The Pixel Watch doesn’t have a firm release date yet, just sometime this fall. However, it looks exactly like the claimed prototype that was discovered in April. While most Wear OS watches have followed traditional watch designs, especially on models from Fossil Group, the Pixel Watch is much closer to the Apple Watch. The screen curves down and around the sides, with a digital crown on the right side for scrolling. However, unlike the Apple Watch, it’s round.
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Google didn’t share any technical details about the watch, but the teaser images and video confirm the Pixel Watch will use proprietary snap-on wrist bands. That’s a shame, considering Fossil and Samsung’s Wear OS watches can use standard watch bands — which means thousands of styles to choose from at a wide range of prices. Google said in a blog post that the Pixel Watch will use “our next version” of the company’s Tensor System-on-a-Chip (SoC).
We also know the Pixel Watch will ship with Wear OS 3 out of the box, which is currently still exclusive to the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 series. We haven’t seen what a non-customized build of Wear OS 3 looks like yet, outside of emulator images that Google provides to developers for testing apps.
Google has been working on its own smartwatch for years, but the company threw out its previous attempts before they were announced. Business Insider reported that Google was planning to release a watch alongside the original Google Pixel phone in 2016, but it was supposedly so disappointing that it was cancelled a few months before launch.
More details about the Pixel Watch will be revealed “in the coming months.” You can sign up for availability notifications on the Google Store.
Source: Google Blog
