The Pixel Watch details are leaking all over the place with full hands-on and an AMA

Well, the cat is now literally out of the bag. In the vein of devices that have gone before it, the Pixel Watch now has a full hands-on outing after being found in – you guessed it – a bar. Is anyone really buying this story? I suppose I understand a phone being left behind by accident, but a watch? Why would you take a watch off at the bar? And then leave it off? None of this holds up to any real scrutiny, but the good news is it doesn’t need to. That’s the story and the leaker of the watch over on Reddit is sticking to it. Regardless of how he came into possession of the Pixel Watch, he has it in-hand and he’s spilling what beans he has.

A fly in the ointment

I say he’s spilling the beans he has because, at the end of the day, there’s no way to charge said Pixel Watch. Like most other watches, it looks like both the plugged-in and wireless charging options for the Pixel Watch will be proprietary, so he’s unable to power the thing up at this point. As of now, the only questions being answered are about the outer, physical appearance of the Pixel Watch, and there are some cool things to note.

First up, it seems the watch has a premium feel in the hand. In multiple responses in the Reddit thread, he refers to the device as being quite close in size to the 46mm Galaxy Watch 4, and that’s a good thing. While I’d expect Google to launch a couple sizes, something in the size of the 46mm Galaxy Watch 4 is a great middle ground for a device with such a refined exterior. Though it appears a tad thick, multiple responses in the thread indicate the total thickness of the watch is very similar to the Galaxy Watch 4, so I’d expect it to still look quite svelte on the wrist with the extremely rounded sides.

Otherwise, it seems the watch has a decently-sized speaker grill, very clicky side button, and a premium-feeling digital crown. Specifically, the crown was compared to the Apple Watch, and from my perspective, anything Google can do to make this feel as good as Apple’s wearable is a win.

Finally, looking at the images of the watch bands and their connectors, it seems like those will be proprietary as well. Assuming this watch stays in high demand, that really isn’t a huge deal. For example, I bought a Fitbit Versa 3 a few weeks ago and had no problem immediately finding all sorts of bands on Amazon in different fits, finishes, and colors. If people buy this watch (which it seems probably they will), 3rd party bands won’t be hard to find.

For now, there’s not much else to see, here. The hands-on clearly matches the renders and we know more than ever what this watch will look like. The only other questions that surround the Pixel Watch now are related to software (lots of questions, there), pricing and availability. Our hope is that we get those answers at Google I/O 2022 in a couple weeks. While we don’t expect the Pixel Watch to officially launch at that point, we do hope Google makes it official and at least shows us what it will be capable of when it does finally arrive.