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Google's Unreleased Pixel Watch Leaks After Being Left Behind in a Restaurant

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The "Pixel Watch," Google's first flagship smartwatch aimed to become a competitor for the Apple Watch, has leaked online after a Google employee who had access to the unreleased watch apparently left it behind at a bar.

pixel-watch-leak-android-central.jpeg

The images were shared with Android Central, which stated at the time that it had received the pictures from a source who had found the watch at a restaurant. Thanks to a Reddit thread from a user who claims to have supplied Android Central with the images, however (via The Verge), some more details about how images of the watch made their way online have been shared.

According to Reddit user u/tagtech414, their friend who works at a bar found the watch a few weeks ago and decided to keep hold of it, hoping the owner or Google would come looking for it. Neither the owner nor Google seemingly ever reached out or looked for the watch. The incident will draw stark similarities to when the iPhone 4, the biggest redesign to the iPhone at the time since its launch, was leaked online after an employee forgot it at a bar.

pixel-watch-design-prosser-leak.jpg

As for the watch itself, the images match with renders shared last year by Jon Prosser. Google is opting for a circular watch design, with a circular dial, a side button, and a hole on the side, likely to be a microphone. The screen size is around 1.5-inches, according to the Reddit user and an additional image shared on Reddit shows the watch with relatively large bezels.
pixel-watch-leak-2.png


Like the Apple Watch, the Pixel Watch will have a mechanism for changing watch bands, according to the images. An image of a blue silicone-like watch band depicts the Pixel Watch experience being similar to that of the Apple Watch regarding watch bands, letting users easily slide different options in and out.
pixel-watch-leak-3.png

The Pixel Watch has been rumored to launch for some time and could see an official announcement as soon as next month. Google will be holding Google I/O, its annual developers conference, from May 11 through May 12 where additional details could be shared.

Article Link: Google's Unreleased Pixel Watch Leaks After Being Left Behind in a Restaurant
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/04/25/pixel-watch-leaks-after-left-behind/
N

Nimrad

macrumors 6502
Jul 28, 2010
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What is the chance of somebody unknowingly takes off their watch and leaves a secret product by mistake? Watches are not something you just casually takes off in a restaurant, and definitely not a secret, unlaunched product. What I'm saying is: I really suspect this was done on purpose.
 
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kc9hzn

macrumors 68000
Jun 18, 2020
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elvislives said:
This looks ugly and FAT...
why do people keep designing round Smart watches?, information needs square screens...
they are just trying to be different.
Click to expand...
I agree on square screens. A round face is good for information that can be laid out in a circle (clock faces, for instance), but it has terrible information density for anything better suited for a rectangular display. It means that there’s a lot of spaces around the edge of the display that can’t really be used for information.

(Edit: And, of course, rectangles are better suited for information, in general. You can display any format of information in a rectangle, circles, triangles, hexagons, and they make better use for composable displays of information [little pieces of info combined into one display unit] without wasting space. Round displays are only suitable for watches that you don’t anticipate running any third party apps on or if you can guarantee that every app for the platform will be round, neither of which seems to be true with this watch, or at least so I think. It’s the classic round peg square hole problem.)

And, even then, rectangular/square clock faces have existed for years, predating consumer GUI operating systems, at the very least. What’s more, the square-ish screen of the Apple Watch paired with a circular watch face allows for a great deal of information density in the form of complications. In order to get a similar level of information density (for the watch face or for apps) on a round face, you’d need to significantly increase the size of the watch face. Imagine a round watch with 8 complications (a la Apple’s Infograph watch), you’d probably need a 60mm display. Round watch faces are marginally better as watches (and only because they’re more “traditional”*) than rectangular faces, but they’re considerably worse on anything smartwatch.

* And the traditional argument only really works for a consciously traditional watch. Quality leather band available at purchase time, design language and case material that heavily borrows from those used for watches. I strongly doubt that’s what Google has done, they went for a sport band like band for the default choice, and Google doesn’t really strike me as a company with much concern for “tradition”.
 
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Ranste

Ranste

macrumors newbie
Aug 22, 2016
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Looks like someone will be looking for a new job this morning.

Agreed, the design is grotesque. I do wonder where they got the idea of the strap design though; look familiar to anyone?
 
JM

JM

macrumors 601
Nov 23, 2014
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“Left behind at a restaurant”

“by accident”

“This is big!”

“No, for real!”

“Why are you laughing?”

“Hello?”

- Overheard transcript of a phone call outside restaurant.
 
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