The Google Pixel Watch 5 has been officially unveiled at this year’s Made by Google event, and much is already being made of its new Health Guardian features such as Breathing Emergency Detection and Insulin Resistance Trends, in addition to the accuracy of its dual-band GPS.
Priced starting from $399.99 / £369 / around AU$565 (TBC) for the 41mm model, and $429.99 / £399.99 / around AU$600 (TBC) for the 45mm model, the watch looks very much the same as its predecessor, the Google Pixel Watch 4: from the domed Actua 3D display teardrop-shape to the sizes and digital crown.
Because it’s all quite similar, you could be forgiven for not getting too excited about the device — after all, it’s hardly reinvented the wheel. You might even have been considering getting what will likely be one of the best Android watches, but waiting on today’s announcement and hoping to be more excited about it. You might have been hoping for an announcement of a rugged Pixel Watch Ultra, or a cheaper model like the Apple Watch SE 3.
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Well, worry not, dear reader — below, I’ve put together a trio of alternative smartwatches, all using Wear OS (or a form of, at least) as their operating system, and therefore compatible with Android phones just like the Pixel Watch 5.
The stylish option: OnePlus Watch 3
The OnePlus Watch 3, in its original 47mm and newer 43mm sizes, is a terrific Wear OS watch by any stretch. Its main USP compared to the Pixel Watch 5 is that rather than the Google Pixel Watch series’ tech-heavy teardrop look, the OnePlus opts for a more classical analog-watch-style look consisting of a titanium and stainless steel case.
Paired with a classic-looking watch face, you’d struggle to tell the difference at first glance between it and a standard sports watch. Once it flares into life, though, that buttery-smooth refresh rate makes all the difference. It’s got up to 120 hours of battery life thanks to a dual-operating-system architecture inside it: it runs Wear OS when in use as a smartwatch, and switches to a lower-power OS when quietly running in the background. Clever. The big battery life also means you can do a ton of workouts between charges.
The major downsides here are that you’re stuck on the older Wear OS 5 operating system, without the advanced on-wrist Gemini functionalities, and no LTE option.
The rugged option: Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, new for 2026, is an adventuring powerhouse. New trail running features allow you to use full-color maps within the workout, following a route while you run in the great outdoors, while an upcoming app from diving experts Mares will turn the watch into a fully-fledged dive computer, just like the Oceanic+ app does to the Apple Watch Ultra series. It’s got waypoints, an emergency alarm, and stacks of battery life.
The watch is a little thinner than previous iterations, but it’s still built on that solid titanium shell with its distinctive ‘cushion’ design, so it’ll take more of a beating than the Pixel Watch 5 — great news for hard-wearing adventurers. Its distinctive, now-familiar programmable Quick Button nestles between two other up and down buttons, so there’s plenty of action compared to the Pixel Watch 5’s singular digital crown.
The downsides? It’s more expensive than the Google options at $699.99 / £649, and you’ll need the Samsung Health app to get the best experience, as the watch runs a form of Wear OS wrapped in Samsung’s One UI Watch interface.
The cheaper option: Google Pixel Watch 4
Looks very similar, doesn’t it? In terms of performance, there’s very little the Google Pixel Watch 5 can do that the Pixel Watch 4 can’t: it’s got the same suite of Health Guardian tools, the same repairability (allowing you to replace a damaged display or dead battery) and the same funky teardrop design with an Actua 3D domed display packing 3,000 nits brightness. However, you don’t get the latest Gemini Intelligence, you only get half the storage, and the GPS isn’t as accurate.
Still, this is a very iterative upgrade, and while Google will officially stop selling the Pixel Watch 4, you’ll be able to nab excess stock from a third party retailer such as Amazon for a while yet, most likely with some discounts too.
We rated the Pixel Watch 4 highly in our review, calling it ‘a slick piece of kit, and one we really like using for the most part. It looked great, and although it was thick on the wrist, it was comfortable, and the Material 3 Expressive software design is a joy to use.’
Specifications compared:
|
Component |
Google Pixel Watch 5 |
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 |
OnePlus Watch 3 |
Google Pixel Watch 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Price |
Starting at $399 / £369 |
$699.99 / £649 |
$499 / £269.99 |
Starting at $399 / £349 |
|
Dimensions |
41 x 41 x 12.3mm / 45 x 45 x 12.3mm |
47mm: 47.4 x 47.1 x 10.7mm |
43.2 x 43.2 x 11 mm / 46.6mm x 47.6mm x 11mm |
41 x 41 x 12.3mm / 45 x 45 x 12.3mm |
|
Weight |
31g / 36.7g without straps |
61g |
37.8g / 81g with strap |
31g / 36.7g without straps |
|
Case/bezel |
Recycled aluminum |
Titanium |
Titanium and stainless steel |
Recycled aluminum |
|
Display |
320ppi always-on display AMOLED with up to 3,000 nits brightness |
498 x 498 Super AMOLED |
AMOLED 1.5-inch LTPO flexible display |
320ppi always-on display AMOLED with up to 3,000 nits brightness |
|
Operating System |
Wear OS 7 |
One UI Watch 9 (Wear OS 7) |
Wear OS 5 |
Wear OS 6.0 |
|
Processor |
Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 processor with an ML coprocessor |
Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear Elite |
Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 chipset |
Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 processor with an ML coprocessor |
|
Memory |
2GB of RAM |
2GB of RAM |
2GB of RAM |
2GB of RAM |
|
Storage |
64GB |
64GB storage |
32GB |
32GB |
|
GPS |
GPS (Dual-Frequency), Galileo, GLONASS, Beidou, QZSS |
(L1+L5 Dual Frequency GPS) |
GPS (Dual-Frequency), GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, and QZSS |
GPS (Dual-Frequency), Galileo, GLONASS, Beidou, QZSS |
|
Battery life |
Up to 72 hours with battery saver enabled or up to 40 hours with always-on display enabled |
Up to 60 hours with always-on display |
Up to 120 hours |
Up to 72 hours with battery saver enabled or up to 40 hours with always-on display enabled |
|
Connection |
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, LTE, Ultra-Wideband |
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, LTE |
Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi |
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, LTE |
|
Water resistance |
WR50, IP68 |
WR100 (diveproof) |
5ATM, IP68 |
WR50, IP68 |
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matt.evans@futurenet.com (Matt Evans)
