With less than two weeks to go until Google reveals its first own-brand smartwatch, the company has revealed a key feature of the wearable.
Featured in a 15-second teaser video published by the Made By Google Twitter account this week, the Pixel Watch is shown with a previously-unseen watch face with a Google Assistant icon at the six o’clock position.
We haven’t seen this on a Pixel Watch in any of Google’s previous renders, and while we can’t be certain, it looks like the Assistant icon is a button for instant access to Google’s voice-assistance system.
This is of course a no-brainer for Google. We had fully expected the company to put its own services, like Google Assistant and Google Maps, front-and-centre in the Pixel Watch’s user interface.
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Google has already said how the Pixel Watch will run software it describes as a “new Wear OS experience” with the smartwatch operating system “reimagined to feel fluid”. But so far we have only seen a very simple watch face with hour, minute and second hands, and a heart rate complication below.
The new teaser video shows how that position on the dial can instead be occupied by the Google Assistant. Or perhaps the Assistant icon only appears when it is being used, or to indicate to the wearer that it is listening.
Google's first own-brand smartwatch, the Pixel Watch is expected to cost between £300 and £400, although a Wi-Fi only version could start from around £220, according to a recent leak, undercutting the new Apple Watch Series 8 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 5. As well as Google software services, it is expected to include sleep tracking, and deep integration with Google-owned Fitbit for detailed health- and fitness-tracking.
The video also shows shots of the upcoming Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro smartphones, which will also be fully revealed at Google’s product launch event next week. The presentation kicks off at 10am ET (3pm BST) on 6 October, and is also expected to feature new Pixel Buds wireless earphones, and smart home devices from Google’s Nest division.
