Google Pixel Watch 5 Review: Gemini Takes Center Stage in the Best Android Smartwatch

Google's Pixel Watch 5, priced at $399, is the first smartwatch to center Gemini AI in every aspect, featuring proactive assistance and AI-powered Health Coach workout feedback, and earns PCMag's Editors' Choice award for Android smartwatches. The watch offers 56.5 hours of tested battery life, a 3,000-nit Super AMOLED display, and starts at $399 for the 41mm model, with a $50 price increase over the Pixel Watch 4.

Pros & Cons - - Accurate exercise and sleep tracking - More than two days of battery life - Detailed Gemini health coaching - Proactive and speedy AI assistance - Responsive touch and gesture controls - - Less durable than competitors - Some fitness advice is paywalled Google Pixel Watch 5 Specs | Battery Life | 56.5 hours tested | | Display Size | 1.27 inches/1.46 inches | | Display Type | Super AMOLED | | Fitness Features | Accelerometer | | Fitness Features | Barometer | | Fitness Features | Blood Oxygen Monitor | | Fitness Features | ECG | | Fitness Features | GPS | | Fitness Features | Gyroscope | | Fitness Features | Heart Rate Monitor | | Fitness Features | Light Sensor | | Fitness Features | Pedometer | | Fitness Features | Pulse Oximeter | | Fitness Features | Temperature Sensor | | Phone Call Capacity | | | Phone OS Compatibility | Android | | Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 Accelerated, Cortex-M55 | | Separate App Store | | | Watch OS | Wear OS | AI /ai has been creeping into smartwatches /migrated-99802-smartwatches/9504/the-best-smartwatches for years, but the Google Pixel Watch 5 is the first to put it at the center of everything . Powered by a new, faster processor, Google's Gemini assistant acts as a proactive companion—surfacing your flight details on the way to the airport or suggesting a phone number while you text about dinner plans—while a new AI-powered Health Coach /ai/162282/the-results-dont-lie-googles-ai-is-the-best-automated-health-coach-ive-tried offers tailored workout feedback. Although the hardware and battery life remain mostly unchanged from last year, and the price has risen to $399, the overall experience edges out the $379.99 Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 /migrated-99802-smartwatches/166552/samsung-galaxy-watch-9-review-new-health-features-offset-by-familiar-battery-shortcomings and is enough to earn the Pixel Watch 5 our Editors' Choice award for Android smartwatches /migrated-99802-smartwatches/143930/the-best-android-watch-for-2022 . Price: At Parity With Apple The Pixel Watch 5 starts at $399 for the smaller 41mm model with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, while the 45mm model starts at $429. Add $100 to either for LTE, allowing you to stay connected when away from your phone. Both models come in Polished Silver/Fog white , Matte Black/Obsidian black , or Satin Pyrite/Olive green , with the 41mm size also available in Champagne Gold/Canyon pink . The watch comes with an Active Band made of hydrogenated nitrile-butadiene rubber in both small and large sizes, so you can find the right fit. It's nice that Google includes both sizes; with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9, you must choose between a small/medium or a medium/large band when you order. Google is offering a Stephen Curry Special Edition Pixel Watch 5 with a custom watch face, an exclusive band, and LTE connectivity for $579.99. This version matches the orange-and-tan color scheme of the Special Edition Stephen Curry Band for the Fitbit Air /fitness-trackers/165161/fitbit-air , Google's $99 fitness tracker /fitness-trackers/159/the-best-fitness-trackers . When it launched, the Pixel Watch 4 /migrated-99802-smartwatches/160578/google-pixel-watch-4 started at $349.99 for the 41mm version, so this year's model comes with a $50 base price bump, putting it in line with the Apple Watch Series 11 /migrated-99802-smartwatches/160098/apple-watch-series-11 , which also starts at $399. The Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 is the least expensive of the bunch, starting at $379.99. Design: Elegant Curves Return The Pixel Watch 5 has the same domed glass and curved display as the Pixel Watch 4. The Actua 360 display measures 1.27 inches on the smaller watch and 1.46 inches on the larger model. The screen reaches up to 3,000 nits of brightness that adjusts based on ambient light. I find the curved display and domed glass on the Pixel Watch 5 striking, and Google has new watch faces with graphics that bend around the edges to help accentuate the unique look. I worry about its long-term durability, but the Pixel Watch 5 is fully serviceable, and the 3D Corning Gorilla Glass held up to my weightlifting routine during a week of testing with no noticeable scratches or dings. With an aerospace-grade aluminum case, IP68 https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/dust-resistant-waterproof-making-sense-of-gadget-ratings durability, and a 5ATM water resistance rating, the Pixel Watch 