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I overheard a conversation between someone on the Pixel Watch team and a woman I know. He was quizzing her at a party about what features she used - which were pretty much step counter and payment. He somewhat dismissively sneered, "Well, you're not exactly a power user, are you?"

I'm trying to imagine what being a "power user" of a watch is like. Can anyone enlighten me?

I think smart-watches are much like Alexa. What the user wants to do with it is almost totally at odds with what the company is selling. Alexii are mostly kitchen timers, song players, and light switches. No one is a "power user" constantly installing skills and using it for anything which increases the product team's engagement metrics.

The same is probably true of watches. Alerts are nifty - but cumbersome for replies. The health stuff is useful - but only for a subset of users. Seeing the time is great - but if the battery lasts less than a week, who wants to keep that screen on?

This. Totally.

I would say I'm quite a power user usually. I very carefully explored every feature my apple watch has and tried to incorporate as many of them as I could. Very, very few features stuck because they were genuinely helpful. Almost everything being pushed is a gimmick or a feature bullet point from some product manager.

The actual good stuff:

Time

Workouts

Payments

The occasionally useful stuff:

Notifications

Noise DB levels to see if I need to put on ear protection

Workoutdoors app for on-device maps and path breadcrumbs

The once in a blue moon stuff:

Music controls and on device playlists

On device audiobooks

Weather complication

Voice memos

Alarm

Shortcut to call my husband

The feature I tried to get working but gave up on: Tap to talk to ChatGPT and get a 100 word or less reply

Maybe it’s niche, but if you do endurance sports like triathlon, you can easily become a power user. I think I did. You constantly look at your watch during workouts. It does navigation on trails, it measures your heart rate, tracks workouts, keeps pace during races. The metrics it gathers about hrv, sleep, rest hr etc are vital to adjusting the routine. It acts as a data recorder for multiple sensors: hr strap does a million running metrics, a separate strap does hydration, on a bike there’s a power meter. It supports my routine alerting me about the fast, timing my morning porrige (14 min). It’s my payment method on long rides when I need water and could play audio if I wanted to. I care about advanced features like multi-band gps and handover with my bike computer. It’s a vital tool, I need it for so many things. But vast majority of smartwatches do not cater for this crowd at all. Even the Apple Ultra feels like a toy. Garmin upper end stuff is where it is.
Listening to power users is the product management equivalent of armoring the places on the fighter plane where you find bullet holes. You should of course be looking for where the planes that didn't come back have damage.

Smart watches become shelfware pretty easily. Especially when you don't have the Apple Watch cachet.

The killer feature of modern watches is the vibration alarm - you can wake up even if you use earplugs/headphones/noise machine and you won't wake up anyone else along with you. Health stuff like sleep tracking is likely useful for the vast majority of population, at least to everyone who needs time and thus lives on a schedule of some sort, without the possibility to fall asleep and wake up whenever one feels like it.

I too don't see how the ability to run apps is of any value so I use "sports" watch instead of a "smart" watch, which gives me better screen and better battery life in exchange of a smaller number of apps I won't ever run. Though the battery life is not an issue and smartwatch users I know charge their watch while in the shower.

> What the user wants to do with it is almost totally at odds with what the company is selling. Alexii are mostly kitchen timers, song players, and light switches. No one is a "power user" constantly installing skills and using it for anything which increases the product team's engagement metrics.

There is IMO a design flaw that tanked adoption of not just Alexa, but also on-phone voice assistants.

People would want to use reliable equivalent of "computer, play music" or any kind of "computer, do X". But what is on offer by all major companies is, "${brand name}, do X on ${brand name} with ${brand name}". No thanks.

More broadly, I think this is rarely noted explicitly - user interfaces are ultimate marketing platforms, because you get to inject your marketing literally between the user and the task they're doing. Whether purposefully or intuitively, companies understand that, and the UX goes to shit as they design the product to also be a marketing platform.

