The Pixel Watch 5 is disgustingly good, except for the one thing I can't ignore

I am five days into wearing the Google Pixel Watch 5. Actually, that’s a lie. I’m four days into wearing it because, over the weekend, I took time out to wear a watch I actually felt something for.

Harsh right? It sounds like I hate the Pixel Watch 5, so much so that I had to take a break from it.

This is partially true. I dislike the way the Pixel Watch 5 looks, yet in every other way, it has already proved it’s probably the best Android smartwatch you’ll buy this year. It's quite confusing.

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Posts By  Andy Boxall

It’s not minimalist

It's plain

What's wrong with the way it looks, you may ask? The Pixel Watch 5 is so utterly lacking in any design flair or character, it’s like the early drawings were left unfinished and signed off by accident. Once the mistake was discovered, no-one decided to change it.

I’ve called it plain-looking in the past, but if Google can’t be bothered to change anything about the design generation-to-generation, then I’m going to keep saying the same things about it too.

The Google Pixel Watch 5 is a repeat of the Google Pixel Watch 4, and essentially the Pixel Watch 3, Pixel Watch 2, and Pixel Watch too. Yes, there are differences, but the overall shape and appearance is basically the same.

It’s a circle with a crown on the side, a hidden button, and an integrated strap. That’s it. There is absolutely nothing else to talk about. Forced to say something vaguely pleasant, I’ll call the Pixel Watch 5 “clean," which is code for boring.

Simple designs can work

But it takes a lot of skill

But wait, Pixel Watch lovers will cry! It’s minimalist. No, unfortunately it is not and this is what irks me most. Getting a minimalist design right is exceptionally hard to do, and way more than just starting and ending with a simple silhouette.

In this excellent ABlogToWatch piece on the difference between minimal and simple, minimalist is described as:

[Minimalism is] the art of telling a specific message very effectively. If a minimalist design must rely on fewer lines than a more traditional or decorative design, each of those lines needs to count a lot more.

Very little about minimalist design is actually simple, aside from the outcome of its efforts which to the viewer can often look deceptively so.

Minimalism in watches isn’t only about the design, it’s about the operation. A minimalist watch usually has one or two functions. The time, obviously, and perhaps the date on the really daring models. Decorative elements sometimes elevate a minimalist design, emphasizing creative flair even more than if it was on a “busy” watch.

Neither approach is for the faint of heart. The best watchmakers in the world find it incredibly hard to get right. The Pixel Watch 5 is less an A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Thin, and more Daniel Wellington Classic Roman Numerals. The Pixel Watch 5’s shape lacks the defined, elegant lines it needs to be minimalist.

Dig into the Pixel Watch 5, and any illusion of minimalism is lost. Some of its watch faces are so complex, I still don’t really know what each complication shows. While a simple time and date face is available, the simplicity is ruined the moment you press the crown, when it becomes a smartwatch. There's nothing minimalist about a smartwatch, and the Pixel Watch 5 has more features than I’ll be able to realistically test in a week.

Designed to make us feel good?

No, not really

Unfortunately, the Pixel Watch 5’s shape is bereft of imagination, but has any smartwatch maker come close to being minimalist? Samsung had a good go with the Galaxy Watch 8, where its intentional lines and careful use of curves turns it into something unique that holds your eye.

You may not like the result, but you see it. I don’t think you see the Pixel Watch 5 at all. It just fades into the background like white noise.

It’s worsened by the awful Corning Gorilla Glass 5 over the screen. I don’t care about its durability, but I do care about the dull sheen it gives the face of the smartwatch, its ugly reflections, and how it feels like plastic under my finger. Sapphire crystal would lift the Pixel Watch 5 considerably, but this seems to be a step too far for Google, even on a $400 smartwatch.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with a simple watch design. But if I’m going to wear it 24 hours a day, I want to feel good doing it, and maybe have it reflect something about me and my tastes. Anyone looking at the Pixel Watch 5 on my wrist will assume I’m an all bread-and-water-type guy.

The Pixel Watch 5 is saved by almost everything else

Which is a good thing

I’m more frustrated by the Pixel Watch 5’s uninspired design than on any other smartwatch because leave it aside, and everything else is not just good, not even really good. It’s often disgustingly good.

So far, the Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 Accelerated is performing well (not quite as well as the Snapdragon 8 Wear Elite in the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 though), the software is slick, smooth, and feature-packed, plus it’s low maintenance during setup, which I really appreciate.

It’s the little things too. Recently on Threads, I saw someone complain about the poor raise-to-wake response time on Samsung’s smartwatches. It’s an ongoing issue. This quality-of-life feature is superb on the Pixel Watch 5, with the arrival of a notification, the haptic alert, and raise-to-wake all timing up perfectly.

Haptics are precise and textured, and the feel of the rotating crown is just right too. Shame the click is a bit cheap-feeling, and the double-tap gesture is less reliable than on the Apple Watch Series 11.

New health features still to come

Prepare to get sweaty

The battery is also performing well. I’ll be into day three after two nights' sleep tracking, all-day use, and two workouts tracked on a single charge. The Pixel Watch 4’s excellent fast charging feature makes a welcome return, meaning I’m not fretting about when to recharge it either. It took 35 minutes to go from 20% to 100%. This is a game changer.

Unfortunately, the headline Health Guardian features — blood pressure and insulin resistance trends, plus breathing disturbance tracking — aren’t available yet, so there’s very little, health tracking wise, here that makes the Pixel Watch 5 any different to the Pixel Watch 4.

The straps may be made of a new material, but they seem to get hot and sweaty even in moderate ambient temperatures while at rest. That said, the Pixel Watch 5 is comfortable and lightweight, so easy to wear long-term.

So good, I forgot I was wearing it

Not always a good thing

I’m less than a week into testing the Pixel Watch 5, and aside from the day I didn't want to wear it, I'd completely forgotten it was on my wrist until an alert nudged me. This is both exactly what I want, and everything I don't.

To get the Pixel Watch 5’s slick, modern, and capable smartwatch elements, you’ll have to put up with a nothing design and a complete lack of flair or visual hook.

I’ve already caved on one day, swapping it out for a watch I adore that makes me feel great when I wear it. I know it won’t be the last time either, and that’s a shame when the rest of the Pixel Watch 5 is so far ahead of the competition.

Android Police’s full Pixel Watch 5 review is coming soon.