While the real deal isn't coming out until this fall, Google could stay quiet any longer. At Google I/O 2022, the company couldn't help but give us our first official look at the Pixel Watch — and our first official look at what Wear OS 3.1 will look like on it.
The industrial design goes heavy on the rounded watch case — it's made out of recycled stainless steel, don't you know? — with a rotating, tactile crown, and customizable bands though they appear to be proprietary to the Pixel Watch. We're asking Google about the details here.
We know that the watch is LTE-capable as it requires service from the same network as your attached phone. The Pixel Watch will also have NFC for Google Wallet payments, making it easier to leave your wallet at home. On the fitness side, it has sensors for continuous heart rate and sleep tracking with the ability to hook up to your Fitbit account for metrics sharing, a feature we've been hoping for. Additionally, Fitbit integration will be with the Pixel Watch before any other watch. That means users will be able to access additional details like Active Zone Minutes, as well as steps and other fitness information. Users will be able to take advantage of the Health Connect APIs that will allow health data sharing between Fitbit, Google Fit, and Samsung Health.
Google's implementation of "the new Wear OS experience" gets very little spotlight here, but we are told that Maps, Google Assistant, and apps from the Google Play Store are all part of the experience. Unfortunately, that's all that we were shared about the watch during Google I/O. Looks like we'll have to wait a bit longer for more information about additional features.
The company tells us to expect full details in the coming months and an official retail launch with the rest of the Made by Google device portfolio, including the Pixel 7, coming in the fall. Google also announced the Pixel Buds Pro, the Pixel 6a, a yet-unnamed Tensor-powered Android tablet coming in 2023, and Google's first pair of AR glasses since Glass was announced a decade ago.
