It sounds like Google’s upcoming Pixel Watch will be a flagship that will compete with Samsung’s latest Galaxy Watches and the Apple Watch, according to new specs leaked by 9to5Google†According to 9 to 5‘s report, you can get a mobile version of the wearable, and it will have a 300 milliampere (mAh) battery.
It wasn’t necessarily a given that there would be a cellular option for the Pixel Watch. Some cheaper smartwatches, and even some high-end fitness-oriented models, rely on your phone for connectivity. If the rumor is true and there’s a mobile Pixel Watch model, it reinforces the idea that Google probably isn’t trying to make its watch a smaller or cheaper alternative — it wants that mass-market appeal.
As for the battery, the physical capacity seems to be about right for how big the watch is. However, it’s nearly impossible to say what that milliampere rating means for how long it will last between charges.
When The edge‘s review editor Dan Seifert compared the Apple Watch Series 7 41mm and the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic 42mm, finding that they had dramatically different levels of endurance. One day the Galaxy Watch was… no more juice while the Apple Watch was at 52 percent (although could get it the next day) a few more hours from the Galaxy after some adjustments). And yet the Apple Watch battery isn’t That much bigger; it has a capacity of 284 mAh while the battery of the Galaxy has 247 mAh.
8:05 PM
Galaxy Watch 4: 0% dead and shutdown
Apple Watch Series 7: 52%
— Dan S. (@dcseifert) Apr 7, 2022
What really matters when it comes to a wearable’s battery life is its features and processor. Both are unknown to the Pixel Watch at this point, although in terms of features it obviously won’t have the e-paper display that will allow the Pebble Time to use its 250mAh battery for well over a week.
The big, hitherto unanswered question is which chip will Google use – Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 4100 or 4100 Plus, which despite being around for a while haven’t appeared on many watches? A currently unannounced next-gen Qualcomm chip†Samsung’s Exynos chips it uses in its own watches? A custom Tensor processor, like Google uses in the Pixel 6? There are so many options – some of which are unknown and others are a bad sign of battery life.
Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to find the answer – the rumors say that Google could announce the Pixel Watch at its I/O conference, which starts on May 11 in a few weeks. If you’re looking to check out the hardware before then, you’re in luck – someone posted a plethora of photos of it around the wrist and claimed a friend found the device in a bar, iPhone 4 style†Maybe Sundar Pichai will make the same joke as Steve Jobs when he announces the Pixel Watch and says, “Stop me if you’ve seen this already.”