The Google Pixel Watch 5 is here, and by all accounts, it’s an excellent device. It improves on everything about the Pixel Watch 4 and has wowed AP multiple times with its impressive features.
Whether it’s the precise haptics, rapid raise-to-wake response, or phenomenal battery life, there’s a lot to love about the Pixel Watch 5.
However, I still don’t want one. I was excited about the Pebble Round 2more than the Pixel Watch 5, and that remains true after the latter’s launch day.
If Google wants to sell me on the Pixel Watch, it needs to copy its smartphone philosophy.
The Pixel Watch is brilliant, but I still don’t need one
It’s too much for too much
To be fair to the Pixel Watch 5, my problem isn’t specifically with it, but with smartwatches in general. By all accounts, it’s a brilliant (if uninspired) smartwatch that could do everything you want, but that’s the problem.
To get the most out of a Pixel Watch, I need to track my exercise, use Gemini Intelligence, and own a variety of Google Home products.
$400 is a steep price for an accessory, and since I don’t fit into any of the use cases described above, I would pay hundreds of dollars for the ability to live a slightly more convenient life.
I owned the original Pixel Watch, and I stopped wearing it. That was partly due to its abysmal battery life, but mostly because I didn’t need it.
Most of my Pixel Watch’s features went unused, and while it was nice to control songs, check the time, and text friends from my watch, it was easier to do that from my phone.
But as my pre-order for the Pebble Round 2 shows, I still want a smartwatch. Google has the power to make a practical smartwatch, and it has the template ready.
Not every watch needs to be a fitness instructor
If I wanted a device to track my fitness, I wouldn’t buy the Pixel Watch 5
Recently, Google launched the Fitbit Air, which we also raved about. For $100, you get a brilliant, lightweight tracker that is everything a wearable fitness tracker should be.
The important thing about the Fitbit Air is that it offers essentially the same health-tracking features from the Pixel Watch with no extras. So why can’t we have the opposite?
I exercise regularly, but I don’t like using health tracking accessories. A sustained, regular workout is a better metric of success than any graph Google Health could show me.
Health trackers have never improved on that simple truth.
This is why the Pebble Round 2 appeals to me. No health trackers, just a smartwatch. So why can’t Google do the same?
The Pixel A-series is brilliant, so where’s the Pixel Watch A-series?
There’s a lot of potential for a budget Pixel Watch
The Pixel A-series crystallized into the perfect smartphone with the introduction of the Pixel 10a.
By trimming unnecessary features (for example, Gemini Intelligence and telephoto lenses) and embracing practical design (no camera bulge!) Google made it an exemplar of midrange phones.
Yes, it’s “worse” than the Pixel 10, but for day-to-day use it might as well be identical. Its success is why I’m more excited about the Pixel 11a than the Pixel 11.
So where’s the Pixel Watch 5a? Imagine a Pixel Watch stripped of Gemini Intelligence and health tracking features. I think Google could bring the price down to $250 by focusing on the essentials.
There’s also an opportunity to reimagine how the Pixel Watch looks. We’re five generations into the Pixel Watch, and the design has barely changed.
This isn’t to say the Pixel Watch’s design is bad, but look at how Google flattened the camera bump on the Pixel 10a.
Could we see a trimmer, flatter Pixel smartwatch by following the A-series’ design philosophy?
I want a Google smartwatch that focuses on the essential Pixel experience.
It’s worth mentioning the CMF Watch 3 Pro. Nothing produced a $100 smartphone that, in the end, was fine at best.
However, despite its awkward size and slow performance, it was packed with all the health sensors, widgets, and apps you could need.
Nothing might have compromised in the wrong places, but it shows how much you can pack into a $100 smartwatch.
I don’t want Google to mimic the CMF Watch 3 Pro; this ultra-budget approach has significant downsides. However, there’s a balance to be found around the $250 mark that Google is primed to utilize.
So, well done to Google for producing a fantastic smartwatch in the Pixel Watch 5. But the concept has so much more potential, and it’s wasted by producing the same smartwatch every year.