5 is impervious to dust and can be submerged up to 164 feet, meaning you can safely wear it for a swim or on the beach. Google sent me the 45mm model to test for this review. It fits my wrist well and is comfortable to wear day and night. The Active Band feels sturdy and dries off quickly. Both sizes of the Pixel Watch 5 are 0.48 inches thick, with the larger model weighing 1.29 ounces and the smaller 1.09 ounces. Those dimensions, the screen, durability, and all other aspects of the design match those of the Pixel Watch 4. The Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 has a squircle shape that combines a squared bezel with a circular watch face. I don’t like the look nearly as much as the elegant curves of the Pixel Watch 5, but the Galaxy Watch is thinner at 0.3 inches and has the edge in durability with MIL-STD-810H certification, meaning it can withstand extreme temperature fluctuations and other environmental stressors, such as vibration and shock. Performance Specs: Faster Chip, Double the Storage The Pixel Watch 5 has more power at its disposal than the Pixel Watch 4. It uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 Accelerated with a Cortex-M55 coprocessor, which Google says provides a 12% boost to CPU speed, yielding a 20% increase in overall performance. The Pixel Watch 4 has a similar dual-processor setup, but lacks the Accelerated version of the Snapdragon chip. In addition to the faster processor, the Pixel Watch 5 has more memory and storage. It offers 3GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, up from 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage in the Pixel Watch 4. The Galaxy Watch 9 has a new processor as well, but the same memory and storage capacity as its predecessor and the Pixel Watch 4. Unlike the processor, the Pixel Watch 5 has the same sensor array as its predecessor. That includes an accelerometer, an altimeter, an ambient light sensor, a barometer, a compass, an electrical sensor to measure skin conductance cEDA and gauge stress, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, a multi-path optical heart rate sensor, and a skin temperature sensor. It can monitor blood oxygen saturation SpO2 with red and infrared sensors and record an electrocardiogram ECG with multipurpose electrical sensors. Connectivity Upgrades: Satellite Messaging and GPS Like the Galaxy Watch 9, the Pixel Watch 5 is exclusive to Android. It requires a phone running Android 12.0 or newer, though pairing it with a newer Pixel handset enables some of the watch's best AI-based tricks. Samsung also reserves several of its best Galaxy Watch features for first-party phones, while the Apple Watch /migrated-99802-smartwatches/143057/the-best-apple-watch only works with iPhones /mobile-phones/136035/whats-the-best-iphone-to-buy . The Pixel Watch 5 goes above and beyond the Galaxy Watch 9 in connectivity, using satellite communications on LTE models to let you call for help even in remote locations outside cell range, a feature first introduced on the Pixel Watch 4. For outdoor workout tracking, Google's latest GPS software promises improved accuracy in tough conditions. The Pixel Watch 5 has the same dual-GPS setup as its predecessor, but Google has updated the mapping software to better reduce distortion caused by objects that could reflect the signal. Specifically, the watch can better track your location when you're surrounded by tall buildings in a big city, through cloud cover, and through tree canopies. It does this by tracing the signal's path through 3D building models to identify and correct for any data loss, and by using weather reference stations to account for errors caused by atmospheric conditions. Note that because the GPS improvements are software-based, the Pixel Watch 4 will get the same accuracy boost via an update. I went for a couple of walks in downtown Chicago while testing the Pixel Watch 5, and it correctly tracked my location and distance. The Pixel Watch 4 performed similarly in my testing last year, so I didn't notice much of an improvement. However, the GPS software upgrades could make a difference if you often train in densely populated cities or the woods and need precise distance and route details. Battery Life: Multiday Endurance and Fast Charging The Pixel Watch 5 delivers the same battery life as the Pixel Watch 4, despite having slightly more capacity: 465mAh in the larger model, up from 455mAh, and 332mAh in the smaller model, up from 325mAh. In testing, the larger Pixel Watch 5 lasted 56.5 hours on a charge with typical usage, well exceeding Google's 40-hour estimate for the model the smaller version is estimated to last up to 30 hours . For my battery tests, I keep the always-on display enabled and track one workout per day with GPS. That result almost exactly matches the Pixel Watch 4 56 hours , and remains impressive for a flagship smartwatch. The larger Apple Watch Series 11 lasted just under two days 43 hours in testing. Battery life is a weak spot for Samsung smartwatches; the smaller Galaxy