Google Pixel Watch 2 vs Pixel Watch 1: What's changed?

Another thing that remains unchanged in the second gen Pixel Watch is the band swap system.

Google introduced its own quick swap system where you kind of press and turn a hidden button on the side of the watch to insert bands, and this system has received mixed reviews. We don't mind it, but some other people find it hard to get used to. At the end of the day, it's not changing.

Google, however, is expected to add a few new bands to the mix, and since there is already a good variety of first-party bands, we are happy that the choice is even bigger now.

So Google relies on a tight Fitbit integration to give you a bunch of health and fitness data, but it locks a few features behind a monthly subscription.

Most of those are really advanced features, so a Fitbit Premium subscription just does not make a lot of sense for most people at the moment.

One new feature coming to the Pixel Watch 2 is coaching, which will help you hit your workout goals. We still don't know whether this will be a Fitbit Premium feature, or whether it will be free for everyone to access, but we will keep you posted when we learn more.

One new sensor is also coming to the Pixel Watch 2 and that is a cEDA (continuous electrodermal activity) sensor for stress tracking. 

This one is interesting and it's already present on some Fitbit devices like the Sense 2. What it does is examine sweat levels, heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), skin temperature and sleep data and then running all that data through an algorithm, which looks for sudden changes in these measurements. If it detects such a change, you get a prompt so you can know when you are stressed and possibly take action such as breathe or take a walks. You also have a Fitbit Stress Management Score if you want to see a number.

One feature we were hoping to see, but will ultimately not make it to the Pixel Watch 2 is a UWB (ultra wide band) chip. This is used for precision finding devices and is already included in the Pixel phones.

We are yet to learn about changes to workout and sleep tracking, and we will be updating this article with more information as it comes in.

The new Pixel Watch 2 makes some changes with the big difference maker being the more power efficient Snapdragon W5 chip, but also a small 4% increase in battery size. Here are the numbers:

What does this mean in real life? Well, too early to tell.

The first-gen Pixel Watch was rated for 24 hours in smartwatch mode and 12 hours in GPS mode, but in real life use it barely lasted a full day when you work out.

We would not expect miracles out of the second-gen, but you should at least be able to go through a full day easier.

The Pixel Watch 2 uses a redesigned magnetic charging puck, which is good news as that old one was a bit of a pain. The magnetic connection was just too weak and it was almost impossible to have the watch laying flat when charging. The new charging puck holds the watch more strongly. However, during our quick look at the watch we noticed it could only be attached with the cable below the crown. 

Haptics were quite pleasant on the first generation, so we don't expect much to change.