Google has been talking up its vision for the smartwatch, and how a wrist-worn mini computer will enrich our lives, since 2014, when the search giant launched Android Wear (now known as Wear OS) at Google I/O that year. Google had the right idea -- smartwatches are considered indispensable daily tools for many of us today -- but it was other companies, particularly rival Apple, that turned the idea into reality. Even the next two brands that contributed to rise of the wearable industry -- Samsung and Fitbit -- largely got there without using Google's wearable software.

Google knew it had to correct course, and it did so by teaming up with Samsung for the launch of last year's Galaxy Watch 4 series. That Google essentially gave the South Korean tech giant exclusive first dibs to new Wear OS software and let Bixby remain as the default voice assistant on those watches, showed which company had the bargaining edge during negotiations. But while this Google/Samsung partnership to rejuvenate Wear OS was taking place, Google had another plan in the works: buy Fitbit outright, a process that took two years.

A screenshot of a Google employee announcing the partnership between Google and Samsung during IO 2021
Google and Samsung's partnership being announced at Google I/O 2021

In an interview with The Verge, Google hardware senior vice president Rick Osterloh confirmed it purchased Fitbit mainly for its health and fitness platform, Essentially, Google had wanted to make its own smartwatch for years, but either didn't have the know how or patience to build a health and fitness software from scratch, so it waited until a good one became available for purchase.

This shortcut Google took -- we'll just buy the competition and have them build the thing for us -- doesn't seem the best approach to take on Apple, whose products are refined and polished mainly because it runs a tight ship over at Cupertino, controlling every aspect of the product development cycle. And this really shows in Google's first ever self-made smartwatch, named the Pixel Watch.

The Google Pixel Watch in multiple colors

Launched last month alongside the excellent Pixel 7 series, the Pixel Watch is supposed to be Google's answer to the Apple Watch, a wearable that works seamlessly with Android devices (or at even just Pixel devices), and provide an immersive Android experience the way Google envisions it. Whether it's pricing, the way it's being marketed, and even hardware design, the Pixel Watch is meant to take on the Apple Watch.

But after using the Google Pixel Watch daily for three weeks, I think the Pixel Watch misses more than it hits, and Google needs to figure out a better way to integrate Fitbit, not just as part of the Pixel Watch platform going forward, but also branding wise under its Alphabet corporate umbrella, because as it stands now, the Fitbit integration is hurting both the Pixel Watch and Fitbit's recent products.

The Pixel Watch experience doesn't feel seamless, partly because Fitbit is in the way

One of the reasons I love the Apple Watch (and actively miss it when I'm on an Android device) is its seamless synergy with the iPhone, and Apple's large eco-system as a whole. When I'm wearing an Apple Watch, it feels like an extension of the iPhone. I can leave a voice memo on my wrist wearable, and within a second that same memo is synced and on my iPhone. Setting up a new Apple Watch, or pairing an existing Apple Watch with a new iPhone, is always a breeze -- just scan the cloud-like code, tap on a few prompts, allow a couple of permissions, and the watch is ready to go.

The Google Pixel Watch thinking it's not paired to a Pixel 7 Pro when it is, in fact, paired.
The Google Pixel Watch thinking it's not paired to a Pixel 7 Pro when it is, in fact, paired.

The Pixel Watch does not offer this experience. From the get go, the setup experience feels disjointed. When I powered up the Pixel Watch for the first time with a recently set up Pixel 7 Pro, I was prompted to download the Pixel Watch app to begin pairing. Considering that Google launched these products at the same event, and packed the products together in one box for video reviewers, it feels like an oversight that the Pixel Watch app doesn't come pre-installed on the Pixel 7 Pro. With an Apple Watch, there's no app to download -- everything you need to connect is already on the iPhone.

But that's not all. Installing the Pixel Watch app just allows pairing the watch, and initiate some basic settings. Midway through the setup process, I'm told to install the Fitbit app to set up health and fitness tracking. I have to download two apps before I could even begin using the Pixel Watch?

Because I have used Fitbit devices in the past, I could log into my Fitbit account right after the app installed and carry on the pairing process. If you have never used a Fitbit device, get ready to spend another three minutes signing up for a Fitbit account.

