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Pixel Watch won’t be a proper Fitbit replacement – here’s why
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The GooglePixel Watchmay promise smartwatch fanciers the “best of Google and Fitbit” but it seems there are a couple of significant omissions on the health/fitness side.
As pointed out byConnectTheWatts(via9to5Google), the Pixel Watch will not support Fitbit’s automatic workout tracking or irregular heart rhythm notifications.
The most important absence is probably the automatic workout tracking, which is calculated whenever the wearer’s heart rate is elevated to a certain figure. So, if you forget to start your tracker, or just break into a jog randomly, it’ll count towards your workout goals.
It works for walks, runs, outdoor biking, elliptical, sports like basketball, aerobics, and swimming on a range of Fitbit products, but not on the Pixel Watch. Speaking of swimming, the Pixel Watch doesn’t have support for identifying and tracking different swim strokes either.
The irregular heart rhythm notifications, meanwhile, can help users check for the potentially-deadly atrial fibrillation (AFib) heart condition. That checker is available on a range of Charge, Inspire, Sense, and Versa products, but not on the Pixel Watch.
Also missing from the Pixel Watch’s feature list are other noteworthy Fitbit tools, available on many of the company’s devices. It is without the Sleep Profile feature, stress notifications, EDA sensors, SpO2 tracking, and the guided breathing sessions.
Google has been asked about whether these are genuinely missing from the line-up, or just unlisted, but has yet to respond. We’ve emailed the company for clarification too.
Following the launch event yesterday, we did learn Google is bringing aFall Detection feature to the Pixel Watch, just not out of the box. In a blog post, the company wrote: “Fall detection (coming in 2023) can sense if you’ve taken a hard fall, connecting you to emergency services and even auto-dialling if you’re unresponsive.”
So don’t be falling over and hurting yourself until next year!
Google bought Fitbit in 2019 for $2.1 billion and has been slowly integrating it within its products ever since. The newer Wear OS operating system has been built alongside the Fitbit team, but it seems the company is yet to all integrate features from the Fitbit OS.
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Chris Smith is a freelance technology journalist for a host of UK tech publications, including Trusted Reviews. He’s based in South Florida, USA. …
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Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
