Google Readies 'Pixel Watch' For 2022 Launch

According to Insider, Google is planning to launch its own in-house smartwatch in 2022. "Two employees said a spring launch was possible if the latest testing round is a success, however all sources stressed that details and timelines were subject to change depending on feedback from employees testing the device," reports Insider. From the report: The device, which is internally codenamed "Rohan," will showcase the latest version of Google's smartwatch software to customers and partners [...]. To date, Google has opted to create software for smartwatches built by partners such as Samsung, but has not made a device of its own. [...] Unlike the Apple Watch, Google's smartwatch is round and has no physical bezel, according to artistic renders viewed by Insider and employees who have seen it. Like Apple's device, it will capture health and fitness metrics.

The watch has sometimes been referred to internally as the "Pixel watch" or "Android watch," but executives have used a variety of names to refer to the project and it is unclear what branding Google will land on if and when it launches the device. [...] The Rohan watch has a heart-rate monitor and offers basic health-tracking features such as step counting. In its current form the watch will require daily charging, according to a feedback document seen by Insider. One employee testing the watch lamented the charging was slow. Like the Apple Watch, Google's wearable will also use proprietary watchbands. [...]

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I want Google underpants so they can share all my most intimate moments rather than only most of them.

You keep wearing underpants during your most intimate moments? Umm... ok.

Who is this for?

[Rayfield k.]

I never really 'got' what problem smart watches solved. It seems like I could do the same things on my phone (besides the heart rate monitoring) faster and easier with the benefit of hiding my phone in my pocket instead of walking around with an expensive gadget strapped to my wrist.

Re:

[killhour]

It was really useful before all cars had android auto / apple car play to see your alerts and notifications. Now it's just fashion. Honestly, they lost me at the proprietary bands. So stupid - watch bands have been a solved problem since [checks notes] the 16th century. Why are we changing it now?

Re:Who is this for?

[khchung]

I never really 'got' what problem smart watches solved.

Depends on implementation.

For example, while wearing the Apple Watch:
- your iPhone would auto-unlock when you raise it up and FaceID failed because you are wearing a masks
- your MacBook would unlock when you open it
- you can use the watch to authorize Apple Pay in Safari (e.g. on Mac mini without biometric support)
- pay bus fares single-handedly without clicking any button (e.g. in UK)

These are extremely convenient use cases, which did not directly relate to the usual idea of running apps on the watch. So you would miss those if you just check out the apps available for the watch.

Having all notifications delivered to your watch quietly would be very useful to people who like to keep their phones silent but don't always keep their phones close to their bodies. E.g. you sometimes would missed the phone's vibration if you put the phone in the jacket pocket or in your bag/backpack.

The things that you can also do on your phone (reading/answering messages, etc) are actually quite secondary to the usefulness of the watch. Except for simply answering "OK", it is usually easier to take out your phone to reply to messages in most cases.

Re:

[Aighearach]

After reading this, I also still don't "get" what problem smart watches solve.

And I own one.

Re:

[texas neuron]

For women, who commonly have their phones in their purse, it allows them to screen calls without having them to run and grab their phones. My wife leaves her purse near the door when we enter the home and commonly does not go back to it until we go upstairs in our home when we go to bed.

Re:

[Aighearach]

In your story, it is just a person who uses it as a phone-extension. There is nothing about women.

It seems like a really small advantage compared to bringing it with you to the room you're in.

And has nothing to do with purses.

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

By far the most useful feature of smart watches is health data collection. Heart rate, SpO2, step counting, fall detection, that sort of thing.

Re:

[ChunderDownunder]

Dunno about the 'smart' but various industries where you can't be whipping out your phone on a whim while on shift. e.g. manual labourers, retail staff, hospitality, teachers.

some places don't let you access your phone because you'll spend all your day looking at InstaTok instead of servicing customers - less stringent about wrist jewellery.

Re:

[bernywork]

Notifications contain a heap of data. I get quite a few notifications per day. At a glance, I can figure out if that's a message I want to respond to, or need to respond to (During work hours) or something that can just be ignored till later.

Instead of pulling this thing out of my pocket, it's now a 2 second interruption instead of a 10.

When out and about, I can skip a song, quickly check the weather or look at the clock for three or four different timezones that I'm in regular contact with.

Aside from that,

Re:

[tlhIngan]

I never really 'got' what problem smart watches solved.

Surely you jest. I mean, have you not noticed how big phones have gotten? The iPhone back in the early days had a 3.5" screen and now we're pushing 5 and 6 inch screens. A 7 inch screen was considered a small mini tablet.

But people kept demanding phones with bigger and bigger screens. But big screen phones are unwieldy in all sorts of ways - you get a text while walking or driving and you can't really pull it out easily to check it (not that you should,

Re:

[lexman098]

Smart watches remove the need to pull out your phone 50 times a day to check one simple thing and then put it back in your pocket (which may not be accessible if you're cooking/driving etc). This is why wrist watches became much more popular than pocket watches before cell phones were even invented. It's also nice to take calls on the watch so both your hands are free.

Ugly

[backslashdot]

Round watches are ugly. And awkward for information display. Watches used to be round simply because of the mechanics of how an analog works. A square would have been a waste of space for the hands of an analog clock.

Re:

[Gilgaron]

I guess to me square watches evoke the old calculator watches... function over form.

Re:

[PsychoSlashDot]

I guess to me square watches evoke the old calculator watches... function over form.

The form of a circle isn't inherently better than a rectangle. They're just shapes. The round one is traditional - as the parent said - but that's it. In the case of watch shapes, it was a case of function over tradition, not form.

Re:

[Kernel Kurtz]

Round watches are ugly. And awkward for information display. Watches used to be round simply because of the mechanics of how an analog works. A square would have been a waste of space for the hands of an analog clock.

All the watches you will never be able to afford will continue to be round.

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

The downside of square watches is that things get caught on them more easily, and the right angle edges do more damage.

Re:

[draxil]

Round may be awkward for information display, but square watches are pretty ugly!

FUCK PAYWALLS

[redback]

dont post this bullshit paywall nonsense.

Re:

[Aighearach]

It's not paywalled, learn how to use the modern internet. It requires blocking a lot of the JS, and all the ads.

And as angry as Wall-E-world is making you, I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet. With a userid that low, you should have already been running uMatrix and uBlock Origin. WTF is wrong with you, Grampy?

Visit to the Graveyard

[Aighearach]

The story has been out for hours. Is it cancelled yet? Or should I keep reloading?

Meh.

[antdude]

I'll stick with my rad old school dumb Casio Data Bank 150 calculator watch. ;)