// WIRED US/UK — INTELLIGENZA ARTIFICIALE
Google Pixel Watch 5 Review: More Health, More AI
The Google Pixel Watch has always been a gorgeous smartwatch (minus the Active Band, which we’ve complained about ad nauseam). With Google Health Premium and Google Health Coach now part of the experience, it’s also one of the few smartwatches that feels equally capable as a fitness tracker and an everyday companion.
The Pixel Watch 5 takes a repairable model we already love and fine-tunes it, with most of the meaningful changes coming to Google’s health and fitness tools. Like the Fitbit Air, it leans further into proactive health insights. Most of our complaints about the Pixel Watch 4 remain, except that Gemini now has (some) offline functionality.
Google says the Pixel Watch 5 is 20 percent faster than its predecessor, thanks to its upgraded Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 Accelerated chip. CPU performance gets a 12 percent boost, and there's double the RAM. I didn’t notice a dramatic difference in speed compared to the Watch 4, but I also had few complaints to begin with. Scrolling is smooth, apps load and update quickly, and Gemini responds to voice commands without much lag.
The Pixel Watch maintains its domed design, which remains one of my favorite traits. The curved display makes information easy to glance at while giving the smartwatch a more approachable look. There were already plenty of watch faces to choose from, and Google has added two more, along with 11 complication styles.
You can also now use generative AI to create a custom face from a prompt. The customization is somewhat limited; you’re essentially choosing the font, but it was surprisingly responsive to my weirder requests. My Nickelodeon-themed prompt produced an orange face covered in slime, and brand-inspired prompts were decent at mimicking iconic fonts like Coca-Cola's. Still, I never landed on an AI-generated face I liked more than the defaults, so I went back to Digital Bold.
I tested the 45-mm model, and it’s the right choice if you want a larger display for readability and glanceability during workouts. But I previously used the 41-mm Watch 4, and I do prefer that size for my smaller wrists. Even with the smaller screen, notifications and workout stats are easy to read.
The Watch 5 features a larger battery than its predecessor, mainly to support new AI capabilities. For that reason, battery life remains similar, with Google estimating up to 40 hours. I get about 36 hours, which is still solid. What continues to impress me the most, though, is the fast charging, which delivers 15 hours of use in just 15 minutes. This is a game changer when I forget to charge it before heading out for a workout (which is often!). Google still hasn't introduced additional charging options or 3-in-1 or 2-in-1 docks for its Pixel portfolio (the Apple Watch has so many charging accessories), and we’re still patiently waiting.
It still comes with an Active Band (ugh), but there are new color options, including Fog, Canyon (exclusive to the 41-mm model), and Olive. Prices have also gone up, starting at $399 (41 mm) and $429 (45 mm). Similar to the Fitbit Air, there’s a Stephen Curry Special Edition, which comes with a water-repellent band for a total of $579.
Fitness tracking gets some of the biggest upgrades. The new Strength Training experience adds a workout builder, audio cues, rest timers, and the ability to track weights and reps. You can create a custom workout in the Google Health app, then have the watch guide you through each exercise and time your rest periods. You can also ask Google’s AI coach to build a workout based on a photo of your equipment.
Whether you’ll actually use all of this depends on your active lifestyle, but I can see it being particularly useful for someone new to the gym who wants a little structure that feels personal. I do appreciate that it syncs to the watch, so I can see rep counts and rest intervals without unlocking my phone.