Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority
TL;DR
- With the Pixel Watch 4, Google may finally introduce a new construction that’s more conducive to hardware repairs.
- A new Breathing Emergencies tool could detect with your oxygen levels fall too low.
- Google may also bring satellite support to the Pixel Watch 4 for communication during emergencies.
When you’re thinking about picking up a premium smartwatch, durability is a major concern. After all, a good watch can easily go for as much as a phone itself, and while you may have a few options in terms of “cases” and screen protectors, there’s little denying that a watch is just a whole lot more exposed than your phone is — and that much more vulnerable to accidents. But while you may prioritize models with big, durable bezels and scratch-resistant sapphire crystals, what about the flip side of the coin: a watch that’s easy to repair once the damage actually happens?
Normally we wouldn’t think of Pixel Watch models as being particularly serviceable, but according to a new report from Android Headlines, the Pixel Watch 4 is shaping up to be the most repairable iteration by a long shot.
So far, the Pixel Watch’s construction has basically been an impenetrable glass-and-metal puck, a smoothly weathered stone with no obvious point of entry. If you’ve ever had the misfortune for your Pixel Watch’s glue to fail and the back to pop off, you’ll both know that there isn’t really much you can do in there anyway, and that getting it back together is a job better left for Google.
A more serviceable Pixel Watch sounds great, but we don’t get a ton of specifics here about how these improvements are supposed to work. The site only reports that the hardware’s being designed with reparability in mind.
As if that weren’t enough, Android Headlines also follows up this reparability news with a report about some new emergency features that we can hope to expect from the Pixel Watch 4.
For one, Google could bring satellite connectivity to the Pixel Watch series with Emergency Satellite Communications on the Watch 4. For the moment, that label is all we have to go on, without any details about how the service might operate, but that still sounds like great news that should place Google’s smartwatches on more even footing with Apple’s.
The other new emergency feature tipped to land with the Pixel Watch 4 is supposedly a new Breathing Emergencies alert. Using the wearable’s SpO2 sensor, this would give you a heads-up when your measured blood oxygen levels fall below a certain limit.
Just yesterday, Google confirmed an August 20 date for its next Made by Google event, where we’re set to meet the Pixel 10 series, maybe some new Pixel Buds, and almost certainly the Pixel Watch 4. With just a month to go, how many more leaks will arrive before this smartwatch officially shows us what it can do? Keep breathing, and check back with Android Authority for coverage of all the new rumors as they land.
