Moving on to watches, the new $550 Pixel Watch is exciting primarily because it’s Google’s first effort, though it clearly doesn’t compare to the much-improved Apple Watch, which is now in its eighth. generation.

One of the thinnest Wear OS watches ever, the Pixel Watch glides smoothly between tiles and apps, offers a range of customizable faces with Apple-style complications, efficiently tracks workouts and heart rate, and even offers fall detection. You can do almost anything with your Apple Watch here, including stream music directly to your headphones, tap to make payments, and connect to mobile data networks (on the most expensive cellular model).

But Google also uses its time power. Voice assistant and smart home apps are better than Apple, and Google Maps step-by-step directions are great for walking and biking.

But the Apple Watch S8 (from $630) is nicer and more powerful. Side by side, Pixel looks sluggish, and its chunky black bezels are very noticeable. Apple Fitness Rings are more digestible and comprehensive than Google Fitbit, and the Apple Watch battery lasts longer.

It’s a similar story with the Pixel Buds Pro ($300) versus the 2nd-gen AirPods Pro ($400). Google is cheaper and has a product that outperforms most modern Androids, but Apple has more experience in this category. The AirPods’ noise cancellation is more comprehensive and the buttons are less prone to accidental touches, but both are comfortable and sound great.

When you look at ecosystems as a whole, you can see where the big differences lie.

Landing

Apple makes small iterations each year, but it is clear that this is going in a direction where its products are essential for navigating the real and virtual worlds. The introduction of always-on display for the iPhone 14 Pro immediately overtook the long-running Android app with widgets and information to help keep the phone at the center of communication, work schedule, smart home, entertainment and fitness. Meanwhile, the Watch’s improved compass features – which let you drop virtual markers and lead them later – and decibel-reducing AirPods signal a desire to expand the natural world with technology from a way that would not be practical on your phone.

By comparison, the Pixel line has long been geared towards Google’s offering of Android software and AI capabilities, and we’re seeing it in the latest phones with features like the ability to transcribe voicemails, translate between languages ​​in real time and clearly display images. Old photos with lots of motion blur. The move into the smartwatch space is an extension of that and shows how the enormous power of Google Maps, data and AI can be used to work on people’s wrists. As with Android on phones, this is likely to appear not only on more useful Pixel devices in the future, but also on other manufacturers who use (and also support) Google software.