¶ Intro and Pixel 10 Pro Fold
Welcome to Pixelated episode 73. I'm your host, Will Saddleberg. This week, Abner, Damien, and I are talking through the second wave of Google products all launching this week, including the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, the Pixel Buds 2A, and the main focus of our conversation, the Pixel Watch 4. It's a pretty meaty episode, so without further ado, consider this round two of Made by Google Reviews.
so we have more pixel hardware this is signifying i guess the end of the made by google cycle for 2025 but i think maybe some of the most interesting products pixel fold let's get this one out of the way early this second wave so the pixel fold uh our review is on the site but it is exactly like the pixel 9 pro fold visually though andrew notes that uh It is like a millimeter thinner, but the hinge has some upgrades in terms of allowing it to be IP68, which...
Yeah, I think I would at least need that level of comfort knowing that it can survive any splashes of water. Do you think the kind of person who's going to be using a foldable is worried about the... the durability now or we're kind of at a phase where i guess it's almost proven that you can use these for a number of years now or like
Are we just going to get to the point where we get a rugged foldable? Because, I mean, I don't think people would do it. Yeah, I think we're probably done. I think it's enough for most people. Yeah, I agree.
And what about, I mean, I know IP68 rating is that kind of, how does that work then? How have they made these changes? So the hinge is the biggest thing in terms of... smaller hinge which uh leads to a nicer hand feel um the outer display is slightly bigger uh in terms to to the ability point i think Google said 10 plus years of folding, which is quite something. Of course, nobody is going to have this for 10 plus years.
I feel like with these foldables, though, there is an opportunity for someone to use it for a number of years as almost a productivity tool. So maybe there is some kind of reasoning behind that. They say 10 years, but how do we know what 10 years of foldables are?
looks like like is there we put numbers on it but i would love to know the math the mathematics behind it and the calculations for that because it kind of seems a bit crazy that they say 200 000 folds but somebody might do 20 like i'm the kind of person i fidget
I would unfold my Pixel 9 Pro fold all the time. I definitely feel that's out of range. Yeah, like 200,000 folds. I think I could probably do that in three years if I really wanted to. But yeah, I guess luckily we haven't seen anybody complaining about it. like with the Pixel 9 Pro fold or the original fold. So I suppose Google's in good company in terms of like durability for those. Do you think there's a, like my question is just widely to kind of everybody is,
Do we genuinely think that the Pixel 4 just caught on the way that Google maybe have hoped that it has? Because having this delayed launch feels really strange for them to do. And I don't know if that's maybe as a result of it needs to stand on its own or maybe they just don't have enough. of a reason to kind of put it alongside the Pixel 10, which they've been very, very confident in. I think in, looking back earlier to even the Nexus era-esque or the very early days of the Pixel.
Google has a history of December. They would have like save one product for December and not be able to launch a product into December. I'm thinking of the Pixel C for some reason.
So this fragmented thing is par for the course for them historically. It is, of course, a bit annoying in terms of it's nice to have a full family, a full range. But I think in the case of... this i think it just came down to manufacturing i will talk about the buds 2a in a second but i think the manufacturing of that on mine is august just at the end of august so
after everything was announced. So I think this year it just came down to production timelines and prioritizing the phones, which I think we're all in agreement. those three main phones as the right call. Yeah, 100%. We'll get to the watch, which I disagree with, but yeah. Yeah, the watch one feels really weird, doesn't it?
I I'm, I'm a little, I think Abner's probably correct because I, otherwise I would be stumped a little bit on, on Google's strategy, but I do kind of feel like I don't have enough evidence to like.
fully understand what google wants to do with its foldables right we had the first gen pixel fold was kind of like its own thing right separate io announcement came out in the in the summer you know the the pixel eight was the next generation and that was like three months later and then the pixel nine pro fold was part of the the the was folded in
no pun intended, folded into the generation, right? Into the nine generation. And then with the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, it's obviously part of the lineup, but is launching at this separate second launch event. And I don't think that, you know.
especially because of something like the pixel watch for, I think it's clear that that's not meant to like, signify anything about it's about how google thinks of it but combined with the like complete well not complete lack of upgrades but the the largely speaking lack of upgrades minus the the um you know, water, improved water and dust resistance. Like I struggle to fully see where Google wants to take its foldables. Not that.
It's not a priority for them or not that they're going to drop out of the market next year. They obviously care or they wouldn't be doing this work on like the hinge, for example. But like, I don't know, at Gen 3, like I'm already kind of like. wanting to know what Google wants this to be in the future. And I don't think we're going to know that until next year. I think this is this feels a little bit like a placeholder.
launch and that that might not be a bad thing i i felt like the fold six for samsung was a little bit of a placeholder phone as well and they followed that up with inarguably their best foldable to date and and certainly their fastest selling so Yeah, like I do wonder, I do, yeah, you hit something a little bit deeper there. I do wonder if the pixel temporal fold having this distance a little bit between the seven galaxy...
Was it Galaxy Fold 7? I can't even remember the names of them anymore. There's so many. Going... A little bit away from that in terms of launch kind of gives them a little bit more of a window to kind of stand on its own a little bit. Because I do think when you look at the Samsung's effort this year versus what Google have done, which is, I guess, a retread of the 9 Pro folder, which was fantastic. I still like the 9 Pro.
Fold. And I'm guessing the improvements, according to Andrew, seem to have made enough of a difference to maybe not warrant, definitely not warrant an upgrade, but for anyone with the Pixel Fold original. this might be the one to make switch to. But yeah, having this little kind of launch window on its own away from Samsung might be a sensible thing and it might help get a few more eyes that maybe would have been looking to upgrade to a different one and they want that Pixel experience.
