Google Pixel Watch 5 announced
During the Made by Google event, Google unveiled several new products. First and foremost, the brand unveiled the Pixel 11 series, which we’ve just written about. But new accessories were also showcased.
A new chapter in Google’s smartwatch range begins today with the Pixel Watch 5. The design featuring the curved display, as seen on the Pixel Watch 4, remains unchanged. The same goes for the rotating crown on the right-hand side. The new watch improves on ‘At a Glance’. For example, at the airport, you’ll have instant access to information such as your departure gate.
The Pixel Watch 5 emphasises more comprehensive health, sleep and fitness features. Among other things, the smartwatch can monitor blood pressure patterns and trends relating to insulin resistance, alongside existing features such as heart rate monitoring, SpO2, sleep tracking, AFib detection and stress indicators. For sleep, the Watch 5 offers features including Sleep Breathing Quality, a Sleep Score, Smart Wake Alarms and a revamped Morning Brief, which includes your sleep information and shows how you’re doing for the day ahead. Sleep tracking is said to be 15 per cent more accurate than on its predecessor.
There are also various improvements for sports. The Readiness Score lets you determine in advance whether training or recovery makes more sense, whilst you can plan workouts for over 50 sports and synchronise them to your wrist. During exercise, you’ll receive guidance on sets and rest periods. The dual-frequency GPS should also ensure more accurate positioning, whilst the new Key Metrics view helps you review your performance afterwards.
Gemini takes on a bigger role on the smartwatch. You can use your voice to ask the assistant questions and carry out tasks, whilst the Watch 5 can also automatically display relevant information, such as flight details and arrival times. According to Google, processing is also 20 per cent faster thanks to the Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 Accelerated chip. With Google Health Premium, a personal Health Coach is added, which uses training, sleep and health data to provide personalised advice. We’re already familiar with this Health Coach from the Pixel Watch 4.
Safety and services
In terms of safety, the Pixel Watch 5 offers features such as satellite-based SOS, Safety Check, Emergency Sharing, fall detection and car crash detection. For example, it can alert the emergency services if no heartbeat is detected, or if breathing stops. In addition, the smartwatch works closely with Pixel phones and Google services, for example for camera control, Find My Device, Google Wallet, Maps and Google Home. The Watch 5 features an Actua 360 display, with a battery life of up to 30 hours for the 41mm model and up to 40 hours for the 45mm version. A 15-minute quick charge adds up to 15 hours of use.
If you like to personalise your watch, you’ll have a field day with the new watch faces Google is offering. There are 11 new styles, and you can customise your watch face with your own input.
Pixel Tag
Following in the footsteps of Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi and Motorola, Google now also offers the Pixel Tag. You can use this accessory to track its location. For example, you can attach it to your bunch of keys, or pop it into a bag or suitcase. That way, just like with an Apple AirTag or similar accessory, you can track down your belongings wherever they are. You can view the locations in the Google Find My app. The gadget will be available in the ‘Fog’ colour, which we recognise from the Pixel 11 series.
Pixel Buds Pro 2
The new ‘Olive’ colour, familiar from the Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL, is also making its way to another Google product. The Pixel Buds Pro 2 are now also available in this stylish green colour.
The Google Pixel Watch 5 will be available from Coolblue, Belsimpel, Mobiel, Bol.com and MediaMarkt, and the LTE version will also be available from Odido, KPN and Vodafone.
