![]() ![]() But it looks like Google is ready to make amends with its second smartwatch outing. Overall, Google didn’t really put in the effort to make it a standout fitness companion, despite charging a handsome $350 for it. In our Pixel Watch review, we classified the Pixel Watch as a “relatively simple fitness tracker.” It missed out on tricks like temperature sensing, body composition analysis, an abnormal heart rate detection system, and some odd activity tracking pitfalls. Google wants to fill the feature gulf, too Andy Boxall/Digital Trends Samsung, well, it looks like the upcoming Galaxy Watch 6 series will stick with a new Exynos process instead of embracing Qualcomm - despite doing so with the all-Snapdragon approach for the Galaxy S23 series phones. I can’t wait to see what practical improvements arrive with the Pixel Watch 2 and how it could serve as a template to make even better Wear OS hardware from partner brands. But more than just a hardware endeavor struggling to rake in fat profits, the Pixel family has always served as the test bed for showcasing the best of Google’s hardware - be it Android or, at the moment, Wear OS. Yes, the Pixel family doesn’t really crack up the market with bombastic sales. In simple words, Google’s work on Wear OS with a Snapdragon chip as the test bed would naturally help every other smartwatch brand that has inked a deal with Qualcomm. Now, Google is the maker of Wear OS, and it only comes naturally that with the Pixel Watch 2, the focus of tuning Wear OS will shift more towards Qualcomm than outliers like Exynos. ![]() The likes of Fossil and Mobvoi have remained loyal to Snapdragon silicon for years, and soon, Google will join that league, too. Save for Samsung, there’s no mainstream smartwatch brand in the Wear OS ecosystem. With the upcoming Wear OS 4 update, Google has announced not only a swath of new features but also deep performance optimizations that could very well translate to improved battery life.īut there’s another benefit of the Snapdragon W5 coming to the Pixel Watch 2. Wear OS stayed laggard for years, and it was only following the Tizen OS merger with Samsung about two years ago that development really picked up the pace. This bodes well for the entire Wear OS ecosystem Andy Boxall/Digital Trends At least on paper, the Snapdragon W5 series chip inside the Pixel Watch 2 should finally deliver a smartwatch that can truly go toe-to-toe with the Apple Watch. It would be interesting to see how Google leverages the vastly superior. Now, it would be unwise to credit all those improvements to the Snapdragon silicon inside, but it’s hard to dismiss the sheer difference between the two smartwatches based on the same Wear OS platform. The Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1-based Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 absolutely crushes the Pixel Watch, with my colleague Andy Boxall reporting up to four days of battery life with a similar usage pattern. The Pixel Watch has improved its battery life slightly with software-side optimizations, but it still can barely last over a day with continuous tracking, GPS enabled, and sleep monitoring enabled. Qualcomm has promised a 50% jump in generation-over-generation battery life with the Snapdragon W5 series. ![]() While more grunt under the hood is always welcome, the part about energy efficiency is more promising. Plus, the whole package also ships with a co-processor to offload less demanding or specialized tasks from the main processor. Qualcomm says that compared to its own Snapdragon 4100+ smartwatch silicon, the W5 family offers a 2x boost in performance and also serves extras like always-sensing health awareness tricks, low-power ambient features, and allows a smaller device footprint. No, you really don’t need Google Assistant on your smartwatch It’s official - Motorola’s next Razr is the 2023 phone I can’t wait for All the previous wallpapers were present in “Living Universe” except for Horizon, and that absence continues on the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro.Don’t buy the Pixel 7a - this is the best cheap Pixel of 2023 The Pixel 4 and 4 XL started letting you access and set live backgrounds from previous generations, but something changed with the Pixel 6a. The sun rises as your phone charges, and lowers as the battery is used” - brilliantly doubled as an ambient battery indicator that also gave people a wallpaper that was not static. ![]() For the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, Google introduced a new “ Feathers” background collection but also removed the “Horizon” live wallpaper for some reason.ĭebuting with the 2016 Pixel and Pixel XL as part of the “Live Earth” series, Horizon - “Look to the horizon. ![]()
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