The Pixel Watch 5 is finally official, after a long streak of teasers, leaks, and rumors. Google showed its latest iteration of the Pixel Watch at the Made by Google event on August 12, and boy oh boy, does it come packed full of features.
Pixel Watch 5, 41mm: pre-order at Amazon
The Google Pixel Watch 5 has just been announced. Offering a high-end experience and a slew of advanced features, this is the perfect addition to your new Pixel 11. Right now, you can pre-order the 41mm model at Amazon.
If you're looking for a larger touchscreen, the Pixel Watch 5 with a 45mm case is the one to grab. This year, the model debuts at a slightly higher price, but it makes up for it with new health and wellness features. Pre-order yours at Amazon now.
The Pixel Watch 5 color options. | Images by Google
In terms of design, Google hasn't made any drastic changes. Some might argue that the new Pixel Watch 5 looks identical to the previous generation.
Google says it's built on the foundation of the Pixel Watch 4, because people loved the design so much. The Pixel Watch has definitely found its own spot among competitor models when it comes to design, with its big dome-style display, sleek and lightweight design, and minimalistic aesthetics.
The Pixel Watch 5 comes in two variants, a 41 mm edition and a bigger, 45 mm version. Both versions use aluminum cases and come with rubber bands included in the retail box. The smaller version weighs only 31 grams, and it's available in Matte Black, Polished Silver, Satin Pyrite, and Champagne Gold color options.
The 45 mm version of the Pixel Watch 5 weighs 36.7 grams and is available in Matte Black, Polished Silver, and Satin Pyrite. There's a US-only Stephen Curry Special Edition, featuring a brown-orange woven band and matching watch faces.
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What’s your take on the new health features in the Pixel Watch 5?
Pixel Watch 5 hardware and sensors
No big hardware changes inside the Pixel Watch 5. | Image by Google
The similarities with the previous generation continue on the inside as well. The Pixel Watch 5 uses almost identical hardware as the Pixel Watch 4. The same Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 Accelerated and Cortex M55 chips power both Pixel Watch 5 versions.
There are no changes in the display department—the 45 mm variant uses a 1.4-inch OLED, while the smaller, 41 mm model comes equipped with a 1.2-inch screen. Spec-wise, both displays are the same, featuring up to 3000 nits peak brightness, 1 nit minimum brightness, 320 PPI pixel density, and an adaptive 1–60 Hz refresh rate.
There's custom 3D Gorilla Glass 5 on top of these screens, and both watches also come with IP68 dust and water resistance, plus a 5ATM rating for diving up to 50 meters.
What's changed compared to the previous generation is the battery size and internal storage. The 45 mm variant now comes equipped with a 456 mAh cell (up from 455 mAh on the Pixel Watch 4), while the 41 mm Pixel Watch 5 has a 332 mAh battery (just 7 mAh more compared to the previous generation). The internal storage of both models is doubled compared to last year to 64 GB.
The Pixel Watch 5 is packed full of sensors—there are red and infrared sensors for oxygen saturation, multipurpose electrical sensors for ECG, and an electrical sensor to measure skin conductance (cEDA) for body response tracking.
Then there are your usual compass, altimeter, accelerometer, gyroscope, ambient light sensor, barometer, magnetometer, and skin temperature sensor.
But even though these hardware specs and sensors look identical to the last-gen Pixel Watch, it's what Google did with the software and algorithms that's super interesting.
The Pixel Watch 5 health tracking features
The new blood pressure and insulin resistance trends. | Images by Google
With the launch of the Pixel Watch 5, Google introduces something called Health Guardian. It's a set of health-centric features, designed to track key vitals in real time and also offer a monthly trend for certain metrics.
Health Guardian features quietly track important shifts in your health and provide timely notifications. Your Google Health Coach then helps you make sense of those changes, providing personalized guidance, adapting your coaching plan, and helping you understand what it all means for you.
- Google official press release for the Pixel Watch 5
One of the new features under the Health Guardian umbrella is called blood pressure trends. Google is using the Pixel Watch 5 sensors along with advanced machine learning algorithms to track your blood pressure patterns and report the trend after a month of use.
Our state-of-the-art multimodal AI foundation model analyzes the complex shape of your pulse wave and how fast that pulse travels beneath your skin to estimate blood pressure trends. Developed using billions of minutes of health data across more than half a million users, this algorithm is the first known wearable feature of its kind tested against gold standard 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring.
