Short Comparison: Google Pixel Watch vs Apple Watch Series 8
From the perspective of someone who has rejected smartwatches for now
At first glance, they’re not very similar, but at second glance, you’ll find that Google has taken perhaps more inspiration from Apple than might be appropriate. It at least bet on a circular case to keep it from being so flashy. With the Series 8, we can clearly say that this is one of the best-equipped wearables available for iPhones.
But in the case of the Pixel Watch, we can’t quite say that concerning Android because there’s still Samsung’s Galaxy Watch. The Pixel Watch is clearly said to be an Apple Watch for Android. This is mainly because Google, which is behind Android, will also finally offer its smartwatch for it for the first time.
If you then own Pixel phones, you have the complete lineup all under Google’s roof, which is exactly similar to iPhones, their iOS and Apple Watch with watchOS.
Display and dimensions
If we start our comparison immediately with the display, Google loses points here for its size. The Pixel Watch is small by today’s smartwatch and wearable proportions, at just 41mm without any options (the Samsung Galaxy Watch5 and Watch5 Pro are also 45mm). While the Apple Watch also has a 41mm rectangular case, they offer a larger 45mm variant.
So the Pixel Watch’s display is 1.2", the one on the Apple Watch Series 8 is 1.9". The former has a resolution of
450 x 450 pixels at 320 PPI, the latter 484 x 396 pixels at 326 PPI. Both watches can do 1000 nits. But Google’s solution leads in weight, which is 36g, while the Apple Watch weighs 42.3 and 51.5g, respectively. Both also have 50m water resistance, but the Apple Watch bids for IP6X certification.
Performance and battery
The Apple Watch has Apple’s dual-core S8 chip and runs on the current watchOS 9. The internal memory is 32GB, while the working memory is 1GB. So Apple is putting the latest it has into its solution. Google, however, has reached for a Samsung chip that is already five years old, is manufactured using a 10nm process and is the Exynos 9110, but it is also dual-core (1.15 GHz Cortex-A53). The GPU is Mali-T720.
The memory is also 32GB, and the operating memory is already 2GB. The operating system used is Wear OS 3.5. Apple is often criticized for the Apple Watch’s battery life. However, it uses a larger battery than the Series 8 that Google uses in the Pixel Watch. It is 308 versus 264 mAh. The actual battery life of the Pixel Watch is given as 24h, but only testing will show that, which we have no idea about yet.
Other specs
Apple also leads in Wi-Fi, dual-band (802.11 b/g/n,) Bluetooth is version 5.3, and the Pixel Watch is just 5.0. Both can make NFC payments, and both have an accelerometer, gyroscope, heart rate sensor, altimeter, compass, and SpO2, but Apple has a barometer, VO2max and temperature sensor, and broadband support.
Unlike the Apple Watch, the Google Pixel Watch doesn’t play on anything, and it doesn’t have any technological innovations in its guts, but it has a price of 1/3 lower, at least in terms of local prices (Czech Republic). Since the 5th generation, Apple Watch still has the same chip.
This is why I personally, Series 8 or Ultra, do not attract me because Apple did not come with practically anything new just rebranded the chip and replaced some peripherals. Hopefully, the next-generation Apple Watch will bring new hardware innovations as well.
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