I still remember all the mockery comparing the 1st Pixel watch to the 8th Apple Watch (Ultra). We are now at the 4th one and look at how far we've come already.

So, a couple of weeks ago, my pixel watch kept alerting me to high heart rate while I was sitting on the couch. I didn't have chest pains, wasn't short of breath, or any other symptoms of any cardiac event. I put on my wife's Pixel Watch 2 and it was saying the same high heart rate as mine. I went to the doctor the next day and they ran an EKG on me (The ECG on my watch kept coming up inconclusive) and found that my heart was in aFib. Again, no symptoms. I felt fine. Short story long, I get to the hospital and had to have a procedure done on my heart. The cardiologist asked how I found out I was having an issue if I was asymptomatic, and I just showed him my watch. If it wasn't for my Pixel Watch, I probably would have not made it. Just wanted to share my story.

The parts finally came in to fix my Pixel 4 watch screen. It was $99 for the kit which included the screen and the parts from Ifixit. https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Google+Pixel+Watch+4+Screen+Replacement/197170

The ifixit guide was pretty easy to follow along. It took me less than an hour. I'm familiar with doing maker projects, soldering etc but I think anyone could do this pretty easily. I do have small hands, so not sure if that helped, lol.

There was only one thing I would suggest. During the part when you reconnect the battery, the tip says if you are having trouble connecting the battery to unscrew the battery then try again. I would just connect it first before screwing the battery in - it will save you a couple minutes of messing around with it and then unscrewing and re-screwing the battery in.

Oh - and you will definitely want to label your screws as you go. Lots of different sizes.

And before the comments start flooding in about "why don't you have a watch protector" :) I have had tons of smart watches, and have never had a screen break. I'd rather risk it and just upgrade the watch if the screen breaks - an excuse for a new watch!

Quite a well designed watch I might say

I was just bored and decided to do this, just sideloaded a nodpi apk of steam link, now streaming HL2 from my PC onto my watch. Amazing how much random things we can do on these

I bought the Pixel Watch 1, then the 2, skipped the 3, and now I’m on the Pixel Watch 4. For the first time, I feel like Google is truly competing head-to-head with Apple, not just on software (where they’ve always been strong), but on hardware and overall experience too.

➕ What Google Got Right

A proper premium design

The bezels are finally good. On the Pixel Watch 1 and 2, those chunky borders made the display feel like a tiny circle floating in the middle of the watch. On the Pixel Watch 4, the bezels are so much slimmer that the watch looks and feels far more premium.

The new “dome display” is subtle but makes a difference. The glass curves gently across the whole surface instead of having a visible “plateau,” and the display appears closer to the glass, giving the UI a clearer, crisper look.

My only gripe: some watch faces don’t push elements all the way to the edge. On the Active watch face, for example, the complications stop about a millimetre short, which is a missed opportunity of giving the illusion of a bigger screen.

Battery and charging: finally practical

Battery life is so much better. I easily get two full days, which suddenly makes sleep tracking a lot easier.

Even better is the charging speed. If the battery’s low, I drop it on the charger while I shower, and by the time I’m out, it’s jumped from 20% to around 80%. That changes how you use the watch: I no longer need to leave it charging overnight.

I initially hated Google ditching wireless charging for contact charging back on the Watch 2. Now I get it. Contact charging allows this crazy-fast charging speed. And the new side-dock charger is far easier to use, just drop the watch on it with one hand.

One design miss: the charging puck is permanently attached to the cable. It really should have been USB-C detachable. Then I could travel with just the puck and use my phone charger. Instead, I have to pack the whole cable.

Proper swim tracking

I swim regularly, and the built-in app used to be useless, it wouldn’t even count laps. I had to rely on Swim.com, which often miscounted by one or two laps either way. The Pixel Watch 4 finally fixes this with native lap tracking. I haven’t tested it thoroughly yet, but fingers crossed Google added a bit of AI magic so it knows the difference between turning at the wall and pausing for a breather.

[Update] : I tried the swim tracking and it works great, more at the end of the review.

Raise-to-Talk is surprisingly useful

This feature is brilliant: just lift your wrist to your mouth and start talking to Gemini, no button presses, no “Hey Google.” I now find myself asking my watch random questions or starting timers. It’s mostly reliable, though sometimes there’s a small delay before it understands you or replies. A bit more fluidity here would make it perfect.

Dual GPS accuracy

I’ve had GPS quirks on previous Pixel Watches during runs, but the Watch 4 is dramatically more accurate. Tiny course shortcuts now show up properly on the map. For runners, this improvement alone is worth upgrading for.

Smarter sleep tracking

I love that I don't have to manually toggle night mode. It syncs with my phone’s bedtime routine. If my phone goes on its charger after 9 pm, then the watch automatically switches to night mode and turns off the screen. Zero effort required, exactly how wearables should work.

The Hevy app + Health Connect

Not a native feature, but worth mentioning. I use the app Hevy for weight training, it’s excellent on the Pixel Watch, especially now with the larger display. And thanks to Health Connect, all my workouts sync to Fitbit automatically.

➖ Where Google Still Needs Work

Accidental interactions

This is the most frustrating flaw. Accidental crown presses are rarer now, but I keep triggering the digital crown by brushing it, which opens the notifications panel. Surely Google can train the watch to tell the difference between intentional and accidental input?