Watch 9 lasted just 26 hours in testing, matching its predecessor. The Pixel Watch 5 also recharges much more quickly than its Samsung rival. I plugged in both watches using their included charging pads and my own 18W brick. The Pixel Watch 5 went from 5% to full in 45 minutes, while the Galaxy Watch 9 needed 108 minutes. Getting Started and Controls: Simple Setup and Expanded Wrist Gestures If you’ve never worn a Pixel Watch before, it takes a minute to figure out how to attach the bands, as they don’t just snap into place. You have to use one side of the band to depress a button next to the slot on the case, then slide the band over. I actually like the system, but it takes some getting used to. The Pixel Watch 5 comes with the same unique charging pad as its predecessor. It holds the watch on its side when it’s plugged in, so you can easily see the display. The charger uses a USB-C connector, but you’ll need to provide your own power brick. To turn on the watch, press and hold the crown for three seconds. Next, open the Pixel Watch app to connect the device with your phone. The process is quick and painless, and involves the usual terms and agreements, as well as updates and feature walkthroughs. Once you’re set, you can use the Pixel Watch app to manage device settings, download watch faces, customize controls and shortcuts, manage watch screens such as the scrollable widget Tiles, and access advanced preferences and controls. The Google Health app which replaces the Fitbit app /health-fitness/164823/google-health-is-back-as-fitbit-app-rebrands-for-new-tracker holds the wellness data your watch collects. Use this app to check your activity and stress levels, view sleep stats, and see scores such as your Daily Readiness. While all of the basics are free, you can pay $9.99 per month to access the Google Health Coach, which provides AI-powered guidance on your fitness and wellness more on this later . The watch itself has intuitive and responsive controls. Press the crown from the watch face to open the app drawer, or press it from any other page to return to the watch face. Double-tap the crown to pull up Google Pay. Press the side button above the crown to pull up a list of recently used apps. Hold this button to access Gemini. The touch screen works responsively as well. Swipe down for a quick menu of common features, including airplane mode, the flashlight, settings, and the water lock. Swipe up for notifications. Swipe left and right for widget Tiles, which offer access to most of the watch’s apps and features. Google has expanded what you can do with gesture controls. Double-tap your thumb and forefinger to make selections in certain apps. Quickly turn your wrist to dismiss a call or go back. Raise your wrist to talk to Gemini. Previously, the apps and menus that worked with these gestures were relatively limited. Now, they work on almost any screen, and the watch shows a handy pop-up icon to remind you of the option and help build the habit. You can also further customize the sensitivity of the raise-to-talk option, and the wrist turn gesture serves as a universal back button. Each gesture worked reliably in testing, allowing me to perform basic functions with only one hand. Lifestyle Features: Proactive Gemini Makes Wear OS Truly Smart The Pixel Watch 5 excels at all basic smartwatch functionality. You can make calls, send texts, and use NFC-powered tap-to-pay at the register, without having to pull out your card or phone. Through Wear OS, you have access to many first-party apps like Google Home, Google Keep, and YouTube Music, as well as third-party apps like Spotify and Strava. Gemini is on hand to answer questions. You can access it with button shortcuts, by saying “Hey Google,” or by enabling the raise-to-talk gesture. Through Gemini, you can interact with the watch’s apps to add an appointment to your calendar, search for a location on Google Maps, or control smart home devices /smart-home/134857/the-best-smart-home-devices-for-2021 . New to Wear OS 7, Gemini Intelligence /android/164894/in-android-17-gemini-intelligence-can-automate-tasks-across-apps can provide proactive assistance. If you're texting a friend about dinner plans, Gemini can pull up the restaurant's phone number, so you can easily add it to your chat. When riding a bus, Gemini might show the number of stops left until you reach your destination. It can pull up a confirmation number when you're on a phone call with a business, or flight details when you're on the way to the airport. I like Gemini’s text suggestions, which have proven helpful in my everyday life. When I was chatting with a friend about a location, it automatically pulled up map details. It even offered to switch to a different conversation when I told one friend I needed to check something with another. Gemini also seamlessly responds to complex questions across multiple apps. When I asked what time I needed to leave to make an 11:15 appointment, it found the correct entry in my calendar, then searched the location in Google