- Google official press release for the Pixel Watch 5
Similar algorithms are also used to give you an insight into your insulin resistance and also help you track it over time. Both features are very interesting, and I can't wait to test them against a medical-grade blood pressure monitor and my own insulin resistance tests from a couple of months ago.
Over the course of a month, this new Health Guardian feature promotes health awareness through passive tracking, quietly keeping tabs on an orchestra of signals: the rhythm of your heart, the quality of your sleep, and your daily movements. By weaving these threads together using our proprietary model, your insulin resistance trends can be estimated without requiring a single drop of blood.
- Google official press release for the Pixel Watch 5
Beyond these cool new features, the Pixel Watch 5 continues to track arterial fibrillation, oxygen saturation, and looking for breathing irregularities. The loss of pulse detection feature is also present, where your Pixel watch will call an ambulance if it detects that your heart has stopped.
Sleep tracking now features the Sleep Breathing Quality metric. The watch analyzes your SpO2 levels every minute and helps you understand your breathing patterns during sleep. You also get the usual sleep phase tracking with REM, light, and deep sleep phases, along with a Sleep Score, which aggregates the results into an easy-to-understand number.
You can also set Bedtime Automations on the watch, such as turning off notifications, playing sleep music, etc. There's a Smart Wake Alarm, which decides the best time to wake you up and show you your Morning Brief — an overview of your sleep, readiness, and weather conditions for the day.
That covers health tracking. Now off to the gym, because Google calls the Pixel Watch 5 "the biggest fitness upgrade" in the series.
The Pixel Watch 5 is your fitness coach as well
The Pixel Watch 5 takes fitness to a whole new level. | Image by Google
Google wanted to streamline the fitness experience with the Pixel Watch 5 and created a new framework. The watch assesses your Readiness Score first to decide whether you're a Schwarzenegger-type requiring a super-intensive workout or just a regular guy or girl in need of a stretch or a jog.
The watch then creates a plan, including specific repetitions, weights, and intervals if it's strength training, or distance and pace when you're doing aerobic training such as running, swimming, hiking, etc.
Google used existing network of GPS reference stations and AI algorithms to improve the GPS accuracy of the Pixel Watch 5. | Image by Google
When you start your exercise, the watch will stay active, giving you audio and visual cues for things like repetitions, rest periods, or your progress and pace during an outdoor activity.
We achieved very nice results by combining fixes we’d developed before with new technology
- Imad Fattouch, a software engineer on the Precision Location team
Google also boasts the best GPS in a Pixel Watch to date — the team used Google’s existing network of GPS reference stations across the globe together with powerful AI algorithms to improve accuracy and cut down errors from buildings and bad weather conditions.
Speaking of AI, Gemini is all over the new Pixel Watch 5 and can do a lot of cool stuff.
Gemini on your wrist
Gemini is baked inside the Pixel Watch 5 on a system level. | Image by Google
Google has baked Gemini deep into the Pixel Watch 5 experience. You're now able to talk to the AI agent by just raising your wrist.
Gemini also passively monitors your messages, mails, and notifications. This is not as scary as it sounds; it gives the AI agent the information needed to proactively suggest contextually based actions. For example, if a friend sends a message mentioning a certain spot, a bar, a restaurant, or a shot, Gemini will pull it up and show it to you.
You can also simply talk to Gemini and ask it to do complex tasks for you. From setting timers, reminders, and alerts to finding the nearest restaurant and launching Google Maps to take you there.
The Pixel Watch 5 will also dynamically show contextual updates at the bottom of the watch face. These include flight info, ETAs, meeting reminders, etc.
If you pair the Pixel Watch 5 with a Pixel phone, you'll have a bunch of additional features, such as camera controls, TV remote, Nest Cam or Doorbell support, finding things in the Find Hub, and of course, paying with cards stored in Google Wallet.
The watch also comes equipped with a slew of safety features, such as SOS satellite communication, Fall Detection, Car Crash Detection, as well as Emergency Sharing which sends your location and battery level to your emergency contacts.
Price and availability
The 41 mm variant of the Pixel Watch 5 starts at $399, while the 45 mm option will set you back $429. Both variants will hit stores on August 20.
The Stephen Curry edition of the Pixel Watch 5 starts at $579 and will be available for pre-order today, but won’t be on shelves until September 3.
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Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.
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