Fitbit integration will make or break the Pixel Watch

It’s been a very long time coming, however Google’s first Pixel-branded watch is lastly across the nook. The legendary watch was initially rumored to launch in 2018 after which once more in 2019 when Google acquired smartwatch IP from Fossil. Presumably, Google couldn’t discover the right market match for its wearable. Nonetheless, rather a lot has modified since 2019. In 2021, Google accomplished its acquisition of the health monitoring big Fitbit, giving it essentially the most important ingredient it must make a killer product — unbelievable well being monitoring.

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When Google launched the Pixel Watch at its annual I/O convention, the message was loud and clear — Fitbit’s algorithms can be on the middle of the Pixel Watch expertise. However the extra I give it some thought, algorithms alone received’t be sufficient to save lots of the Pixel Watch. The Pixel Watch must nail the end-to-end Fitbit consumer expertise to face any probability at success. Right here’s why.

Put on OS has been round for nearly eight years, however I’d be hard-pressed to call a single watch that has been a breakout success. Virtually each main smartphone vendor has taken a stab at making a Put on OS watch that packed the most effective sensors, coronary heart fee displays, and all of the accoutrements that go together with well being monitoring, however none of these watches really took off.

It took Samsung and Google to collaborate deeply to create one of many few compelling Put on OS watches. That stated, even the Galaxy Watch is barely a blip in opposition to the Apple Watch’s mammoth success, not to mention the tens of thousands and thousands of Fitbits offered. Furthermore, regardless of being a Put on OS 3.0 watch, the Galaxy Watch continues to push Samsung’s ecosystem greater than Google’s.

With Fitbit in its kitty, Google has essentially the most important ingredient it must elevate the Pixel Watch from one more Put on OS smartwatch to a genuinely fascinating product. Fitbit customers, by and enormous, are typically extremely engaged with their health wearables. A 2019 survey gauged that Fitbit customers had the very best ranges of interplay with their wearables — throughout platforms. 93% of the customers surveyed used their watch day by day, forward of 92% of Apple Watch customers. In the meantime, Put on OS customers lagged far behind at simply 75% of the surveyed consumer base.

Whereas the Fitbit Sense and Sense 2 attempt to replicate a smartwatch-lite expertise with restricted help for Fitbit apps, the health trackers are simply too locked down and lack the horsepower to ship a stellar expertise. Fitbit customers have been clamoring for a high-end smartwatch, and a top-class Fitbit expertise on the Pixel Watch is certain to offer Google a prepared and prepared viewers. However for that to occur, one thing wants to offer, and Fitbit must be a first-class citizen on the Pixel Watch.

I’d go so far as saying that Fitbit must be weaved into the material of well being monitoring on the Pixel Watch. Day by day step counts, health actions, and sleep information must go on to the Fitbit dashboard fans have used for years. Leaderboards, exercise charts, and challenges ought to have their very own glorious watch faces.

Health coaching itself is basically a communal exercise, be it by means of operating golf equipment or digital leaderboards. I’ve used Fitbit merchandise for years to encourage myself to be extra energetic, and watching pals zoom previous 20,000 steps a day was a key motivator to take up operating as an exercise. Google must discover a method to leverage Fitbit’s unbelievable neighborhood and guided exercises into the Pixel Watch expertise. Furthermore, Google must have its personal shareable, aggressive Exercise Rings second just like the Apple Watch.

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It additionally means detangling the woefully insufficient Google Match from the combo. The platform gives minimal statistics and, even worse, has no neighborhood facet altogether. Each of that are vital to Fitbit customers particularly, but additionally to anybody with greater than a passing curiosity in well being monitoring. Google’s present strategy of creating further health apps their very own siloed factor on Put on OS simply received’t work out right here.

Whereas Google has beforehand talked about that customers will be capable to synchronize all their essential well being metrics with a Fitbit account, the proof can be within the implementation and the way seamless the method is. Being an excellent Put on OS watch is desk stakes, however the Pixel Watch have to be a wonderful Fitbit watch first to have any shot at standing out.

It goes with out saying that the software program will want ample {hardware} to match. With Fitbit’s legacy behind it, Google shouldn’t have any bother touchdown the correct mix of coronary heart fee displays, pedometers, and SpO2 sensors. However there’s one facet of the Pixel Watch that provides me doubt — battery life.

Even the most effective Put on OS watches barely handle a day and a half of battery life. Apple needed to create an infinite 49mm monster of a watch with the Apple Watch Extremely to offer it midway respectable longevity. In the meantime, Fitbit customers are accustomed to weeks of battery life. The Pixel Watch, by all appearances, is a really compact wearable. The watch might want to final a minimum of a full day of basic use, health actions, and sleep monitoring to make sense as an ample choice. Can Google pull off a miracle right here? Maybe the watch could have a low-power Fitbit mode for exercise monitoring. We’ll see.

With the Pixel smartphone collection reaching relative maturity and gaining traction amongst mainstream consumers, there’s rather a lot using on the Pixel Watch’s success. The Pixel Watch has been within the rumor mill for nearly 4 years, and all eyes are on Google. With all the weather in place to create a stellar product, Google merely can’t afford to introduce simply one other Put on OS watch.

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The killer function is true there, and I’m hopeful that Google’s first smartwatch may also be the primary Put on OS watch to really problem the established order.