Maps while noting my preference for public transit. Apple is beginning to roll out similar AI-powered assistance to its watches via watchOS 27 /migrated-99802-smartwatches/166173/i-tested-the-new-siri-ai-in-watchos-27-beta-it-had-me-feeling-like-a-secret-agent , and Siri AI /ai/166475/apples-long-awaited-siri-ai-is-finally-here-these-12-tips-make-it-even-better is being developed in collaboration with Google /ai/162543/apple-google-sign-deal-to-use-gemini-ai-to-help-build-the-future-of-siri . Samsung's latest smartwatches run Wear OS 7, but I noticed Gemini offering proactive assistance much more frequently when testing the Pixel Watch 5 versus the Galaxy Watch 9. While the Pixel Watch 4 will gain access to the same Gemini Intelligence features via an update to Wear OS 7, the new processor in the Pixel Watch 5 improves responsiveness. The Pixel Watch 5 handled my complex questions with impressive speed. It consistently pulled up relevant information from multiple apps and responded to queries within seconds. Health Tracking: At-a-Glance Vitals and Holistic Health Scores After a few days of calibration, the Google Pixel Watch 5 uses AI to provide holistic health assessments and related advice. Your Daily Readiness Score combines heart rate variability, resting heart rate, and sleep to offer guidance on how hard you should push your workouts. Cardio Load provides a rolling seven-day breakdown of your exertion, along with a target to hit for optimal training gains without overexertion. The Google Health app shows recent data in the Today tab, and surfaces cards with the most timely information at the top. The Health tab lets you check all the vitals it tracks, including breathing rate, heart rate variability, resting heart rate, skin temperature variation, and SpO2 for deviations from your established baseline. The Fitness and Sleep tabs let you dive into your tracked data for each topic. Health Guardian: The Future of Preventive Alerts With a new feature called Health Guardian, the Pixel Watch 5 attempts to proactively alert you about warning signs of health conditions so you can take action. Features that live under the umbrella of Health Guardian include the existing Loss of Pulse detection, as well as a trio of new abilities: Blood Pressure Trends, Breathing Emergency Detection, and Insulin Resistance Trends. Blood Pressure Trends monitors your pulse and movement during the day and overnight, then sends you a notification on the first of each month, letting you know if your blood pressure is trending high or within a normal range. If your readings are high, Google will provide a few lifestyle tips that could help. The feature is similar to Apple’s Hypertension notifications /wearables/160038/apple-watch-hypertension-alerts-approved-rollout-begins-next-week , which also run in the background but notify you only if something is wrong. With the Galaxy Watch 9, you can take on-demand blood pressure readings, but the process requires calibration with a separate cuff /migrated-99802-smartwatches/164538/i-tested-samsungs-galaxy-watch-blood-pressure-feature-and-im-not-impressed . Google’s version strikes a balance between the two with regular feedback without a tedious setup process. Breathing Emergency Detection monitors for a persistent drop in oxygen saturation and will contact emergency services on your behalf if it senses a crisis. The feature has not been cleared by the FDA, and it won’t detect ongoing or preexisting conditions like asthma. It’s instead meant to detect a more sudden problem caused by issues like choking, a drug overdose, or pneumonia. Insulin Resistance Trends monitors your heart rhythm, daily movement, and sleep quality, and uses AI to assess how well your body absorbs and uses energy. After a month of calibration, it will track your metabolic health by showing if your body is working harder than normal to manage your blood sugar. If your insulin resistance is high, it can provide lifestyle and nutrition advice to address the issue. Google never actually mentions the word diabetes in its description of the feature, aside from a disclaimer at the end stating that Insulin Resistance Trends is not meant as a diagnostic or prescreening tool for the condition. All of these new Health Guardian features are expected to launch in September, so they weren’t available to try during my testing. Health Guardian will also be available on the Pixel Watch 4 via an update. Google Health Coach: Unmatched AI Workouts If you pay for the premium version of the app, Google Health Coach can provide guidance on any topic via the Ask Coach button. Google Health Coach also makes it easy to log specific activity details and meals: Simply take a picture of what you’re about to eat, and it’ll recognize the food and add the calories. You can take a picture of a whiteboard showing your workout for the day, and it will log the sets. Beyond just helping you track information, Health Coach can create a fitness plan for you and adapt it for the day or the week based on your current Readiness