Yeah, I mean, I don't have any judgments, obviously. We're going on second-hand information from Andrew because I haven't actually had much time apart from my hands-on session with this device. So I feel a little bit like I'm trying to, like... quantify it from pixel nine profile and that feels a bit unfair because i do think um
I think we're probably all in agreement, right, that with the Pixel 10, we didn't expect a huge upgrade from the Pixel 9. And in theory, it isn't. But there's a lot of little mini changes that do make a big difference. And so I was kind of hopeful that that would be the same here. And it does look like some of the changes that have been made.
do improve upon the formula which is i guess all we can ask for in some respect like the smartphone space is so like mature at this point in time that even minor gains are still gains which is a win is a win if that makes sense I wish I had more to say about the fold. I truly it's it is one of those interesting things right where it's like it's not a bad phone by any means, but it's just kind of.
it's it's like did you not buy last year's like do you have you been waiting to upgrade like maybe your original pro fold or maybe an older samsung uh device samsung foldable like i think it's like a good upgrade for that but but there's nothing I don't think this is going to convince somebody who's been on the fence about foldables to finally make the plunge. I think that's coming from Google. Like I said, I think that's next year. But yeah, it makes it for a really weird...
It's it's it's probably the most boring foldable I've ever seen launched just because it's so similar to last year's and we are really starting to like. have this product lineup hit like maturity in a way that makes it so that these just feel like any other smartphone. I think that kind of sums it up a little bit. But let's look at the wider portfolio that's been released today. Let's get into the Pixel Watch because I think this is the one which...
¶ Pixel Watch 4 hardware
And I think Abner definitely agrees with me on this, is that this is the product that feels the most improved in the most meaningful ways.
I mean, Abner, you've been using the 41mm. I've been using the 45. Tell me about the 41, because I'm really interested to see how you feel about this smaller size at this point in time, because there's been some decent improvements over there as well, right? Yeah, so I'm a small... watch person i've for the playing the pixel watch i've picked the 40 the 41 um that i've used the smaller samsung galaxy watches on and on
I like small watches. It looks better on my wrist that way. It's stylistic, just pure style. But I spent the last six months with the 45mm Pixel Watch 3. And... I did appreciate the bigger screen, but what I loved was the battery. The way I use it, I could easily get two days of usage.
three nights of sleep tracking before having to put it back on the charger and going back with the pixel watch forwards but i i tried to do at least two nights of uh while i was two nights before i had to recharge but no it's a one i could only really comfortably take it to one day and that The battery is the biggest thing to note about the 41, but design-wise, and as emphasized on the 45, this is a fantastic display. It's a very interesting display.
Yeah, I think this is one of those things that you don't necessarily... You can't tell this from renders. You can't necessarily tell this from videos initially. This is one of those products that you have to see in person to kind of really understand, if that makes sense. The difference is if you're someone out there who already has a Pixel Watch 3, the Pixel Watch 3 is fantastic, and I don't think anybody in...
Reality should look to upgrade. But if you have an inkling to, I don't think you're going to be disappointed. It's one of the few things where... The changes to the display has made such a big difference to how it feels. It's almost like the software is finally tailored to the hardware in a way that, not that it wasn't there before, it's that this just feels...
Like the missing puzzle piece. You know, it's created together perfectly. This is the design that Google has wanted from the beginning when they started their water droplet inspired design.
so the screen is domed um it's higher at the center it's lower at the edges um you feel it when you swipe you absolutely feel it but you can up also see how it impacts the display which is also domed both the glass both the cover glass and the actual display underneath are domed and that results in optical illusion where
everything at the center is closer to you and i think where i've noticed that where i've really appreciated that is at angles um when your wrist is down or if you're sitting or whatever you can
you can view the time much better at an angle without you having to turn your wrist towards you. It's... it's it feels so much like a physical watch that's like a depth in the way that physical watches have uh dials that are three-dimensional and that helps you check out the time and that effect is replicated
It just feels like a physical watch. Yeah, the display is one of those things, like I say, you kind of have to see it. And I agree with you with the small camber that you have when you can kind of slide your finger across in ways. It's like... And I think this gets at a different problem entirely is that it almost feels like this is the perfect example of a curved screen on a curved device feels well tailored, whereas a flat screen on a device that probably shouldn't be curved.
feels out of place and this yeah i didn't think it would make a difference but it it really does like the interactivity like you said there's certain elements that feel more 3d the screen is closer to the display at the top the actual glass so It's like, yeah, it feels like a, like you said, a traditional wristwatch as opposed to a normal smartwatch. And I mean, I'd be interested to see how Samsung and other companies follow up because...
they now look a little bit dated. Not necessarily dated, but the display tech feels a little bit dated as a result because it feels more like a live. Yeah, when you go to a flat display, it feels... I don't know if boring is the right word, but it feels the shift, like going back between the Pixel Watch 4 and the Pixel Watch 3 is past during the review period.
It's different and you can tell that there's a different thing on your wrist. And that was unexpected because like with the first three generations, you can't tell the difference.
Yeah, there's a review in your photo or a photo in your review, Abner, I should say, that shows it perfectly. As someone who has not used the Pixel Watch 4 yet and has a Pixel Watch 3, it really does look like it's... printed rate on like a bubble in a way that like i'm not seen from other other smart watches and and it does end up looking like a more you know even if it doesn't quite like hit like this is fully and it's going to depend on your watch face but fully
you know analog watch that is actually secretly a smart watch or something like it certainly looks like the hybrid Of the two categories that I think lots of us have wanted out of a smartwatch forever. And it is interesting that, you know.
