Google Pixel Watch 2: Heart Rate Tracking, Stress Management, Safety Features – Android Smartwatch with Fitbit Integration – Champagne Gold Aluminum Case – Hazel

I had to replace my aging Galaxy S3 Frontier which is at it’s end of life. I love that watch! I was going to get either a Galaxy S6 Pro or a Pixel Watch 2. After much soul searching, I knew I had to make a decision. so the gambler in me decided to try something new. I’m glad I did!

Now clearly, a watch released less than 6 months ago is going to out perform one released 6 or 7 years ago. But the improvement in performance is remarkable.

It’s faster responding, pairs quickly and easily with my Pixel 6a smartphone, and has superior software.

It’s really the software that makes the smartwatch useful and productive. And to Samsung’s credit, they kept my old war horse’s software current. But, the Fitbit software is much more modern than Samsung Health. It can scan barcode label on food packages when I record what I eat and it is much more flexible in terms of how the nutrient servings list is recorded. And that means less manual calculations when trying adjust servings from grams to, say, ounces.

Heart monitoring is more accurate, stair climbing is much more accurate, and sleep monitoring is actually usable. It might be the advancements in sensor quality rather than the software algorithms. But I do trust the results more.

Charging the battery is FAST. I get about 36 hours of life from the battery, on about 45 minutes of charging. Twenty minutes of charging while I shower in the morning will give me about 12 hours of battery life. The wireless magnetic charger is a little different from the Samsung watch, but it is very functional. The user needs to make sure that the crown and stem is parallel to the power cord, and once the watch is about an inch away from the charger, the charger is drawn to the watch magnetically and it leaps up and connects to the watch. This is not BS on my part, it happens everyday. Only once has this connection not been made perfectly.

The PW 2, is smaller and lighter, physically. It’s about the size of a traditional men’s mechanical dress watch. My ancient eyes can see the slightly smaller screen with ease. My arthritic gorilla fingers akso have no problem manipulating the screen. It is comfortable to wear long term, even to bed, for sleep monitoring. It offers a more classy and elegant appearance than the larger and sportier S6 Pro.

I was comfortable with the new user interface within a day or two; so I think people coming from another brand won’t have a huge learning curve. Like the Pixel Smartphones, Google uses a simple and uncluttered interface that I found very intuitive.

I am quite pleased with my purchase,and can recommend it to others.

Got this for my girlfriend and she loves it. It helps her monitor her heart, keeps track of steps well and she likes being able to text on it.

So I quickly learned after getting the watch a few days ago to go into the watch’s settings, click battery, and turn on the battery saver. To have your watch come on, you gently tap the screen or press the crown button. This has greatly improved the battery life. But YOU shouldn’t have to do that with a watch that costs this much.
On the plus side, you can change just about every setting imaginable, and the Fitbit is a nice touch (despite most of the good features behind a subscription service). That’s called Google greed. You’ll get used to it. They’re a monopoly for a reason. Using it to make and receive calls is awesome. Got a call the other day and was able to talk as I washed the dishes. No earbuds are required. The person who called me said the audio was great.
I highly recommend this if you don’t mind the craptacular battery life. I’m surprised they didn’t fix it with a software update. Something is feasting on the power. Or they went with the lowest bidder for parts.
Oh, if you have fat fingers or medium-sized ones, forget about the keyboard. LOL. You’ll need a stylus (yes they work). The speech-to-text is very good but you have to remember to say “period” or “comma” when composing messages. If you don’t, it’ll be one long sentence without proper punctuation. You can even say “heart emoji” and it’ll insert that. You can also go back and edit the message with your fingers and use the keyboard to correct mistakes. I’ll update my review if needed and the longer I use it. Oh, the ECG works and is very cool. Even the sleep monitor caught my apnea.

Very comfortable, easy to sync, easy to read and friendly to navigate.
Love the apps, specially the wallet that makes my payments easy and faster.
Battery could last almost two days, but I rather charge it every night for about 15 to 20 minutes and be ready.
Having everything Google at home, from thermostat, hubs and pixel 8 phone, it make sense to me having the pixel watch 2.
I do miss the battery life on my Fitbit sense (7days), but I really love this pixel watch !!!