Google Pixel Watch 4 review

If we’re judging a smartwatch by its aesthetic versatility, the Pixel Watch 4 wins the beauty contest hands down. The signature domed glass and display is the secret sauce here. It gives the watch a unique, sophisticated look that absolutely trumps the now all-too-familiar square aesthetic of the Apple Watch, making it feel like a proper timepiece, not a mini-computer strapped to your arm. It's versatile enough to pair with gym wear and a tuxedo. Corning Gorilla Glass 5 should be resilient enough to match up to the competition. It is also the first in the line to be fully repairable.

Google deserves a massive round of applause for managing to shrink the bezels by 16% and increase the active screen area by a tangible 10% without changing the physical dimensions. The 1.4-inch display on the 45mm model is bright enough at 3000 nits, meaning you’ll never struggle in direct sunlight, and that edge-to-edge look from the domed glass is stunning. Google clearly sweat the details this time around, and it shows in the hardware refinement. The choice of Corning Gorilla Glass 5 signals that this watch is built to seriously match, if not exceed, the competition's durability standards, adding a necessary layer of reassurance to the beautiful, domed display. This commitment to longevity is underscored by a much bigger win; the Pixel Watch 4 is the first in the line to be fully repairable, a thoughtful design decision that earns major points for both sustainability and consumer peace of mind.

The selection of watch faces could’ve been more playful and adventurous though and compared to the versatility on offer with the Apple Watch, the Pixel Watch 4 packs in multiple watch face designs of similar nature, differentiated only by colour or complications. 

A couple of things keep it from design perfection, though. The haptics on the digital crown have finally reached Apple Watch levels, offering a sublime, almost mechanical tactility. That’s the brilliant part. It’s those side-mounted charging pins that baffle me. Yes, they look discreet, and they let the watch dock as a bedtime micro-clock, but they look awkward, interrupt the otherwise polished case, and make it incompatible with previous or third-party chargers. Also, a small note for laptop users… the profile of the fluoroelastomer strap's locking mechanism is higher than the Apple Watch equivalent, meaning your wrist might not rest as easily on your laptop deck. Small quibbles, but they matter on a premium device.

Here’s where the Pixel Watch 4 makes its biggest, most welcome noise. Wear OS has finally grown up. Running Wear OS 6.0, the interface is not just slick; it’s genuinely cohesive and intuitive. The brains behind this sudden maturity are the new Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 chip combined with a generous 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. Every single swipe, scroll, and app launch is immediate, fluid, and completely free of the annoying lag that plagued earlier versions. This chip delivers on speed while being power-efficient, making the whole system feel like a native, polished extension of your phone.

Health and fitness, thanks to the integrated Fitbit tech, takes a major leap too, focusing on smarter software rather than just raw data. The watch now does the thinking for you: activity detection auto-starts workouts if you forget, and sleep logging gets granular. The best part is the body-response sensor, which measures stress and recovery and will actually advise you to swap that heavy lifting session for a walk if you’ve had a rough night. It’s personalized data you can actually use. That said, all this smart data lives in the separate Fitbit app which also has a premium tier, charged at Rs. 99/month after the initial six-month trial. For a premium watch, locking the best data behind a subscription feels a bit miserly. Spitting settings and data across two apps also feels like one too many.

Google clearly took the battery life complaints seriously and delivered a genuine surprise. The 45mm version’s 455mAh cell is robust, and while Google conservatively quotes up to 40 hours with the always-on display, real-world testing saw it comfortably hit 50–60 hours under general use. That’s enough to forget your charger for an entire weekend trip, which is a massive win for a full-fat smartwatch with a bright display, 4G, and GPS. Charging is equally satisfying. The new Quick Charge Dock gets you 0–50% in about 15 minutes and a full charge in roughly an hour. A short charge while you’re showering and having breakfast will genuinely get you through a couple of days.

In the end, the Google Pixel Watch 4 is the pinnacle of the Wear OS experience. Its unique, stunning design, combined with a blazing-fast chipset and genuinely helpful Fitbit integration, makes it the first serious, all-round competitor to the Apple Watch. It's the most compelling case Google has ever made for a watch and a massive win for Android users.