Google seems to be kind of the only company chasing this trend anymore right like Apple has never tried to look like a traditional launch in my opinion like they they lead into the like it's a computer on your wrist thing for better or for worse and I think I think Samsung has bounced in and out of it. And right now, I think the Galaxy Watch 8, regardless of how you feel about like its overall design, like I think it's like trying to do its own.
thing in a way that like i think makes us very distinct like design wise from i don't know it's just it's interesting that these two companies that have worked so closely together on where it was have such distinct uh different ideas on what the actual watches should look like beyond just being a watch should be like the big similarity obviously but like this looks nothing like the the galaxy watch rate and i think that's
A good thing. I think that there are going to be people who maybe bounce off the ultra minimalist design here and go towards Samsung or vice versa. And I think that's that's really interesting. Yeah, it's a timepiece, isn't it? It's more than a smartwatch. I'd call it a timepiece. And there is an elegance in the design. I think I'm glad Google stuck with it because there are lots of rugged, like...
it's almost like everyone seems to converge on Apple's design a little bit. And then there's obviously been a pushback and then we've seen people go down the rugged route or they've gone down the Coros slash Garmin route. And I think this is very, very different to those. And I know that there are going to be people who disagree.
disappointed because they want something a little bit more rugged i don't think so far i mean how are you getting on with in terms of like use and abuse abner like i haven't had any No. Touch wood, any major issues. I haven't like snagged or anything. I do think there's a very, very minor. I know it wasn't necessarily a big problem with the original Pixel Watch right through to last year's Pixel Watch 3. It doesn't seem to snag as much on shirts. And I don't know.
If that is something to do with the dome shape, I think it just could be placebo, to be honest. But because this is a brand new watch that is like got a perfect screen with... no damage on it, if that makes sense. But I don't think, I haven't had any issues so far. We've been wearing it at the gym a little bit and it seems to be okay. I'm really enamored by the...
The more closely aligned tying of the software and the hardware, though, it almost feels like that is another link that's knitting together of things because it arrives in the same colour.
the color scheme that you have of the color watch you've chosen, which I thought was really, really, I didn't anticipate that for some reason. Before we jump into the software, just to round out the physical stuff. So the one thing I'm... meh about is the side button is so much thinner uh the button above the crown they made it from a thick pill into a thin swivel um I'm seeing you walking at it right now I'm like do you know what I keep forgetting that he's there half the time
Yeah, I surprisingly adopt multitask. I use it for multitasking more than I expected. But yeah, that's a thin sliver. And I guess the big hardware thing is the charging thing. oh yeah the pins so there are two pins franking the speakers and i'm i i feel them so when i press the side buttons I use my forefinger, I press the crown and the side button in my thumb and I use my forefinger, the side of my forefinger as a brace. And that's when I come into contact with the pins.
They're tiny bumps. You barely feel them. But in that snare I just described, I kind of wonder if it would be better if they're a bit wider or something. Because... it's tiny bumps they feel like i don't know they feel like some dirt on or something do you think this is something you're noticing because you're reviewing the product or do you think this is something that like
Anybody who buys this watch is going to... I think you will forget about it, but for the start that you feel like, oh, this thing should be smooth. You're scaring me, Abner. You're making me think they're going to change the charger next generation again. So yeah, the charger. I am a once a day charger at night before going to bed. So I... The fast charging, I have noticed is fast, ultra fast. Yes, really fast. That's what they're using. But…
So how do you charge, Damien? So I'm the opposite. I could not be further from you in terms of my charge. I charge in the morning. I don't really often... I have... for the duration of the review period, worn my watch to bed. I haven't got the full seven nights yet, weirdly, because there was one night where the battery ran out in the middle of the night, so it didn't capture my sleep, my full sleep cycle, so it didn't count. But yeah, the...
Charge cycle that I have is, which hasn't really changed for any smartwatch I've used actually for a long time because now we're getting two days of battery. I charge in the morning, take it off, give my watch a little bit of a clean and put it on the charger for... 20 minutes or so, and then get a little bit of battery. I hardly ever go from zero to 100%. And I'm kind of the same with all of my devices anyway. I don't very often charge to 100%. But the fast charging has changed the game.
It's so fast. Like 15 minutes, you're getting like 50%, 60%. I know Google, I think Google says 50% in 15 minutes, but in my experience, it's a little bit faster than that. No, yeah. It's the thing they're trying to get you. They feel like this charging stand, dock, whatever. They feel like this is at... plus the auto fast charging they feel it's like a habit changing kind of thing it's so fast that you might be incentivized to charge
Let's say if the charger is at your desk, you're working throughout the day, you take it off for a few minutes, you get a full charge, you put it back on. They're imagining that. since it's so fast and that the charging mechanism is more convenient, it's a dock, it's a traditional dock, that you'd be more likely to just top up throughout the day. For me, I don't like losing any sense of heart rate or the notifications. I kind of feel like...
What's happened to me is if I take off my watch, sometimes I forget to put it back on, even if it's right next to me. If I need to take it off for a break to free up my wrist or whatever. I sometimes forget to put it back on for like an hour, so I just don't risk it anymore. That's such a first world problem. I don't get your heart rate data for an hour. I have 14 years of heart rate data. Okay, that's crazy.
Okay. Yeah. That's, that is impressive. I mean, for me, it's a case of, I put it on the dock and what I will say about the dock is the dock itself is way better. If anyone out there is worrying about the switch. Yes. I'm very annoyed that some of the... accessory docks I bought which support the Pixel Watch 2 through to the Pixel Watch 3 and now like it like waste a waste of time that's disappointing but this new charging methodology
is so much better. Like you say, you drop it in, it's weighty as well. So like the little, the little, the little stand thing is has its own little rubbery. It's like a rubber base with the G logo on it. Um, it's almost like, How would I describe it? I guess it is like a Pixel stand in some respects. And it's on a smaller scale and it's really like dense and it feels really well made because I think the other ones were a bit cheap.
and i hope yeah that is so cheap and and and lining up the pins was always annoyance because it was like oh you could sometimes have it like you had to have it a certain way and the pins would get dirty and all that kind of stuff. I think...