Fitbit brings excellent health and fitness tracking, but has the worst syncing system of any wearable I've tested

I mentioned in the last paragraph I was a Fitbit user in the past, because I think it made solid hardware with the most accurate sleep tracking algorithm I've tested. So why did I stop wearing Fitbit? Because it has the most frustratingly slow and unreliable syncing process of any wearable I've ever tested. It's not just slow (even a simple task like changing band/watch face could result in a two minute sync, and updating firmware often takes 30-40 minutes, during which the Fitbit app asks you to not close the app), but often unreliable and broken. I have, in fact, tweeted about my frustrations with Fitbit software for years.

I like Fitbit's products alot but it always takes like 14 taps of "sync" and at least three to four minutes just to sync with the app.

And updating firmware? My Fitbit Versa 2 been trying for 40 minutes lol. I can't even turn off phone screen apparently while it's updating

— ben (@bencsin) March 21, 2020

Waiting 30-40 minutes for firmware update is not uncommon with Fitbit devices.

This reminds me why I would eventually stop using a Fitbit every time.

— Richard Lai (@richardlai) June 15, 2020

And since the Pixel Watch basically relies on Fitbit software to do the bulk of fitness and health tracking, I can confirm those pros and cons of Fitbit are present with the Pixel Watch experience. Sleep tracking is accurate, fitness tracking is on point. But all the annoying Fitbit syncing quirks is here. Even though my Pixel Watch stay next to the Pixel 7 Pro pretty much at all times, every time I go into the Fitbit app, it needs to sync for a minute before the day's fitness data appear on the app. I must go to the Fitbit app too, because if I try to check anything beyond the most basic data (like if I want to check yesterday's step count), the watch asks me to go to the Fitbit app on the phone.

The Pixel Watch wants me to check the Fitbit app.

Worst of all, my Pixel Watch for some reason thinks it's not connected to my Pixel 7 Pro, even though it clearly is. I have had a persistent, un-removable notification on my watch asking me to re-pair the watch for a week. To re-pair, I'd have to factory reset the watch (I had done it twice already) so I'm not going to bother. I'll just be staring at the notification claiming it's disconnected (when it is not) for the foreseeable future.

A seamless wearable experience, this ain't.

The Pixel Watch thinks it's not paired.

Fitbit now feels like a lame duck brand, with its products suddenly relegated to sub-brand status

Did you know Fitbit released a pair of new smartwatches recently? No? I don't blame you. Fitbit announced the products via a press release on August 24th, and the announcement itself was teased just a day before via a tweet. These weren't budget products that were announced. No, they were the Fitbit Versa 4 and Sense 2, successors to product lines that are (or were) considered Fitbit's premium flagship offerings. The original Fitbit Sense, in particular, was an ambitious smartwatch with the industry's first electrodermal activity (EDA) sensor to track stress, and it was launched in a polished virtual keynote that looked like something Apple or Google put together.

Fitbit Sense 2, Inspire 3, and Versa 4
Fitbit's new products, launched via a press release. 

The unceremonious launch isn't undeserved, because both the Sense 2 and Versa 4 are literal downgrades from the previous devices in the line, with key features like Wi-Fi, Google Assistant, and third-party app support stripped away. Why would any company do this? Because Fitbit is now a sub-brand of Google, and sub-brand never get top priority over the parent brand. The Fitbit watches were practically nerfed, so they wouldn't take the limelight away from the Pixel Watch.

There's no way around this: the Pixel Watch is clearly where Google will pour its wearable resources for the foreseeable future. The best Fitbit products can be now are niche products that try to cater to a more budget-conscious segment.

The good news? The Pixel did figure it out, so the Pixel Watch should too -- years later

Right now, the Pixel Watch can still be considered one of the best Android wearables -- because the standards aren't very high. The Pixel Watch still offers a premium design, ability to summon Google Assistant and respond to text messages (this sounds like such a basic ask, but many Android wearable offerings can't do this), and it's great at tracking exercises, provided you deal with Fitbit's sync issues. But it's clearly far from where Google wants it to be -- the Apple Watch of Android, something that just works, and feels like seamless part of the Pixel experience.

iphone-14-pro-pixel-7-pro09107

The good news is Google should be able to get there, because it did with the Pixel series -- after seven generations. Both my colleague Adam Conway and I gave the Pixel 7 series high marks recently (he reviewed the Pro model, I tested the standard Pixel 7), and we each concluded separately that these are Google's most polished and premium devices that are finally worthy of living up to that "iPhone of the Android world" moniker that's been bestowed on the Pixels since day one.

Hopefully, it won't take the Pixel Watch seven years to get to the same spot.

A render of the Google Pixel Watch in black.
Google Pixel Watch

The Google Pixel Watch is Google's first smartwatch, and it comes with many pros and cons.