Pixel Watch 5 hands-on: Health, GPS and AI at the forefront

Google presents the Pixel Watch 5, a major update concentrating on health, safety, and on-device artificial intelligence. This model adds capabilities like emergency breathing detection and proactive, context-aware suggestions, while keeping the same physical form as before. You can pre-order it now starting at $399.99, which is $50 more than the last version.

Key takeaways

• Runs on a new Snapdragon chip with 20% better performance and on-device Gemini AI for offline commands.
• Adds advanced health and safety features like sleep breathing quality tracking and automatic emergency service calls.
• Includes new “proactive intelligence” chips that show context-aware suggestions on the watch face.
• Offers much better GPS accuracy, said to beat top rivals in difficult environments.
• Starts at $399.99 with an iterative design but new generative AI watch faces and complication styles.

Performance and AI Enhancements

A new Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 Accelerated chip drives the Pixel Watch 5. Google says this chip, paired with a 50 percent RAM increase, provides a 20 percent overall performance gain over the older model.

On-Device AI and Proactive Features

On-device Gemini support for offline use is a key addition. It enables faster processing of voice commands, like setting timers or starting workouts, without a network connection. In one demo, this local processing proved slightly quicker than Siri on a current Apple Watch.

Fresh “proactive intelligence” chips present context-aware suggestions right on the watch face. Like Apple’s Smart Stack, these tips appear as small bubbles and recommend actions based on what you’re doing. For instance, the system might show flight details and a boarding pass, display remaining bus stops, or give you a button to open your calendar after a message about scheduling a meeting.

Generative Watch Faces

The watch brings in generative AI watch faces. Users can describe a preferred style to Gemini, and the AI will create several custom home screen options from that description.

Advanced Health and Safety Features

Google has broadened health monitoring on the Pixel Watch 5 with more precise sleep state tracking and a new sleep breathing quality metric. The company also evolved the loss of pulse detection alerts from two years ago into a fresh feature called Breathing emergency detection.

Emergency Detection Systems

This capability uses the onboard sensors to find a lasting drop in blood oxygen saturation, then calls emergency services for you if you don’t respond. It will launch in “many European countries” first, and Google noted it’s working with regulators to bring the feature to more regions.

Wellness Updates

Other wellness improvements contain new bedtime mode automations, updated smart wake features, and fresh watch faces. The watch keeps its focus on health crises, supported by the ongoing loss of pulse detection alerts.

GPS and Durability Improvements

Even with the same dual-band GPS hardware as its forerunner, Google claims the Pixel Watch 5 has the “most accurate GPS route-tracking ever on a Pixel Watch,” being two times more precise in tough spots. This gain uses Google’s global network of GPS reference stations and 3D building models from Maps to correct for signal interference.

Google cites an internal study showing its new GPS system beats the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Garmin Fenix 8 Pro. The watch holds the same practical design as the Pixel Watch 4, which iFixit praised as a “masterclass in smartwatch design” for its repairability, permitting battery and screen replacements.

Pricing, Availability, and Iterative Design

The Pixel Watch 5 starts at $399.99, marking a $50 price jump over the prior model. It’s available for pre-order and will start shipping from August 20.

Externally, the watch shares the same display and design as the Pixel Watch 4, making this mostly an iterative hardware refresh. At first look, the newest Pixel Watch appears like a stepwise update, particularly given the limited hardware changes this year. In total, the Pixel Watch 5 retains the same display and design as the Pixel Watch 4.

For more functional updates, you get 11 new complication styles for the watch face. Other changes to the Pixel Watch 5 could also help you find and do things more easily, like the 11 new complication styles and proactive intelligence chips.