In hindsight, this should have been the way they went from the beginning, but understandably it's taken them four generations to do it. They need to stick with this design because I think they could add software-baked features into this. I like the fact that when you put it in, it... it changes orientation of the screen it shows up the time to charge on along the almost the crown side it's the crown side and and then you have like almost like a little flip
It's its own clock, right? I don't think that's... You don't think you can set that one, which is a bit weird. Which is a bit disappointing because I quite like it. It's like a classic, I don't know if anyone knows, like a folio style clock. They're like an analog style one that flips. That... in and of itself is a really good way to do things. I just wish they would, they'll add some more. Maybe they will with pixel drops, feature drops, whatever they call them nowadays.
We could get certain functions, mini Nest Hub functions, Gemini functions with this. I think that could be amazing for your desk or your bedside table, your bedside cabinet, whatever it is. All it took was changing the charger again. Yeah. In that respect, I can't fault it. It's, again, like, I... I saw it during the testing period, but I don't benefit from any of these changes given how I charge.
Maybe now that the review is over, I'll test, I'll try different charging routines or whatever. But I'm glad they put all this work into it. You are somebody that doesn't wear your watch to bed to get sleep tracking. So there are people that will benefit it if they put it on the side of the bed table or whatever.
i don't know i i it's a shame that i didn't get to really appreciate that or the auto fast charging um yeah it's it's interesting real quick abner sorry it's it's interesting that We've now seen Google do this twice where they make a device that turns into like some kind of smart display, whether it's the Pixel tablet.
in a big smart display or the pixel watching a little smart display. And that both times we've been like, yeah, it's not bad. Wish it was a little like wish they would add a little more to it. It could do so much more. And I do wonder if maybe we just won't see any improvements in the way that like I didn't feel the Pixel tablet really got like a lot better as a smart display over time. It's a really small screen. It's a really small display. I'm with you, but I am like.
It's not enough to be a bedside clock. It's not. That's probably true. But Damien's saying it is. I don't know. I'd be curious to see them experiment with it, I guess is where I'm at. I wish Google would be a little more brave on this stuff because it was how I felt about the Pixel tablet, too, which is like just swing for the fences. And if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. But I'd rather see.
google do too much and have things not not maybe be what you wanted them to be then then have them then have us be like ah there were some ideas they clearly left on the table here uh oh well like maybe they'll add them later um i i don't know like i i because i Again, haven't used the Pixel Watch 4, but my first smartwatch was the Moto 360, which had like the exact same dock idea. And I also use that because I don't even think sleep tracking was really a thing in 2014 with watches.
life wasn't good enough but but like uh i i would i i also used that thing like a little uh like like clock next to my bed when i was in college like i i'm kind of with damien that you have an inch pixel tablet I have one next to my bed and I don't think that's a big enough clock at night. I... I love it. You don't think you want a 55 inch TV at the side of your bed? What's going on from a nest, seven inch nest hub, the nest hub max, and then to the pixel tablet. And it's not, I could go bigger.
he basically wants a tv at the side i love this i was gonna say you're looking you're looking for google tv's like screen screen saver mode just all all night i love it that's great but but on that i think okay In terms of Google's sustainability promises, right? The fact of the matter is, if they can reduce e-waste in any way possible, and if a watch, what's the lifespan of a smartwatch? I don't actually, this is a thing.
Now I feel a bit detached from reality and from the in-air courts average person, because I don't, most people I know will keep an Apple watch for four to five years. I don't, we don't know that. I don't know enough people with the pixel watch to know how long they keep a pixel watch. and it's mostly people in this industry are very, very hardcore tech people who are switching on a regular basis. But if you are in...
Well, the repairability has increased, which I massively applaud. I think that Google needs to keep doing that. In the long term, if you could potentially use it as a watch, sorry, a clock at the side of your bed, years down the line, I think that would be good. Keep the animal caught. Mine is at least 15 years old. One that I have in the home is 15 years old. It's not big enough. I'm just imagining with the 45, I just don't think it's big enough. So, okay, what we want... It's a horrible...
tinny speaker for alarms. You're grabbing like your memory. I could easily knock it off. I can see myself knocking it off. So we want to get you a big, I don't know if you, I hope this, I hope this lands because this is showing my age now. Are you aware of the rapper Flavor Flav? Yes. He used to wear a clock around his neck. You want that on the side of the bed. So when we get Googles, they go from 40.
25mm to 11-inch watch, Pixel Watch 11-inch is what we want next year. But yeah, now they've proven that they can make these sizes work. I do wonder if they're going to go a bit bigger. I do think if we get a 49-inch, 49-inch, 49-millimeter display on a watch, they've proven that they can make this curve now, they can reduce that. I wonder if they're going to start motoring and really start pushing the envelope with this design.
And for me, with that dock, that opens up the opportunity to replace an analog clock at the side of my bed. And I'm here for it. I like dual-purpose devices. But again, if something becomes defunct in, what, they get three, four years of updates.
if we hit the end of that and I can leave it at the side of my bed, plugged in constantly with no fire risk, obviously, then I probably would do that. I probably would do that genuinely. And I think that's, that would be good for, keeping it out landfill so i'm trying to give google credit there before you say you want a 55 inch tv i i found a 30 inch uh wall mounted clock on amazon okay i think it's on sale for prime day i think abner should buy it
So yeah, that's the hardware. So software, as you were alluding to Damien, material to expressive. To me, it is really the best. It's like smart.
