Google Pixel Watch 4 review: Built better

For as nice as the first three generations of Pixel Watch looked, they came with some pretty big small print when it came to durability. If something happened to the screen on the Pixel Watch, Pixel Watch 2 or Pixel Watch 3, there was no official process to get that damage repaired through Google. Your shiny new smartwatch was basically a write-off.

For that reason, the improvements that Google’s fourth-generation Pixel Watch 4 offers when it comes to repairability are easily the most exciting thing about it. Cut free from the weight and baggage that past Pixel Watches have been held down by, the Pixel Watch 4 is able to soar to new heights.

Even if that do-over is arriving a little later than I’d like and it doesn’t come with too many flashy new thrills, Google’s latest wearable is still much easier to recommend than its predecessors as a result.

In Australia, the Google Pixel Watch 4 starts at $579. That's pretty pricey for a smartwatch, though it does undercut the competition that Google's latest faces from both Apple and Samsung. Since the Galaxy Watch starts at $649 and the new Apple Watch Series 11 starts at $699, you're definitely saving money with this particular premium wearable.

What's more, you can always save by shopping around. Check out the table below for a round-up of deals for the Pixel Watch 4.

Let’s start with the basics. The form-factor of the Pixel Watch 4 is built around an upgraded AMOLED LTPO display with smaller bezels and up to 3000 nits of brightness. In practice, I found that the Pixel Watch 4’s screen was bright enough to be visible even in daylight situations but dynamic enough to not blind me in nocturnal ones. 

All told, the overall form-factor doesn’t do much to depart from the blueprint laid out by previous Pixel Watch devices. You're still getting a digital-crown-inspired dial on the side, and the watch band mechanism is the same as the one on the Pixel Watch 3, which means that all your older bands should play nice with Google’s newest wearable.

If anything, the changes to the formula this time around are more foundational than flashy. As mentioned before – and in a stark contrast to previous models – the Pixel Watch 4 has also been built to be broken with support for both a replaceable screen and battery. Then, in addition to being brighter, the screen on the Pixel Watch 4 should hold up better over the long run thanks to Gorilla Glass 5 protection. In line with the competition, Google has complemented these inclusions with an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance. 

Looking past these changes, the Pixel Watch 4 features all the usual health tracking hardware. You've got an optical heart rate and skin temperature sensor, plus red and infrared ones for sleep tracking and some electrical ones for ECG. This familiar feature-set is buoyed by the addition of more accurate sleep and skin temperature tracking, a dual-frequency GPS chip and Emergency Satellite SOS connectivity.

One detail worth keeping track of here is that while the Pixel Watch 4 is available in the usual WiFi and cellular variants, the latter is currently only supported by Optus and Telstra. At the time of writing, Vodafone does not support cellular connectivity for Google's latest wearable. Those using a Telstra MVNO also miss out.

The story here is that even if the exterior of the Pixel Watch 4 is a dead-ringer for last year’s model, the upgrades both inside and out prime it for the future in ways where its predecessors fell short. Google didn’t exactly go back to the drawing board but it feels like this year’s wearable makes good on several years of overdue changes – which is great news for those who held off until now.

The Pixel Watch 4 is powered by the latest version of Wear OS and Google's new Material Expressive UI. That software is nice to look and easy to rely on, with a roster of over 40 different exercise modes. I was slightly flummoxed by the lack of a dedicated boxing mode, but most of the bases are covered here. There's also a new Gemini-powered coach and a redesigned Fitbit app you can pair with the wearable when you want to delve deeper into your data. 

Other additions to the stable include the ability to stream bike tracking data to your phone, AI-powered activity recognition, smarter smart replies and the ability to access Gemini directly from the smartwatch rather than via your smartphone. I can't say any of the above radically transformed by everyday experience with the Pixel Watch 4, though. Honestly, most of these new bells and whistles were so easy to overlook that I quickly forgot they even existed. As with the Pixel 10 Pro XL, I wish Google would give me more control. It would be much easier to make up my mind about how much value these various AI-powered features do or don't add if I could crank up the frequency with which I ran into them as desired. 

Even so, and similar to where the Apple Watch is nowadays, the new features found with the software side of the Pixel Watch 4 largely cater to edge cases. If you're not a cyclist, then a dedicated bike mode isn't going to move the needle too much. Likewise, if you're not subscribed to Fitbit Premium or a fan of the Fitbit app in general, then the upgrades Google has made to that side of the Pixel Watch experience aren't going to count for too much. 

These software changes are still better to have than not. However, for my money, they remain a distant runner-up to the thrill of the hardware tweaks this time around.

On the inside, the Pixel Watch 4 features a new haptics engine, an upgraded speaker and dual-chip architecture that offers better performance and lower power consumption.

The most obvious – or at least tangible – upside of these technical tweaks is better everyday battery life.  Those wearing the slimmer 41mm model can expect around 30 hours on a single charge, while those on the 45mm version of the Pixel Watch 4 should expect an extra ten on top of that for a total of 40 hours on a single charge.

In practice, I was pretty satisfied with the battery life offered by the Pixel Watch 4. Most of the time, I’d be charging it up at the end of every second day. The support for fast-charging was also a massive help whenever I needed a quick boost before heading out. A half hour of charging can get you a full day of use and I really appreciated the flexibility this feature offered.