Marki Williams/NYT WirecutterTop pickThe Pixel Watch 4 has a slim profile, a bright display with a minimal bezel, long battery life, and enhanced health- and fitness-tracking features. It’s also available in two sizes — 41 mm and 45 mm — to fit a variety of wrist sizes.The Google Pixel Watch 4 has a smaller bezel, a brighter display, and a slimmer build than its predecessor. It comes in two sizes — 41 mm and 45 mm — and both have larger batteries and deliver faster charging speeds than previous models. Under the hood, the Pixel Watch 4 is powered by a Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 processor and runs Wear OS 6, the latest software. Google also improved on existing Pixel Watch features such as skin-temperature sensing, sleep tracking, and activity tracking for more accurate metrics. And AI-powered features like Raise to Talk with Google Gemini and Smart Replies are actually useful.While the Pixel Watch 4 isn’t a major upgrade from the Pixel Watch 3, its sleek and comfortable design, long battery life, and easy-to-digest health and fitness metrics via the Fitbit app make it the best all-around smartwatch. The Pixel Watch 4’s display is brighter, and it has a slimmer bezel than its predecessor for more screen real estate. Marki Williams/NYT WirecutterThe Pixel Watch 4 has an upgraded display and a slimmer profile. The latest model has Google’s signature domed-glass OLED display, but unlike past watches, which had just curved cover glass, the Pixel Watch 4’s entire display underneath is also curved, allowing for 10% more screen real estate and a 16% slimmer bezel. As with the previous model, the screen has a variable refresh rate, from 60 Hz (when scrolling) to 1 Hz (for its always-on display mode). It’s brighter than the Pixel Watch 3, capable of up to 3,000 nits peak brightness (up from 2,000 nits).All of these upgrades make for a really stunning screen that’s convenient to use — the domed shape is great for reading and scrolling through notifications at a glance, while the boost in brightness makes it easy for you to see your stats in broad daylight.The case is also slightly slimmer than that of its predecessor. It’s not a major difference, but we prefer this design to the Pixel Watch 3, which feels chunkier in comparison. Since the bottom of the Pixel Watch 4’s case is flatter, it sits more naturally on the wrist and is also more comfortable to wear for long periods, especially overnight.The Pixel Watch 4 has a slightly slimmer profile, which feels more comfortable to wear for longer periods and looks nicer on the wrist. Marki Williams/NYT WirecutterThe Pixel Watch 4 comes with an enhanced skin-temperature sensor, dual-frequency GPS for more accurate route tracking, and a bigger battery. Marki Williams/NYT WirecutterThe Pixel Watch 4 has a slightly slimmer profile, which feels more comfortable to wear for longer periods and looks nicer on the wrist. Marki Williams/NYT WirecutterIt has excellent battery life and faster charging speeds. Both sizes have bigger batteries than their predecessors, coupled with the Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 processor, which is more power-efficient. Google claims up to 30 hours of battery life on the smaller case size and 40 hours on the larger model. In battery-saver mode, the company claims, the 41 mm model can last up to 48 hours, while the 45 mm model can survive up to 72 hours.With always-on display mode turned on and battery-saver mode turned off, the 41 mm review unit I used lasted 25 hours before dying. This was after I spent a busy day using the smartwatch to track long walks, navigate around Brooklyn via Google Maps, pick up a few quick phone calls when my phone was in another room, and do a full night of sleep tracking. With battery-saver mode enabled, I squeezed out 36.5 hours before the watch reached 10% — that’s less than Google’s claim, but I still found that the Pixel Watch 4 consistently ran for almost two full days before I had to put it back on the charger. The Pixel Watch 4 comes with a new Quick Charging Dock that allows the smartwatch to sit upright, making it easier for you to check battery status and notifications. Marki Williams/NYT WirecutterIncluded in the Pixel Watch 4 box is Google’s new Quick Charging Dock. We’re huge fans of the new design, which allows the smartwatch to sit upright rather than flat, making it more convenient for checking the charging status or notifications. Compared with the last-generation charging dock, it delivers 25% quicker charging speeds. Exact speeds vary depending on the model, but Google claims the 41 mm watch can charge to 50% in 15 minutes and to 100% in 45 minutes. We found that the Pixel Watch 4 lived up to those claims: It took 13 minutes to charge from 0% to 15% and 40 minutes to fully charge from 0% to 100% when we used a 67 W charging brick. The Fitbit integration gives you a daily Morning Brief that includes your readiness and sleep scores. Marki Williams/NYT WirecutterThe Pixel Watch 4 improves on existing health and fitness features. Like the Pixel Watch 3, the Pixel Watch 4 tracks heart rate, sleep, ECG, blood oxygen, exercise, and skin temperature. Rather than adding entirely new features, Google improved on existing ones. For starters, the smartwatch comes with dual-frequency GPS for more accurate route tracking in the city or on hikes, an enhanced skin-temperature sensor to more accurately detect when you’re out of range from your baseline (and to detect if you’re coming down with a cold), and what Google calls its “most accurate sleep tracking yet” with new machine-learning models that can better track the time you spend in each stage of sleep, including REM, light, and deep sleep.We tested the skin-temperature measurements against those of the Oura Ring 4 — our top pick for sleep tracking — and found that the two wearables showed almost identical results each day. The smartwatch also accurately detected a spike in temperature in the middle of the night when I woke up from feeling warm and had to turn the AC unit on. Sleep metrics were similar on most days, tracking almost the same amount of time in each sleep stage, and my sleep scores closely matched. But I found that the Oura Ring was