Pebble is the ultimate smartwatch because it knows what it is. Its a watch first and foremost, readable in any lighting conditions, waterproof, battery lasts for weeks. They made a watch first then added only the QOL features that most people need.
I love my Apple Watch. Alerts mean I don’t look at my phone which means I don’t unlock it and get sidetracked. I have plenty of ways to tell the time so it’s actually kind of useless for that. It’s a passable golf watch, a passable fitness tracker for running and it pairs with earphones so I can not bring my phone with me. I’ve occasionally used Apple Pay with it but that novelty wore off pretty quickly.

I don’t care that the battery doesn’t last, I’ve got a wireless charger at my desk and at home and 30 minutes on that a few times a week keeps it alive for my usage.

"Power user?" Having a Pixel Watch 2 (or 3), I keep thinking no one working on this device really uses it. It's supposed to be a sports and health device but the stopwatch app doesn't even support laps.
I think you're mostly right. I use it for a few extra things though. Stuff I can think of:

* Timers

* Alerts

* Step counter/fitness tracker

* My fitness app for weight training - I can start a workout on my phone and enter my set/rep/weight counts without needing to pull my phone out

* Phone calls when I'm on walks and do not want to the "full phone" experience, but also cannot be totally disconnected. This paired with Airpods is a pretty nice balance

* Ditto the above but for podcasts/music streaming - especially if wearing workout clothing and I don't have a comfortable place to carry my phone along.

* Basic replies to my "important people" texts - via Siri dictation mostly

* My "RFID" security badge to get into my home/office/etc. using Apple Pay

* Apple Pay

* Quick glance to check the weather w/ a main screen widget

* Quick glance to check calendar

I liken it to having a mini iPhone 4 strapped to my wrist. Useful here and there, and very nice for when I want to get away from my phone or it's too bulky to bring somewhere. Essentially a basic flip-phone for comms, and a connected streaming media player.

Most useful bit of the announcement, coming to all Google wearables it seems:

Blood pressure, sleep breathing, and insulin sensitivity trends

  > Built on state-of-the-art Health Foundation Models trained on billions of minutes of sensor data from opted-in users and rigorously validated against gold-standard clinical measurements, these models power three new monthly trend summaries: blood pressure trends, sleep breathing quality trends, and insulin resistance trends. Rolling out soon — with your first detailed summary arriving after one month of wear — these reports illuminate metabolic, respiratory and cardiovascular shifts early, giving you clear insights to help you take control of your long-term health. Plus, monthly summaries will soon be available across our wearable portfolio, including the new Google Fitbit Air.
Pebble Time 2 is still miles ahead being a watch, and only a bit behind being a computer. BUT, it has a sunlight readable ALWAYS on display, really good battery life and is open source. I still don't understand people charging their battery every 2 days or less. It's a problem guys. My Wear OS watches, even my fancy 2 screen one that got about 4 days or so, eventually ended up in a drawer. Never to be used again. Not so with my pebble, where I literally made an automation to remind me to charge it, because I charge it so rarely.
30 hours of battery life is a deal breaker. I don't want to charge my watch every day.

I've been using the Garmin Forerunner for a few years now and the battery life is 2 weeks!

If you care about privacy and owning your own data, then don't buy this, buy a watch with gadgetbridge support (https://gadgetbridge.org/gadgets/). I bought an amazfit active 2 a few years ago and it works fantastically with gadgetbridge on grapheneos. Easily gives me 5 days of continuous battery life as well.
So I kinda hate smart watches, a lot. Mainly because they are about notifications and apps, both of which SUCK to use on my wrist. Notifications are especially horrible (looking at you Apple, not able to disable reaction notifications in iMessage…), distracting, stressful, make it hard to stay present and focused.

What I actually want:

- sleep tracking - basic health tracking - maybe basic GPS to track hikes/runs etc

And potentially an easy way to see certain pertinent info. Like if I’m doing water sports, basic tide info, or my next calendar event, or when I need to get off the bus. But I don’t want an app, and I almost never want notifications. And definitely no clunky app to be distracted by.

