If you want Google on your wrist, you now have to decide whether a smartwatch is worth $220 more than a Fitbit.
The Google Pixel Watch 5 starts at $400. The new Fitbit Edge, which Google made official a week ago, costs $180 and arrives in stores on October 27, with pre-orders open now.
I can’t see the cheaper gadget as a compromise. The Edge has built-in GPS and a battery rated for up to a week.
So why would anyone pay $220 more? I went through both spec sheets line by line, and I found four good reasons.
I don’t think most people will miss any of them. The ones who do, though, will miss them very, very loudly.
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The Edge packs a lot of tracker into a $180 body
GPS and a week of battery for half the price
Credit: Lucas Gouveia / Android Police
The Fitbit Edge is something between the screen-less Fitbit Air and the Pixel Watch 5. Google priced it at $180 in the US, roughly half the price of a Pixel Watch at full price.
The hardware is very generous for the price. The Edge has a 1.34-inch AMOLED display in an aluminum body that weighs only 17.7 grams.
You get a physical side button, new snap-in bands, and 5 ATM and IP68 water resistance.
Battery life is a good reason to pick a Fitbit over a smartwatch. Google says it runs up to seven days on a charge.
It’s also Google’s first fitness tracker with a replaceable battery, which is great news if you hang on to your gadgets for years.
The sensor list is long too. Fitbit Edge has built-in GPS and an altimeter for tracking elevation on hikes. It also offers skin temperature tracking and an ECG sensor.
Feature
Fitbit Edge
Pixel Watch 5 (41mm Wi-Fi)
Price
$179.99
$399.99
Display Technology
1.34-inch AMOLED
Actua 360 OLED (1 to 60Hz, 3,000 nits)
Battery Life
Up to 7 days (2 days with Always On Display)
Up to 30 hours (Always On Display enabled)
Operating System
Proprietary Fitbit OS
Wear OS 7
Phone Compatibility
Android 11+ and iOS 16.4+
Android 12+ (No iOS support)
Weight
17.7 grams
31.0 grams (without band)
That’s a lot of tracker for the money. Still, I’d hold off on pre-ordering until you’ve seen the four features the Edge leaves out.
You lose the Wear OS app store
A curated Fitbit OS built around a battery
The Edge falls short on software. It runs a lean proprietary Fitbit OS rather than Wear OS.
Google’s feature list shows only a handful of essential apps. It includes music controls, weather, timers, and alarms, with Google Maps directions coming soon.
There’s, however, no Google Play Store. On a Pixel Watch, you can install third-party workout apps or smart home controls when you want.
The Edge keeps you inside a chamber designed to stretch the battery. If you depend on a particular workout app or love tinkering with your watch, it’ll feel limited quickly.
No LTE means your phone must come along
The Edge tracks your run but can’t keep you reachable
Plenty of runners and cyclists would rather leave their phone at home. The Pixel Watch 5 has cellular models for that crowd.
With LTE, you can text and stream music without a phone nearby, and still reach emergency SOS if something goes wrong.
The Edge won’t cut that cord. Its spec sheet lists Bluetooth 5.4 and built-in GPS, but no Wi-Fi or cellular radio.
The GPS tracks your distance and pace on an outdoor run. Anything involving messages or live syncing still needs your phone in your pocket.
Google Wallet didn’t make the cut
There’s no NFC chip
Credit: Lucas Gouveia / Android Police
Tap-to-pay is one of the best reasons to wear something on your wrist. Paying for a post-run coffee without going for your wallet is the kind of small win you notice every day.
The Pixel Watch 5 works with Google Wallet for that. The Edge covers plenty of health sensors and basic Google integrations, but it has no NFC chip, so Google Wallet is off the table.
Gemini on the Edge is a coach that you can’t talk to
AI does the thinking on your phone
Credit: Lucas Gouveia / Android Police
The Pixel Watch 5 runs a Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 Accelerated chip with 64GB of storage, which powers Gemini on the watch.
You get a conversational voice assistant on your wrist, and since the September update, it can handle basic actions like timers and workouts offline. The Edge takes a different tack.
Google promises “personalized coaching built with Gemini,” which uses AI to crunch your health data and build custom workouts inside the Google Health app, so it reads your fitness numbers and tells you what to do with them.
That coaching needs a Google Health Premium membership, though the Edge comes with three months free.
If you want to dictate a long message or boss your smart home around from your wrist, the Edge won’t do it.
Power users should still pick the Pixel Watch
They get their money’s worth
Credit: Lucas Gouveia / Android Police
If your watch is basically a second screen for your phone, ignore the Edge and get the Pixel Watch. Pick the Edge only if you don’t need the features a full smartwatch has.
If health tracking is what you care about, pre-order the Edge. It looks like the true successor to the aging Charge 6.
For $180, you get a lot of value for money, and it plays nice with both Android and iOS, something the Android-only Pixel Watch 5 can’t match.
Unless one of those four trade-offs is a deal-breaker for you, keep the extra $220 in your pocket.
Keep an eye on Black Friday sales
If you want the Pixel Watch, the October sale made it an even better deal. $350 for the 41mm Wi-Fi model is a lot easier to justify than $400.
If you missed it, don’t worry too much. Pixel Watch 5 has a long track record of holiday discounts, and with Black Friday on the way, I’d be surprised if this one didn’t drop again soon after the Edge launches.
So if you’re set on the Pixel Watch, there’s no rush to pay full price. Set a price alert and wait for the next drop.