by Larry Magid
This post first appeared in the Mercury News
Google is best known for its search engine and other services, but it’s also a hardware company with a growing range of products including phones, tablets, smart speakers, smart displays, home automation devices and now, smart watches.
In this sense, it competes with Apple and Samsung, especially when it comes to phones and wearables. Both Apple and Samsung were ahead of Google when it came to watches, but last year, Google introduced its first smart watch, the Pixel Watch, and just released the Pixel Watch 2 along with new versions of its Pixel phones and a new Fitbit Charge 6 fitness tracker.
Both the new watch and the tracker are among the fruits of Google’s 2019 acquisition of Fitbit, which has long been the leading maker of fitness trackers. The new Pixel Watch 2, which has most of the features you’d expect in a high-end smart watch, uses the Fitbit app to display health and fitness data but also has its own watch app to handle such things as picking and editing a watch face, adding tiles to add or access apps and configuring how the watch handles notifications. With these two apps, the Watch 2 is now a well-equipped fitness tracker and a smart watch with an ever expanding collection of apps from Google and other companies.
Although I’ve tried other watches, including some from Apple and Samsung, I am most comfortable with the Google Watch because I came to it after owning a Fitbit for several years, which meant that the user interface was familiar and the watch was able to inherent fitness and health data stored in my Fitbit account going back to before Google acquired Fitbit.
Having said that, Google has put its stamp on Fitbit and now requires you to use a Google account to access the watch and the Fitbit data as well as data from other Fitbit devices.
With the Pixel Watch 2, Google now has a more refined offering after a good start with last year’s first Pixel watch. The new watch costs $349 or $399 with the higher-end version offering a cellular LTE connection. Your cellular carrier will likely add on a monthly fee to provide LTE to the watch, but if you have your cell phone with you, you don’t need the LTE model or service. You can purchase the watch from the Google Store, which is currently offering a trade-in allowance for older watches. It may be available from other sources, including cellular carriers, sometimes with discounts or subsidies.
Physically, the new version looks identical to last year’s watch, though it’s slightly thinner and 10% lighter due to the new case, which, says Google, is now made from 100% recycled aluminum. They also improved the ergonomics with a slightly larger crown that makes it easy to turn on the display and select apps, though you can also do those and other tasks from the watch’s touch screen.
But if you turn it over, you’ll see new sensors that improve the way it tracks heart beats, skin temperature and signs of stress. What you don’t see is a faster processor and low power co-processor, but if you wear the watch all day, you will see why they’re there. Last year’s model had a tough time getting you through a full 24-hour day without recharging, but the Watch 2 is more energy efficient. I can now easily get through a day on a single charge, but I also sleep with the watch, so I still have to find moments during the day when I can top off the charge to be sure the watch stays awake on my wrist while I sleep. Fortunately, Google also improved the charging speed. Google says you can get a 50% charge in 30 minutes. I didn’t time it, but it does charge quite quickly.
Watching over you while you sleep
The reason I wear the watch at night is because it records my overnight pulse rate, my oxygen levels (SpO2), sleep duration (including stages of sleep) and looks for irregular heart rhythm, which can be a sign of atrial fibrillation (AFib), a potentially serious heart condition. Like last year’s model, the watch can also be used to take electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), but taking an ECG requires you to sit still and rest your finger on the crown. The new Afib detection is automatic and passive, though you still have to be sitting still or sleeping. Google claims that it has a 98.2% positive predictive value based on a “clinical study with over half a million participants.” As with all health data, users are advised to consult a medical professional if they get a notification.
Looking for stress
Google is proud of the watch’s Body Response feature that uses a new continuous electrodermal activity (cEDA) sensor that can point to signs of stress. When it senses you’re stressed, it will send you a notification and prompt you to “either reflect on how you feel at that moment or take actions to reduce your stress, like guided breathing or a mindfulness session.” I get why that’s important, but it’s not a feature I personally find useful. Maybe I’m too stressed to pay attention to my stress.
Watch 2 now has the ability to automatically start and stop an exercise, which is great if you forget to start it on your own.
If any of these features sounds familiar, it’s because the Pixel Watch 2 has adopted them from other Fitbit devices, such as the Sense 2 tracker. Last year’s Pixel Watch had lots of smart phone features but not as many fitness and health measurements as the Sense 2 and some other less expensive Fitbit trackers. With the Watch 2, Google is moving toward giving you the best of both worlds.
Safety features
In addition to giving you health information, the watch can also help keep you safe or at least get help in the event of a fall. If the watch detects a fall, it can notify first responders or your personal contacts. This year, they added Medical ID, emergency sharing and safety check. Safety check can notify loved-ones if, for example, you don’t return from a hike within a specified time period, sharing your last known location that they can pass on to first responders. Safety is a big selling point for Google and Apple, which also has safety features on its watches.
The Pixel Watch works with any Android 9 or higher phone, including Pixel phones. Unlike Fitbit trackers, it does not work with iPhones.
Larry Magid is CEO of ConnectSafely, a nonprofit internet safety organization that receives financial support from Google and other tech companies