With the launch of Samsung’s latest galaxy watch 5 smartwatches, we are curious if the upcoming Google Pixel Watch gets a fighting chance. According to 9to5Google‘s latest foray into the Fitbit APK, the outlook looks bleak, especially when estimates that the Pixel Watchs battery life will be only a fraction of what Samsung advertises turns out to be true.
Last week, 9to5Google decompiled the version 3.65 update to the official one Fitbit Android app to poke around for something Pixel Watch-adjacent. They found a code demonstrating an “evening fare reminder” for the Pixel Watch. Essentially, you turn it on for a notification to charge your watch for your “bedtime goal” if the battery level is too low to get through the night. That cutoff is at 30% batterywhich gives us a rough idea that 8 hours could be 30% of the Pixel Watch’s life, although there’s definitely some wiggle room.
That’s a lot of juice, especially because most modern smartwatches expecting you sleep with the watch on aggregate metrics. The marketing around Samsung’s Galaxy smartwatches has mostly been that you can get through the night with enough juice to track your REM cycles. That’s why in the early weeks of parenthood, I relied on the Galaxy Watch Active before it was based on Wear OS: to determine the quality of my sleep between nighttime feedings.
The Fitbit app is an interesting stat to use here. Google bought the company in 2017, and we expected some of the fitness app’s DNA to be embedded in this new wearable hardware. And while the Pixel Watch is rumors to last up to 24 hours before needing to be charged, it’s a wonder how much less it would be if all the sensors were enabled for tracking. The Galaxy Watch 5, for example, promises up to 50 hours of battery life, while a regular Fitbit Charge 5 band will last up to a week on average, as long as you turn off GPS.
While it is true that smartwatches and fitness bands are often promise more than they do it is also true that battery optimization for this small device is quite a challenge. Anecdotally speaking, I still have doubts about how much battery my Galaxy Watch 4 with LTE can hold, because it all depends on factors like whether i l . startlocation or if there is an app in the background. I’ve had the watch since it debuted last summer.
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The Pixel Watch may be geared towards more casual users than those looking for a smartwatch that meets specific needs. As The edge pointed out that when the Pixel Watch battery rumors initially hit, fitness watches tend to last longer on battery because they’re made for serious tracking. Samsung’s smartwatches are hefty to compete at a more palatable price point, but even the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro model has a bigger battery for the person who would use it for exercise tracking.
We’ll know more about the Pixel Watch in a month or two, which is when we expect Google to hold an event for the launch of the Pixel 7 and its accessories. And while you don’t have to worry about battery life based on unconfirmed facts, you might consider what it is with the Pixel Watch that would inspire you to buy one and whether there’s another wearable that’s better. would be suitable.
