Pixel Watch

The pixel watch can be a nightmare. I've had the version 1 and the version 2 for years and I gave up because of the bugs. Random crashing, randomly dialing 911, just weird stuff that should not happen. [...] Random crashing on both versions of the watch. The first version screen was flickering like an old school television trying to tune in a distant UHF broadcast. Display drivers anyone? [...] Plus I don't know what Google is doing but recharging the pixel watch every 18 hours, or 36 if you're super lucky and your apps on the pixel watch behave themselves correctly, makes me feel like a slave to Google's naive product manager aspirations. Like, "it can do everything, and we make money off of you because you are the product!" While at the same time making me miserable. [...]

and remember the battery with a daily charge will degrade significantly. [...] That has not been my experience though - having used both an Apple Watch and a Pixel Watch for years on end every single day. [...]

I've had a pixel watch now for 6 months and I've arrived at the conclusion it provides no more utility to me than my Pebble did more than a decade ago

[...] My buttons also cracked practically right away (within a day), I suspect because the reinforcements were installed poorly (the buttons are VERY hard to press). It made the down button unusable. But kudos to Eric and Claudio, they're shipping me a replacement (in white, which, as I understand it and as they said in their email, should be less susceptible to the issue, something about the white rubber versus black makes it less problematic). [...] I only stopped using my Pebble Time Steel when the battery life degraded to 3 days (after about 6 years), used a Fossil Hybrid for a few years, now a Pixel watch. Measuring battery life in weeks will be a breath of fresh air :)

ive been using a pixel watch and element messenger for exactly this for a few months. works great. that said : the first gen pixel watch was hot garbage; this project seems like it'd be better off as a software package for existing (and polished) watches.

[...] I basically only use my phone if I need to do something that can't wait until I'm at a computer. I've got an LTE-enabled Pixel Watch that sometimes I'll wear without my phone. If anyone messages me and I need to talk to them before I get home, I call them from my watch.

Google Maps has had glitched-out building outlines overlapping rivers in my city for years. [...] But then, another Google product, Pixel Watch, has the bonkers default that if you just take a walk, like I normally do on most days, it considers that a "workout" of a dedicated type "walk" that needs to be tracked. [...]

Android Auto only shows who texted, it doesn't show any of the message. (IE, it doesn't even show the first few words.) It's also a hassle to have it "read" messages, it requires far too much interaction with the screen (and then the phone for permissions) for driving. In contrast, with my Pixel watch, while driving, I can see enough of the message to get an idea if it's important or not.

Funny, the Amex on my Pixel Watch stopped working only a couple weeks after the physical card expiry. It was quite confusing, because a) I received a replacement physical card several months before the card expiry, so by the time my watch stopped working I'd entirely forgotten about it, b) there's no indication anywhere in the Android/Wear OS of what the expiry date is or that it might be expired and c) there's no indication at the point of sale that the virtual card is expired, simply a generic "Declined" message.

I have no idea how the 2 major smart watches (android wear, apple watch) have such horrible battery life. Microsoft Band had a 3 day battery life that would've been 5 days if we weren't forced to use a trash accelerometer that drained our battery by a crazy amount. [...] I'm also miffed that OS updates have dropped by pixel watch's battery life from 3 days down to 1 and a half. [...] I presume apple decided they are minting money with a 2-ish day battery life so why bother improving things, but it is sad that most companies don't care about doing the right thing anymore.

I have a pixel watch, and my main use for it is setting reminders, like "reminder 3pm put the laundry in the dryer". It's worked fine since the day I bought it. Last week, they pushed an update that broke all of the features on the watch unless I agreed to allow Google to train their AI on my content.

Google Pixel watch. [...] I'll tell you why; the Pixel watch manages to combine all the disadvantages of a fitness tracker and a smartphone. Now I have to log in to my watch, the display is too small to read anything on, and I can't increase the font size. [...]

[...] Auto switching with airpods, continuity camera, universal control, shared clipboard, etc. The moment that third party software & hardware can use those APIs and integrate to the same level that Apple's own tech can, Apple no longer as a unique selling point (outside of maybe Advanced Data Protection) vs. [...] I'd love to use my macbook, an Android phone, AirPods, and a Pixel watch all together to the level of seamlessness that Apple's own ecosystem integrates.

[...] I had an original pebble and a pebble 2, and the heart monitor on the 2 was super uncomfortable, to the point where I mostly just kept wearing my original pebble. I currently have a pixel watch, and the body is fatter but it is also way more smooth of a transition into the hr sensor. [...]

Funnily enough the first smartwatch that was interesting to me was a round watch, so I got the Pixel watch. I don't mind having the UI not being as usable (debatable), but I much rather have a nice looking watch, more like a classic watch. That's like, your and my opinion, everyone has their preferences.

I get a little nervous about my Pixel watch. None of those watches have been updated since November and there are likely some juicy CVEs hanging out on them.

[...] I only switched away from my Pebble Time two years ago when I started to need heart rate monitoring for health reasons. The Pixel Watch is good, but in many ways I still consider the Time the optimal smartwatch design in many departments! [...]