¶ Pixel Watch 4 software
smartwatch UIs are very simple and it's pure material tree expressive to me. It is, it is every surface has been redesigned.
it is whimsical it is delightful all around this touches like when you turn it off it says bye there's a hello greeting too and you turn it on it's quick settings updated dynamic color that's what he was saying it took four years shamefully it took google four years from the announcement the material and dynamic color to bring it beyond the phone which is incredible um but yeah no that
The dynamic color plays a big role. Teams, your notifications, it just makes it align with your watch face, which I think is really what needed to happen all this time. I think that's where the big extension of your phone is really, really pronounced as well. Like we've waxed, I feel like I will, I will constantly wax lyrical about material through expressive because we hit a point with material you that was just kind of.
I don't want to say Google were phoning it in, but it felt like that. It felt like we kind of hit a point where they were not running out of ideas, but they were saving this big... big home run just stagnant it felt a little stagnant whereas i i have compared the pixel watch 3 to the pixel watch 4 and currently the pixel watch 3 as of recording is running wear os 5 we don't know i'm guessing in the next
week or so a couple of months or so i thought it's the same about this one okay well if it's a few months and it's a few months genuinely the while i think the pixel watch 3 is still fantastic it does feel dated in the software now like it feels
It feels like a step back. No, that said, all your tiles have been updated in the past few weeks. So that's something. True. But in everywhere else, it just feels like the interactions are different. Notifications don't look as good. Notifications just feel like...
I mean, there's definitely an element of one UI to some of them. They feel a bit one UI oxygen OS-y, but in a good way, if that makes sense. Like there's some, there's extra color added. And even the, I don't know, you're using the 41 millimeter, but the... The previews for applications are so good. Yeah, when message notifications come in, there's like a temporary screen that just shows the name, a large profile picture and all that. That is a good use of M3E.
i don't know it's just pure distillation of what material tree wants to do where with no craft everything is delightfully animated everything is rich tiles, they get the biggest usability upgrade. And again, like people with all the hardware on OS 5 have been getting these benefits, but you can see so much more info even on the 41.
The weather is pretty rich. Pixel weather is a good app. I don't know. What tiles do you use, both of you? I'm just looking through mine currently, and I think I've kept it default. That sounds really boring. No, I added the Gemini. I added the Gemini one, the quick Gemini one to turn off my lights. I've also always kept mine default. I know that's a boring answer.
The most leftmost and rightmost. What's that for all of us? Okay, let's see. My rightmost is Google Fit, which I do. Is it Google? Not Google Fit. Fitbit, sorry. uh mistook that and then far left is the weather because i just go between those quickly and i think they might actually be default i don't have my pixel watch on what would you have i don't remember
Mine is a new Pixelweather. And a timer and a timer one because I have been embracing quicknaps. I'm the boring guy who is mostly wearing a smartwatch for like... just just notifications and fitness tracking which i know is is not an exciting but like that's part of why i don't upgrade very often anymore like i don't i you know i we were talking about when people upgrade their smartwatch and like as much as i am obviously
a tech writer even i struggled to really see justification beyond every three years or so and even then i feel like that's that's fairly rapid compared to the rest of the market um Yeah, so it's a terrible answer for time. But yeah, I don't know. To me, it's like primarily there to track when I go for a run or even just a walk or... what i'm doing throughout the day and then notifications
Yeah, for me, it's still a bridge to notifications first and foremost. But the tile system is something that I can't say I was a huge tile user, but over the last few years since I've been using the Pixel Watch 2, 3, and now the 4, and I've switched it.
between with um samsung and oneplus a couple of times i'm i'm trying to use them more i think they're really really useful for starting a quick fitness routine um i wish it could be more customization there for that I like the fact you can get a step counter there because I think with the Pixel Watch hardware being the way that it is, I kind of like the old school analog watch faces, like the replicate analog watch faces.
and they don't have as much data on them. And so I've been using the tile, I've been trying to force myself to use tiles more to get that information that the whole point of owning these, right? So I find that...
i'm getting the classic time piece that i want with all of that date those data points as well so i think with tiles it's just a case of like majority fitness majority health majority weather beyond that yeah some of the quick actions have been really useful um i'm going to get rid of the google maps one because i think that auto launches now anyway so it feels a bit redundant but for the most part
Pretty standard with a few tiny tweaks just to kind of speed general day-to-day tasks out so I don't need to use my phone all the time. Yeah. Which I guess is the main thing for a smartwatch, right? It's a bridge to the accessibility things that you have on your phone. So I guess in that respect, Google's done a really good job. And long may it continue with Wear OS 7 or whatever they want to call it in the future.
I think they've done a fantastic job so far. Like you said, there's so many little playful touches and it's mostly down to haptics as well. Like there's haptics more in areas. We forgot about the hardware. The haptics this year is, they say Gen 3 premium haptics. I don't know if they've ever... we've given it a versioning before in the past, but with this one, it feels like pinpricks, like scrolling the crown feels so much more distinct than what came before.
In comparison, last years felt like a general buzz, like your entire resource buzzing. This feels like a fine pin trick. Yeah, it's like, I would say... for your Americans, the Z or the Z axis. There's definitely more bump in the Z axis. So it's like, and I think that's one thing that Apple does fantastically. I don't think their haptics are the best in the industry anymore. I think Oppo does that, but I think... the fact that you have z-axis
deep vibrations with this watch and it's like they're crisp as well and that that seems really disrespectful to the pixel watch 3 because the pixel watch 3 has fantastic haptics some of the best on a wearable i'm surprised to hear that you guys think it's a it's such a leap forward because i was thinking right now of like I have had zero complaints about the haptics in my Pixel Watch 3.