Plus, I don’t want a big old screen. I don’t want to charge it a lot. I like my digital Casio a lot.

Feels like this doesn’t really exist

I like how the footnotes are all broken. Like the repairability footnote links to charging. Lots of money was spent making that website.
I reluctantly use a pixel with grapheneos, but anything that can only run google or manufacturer provided software without an independent 3rd party is trash, having looked at wearos while trying to refuse Samsungs terms/integration I also consider it a worse grade of trash than a phone since it can intentionally create codependency on other devices for management despite having more processing power than android 2-4 phones had.
Only $250 for the LTE version for Google Fi subscribers. But having to charge every day seems like a major regression compared to Garmin. I do appreciate that they are competing on location accuracy, though.

Apparently the GPS is computed in the cloud, which means this only works given LTE coverage or if you also carry your paired smartphone. https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/devices/pixel/pix...

Google had a town hall a few years ago. The Pixel Watch (4?) had just launched and supposedly fixed a bunch of bugs like apparently you could not reliably record a run with the previous generation without that app crashing and losing the workout. Someone in the audience asked about this, and the PM who responded was wearing an Apple Watch. Apparently everyone on that team at the meeting was wearing Apple Watches or a dumb watch

They know this product is garbage

Why aren't any smart watches incorporating e-paper displays? Seems like a perfect tech to use there, especially now that newer display tech allows pretty quick refresh rates.
WearOS watches are trash for me personally as they all require you to run Google Play Services on your phone, which I won't do. The only smartwatch I've had luck with is the Garmin series (Venu, Fenix), and since I really only wear a smartwatch when exercising, it's perfect for me. I find myself happier when I go with an analog watch, and all the notifications I get are never so important that I need to check them the second they come in.
I've mostly moved on to screen-less wearables for health metrics now. Not only do you get a ridiculously large battery life (measured in days) but I also found that it means more time and attention was put into the things I care about versus trying to support whatever garbage wearable OS they try to integrate with (or worse, roll their own).
My favorite Apple Watch feature is Camera Control for group photos. I love how you can see a live preview of the photo and it gives you the ability to zoom.

I also enjoy tracking my workouts, my steps, and heart rate.

Sleep mode is great to monitor my breathing, heart rate.

Quick notifications are great in case I have an important and timely email.

Pinging my misplaced phone is helpful too.

I think I keep my 6+-week lasting Pebble Time 2, thank you. It already does everything I could ever wish for.

For people who want all the niceties of detailed health tracking with good battery life already (should) have a suitable Garmin for them.

This watch isn't even part of the horse race.

Pebble Time 2 is still miles ahead in being a watch and only a little behind in being a full computer. But it gets way way way more battery life WITH an always on , sunlight readable display. AND it's open source.
I have been wearing my Casio F91W for so long I can't even remember buying it, and I'm not even a power user of this watch (never use the alarm or stop watch). I wouldn't even know what to do with a smart watch. I'm sure people do more with their smart watches but I have a hard time imagining they actually do a lot with them. Unless I've really been living under a rock?
I never understood these watches. I have Galaxy Ultra Watch and I found it is pointless (bought 2 years ago). Doesn't last a full day. So I cannot e.g. track sleep because it is charging or I cannot track something else because it is charging. Then too much information on tiny screen. I can just whip out my phone for that. I even preferred checking time on the phone.

Now, I got Pebble Time 2 and I think this is it. Just enough bells and whistles and battery lasts for weeks. Love it!

> AI, Advanced Gemini, Google Health Coach

The fitbit users already have "google heath coach" in the latest googlified version of the app.

And https://www.reddit.com/r/fitbit/ is full of commentary on how laughably crap it is.

I'd pay more to avoid this kind of "feature".

Genuinely I'm more curious what amount (or lack of) governance their is in this version of gemini for health vs asking gemini directly.
> Pixel Watch 5 packs 50% more RAM

a surprise, especially in this current market. But at the same time, why tf they need so much ram.