more accurate at differentiating when I was asleep versus awake and still in bed. The Pixel Watch 4 also did an excellent job of detecting when I’d take naps, and it would automatically enable Bedtime Mode and disable always-on display and notifications.Google also improved its activity-detection feature for smarter predictions. For activities longer than 15 minutes, you receive a notification that an exercise was detected, and it gives you the option to see a recap. For example, after the smartwatch detected a walk, I could see the duration, cardio load, distance, average pace, heart-rate zones, and more. You can then edit certain details (such as opting to change “walk” to “power walk” or “hike”) before logging the activity, so that the predictions become more accurate over time. They also become more personalized over time, with the ability to accurately suggest certain activities based on your routine. By raising your wrist, you can quickly talk to Google’s Gemini AI assistant. Marki Williams/NYT WirecutterIt offers some minor but useful AI-powered features. The Pixel Watch 4 comes with support for Google’s Gemini virtual assistant. You can use it to set reminders, ask about upcoming calendar events, control smart-home devices, and more. There’s also a new Raise to Talk feature, which allows you to immediately trigger the assistant by just raising your wrist, with no need to say “Hey, Google.” I used it often to set timers while cooking, to ask about the weather before leaving my apartment, and to call certain contacts on my phone. It’s a minor feature, but it’s nice not to have to start with a wake word or to hold down a button to trigger the assistant.Google also introduced a new Smart Replies feature, which leverages its on-device small-language model to offer contextual replies based on your text messages. Below each text, you see a tile of different options to send based on the subject of the conversation — simply tap on the one that applies and hit send. In our testing of the feature, it accurately suggested proper responses for conversations that warranted simple responses, but it struggled with more nuanced conversations, such as when someone was being sarcastic. Regardless, the experience was better than using the annoyingly small keyboard that all smartwatches have or struggling with voice-to-text (although we had no issues with that on the Pixel Watch 4).The Fitbit app makes it easy to see health metrics. All of the health and fitness data tracked by the Pixel Watch 4 syncs to the Fitbit app. Every morning, you receive a Morning Brief, an AI-generated summary of your day that includes details such as your readiness and sleep scores. These details are also available on the app, which you can also use to set goals and track activity, to set and manage weight-loss metrics, to track menstrual health, and to check blood-glucose trends. All of your stats are calculated and presented in an easy-to-read dashboard. With the metrics separated into tiles, you can tap into each one for a more in-depth breakdown. We found that this arrangement was less overwhelming and a lot more intuitive in comparison with the Samsung Health app and OnePlus OHealth app on their respective smartwatches.A Fitbit Premium subscription, which costs $10 a month (or $80 per year), gives you all of those features plus in-depth sleep tracking and stress-management metrics (including a detailed breakdown of your sleep and stress scores along with a personalized analysis), plus access to a full library of workouts and recipes. You don’t need a subscription to access Google’s most useful health features, but upgrading might be a good idea if you enjoy doing workouts at home or want to see deeper sleep analysis.The watch comes in two sizes and is designed to be repairable. The Pixel Watch 4 comes in 41 mm and 45 mm case sizes, the latter of which has a larger battery. We tested the 41 mm version, which is ideal for smaller wrist sizes, but we recommend the bigger case size for larger wrists. The Pixel Watch 4 is also the first Pixel Watch designed to be fixable: Rather than receiving an entirely new replacement from Google if your watch breaks, you can send the watch in to Google or go to one of its retail locations to have the display or battery replaced. The company doesn’t recommend repairing it yourself, but technically you can use a repair kit to fix it on your own. The new Smart Replies feature is an alternative to using the keyboard, as it offers contextual replies based on the content of your text messages. Marki Williams/NYT WirecutterThe Pixel Watch 4 now offers support for emergency satellite communications. For the first time, the Pixel Watch 4 comes with an SOS satellite-communications feature (on the LTE model) that enables you to connect to geostationary satellites, to alert emergency services, and to share your location when you don’t have access to cell service or Wi-Fi connectivity. It’s a useful feature for people who plan on using their smartwatch for tracking their activity on remote hiking trails.Flaws but not dealbreakersThe attractive design has some downsides. While we love the new curved display, we noticed that it’s easily susceptible to scratches, and we’ve already spotted a few scratches on our review unit’s display. The lack of a metal bezel makes this type of design more prone to damage in general, which is something to be aware of. The Pixel Watch 4 also has a proprietary band connector, so you can pair it only with watch bands that are specifically designed for the Pixel Watch. (The latest Samsung watches also use proprietary band connectors.)You have to manually log activity detection. Whenever the Pixel Watch 4 detects that you’re mid-activity, the smartwatch issues a notification indicating that it’s tracking your progress. But then you have to manually log the activity in the Fitbit app, each time. If you dismiss the notification on your watch, you’ll also see the message appear in the app, but it’s easy to forget to log the activity. We would prefer it if the activity were to automatically sync to our exercise history, where we could simply delete it later if necessary.
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