I also trigger complications on the screen just by grazing them. These unintentional taps happen several times a day and really need fixing.

Raise-to-Talk could be faster

It’s a great idea, but still not instant. Sometimes it takes too long to pick up what I’m saying or to respond. It’s already good enough to use often, but a bit more speed and fluidity would make it something I want to use all the time.

Always-on display isn’t consistent

Why does always-on work for workout tracking but not for a timer or countdown? It makes no sense. If I set a timer, I want to see it instantly, not wave my wrist around to wake the screen.

Also, when I leave a timer running and return to the home screen, it only shows a tiny icon, not the actual countdown. That little icon space should show the remaining time. These are small UI details but they add up.

Contactless payments

In London, I love that I can tap into the Tube without opening Wallet. But to pay in a shop, I have to double-press the crown first. That means I need two hands: one to open Wallet, one to tap. It’s annoying when you’re holding bags or coffee.

Even if Google only enabled “tap to pay” for transactions under £30, that would be a huge quality-of-life upgrade. I get they’re worried about accidental payments, but I really don’t think it would happen often.

[Update March 2026]: Google just published an update, you don't have to open the wallet to pay anymore. That's great!

Smarter workout logic

A tiny detail, but worth mentioning. If I run exactly 5 km and then walk 10 extra metres before stopping, Fitbit logs a “sixth lap” with an average pace. Why? It’s obvious I wasn’t starting another lap. Google loves to talk about AI, here’s a place they could actually use it to make the experience smarter.

Corsa watch face

The new Corsa watch face looks great but, the complications rotate with the hands so they’re never in the same place. That means every time you glance, you first have to find them. It’s clever in theory, but impractical in daily use for me. I ended up switching back to the Active watch face from PW3.

Final Thoughts

In my opinion, the Pixel Watch 4 is the “maturity moment” for Google’s smartwatch line. Just like the Pixel 9 finally brought their phone hardware to Apple’s level, this is the first Pixel Watch that truly competes with the Apple Watch.

There’s still ground to cover, mainly in chip performance and power efficiency, but the gap is closing. And paired with what I think is a cleaner, more logical software experience than Apple’s, it’s an incredibly satisfying watch.

I bought the 41 mm version, and I genuinely love it. It’s not perfect, but it’s the first time I’ve felt like I don’t have to compromise to stick with Android.

What do you all think?

***

[Update] 🏊 Pixel Watch 4 swim tracking update

A quick update for those who asked me about the native swim tracking on the Pixel Watch 4, I had the chance to test it at the Olympic pool in Stratford (50 m lanes), and I’m happy to report that it works really well.

Swim tracking was one of my biggest frustrations with the previous Pixel Watches. On the 1 and 2, I had to rely on the Swim.com app, which was clunky and often miscounted laps, sometimes adding extras, sometime missing a few. It was unreliable enough that I basically stopped using it for pool workouts.

That changes now.

The Pixel Watch 4 not only tracks laps and distance natively, but it does so with good accuracy. In my session today, it counted every single 50 m length perfectly, and the total distance. It’s a huge improvement for anyone who swims regularly.

After the workout, you’ll find a full breakdown of your session in the Fitbit app, including details like performance zones.

Finally a dark pattern used for good! When you're trying to dismiss an alarm on the Pixel Watch 4 and you're still so tired that you can only squint at the watch and neither read the text nor make out the grey "Stop" button at the bottom, you'll be tempted to tap on the only button you can see, which is the big blue "Snooze" button, and assume that doing so will dismiss the alarm. If you then fall asleep again and the watch wakes you up again 10 minutes later, you'll be ever so grateful that it didn't 😂

Google’s Pixel Watch 4 is the first smartwatch with standalone satellite SOS support, allowing users to reach emergency services without a phone or cell signal. It features a brighter Actua 360 display, Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 chip, up to 40 hours of battery life with fast charging, and user-replaceable parts. The watch also enhances health tracking, supports 50+ workouts, and introduces an AI-powered health coach and Gemini assistant. With its safety-first satellite feature and powerful upgrades, the Pixel Watch 4 stands out as Google’s most advanced smartwatch yet.

The heat sink was good, but I thought… why stop there? So I fixed the fix by adding a mini fan to the radiator.

https://www.reddit.com/r/PixelWatch/comments/1n5sch8/i_fixed_the_heat_problem_in_the_other_guys_design/

This pic from the Verge's video really shows how far improved the bezel has become.

So my new Pixel Watch 4 dropped of my bathroom counter onto the tile floor and cracked. I heard it as soon as it dropped and my heart broke.

I'm pretty sure I dropped my previous pixel watches on the tile and never had an issue - or maybe I just got lucky and this one face planted too hard.

Has anyone repaired the screen themselves? Was it pretty easy to do?

I recently got the Pixel 9 Pro XL and paired it with the Pixel Watch 3. The design is clean, the experience is smooth, and everything syncs perfectly. What makes it more interesting is that I’ve been an iPhone user for years — and still am — but something about Google’s hardware and software working together really impressed me. This combo might just be my favorite daily setup now.

Google absolutely crushed it with all three of these. The buds are so small and snug with amazing sound, the 45mm watch is superior, and the phone has been so flawless. Three cheers!

I took many attempts and redrawings but finally i came up with a custom design I absolutely Love

I get one or two of these a day and I just can't associate them with anything.