Greater autonomy, new softwarea new processor and many more fitness-related features and health: the Google Pixel Watch 2 is also on sale in Italy and on paper it has made decisive steps forward compared to the previous version, which it was not available in our country through official channels.
We tried it for a couple of weeks, both day and night (mostly sleeping) and here we tell how it went, what we liked and what we wish had been done better.
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Google Pixel Watch 2, the technical characteristics
The Mountain View smartwatch has a display Amoled da 1.2” which we found beautiful to look at, easily readable and bright enough (even outdoors) but perhaps a little small: a 1.4″ or 1.5″ version would have been appreciated and perhaps more usable for a wider audience. The watch seemed solid, well made, well looked after and not heavy. A word of advice, though: if you buy it, buy it too one of the fabric straps and replace the one found in the package. We did it like this, it’s another 59 euros to spend on top of the 399 for the device (yes, that’s a lot of money) but they radically change the user experience and make it much, much more comfortable. But a lot really.
The processor is good Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 5100a nice improvement over last year, combined with the new operating system Wear OS 4.0which makes the watch a sort of miniature copy of the smartphone: there are wearable versions of practically all the apps, you can answer calls from the smartwatch (even speaking through the smartwatch), you can record WhatsApp voice messages and also dictate text which will then be transcribed. And when you go to sleep you can synchronize mode Do not disturb between watch and telephonewhich couldn’t be done with the previous version of the software and is quite convenient.
The drums it has 306 mAh, it is small but we found it efficient and well optimised: the 24 hours of battery life promised by Google, even with the screen always active, we practically always achieved and sometimes even exceeded, managing to combine daytime use with sleep monitoring and charging the device as soon as you wake up. Obviously, everything is easier if you make moderate use of the options related to fitness and location tracking.
The Google Pixel Watch 2 in everyday use
Yes, because now smartwatches are not just for receive notifications of the phone, warn of something in a discreet way or inform about the time (which the Pixel Watch 2 obviously does and does well), but also and above all to act a bit as a personal trainer and a bit as a mental coach. Which are two other things that the Pixel Watch 2 does very well, sometimes too well.
Everything goes through the various device sensors (heart rate, blood oxygenation, electrocardiogram, temperature and sweating) which are able to recognize and monitor dozens and dozens of sporting activities, even automatically. We have it verified with the bicycle (this bicycle)some short ones corsa and some long ones walkand we found everything precise and full of measurements and information.
Lots of data coming in collected in the Fitbit app, which has been owned by Google for years now and offers a truly broad picture of both its activities and its state of health. Really broad, but there’s a but: some of the most advanced features are behind a paywall and you need a subscription of 8.99 euros per month to unlock them. By buying a Pixel Watch 2 you get 6 months free, but given the price of the smartwatch we would have honestly expected access to the service to be free forever. We say this above all because the app is very refined and rich, easy to usewith advice on exercises to do, how to improve sleep, how to relax and meditate: correct use could really have an impact on people’s daily lives, and it’s a shame that not everyone can benefit from it.
This is even if they are there cases where it becomes a little intrusive and all too diligent in doing what he has to do. Let’s talk about stress monitoring, with the Pixel Watch 2 which (especially in the evening) also sends 3-4 notifications at a short distance from each other to invite you to “reflect on your mood to better understand what caused this response in your body.” It happens because the watch detects some variation in the parameters it monitors and invites you to indicate how you feel at that moment (happy, sad, excited, calm and so on) in order to paint a picture of the user and also try to be useful to him . That’s a good thing, but sometimes it’s too much. Like an apprehensive mother who invites you to wear a tank top: she risks having the opposite effect to what she would like to cause. And to be a little stressful, even if deep down she loves herself.
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What we liked
What we didn’t like
@capoema