to wait when pulling up my daily activity reports.
Wrap-up
I like the Pixel Watch, but I’m not in love with it. I’m tempted by its lustrous appearance, its bodacious curves and its general shininess. It’s a perfectly capable smartwatch that does the things modern smartwatches do, and it does many of them well. But short battery life and odd Fitbit-related choices take the Pixel Watch from reliable companion to problematic partner. At $350, the Pixel Watch is slightly cheaper than the Apple Watch Series 8, but much pricier than the $280 Galaxy Watch 5. Google's debut smartwatch is a first-generation product which I would normally be inclined to be more forgiving about, but the company has had too much development time for me to cut it any slack. The Pixel Watch is fine if you don't want to track your sleep or don't mind charging it more than once a day, but simply put: this isn't the Apple Watch rival the world has been waiting for.