I got a google pixel watch, and thought, "Oh Cool I can use it to pay with my watch!".Unfortunately, for that to happen it requires a pin which means it's locked all the time. If the watch is locked while riding a bike say, it's near impossible to unlock it.

[...] On my pixel watch 1, using a calendar other than Google's sucks. [...] I'm still pissed that they want a monthly subscription for the sleep tracking with the Google home thing... That you buy with your own money.

[...] Even got the LTE one so that I could use it when my phone is dead etc. So imagine my surprise when I switched my handset to Android and my watch reported "no service". [...] But once I didn't have an iPhone activated, a soft switch in my watch (read: medical device) was flipped in order to disable it. It was at that time that I sold every apple product in my possession, and bought a pixel watch. My pixel watch does everything better than my apple watch did, without exception. [...]

my pixel watch no longer has a functional "find my phone" button, so I can't ring it from my wrist. the recommended workaround is to turn on gemini and ask the "ai" agent verbally. [...]

i got a pixel watch and it made me officially touch grass ✌️ it made it so that i don't carry my phone anywhere because i can receive all my texts/messages on it. [...]

Recently I've been using my bf's pixel watch (I don't recommend) but I want to start tracking my sleep so I switched back to my obnoxiously huge galaxy watch. I feel like this makes me look like such a weirdo

love that out of nowhere the skin on my wrist has decided it's too sensitive for the band on the pixel watch I've had since Christmas, this is such a wonderful new development for me

I got a new case and watch band for my pixel watch. [...]

Is anything with the pebble time able to capture heart rate for historical data analysis? [...] I've got the pixel watch and I'm using Fitbit for this currently, but it's way too expensive for all I'm using it for. I really just want historical heart rate at the moment plus basic exercise tracking, and of course being able to tell the time. [...]

I've got a pixel watch and would love to use it for navigation while running but (admittedly without much in the way of trying) haven't stumbled across a way to do this. What do you use to make it do that? Strava?

[...] Maybe play 2048 if I'm bored and cant pick up my phone for some reason. [...] I'm glad Pixel Watch got better since gen 1 because gen 1 sucked at being smart watch and at being a fitness tracker.

[...] Like the always on display, always on notifications etc ... I used to auto set the watch into DnD / battery saving mode at night, and used the "raise hand to turn on the display" functionality.. [...] Charging used to be like "put the watch into charger after waking up. [...] I did miss the 30 day battery life of my Amazfit bip and 2 week battery life of Pebble before that.. but charging once a week wasn't all that bad... But again, I mostly used my Pixel watch as a fitness tracker. [...]

I felt like you as well: I like to track sleep and my heart rate during sports and with the pixel watch it felt like I had to almost plan these events (and more annoyingly while travelling) around the charge state of my watch, until I realized I had two separate requirements: notifications (which I don't care about during sports or sleeping), and fitness tracking. Unfortunately the solution ended up being paying google more money and getting a Fitbit air (which I can use for sleep tracking for an entire week-long trip without bringing a charger) And only wear the pixel watch for my awake hours, which a 30 hour battery life is more than enough for, even if I forget to charge it for a night or two. Another bonus is the Fitbit air is a lot more comfortable to sleep in, but of course I no longer care about the charge of my devices.

Somewhat unrelated but as a Pixel Watch user (since I'm in that ecosystem), I envy the Apple Watch just for the square display. It is just the fundamentally correct design for text imo (which is a large part of what is going to appear). One of my main uses for my Pixel Watch is reading notifications, and even for a 2-3 line text message I have to scroll to read it because it gets cut out by the roundness.

Same experience with the Watch 6 Classic. No issue of getting through the day with all features enabled. I stopped using it because I don't really like One UI (the Pixel Watch is so much cleaner).

[...] I.e., have my phone in the vicinity (as opposed to on my person) and only have the smartwatch equipped. At night, keep the smartphone away from my bed and only have the smartwatch and Bluetooth earbuds next to me. As a Pixel user, the first attempt in early 2023 was rough as the 1st gen Pixel watch had growing pains. [...] Hopefully the latest updates to WearOS will show an improvement, especially in battery life. I would have considered switching to Apple, but from what I've seen, there is no support for responding to Signal messages via the iWatch. [...]

The smartwatches I've owned with payments support (Pixel Watch series) automatically lock when they are not worn, presumably using the heart-rate sensor.

I'm not seeing how other phones are being held back by any of this. Google and Samsung have design patents, too, and my Pixel Watch also has a blood oxygen sensor.

My workaround for using both NFC payments and Graphene OS is wearing a Google Pixel Watch (1). All other Google Wallet features besides NFC payments should work. [1]

Is there any extension for Thunderbird that can handle "External Accounts" per-address signatures and sending identities already configured on a Gmail account? I always go "I'll check out Thunderbird again" then "nope" out when I see it can't handle this kind of set up in the OOBE and most extensions don't receive ongoing support and thus stop being compatible. I use Gmail on my phone and Pixel Watch, so ditching this setup is a non-starter as reconfiguring something as basic as email every time I get a new device or switch distros isn't my idea of a good time.

I got a new Pixel Watch and now Fitbit won't leave me alone, this is the midlife crisis they didn't warn me about