The Pixel Watch 4 is arguably the best looking smartwatch on the market. When you consider that the biggest design changes on the new model are a curvier glass dome, a larger display and slimmer bezels, you could've said the same thing about its predecessor. And while the Pixel Watch 4 also features improved health and fitness tracking and a more lively UI, the best thing about Google’s latest wearable isn’t even the watch itself. On the Pixel Watch 4, the charger is by far the biggest upgrade.
The original Pixel Watch came with a wireless charging puck, which was super convenient and easy to use. I also appreciated that even though it didn't officially support the Qi wireless standard, you could reverse charge it with your phone just as long as you positioned it just right. That meant for short trips like a weekend getaway, you could simply leave the charger at home and travel super light while relying on your phone to pull double duty. The issue was that even in ideal conditions, the watch charged slowly, and when combined with lackluster battery life, you often ended up with a device that ran out of juice at inopportune times.
For the Pixel Watch 2, Google sought to address this by switching to a charging cradle with pins that offered a higher power output. This is where my frustrations began. Because the pins on the charger needed to be aligned precisely, you could only mount the watch one way (i.e., the crown had to point the same direction as the charger’s wire). This might not sound like a big deal, but it made keeping the watch topped off harder than it should have been and often felt just as finicky as the "unsupported" phone-based reverse wireless charging available on its predecessor.
The really annoying part is that the connection between the watch and the charger was so particular that I lost count of the number of times I thought I connected the watch to the puck before going about my normal morning routine, only to come back 45 minutes later to a still dead wristpiece. So not only did Google trade convenience for marginally faster charging (which still wasn't speedy enough imo), the company made the whole process more unreliable. And much to my dismay, the Pixel Watch 3 used the same charger as the Watch 2.
But on the Pixel Watch 4, Google provides a new cradle that makes almost everything so much better. Instead of charging pins, there are just two little contacts that touch the side of the watch. The added benefit of this is that now the screen is positioned vertically instead of lying flat on the table, which allows the watch’s display to also double as a little clock while it's recharging. Cute and useful! Also, due to the charger’s design, there’s no confusion about which way you need to place the watch — there’s a dial in the way on the “wrong” side. No amount of fiddling will make the watch sit right if you place it incorrectly. I just wish the charger had a USB-C port instead of a captured cable, so if anything happens to the cord, you could simply swap in another instead of potentially having to replace the entire thing.
Of course, the biggest benefit is significantly improved charging speeds. To best illustrate the difference, I took the Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Watch 4, connected them to their respective chargers and recorded their battery percentage every 10 minutes for an hour. And just to make things as fair as possible, I used Google's new 67-watt dual-port fast charger as the power adapter for both.
After just 30 minutes, the Pixel Watch 4 was basically done as it hit 94 percent. At that point, the Pixel Watch 3 was way behind at 58 percent. In fact, I had to give the Pixel Watch 3 an extension, because even after an hour, it only had an 85 percent charge. It took an extra 20 minutes after that just to crack 90 percent. So not only does the Pixel Watch 4 power up faster, it has a much better charging curve that effectively cuts your daily recharging time in half.
Google has finally turned the Pixel Watch's battery life into a non-issue, thanks to faster charging and improved longevity. I get two and a half days easily, even with its always-on display enabled. Though in a perfect world, I would love it if smartwatches only had to be charged once a week. Regardless, the process of keeping the Pixel Watch 4 running isn't a chore like it was for previous models. I can simply drop it on the cradle while I wrangle the kids and grab some caffeine after waking up, and I know that it'll be ready to go as soon as I am.
Admittedly, this isn't a groundbreaking development, and in some ways, I feel like Google should have figured this out a generation or two ago. But sometimes small upgrades can have a big impact, especially on a device that looks this good and now functions even better than before.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/the-best-thing-about-the-pixel-watch-4-is-googles-new-charger-170052942.html?src=rss
