Google’s Pixel Watch 5

Victoria Song, The Verge: The $399 Google Pixel Watch 5 isn’t about the hardware. Sure, there’s a new satin pyrite case finish, a few new strap colors, and a Steph Curry Special Edition. Under the hood, there’s a slightly faster Qualcomm processor and an itty-bitty battery bump. There’s a $50 price hike from last year, too, because the Pixel Watch 5 isn’t immune to RAMageddon — none of us are. Otherwise, no one would blame you for looking at this watch and thinking absolutely nothing’s changed. That’s because the big updates this year are all software-based. I have never seen anyone in real life wearing a Pixel Watch. (I’ve only seen a handful of people using Pixel phones, and every single one of them was at a tech event of some sort.) You can also use AI to generate watchfaces. I created a watchface featuring “fat cats and an elegant font.” It didn’t quite do that. The fat cats weren’t characters, so much as pleasantly plump, cat-shaped clock numbers. It’s a gimmicky way to shoehorn the Nano Banana model onto the watch… but if that’s your thing, it works. Well I’m sure now I’ll see plenty of people wearing Pixel Watches.  ★