It's a shame they weren't able to launch this with the previously rumored Tensor CPU: https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-watch-5-tensor...
As a GrapheneOS user, I've had to buy pixel watch 2 in order to be able to pay via Google Pay abroad (since I unfortunately happen to reside in an internationally sanctioned country, local cards work only inside the country, some crypto exchanges provide Visa/Mastercard cards, but virtual only, so Google/Apple pay is the only choice). I really wish I haven't had to own this android-certified™ device in the first place. Have had to disable as much GMS system permissions as possible, such as pulse, GPS, physical activity via ADB.

P. S. Since it's not even possible to add a new card if the watch is paired to a device that doesn't pass SafetyNet, I've had to add cards with a stock android device, and then re-pair the watch to GrapheneOS device. This almost seems like a deliberate choice by Google.

i gotta say that new pebble is nice enough and integration cozy enough that this is less tempting than ever
i was wondering recently if i could ditch my iPhone for (just) an Apple Watch. i know i can't fully ditch it (an Apple Watch needs an iPhone for management). but, i'm curious about the concept nonetheless: what would it be like to ditch a smartphone for a smartwatch?
I just use garmin watches to track health stuff. I would literally jump for joy if there were a free alternative software and hardware stack to replace this watch or at the very least a cycling computer.
Why do I feel like there haven't been any hardware releases since the Macbook Neo? Market is so slow, probably due to the DRAM shortages.

No new GPUs, CPUs, technologies, etc...

$500 Android watch that will be obsolete in 2 years. What a dumb idea.
Interesting they are still going with round. Most of the UI shots look awkward on a round screen with anything not in the very center getting cut off a bunch.
Can someone please bring back original Amazfit Bip? I am now on the 3rd one in 8 years (the first body popped out in warranty (got money back), 2nd I cracked the screen cover glass and then water got in and battery swell).

It was superthin with MIP display requiring no backlight and could last 30-40 days on one charge, even now using 6-8 years old piece it can still last 4 weeks, which should probably answer my question why nobody wants to produce long lasting nice watch, you can sell it only once.

Imagine what we could do with MIP and new baterries in same body + imagine if it had open system...

Yeah yeah I know about Pebble Time 2, but it's thicker at 11mm, has no GPS like Bip + most importantly it cost way way more (225USD now vs like 80-99USD in 2018) for pretty much same specs Amazfit Bip had 8 years ago. Why something which cost in 2018 at worst 99USD now cost with worse specs (no GPS) 225USD? It's much easier and cheaper to produce it now.

Is there any plans to have a Graphine OS variant on one of these?
Not sure, when it happened, or why, but, from always buying the latest iphone, and apple watch, tracking my "everything" from steps, to weight, to calroies, slack, mail etc. etc. on my write and phone, I find myself wearing just normal watches (g-shock square in my case), and just not caring about upgraing my iphone, and instead carrying my kobo with me instead of my iphone, paying with...a physical card, instead of apple pay. Don't get me wrong all of the tech is amazing, and I am a geek, but I am so sick and tired of alwayss being connected, and then paying a subscription for every little thing in my life, it's so freeing to disconnect. Been reaching for pen and a notebook more than notion, biggest hurdle there is, my handwriting have really gotten quite bad.
i spent an hour the other week looking for my pine watch charger, this may inspire another 20 minutes digging around the house
What an ugly design...
Still no camera
Too bad all your health data gets sent to Google.
Once again another watch with a utterly useless one day battery, the absolute minimum acceptable should be 3 days to cover a weekend away, only really the ultras (apple and samsung) of the full fat smart watches seem to be doing this.
Still no rectangular phone option. WTF is wrong with Google?

Round watches are not cool. They end up inconvenient and uncomfortable.

I don't think I want anything google attached to my body. I don't need AI training on my heartbeat or whatever bullshit they'll come up with.

Their brand is so toxic with the forceful rollout of their AI stuff. Staying far far the hell away.

> * Up to 30 hours of battery life on the 41mm (40 hours on the 45mm) with fast charging.

Is this a typo? I get 20 days on the Pebble Time 2.