and life circumstances. If you need to change the plan on the fly because you’re traveling or busy, it can adapt. It can even preempt a change for you if it senses that you didn’t get a great night's rest or if a planned run looks like it's going to be a washout due to rain. The Apple Watch has a Workout Buddy /migrated-99802-smartwatches/158538/can-the-apple-watch-workout-buddy-really-replace-my-personal-trainer-only-if-it-does-these-3-things that offers encouraging words and stat updates during certain exercises. The Galaxy Watch has a Running Coach that tailors a plan to your current fitness level. While the tools from both companies work well on their respective watches, neither offers the same adaptability or breadth of capabilities as Google’s Health Coach. Soon, you’ll be able to create a strength training workout or high-intensity interval training HIIT session with the Health Coach. Take a picture of the weights you have on hand, or tell the Coach what muscles you want to target, and it’ll do the rest. This feature is expected to launch in the coming weeks and will also be available on the Pixel Watch 4. Fitness: Solid Exercise Tracking That Keeps Pace The Pixel Watch 5 is an accurate and capable fitness tracker. You can use it to automatically or manually monitor a wide range of activities, exercises, and sports. I wore it on an outing in downtown Chicago, and it automatically tracked my walks whenever I was moving for more than a few minutes. It never automatically pulled up the real-time workout details on my watch as the Galaxy Watch 9 does, but within 10 to 15 minutes of stopping, I’d always get a notification that the Pixel Watch 5 logged a walk. To evaluate its accuracy, I wore the Pixel Watch 5 alongside the Apple Watch Ultra 3 https://phoenix-preview.pcmag.com/reviews/apple-watch-ultra-3 on my other wrist and used both watches to track a 30-minute run and an hour-long HIIT session. During both sessions, heart rate readings from the Pixel Watch 5 matched those of the Ultra 3. It kept up with my heart rate fluctuations during both workouts, always staying within 5 to 10bpm of Apple's readings. After the workout, their heart rate charts showed similar spikes and dips, and their average and maximum heart rate values were the same. The Pixel Watch 5 also goes beyond the basics when tracking outdoor running. In addition to calories, distance, duration, heart rate, and pace, it measures advanced form metrics like ground contact time, step cadence, stride length, vertical oscillation, and vertical ratio. It shows where your result falls on a bar graph alongside average values, though you have to read the description to find out whether your numbers are high or low. Samsung goes a step further with short videos offering simple exercises you can do to improve different aspects of your running form. Sleep Tracking: Reliable Insights and Smart Alarms The Pixel Watch 5 monitors overall sleep duration, time spent in each sleep stage, oxygen variability, and average sleep heart rate, and provides a holistic sleep score based on your overnight data. New to this generation, it also monitors the quality of your breathing during sleep and its effect on your blood oxygen levels. This feature somewhat mirrors the sleep apnea monitoring provided by Apple and Samsung, though Google doesn’t specifically mention the condition or have FDA approval for such a feature. Samsung goes a step further than Apple or Google with the ability to listen for snoring while you sleep. Google has promised a 15% improvement in sleep tracking accuracy for this generation through software updates. I wore the Pixel Watch 5 to bed each night for a week, and on multiple nights, I wore the Apple Watch Ultra 3 on my other wrist. Google’s values for time spent in each sleep stage and its sleep stage chart matched Apple’s to a reasonable degree and aligned with my anecdotal experience. With a new feature on the Pixel Watch 5, you can set a smart alarm that wakes you when you’re stirring within a certain time frame. When I tested it, the alarm successfully woke me up while I was lightly dozing, and I got out of bed feeling refreshed. Google Health Coach offers advice to help you get a better night's rest, and insights about how sleep relates to your Readiness and overall well-being. In testing, it nudged me to go to bed earlier on several nights, but it didn’t scold me too harshly when I ignored it. I find Samsung’s Sleep Coach slightly more insightful because it provides a list of activities to help calm your mind and improve your sleep. That said, the Galaxy Watch 9 sometimes missed data while I was sleeping, leaving gaps in the charts and skewing the numbers. The Pixel Watch 5 didn't show any such periods of missed data in testing. Final Thoughts Google Pixel Watch 5 Review: Gemini Takes Center Stage in the Best Android Smartwatch Despite only minor changes from its predecessor, faster performance and deeply integrated, proactive Gemini AI make the Pixel Watch 5 the best smartwatch for Android users.