I do wonder if they'll tune some of the things, because obviously they can tune it on. I'm guessing it's a graph that they'll use for easing of a haptic, so using their taptic engine or whatever they want to call it. I don't know what they call it, to be honest, but I get the impression that... they will be able to tune that with Wear OS 6 update for Pixel Watch 3. But I just think, like you say, they feel a lot more crisp. And I guess that...
ties into the display as well. The display feels so much closer to your finger, which is ridiculous again to say. But it feels like there's more interactivity there. at best it's a millimeter but I just can't emphasize like at best the screen is a millimeter close to you at the center but that sense of depth it Everything is on virtual displays. They're flat. Everything is flat. We're used to just everything flat. And the minute you add some real depth that's not a curve away from you.
it feels different from everything you've used. And the novelty there should not be dismissed. Yeah. What do we think in terms of battery life, though? I know we talked briefly about it. I just wanted to go back to it for a moment because how are you finding when you have all of these things that we mentioned, active, fitness tracking, heart rate, maybe always on display?
I've been like, and even I haven't turned off haptics and stuff, I've turned off the sound, but for me, I've been really, really impressed that I'm able to use all of these features and still get the same.
battery life as last year in some cases a tiny tiny bit longer yeah the 45 millimeter is absolutely a tank it's you it's it's again with my thing it's the 41 it's just the size is constrained and i guess to start wrapping this up i'd say that i i think the 41 needs to grow be it a millimeter or two or one and a half millimeters i think the battery life where
Multi-day battery life, even if it's just two days, feels so much different for how you use your watch. No anxiety about the charge every day or not to have a second phone, basically, that you have to... manage and charge every day i think that is a big cognitive difference and i think i as with 45 i love everything about the 41 i think this is a january um
good design that i hope they continue but i just think it needs to get bigger yeah i i think that what we're trying to say will is that you need to go out tomorrow and buy the 45 millimeter pixel watch 4 because this is i
I think this is the star of this. Personally, I think this is the star of the show. I don't know if you're the same, Abner. I think this is the product of this made by Google series. And in some respects, again, what I alluded to slightly earlier in the pod is that having this separation between Pixel 10 and... Pixel Watch 4 now means that we have this marquee product in its own footing. Yeah.
And so it probably would have been lost in a deluge of Pixel 10 content because people are in smartphone brain. We only care about smartphones. And auxiliary products and accessories don't necessarily get the fanfare that they deserve. Maybe on Apple's side of the fence, they do. I mean, that's to speak of Apple fans is very, very, very different audience. I, yeah, I think it's a, in hindsight, it probably is a good idea that this had this minor delay.
We don't know the reason, right? There was no reason particularly given for it, but it definitely now means that coming up into that holiday period...
There is a product now which you can have on your radar and be like, this is a decent leap over the predecessor, an even bigger leap over the previous, previous generation. Let's talk about upgrades. I think if you have a Pixel Watch, absolute Pixel... pixel watch absolute upgrade pixel watch 2 absolute upgrade so the pixel watch 3 the 45 millimeter since all the people bought that for the first time for the size
it's probably a harder sell. But I'd say for 41 Pixel Watch 3 people, so they've been continually shrinking the bezel. And I think this year at the 41, in addition to the dome i kind of feel like this is you're getting so much it feels like you're getting so much more screen so my test for this has been um A lot of the newer watch faces Google introduced, they add arc style complications to the very perimeter.
To me, that has always looked weird on the 41 last year. But on this year's Pixel Watch 4, it looks pretty good. It doesn't look squished. It doesn't look too compact. So I think this... If you are a small watch person and you want, but you want a bigger screen, I think this year's 41 is a pretty good step up in terms of it's a meaningfully different in addition to the dome.
Yeah, I'm interested to see what happens with sales of the 41 versus 45. I still feel like the 45 is that. Absolutely. It's the one. It has the aura. That said, I think I am sticking with the... I don't see myself going to the 45. I think I'll try out the 41 for a bit longer. And at that point, I might as well keep wearing it until the next one. But again, I loved my time at the 45. The battery was genuine. I never thought about the battery. Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. So that's Pixel Watch 4. Now let's get into some earbuds because it feels like we've neglected your experience of no Pixel Watch 4, Will, but you are very, very experienced in the Pixel Watch. Pixel Buds 2a, if I can say it. Yeah.
¶ Pixel Buds 2a
Just call them buds. We need to get rid of this silly naming convention. I'm bad at it. I should know by now. But yeah, Pixel Buds 2a, I've been using them. You've been using them. Have you been using them, Abner? Yeah, I have. How do we feel about these buds? in comparison to other birds how do we feel about them in just in isolation yeah i think um
The short version of my review is basically if these were $100 MSRP, I would be giving them like two big thumbs up. Go rush out and buy them. Great $100 earbuds. At $130, I know that's not a huge difference, but it does. You do think a little bit more about it when you hit like the true triple digit figure. They're not they're not bad. It's just that like. Google took four years off from the mid-range earbud market. And I think more than anything, it's the mid-range earbud market we've seen.
accelerate uh the fastest of you know of if you're looking at budget mid-range and high-end earbuds i think i think mid-range earbuds are the ones that have come along the farthest in that span of time these feel like they would have been a really good upgrade over the original a series in 2023 or maybe even last year this year you know there's a lot of you can get a lot of really good earbuds for like
130 150 dollars um that that maybe outshine these in a specific way right whether it's better audio quality maybe a better fit better mic quality better controls i think these are really good Jack of all trade earbuds, though. Like, there's nothing wrong with them. I don't know if they totally shine in any specific way, but that's kind of what the A-Series is supposed to be for anyway. I will say the biggest thing of them...
by far and i'll be curious to see what you guys think uh is is their comfort level i think these are a huge upgrade over the comfort of the original a series i think the tail uh the the um you know the hook to to i wrote it a hundred times in my review and i can't think of the problem word. I think it's fin, right? Yeah, fin or stabilizer earwing, I think is what I referred to it, but the wing is so much smaller and so much more comfortable and yet actually feels
You know, I went on a run yesterday evening and wore these, you know, it wasn't a super long run, but I think I maybe adjusted them once or twice and otherwise totally stable in my ear. And that's. Honestly, like a hard, you know, when you're moving and sweating like that, like a difficult barrier to cross and these totally nail it. So that's that's my favorite aspect beyond the size and shape of the case as well, which feels.
so easily pocketable. But otherwise, the sound is good, not great. The ANC is good, not great. is probably the weakest element of these. Did these need ANC? Did these $130 earbuds need ANC? Would it have been drastically cheaper if there were no ANC? That's a good question, isn't it? Yeah, I'm not sure. I'm not sure how much ANC. Is ANC the reason these are $130 and not $100 because the first 10 was $100? I don't know.
