Talk to anyone who’s ever owned a smartwatch, and you’ll likely see the same thing pop up on everyone’s wish list: longer battery life. It seems like no fully-fledged wearable can get far beyond a single day in regular use, no matter how far battery technology has come. Early rumors suggested the Pixel Watch might have made some progress, but the latest information on Google’s first smartwatch suggests you shouldn’t hold your breath.
The folks at 9to5Google have more information on what to expect from the Pixel Watch’s battery. Pre-Google I/O rumors suggested its battery capacity would land around the 300mAh mark — more than what Samsung offers in the Galaxy Watch4. Apparently, this number is nearly accurate, with today’s report nailing it at just below that 300mAh number. Unfortunately, if you’re expecting better battery life out of it, you have another thing coming.
Despite the larger capacity, 9to5’s source says the Pixel Watch lasts “up to” a day on a single charge. Right now, it’s unknown whether that’s factoring in an always-on display or all of those exclusive Fitbit features Google is excited to promote. It’ll also complicate some of its functions, including the sleep tracking tool teased at I/O.
Surely, you might be thinking to yourself, that fancy new USB-C charger will at least give me a nice boost of fast-charging power throughout my day. Think again — today’s report suggests it charges to 100% in about two hours, or about as fast as the Galaxy Watch4. It’s much slower than competing wearables on the market today, and might make finding time to leave the gadget off for a couple of hours each day difficult.
So far, post-announcement rumors surrounding the Pixel Watch have made it difficult to be excited. Not only does it sound like the wearable might be underpowered — using a four-year-old Exynos chipset with some assistance from a co-processor — but we’re also stuck waiting for this fall for an official release date. It’s far from the excitement many of us expected from Google’s first Pixel-branded wearable. With any luck, the actual day-to-day performance will still manage to impress.
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