After trying the new Pixel Watch 5, I can't wait to ditch my Watch 4

On the surface, there's very little that's different between the new Google Pixel Watch 5 and last year's Pixel Watch 4. It looks literally the same, with the same domed glass and display design, the same sizes, and the same materials.

But after having my hands on it for a bit and talking to one of the Pixel Watch's Product Managers at Google, I'm convinced this will be the next smartwatch on my wrist. I already love my Pixel Watch 4, and this should be a good overall upgrade.

But I say this as the nerd who upgrades their devices every year. For everyone else, there are a few reasons to make the jump, but not enough to justify putting down the full price on new Pixel Watch 5 and abandoning your Watch 4. Let me explain.

Some invisible hardware upgrades for the Pixel Watch 5

Getting ready for more of the Gemini era

The biggest hardware changes coming to the Pixel Watch 5 don't affect its design or size, but its underlying hardware. RAM has been upped from 2GB to 3GB, storage doubled to 64GB, and the processor is an accelerated version of the Snapdragon W5 Gen 2.

Obviously, I couldn't test any of this properly during my short hands-on time with the Pixel Watch 5, but I did feel that everything was slightly snappier and more responsive than on my Pixel Watch 4 running Wear OS 7.

These upgrades allow Google to offer more smarts on the watch. It's all converging to make the Gemini experience faster and more powerful. Gemini can now execute local actions offline, like setting alarms or timers — a big deficiency on the Watch 4.

Surely, though, I would've preferred if Google adopted the faster 3nm-built Snapdragon Wear Elite from the latest Samsung Galaxy watches, which would've been a real upgrade. But Google and state-of-the-art processors, as I've become to expect in the last few years, don't go together. The battery, charging, and many other specs are barely changed, too.

A better watch band material out of the box

You won't feel the difference, but it's good for you

Most of today's smartwatches ship with a default watch band that is slightly rubbery and elastic, very resistant, quick to dry, and doesn't cause too much itching or many allergies. It's also very comfortable to wear for longer periods of time.

That sounded ideal for a long time until a study revealed that the fluoroelastomers these bands are made from contain an elevated level of "forever chemicals" (PFAS). which could leak through your sweaty skin and cause many issues, including a higher risk of certain cancers.

The Apple Watch's latest Sport Band and Ocean Band are made from fluoroelastomers. The Pixel Watch 4's band used to ship with a fluoroelastomer band, too.

Not the Watch 5, though. Google has switched to a safer, non-fluorinated synthetic elastomer. The new Sport Band Gen 2 that comes with the watch out of the box is made from HNBR, which is based on nitrile rubber, a medical-grade safe compound.

I held the new band, I twisted it, I wore it, I wrapped and unwrapped it, and I didn't feel any difference between it and my existing Pixel Watch 4's first-gen Sport Band. I think it will be as enjoyable to wear and as durable, but much safer.

This is the kind of upgrade that won't make any headlines, but it's Google doing the right thing for its users, and I love that they took the step to lead the way. Apple, it's your turn!

The health upgrades that matter

Google has decided to save more lives

The Google Pixel Watch 4 is already one of the best smartwatches you can buy if you care about your personal safety. It detects falls, car crashes, unwarranted high or low heart rate moments, atrial fibrillation, and incidents of loss of pulse — all crucial health features.

The Pixel Watch 5 will take that to the next level, and I'm all here for it. It will detect breathing emergencies, such as choking, toxic inhalations, and drug toxicity accidents when the oxygen levels drop, and trigger an emergency call for help.

You can't put a price on saving a life, and the more ways Google can find to do so through its smartwatch, the more on board I am with the Pixel Watch project. It's why I wear mine every day and why my husband does, too.

Google has also kickstarted its blood pressure and insulin resistance journey. The company is still moving cautiously with these, using an entire month's worth of data points to indicate a trend, instead of giving you outright numbers minute by minute, but that's a good first step.

I won't get my first report until October, but I'm looking forward to seeing what my Pixel Watch 5 tells me then. It doesn't seem like it'll detect sleep apnea like the Galaxy Watch, but I hope this is the first step towards that.

Now, the best part of all of this, is that most of these features will be coming to older watches, too, like the Pixel Watch 4. You won't need to have the latest from Google to benefit, which is why I said that you probably shouldn't buy this one if you already own a Watch 4.

Wear OS 7 will finally reach its potential

All the missing features are live on the Pixel Watch 5

Wear OS 7 on my Pixel Watch 4 has been a disappointment. I can't see anything really new, and all the promised features are not live. I keep checking for updates and app updates, but everything still looks the same.

I got to experience it for real on the Pixel Watch 5, though, and I love the little improvements. Live updates look good: I started a Maps journey and the ETA immediately popped up on the main watch face, instead of a simple compass icon.

Google has also introduced dynamic color-graded complications for battery life, health goals, weather, etc. You can see them in action in the pic above. I think they make the entire face much more visually interesting and easier to read than single-colored complications.

There are new watch faces, too, new widgets instead of tiles, better controls over media playback output, and more. Those changes should make it to older Pixel watches, too, but they're already live on the Watch 5.

A worthy upgrade for owners of slightly older Pixel watches

Because most of the changes are software-centric and Google has already confirmed that they're coming to the Pixel Watch 4, the Pixel Watch 5 loses a good chunk of its appeal for a yearly upgrade for most people.

If you have a Pixel Watch 4 already, I recommend you stick with it. It'll be 95% as good as the newest watch. If you have a Pixel Watch 3 or older, though, there's enough here to justify the jump, between battery life, processor, and other hardware upgrades.

For me, though, there's certainly a geeky interest in checking out what the extra RAM and storage allow, and how Gemini performs on the Pixel Watch 5 with more headroom. I'm also chuffed about the new, safer watch band.