I'm happy it's here. I think overall it's not great ANC, but it's it's it definitely blocks up more noise than when I have it just in the off default position. So I'm happy it's here. It's mostly. It mostly works with white noise or white noise adjacent sound. So air conditioners and.
if you're on a plane um these should work fairly well i'll know i'll know soon uh and um um you know it'll tamper down on like if you're vacuuming or something um but but as far as people goes this conversational sounds around you it more muffles them than than completely removes them um but I don't know. I'm happy it's here. I think if we're spending over $100 on earbuds in 2025, 2026, I want ANC, even if it's not like remarkable, but it's good and it's comparable.
So what I remember, like earlier flagship ANC equipped earbuds sounding like it, obviously a cheaper price point than.
what you used to have to pay so i i guess i'm happy it's here even if you're probably right abner it probably would have brought the price down a significant amount without it yeah to me i would I'd rather have touch control I'd rather be able to change the volume rather than $30 to me would be better well spent upgrading whatever that few cents sensor is to allow you to change the bloody volume on the buds
And honestly, you say that and I said there wasn't anything bad about these earbuds and I take it back. The controls are bad. That's the one thing I would say. Go ahead. Yeah, I mean, like Apple doesn't have it on. They don't have volume control on their buds. It seems like that's the distinction. Oh, do the basic AirPods not have volume? I've never used a basic pair of AirPods. I did not know that. Okay, interesting.
Yeah, I feel like that's what everybody has consolidated around for the cheap earbuds. But yeah, I haven't had any issues with taps, but I can see how it's... it's such a small touch target yeah you have to make sure you hitting it and not that your ear i see that absolutely the the most frustrating part for me has been sometimes when it thinks when i tap and it thinks i've held and i can't figure out why so it'll i'll tap to play or pause and it'll
do nothing for a couple of seconds and then switch ANC on or off. And I'm like, that's my finger has not been. I did not. That was not a hold. And sometimes vice versa as well, where I'm trying to hold it and it thinks I'm just tapping. Yeah, I have not.
a great time with the with the controls to be honest i would i would say they're they're more reliable than not but they're unreliable enough that it's it's going to be apparent i think to even people who aren't reviewing them I get the impression with the Pixel Buds A series in general, though, they've almost been like a consolidation for the first-gen Pixel Buds, the first true wireless ones, were really, really finicky, really kind of disappointing.
I'm being completely honest. And then the A series fixed a lot of the issues that we had with the main ones. Yeah, the Pixel Buds 2. Yeah, sorry, yeah. And then the Pixel Buds 2 Pro are...
Pretty solid. I think they go on sale regularly for about $160, £160. So I do think you're probably better off going that route if you really care about having... earbuds that match your device but personally i think this is one of google's weakest areas i think audio is still something that they just can't seem to they can't really seem to match everybody else in every single area i think the pixel buds pro 2 are about the closest they've come they have
the best that best transparency mode i've ever used on earbuds but there's just some problems here and there yeah it's i audio quality i think they care more about seeing these as smart earbuds rather than a pure audio device i think yeah their interest is seeing what kind of augmented experiences they can offer from gemini to whatever
that they can versus pure audio which is fair it's that's that's what the specialty is they're not a headphone company or whatever yeah i think i think and i told i think i told you this damien but this that that makes this a really good pair of like secondary earbuds i don't i think 130 dollars is way too much to pay for a second pair of earbuds but um i i and damien i know you've told me the same thing the these you
These are easily, you know, you can easily foresee these being given away as bonuses, as, you know, a holiday deal, like buy a Pixel 10 and we'll give you a pair of A series. These are good. Go ahead. Yeah, if you get these for free or significantly reduced, I think you're going to be really happy with them. It's just a matter of like, are these good enough to be your main pair of earbuds?
It depends on what you want out of earbuds, but, you know, again, they're well-rounded, but they're not, I don't think they're really excelling anywhere specific. Yeah, but I guess the main thing is they're reliable. They're a reliable pair of earbuds. You can get better options out there. I do think...
The gold standard on Android is still OnePlus Plus Pro 3. I think they're the best pairing with any smartphone in terms of price to performance. But yeah, they're pretty solid. I don't really have as much to say about the Buds 2A. No, that's kind of it.
i think that's kind of a good thing right a good thing and a bad thing in some respects i think maybe my experience has been tempered by the fact that the pixel watch 4 has impressed me so much more than i expected and these have let me down a little bit in that respect that's that's fair i listen to podcasts music's been pretty okay i'm not i wouldn't necessarily i hate saying i'm not an audiophile
I know what good things sound like. I know what bad things sound like. And these sound like six and a half, seven out of 10. I agree. Sound is good, but like I... You know, when you get a pair of new earbuds, especially high end earbuds or high end headphones, and you're like, wow, you know, you pick an album, maybe like a recent album you like or something, and you notice something you have not noticed before. I did not have that moment.
mean exactly and it's not happening here like this sounds it's not gonna like impress you But I don't think it's going to annoy you either. I don't think, you know, the worst thing, I think my biggest critique about the sound was that it's sometimes, depending on the sound and the EQ settings you have it on, sounds a little muffled in certain, especially like...
The lows, I think, sounded a little muffled to me. I don't think it's bad. And I don't think I'd even notice if I wasn't like really, really listening to it to like try to review these. I'm going to keep using them. And I think that's probably the highest. praise i can i can say but like i i i find the comfort level is so nice on these that like that i can forgive a little bit more on on the rest of the device because
They fit my ear so well. And I'm really particular about earbuds. And so, you know, what I say, I didn't really have any comfort issues with these at all beyond occasional ear fatigue after a couple hours. I think that's pretty impressive. Yeah, I think at £70, which I think the original Buds A series were down at pretty much all the time. I think I saw them as low as £59 here in the UK. These are well worth it.
130, I think, 129. Yeah, wait for a sale. I think you're going to get a big product. I suppose you can apply that to everything in life, but I think these specifically fall into that category. But I want to pose one more question before we kind of... Because I don't know what you guys have had in terms of battery expectancy with these. Have these been as good for you as they have with the previous version? Because I thought the previous version were very, very good.
The new smaller case is a, I love the smaller case, but that comes with its own compromises. Like, how are you guys finding that? Like, cause I'm, I'm getting four hours or so with each bud maybe on a, at the long end. And that's like 30%. I'm fine on the buds themselves. I have not killed them in a session, but I've certainly worn them for like three or four hours and thrown them back in the case and they're at like 50.
60% and that's with ANC usually on. Um, so I'm, I'm hitting, I think they're rated for seven hours with ANC enabled and I'm, I think I'm around there. I think I'm hitting that. Um, it, the case, uh, the case is battery life is bad. I, I, I,
I'm charging like every other day basically and I that's and I'm not that's i'm using them how i use other earbuds and that is not how i charge other earbuds um i think even right now my case is down to like 20 and i i charged it two days ago um i you know i i it's It's the trade-off for having such a pocketable case. And I like that these do kind of feel like earbuds.
would just throw in my pocket just to have even if I don't think I'm going to need them. But yeah, you're going to need to monitor the battery. Go ahead. That line struck me in your review. Do you not carry earbuds with you all the time regardless anytime you're outside the house? I don't. No, it depends on it depends on what I'm doing. Right. Basically, if I think I'm going to a thing where I'm going to be social, you know, the entire time. Never thought most of the time.
Never. I think we're heathens. We carry them everywhere and we have them in all the time. I don't have them in all the time. You never know when you have like five minutes or whatever. Yeah, same. That's fair. I guess maybe it's just a matter of like... You know, I'm usually I usually drive to places. So I have audio in the car and then.
And then I'm at the active, whatever the thing is, I'm there. And so I carry them more when I'm traveling or something like that, when I'm totally solo and I'm in a city where I'm taking a lot of public transit or Ubers or anything. But yeah, they're not, I'm not a.
grab them all the time kind of thing. I usually grab them if I think I'll need them. And honestly, I think that's partially because I just don't want to lose any of my earbuds. And I'm usually like, if I have too much in my pocket, I'm going to drop my wallet or something. And yeah. Have you ever lost an earbud? No. No. It was just great. I've been using...
True wireless earbuds, basically, you know, I think my first pair was the Jabra Elite 65T. So whenever those came out, you know, maybe a little, maybe six months after that. But we're coming, I'm coming up on like. pretty close to a decade of using true wireless earbuds and i'm shocked i've never i've certainly had to look for a bud before right been like
Oh, I don't, you know, especially the I have a pair of anchor sleep buds and those I have to pretty frequently look for in the morning. But, you know, otherwise I've never I've never been like, oh, yeah, I need to replace these because I lost the left earbud and I've had. you know 10 12 pairs of true wireless earbuds now i'm surprised i'm as surprised as you guys crazy yeah um i i think i think a good a good solid product
¶ Wrap-up
Maybe a little bit overpriced, which is a little bit like a lot of Pixel products anyway. I think that kind of wraps up, I guess, the launch window for Google's hardware products this year. It's a month. It's crazy, right? It feels like a long time coming and we've talked about it incessantly. Sorry, my dog is barking. No, you're fine. Damien, if you'll indulge me, coming out Monday afternoon, you know, as we're recording this, you and I recorded an additional hour of us just kind of talking.
big picture pixel thoughts for this launch uh on the side load so go go listen to the side load when that comes out next monday because if you want another hour of pixel thoughts yeah i think um What are we, 10 months into the year now? We've talked Pixel a lot. It feels like the end of an era until the next era, which I guess is Pixel 10a launch cycle. But yeah, a really decent, surprisingly decent launch period.
and launch window for Google. I think the hardware has very much consolidated the good work that it did last year. I'm excited to see what they do next year with the hardware, but yeah, go check out all our reviews out on site. Read Will's fantastic review about the 2A. I've read bits and pieces here and there. I haven't read the full article, so I'll be doing that.
as soon as humanly possible. Abner's fantastic review on the 41mm, which I have picked to pieces over on video, over on the YouTube channel. So go check out our video reviews as well. I'm kind of hoping that people... resonate with the with the with the pixel watch this year i think it's like i say it's the marquee one it's a it's the yeah the standout product by for me a wide margin and i do think i cannot believe you guys have me thinking about spending like
um thank you for joining me guys well i mean we love talking hardware here and review review cycles are always good fun for that and i think um we've had some good products to talk about good bad indifferent and um yeah as always Thanks for listening to us here on Pixelated and we'll speak to you in the next one. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to Pixelated, a 9 to 5 Google podcast.
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