Kerry Wan/ZDNET ZDNET key takeaways Pixel Watch 4 New features: faster charging, satellite link, health AI. First Pixel Watch with replaceable battery for sustainability. Get more in-depth ZDNET tech coverage: Add us as a preferred Google source on Chrome and Chromium browsers. The time has finally come for Google Pixel users. A new lineup of Google phones, earbuds, and, my personal favorite, smartwatches, is coming to Android users, Google announced at its Made by Google event on Wednesday. The Pixel Watch 4 is Google's latest smartwatch, and the wearable comes packed with new, intriguing features that raise the bar across the smartwatch board. I got to try several of them out ahead of the smartwatch's official launch, and they impressed me and got me excited to wear the watch myself. Also: Everything announced at Made by Google 2025: Pixel 10 Pro, Fold, Watch 4, and more While the features of the fourth-generation smartwatch are new, the price of the watch will stay the same, at $350 for the 41mm and $400 for the 45mm. The 41mm watch cases come in matte black with an obsidian active band, polished silver with a porcelain active band, champagne gold with a lemongrass active band, and polished silver with an iris active band. Nina Raemont/ZDNET On the 45mm, the watch cases include matte black with an obsidian active band, polished silver with a porcelain active band, and satin moonstone with a moonstone active band. Preorders for Pixel Watch 4 begin on Aug. 20, and the smartwatches hit shelves on Oct. 9. 1. New charging dock I had to fumble with the charger on the Pixel Watch 3 several times to land the smartwatch's charging mechanisms in the right place. It's annoying and tedious. The Pixel Watch 4's charging port erases this problem with its new orientation. Instead of flat charging that required a user to perfectly align the magnets to initiate a charge on Watch 3, the Pixel Watch 4 falls immediately into place with the side-charging port. Plus, Google says the Watch 4 is its longest and fastest-charging watch to date, with a 25% faster charging speed. 2. Satellite communications Nina Raemont/ZDNET Several smartwatches have satellite communications. What separates them from Pixel Watch 4 is Google's first-of-its-kind standalone smartwatch with satellite communications. Most satellite-enabled smartwatches require a phone to connect to. The Pixel Watch 4 doesn't. Also: The best satellite phones of 2025: Expert tested and reviewed It's powered by Snapdragon's processor, which connects to geostationary satellites to guide you and connect you when you're off grid. This feature is smart, unique, and useful to outdoor adventurers or those with poor connectivity. It is available on the Pixel Watch 4 LTE. 3. Improved health features Outside of being a smartphone's wrist-side companion, a smartwatch is built to health-track with sensors and functionalities you can't find on a Pixel phone. Google is making investments in both sleep and activity tracking with the Pixel Watch 4. The watch gets Google's most accurate sleep tracking and sleep stage detection to date. Additionally, the sensors can more acutely detect variations in skin temperature. Now, when users are exercising and forget to record their workout, Google automatically detects and classifies activities while also recording heart rate information. The AI-powered feature learns from your workout regimen to accurately classify these activities over time. Also: Is all this data about our health good for our health? The Watch 4 also uses Gemini as a personal health coach that's been developed with Fitbit to create customized sleep and activity regimens tailored to the user. Whether a Watch 4 user is running their first marathon or aiming for a new PR in the gym, Gemini offers up training plans and advice along the way. Nina Raemont/ZDNET Google also unveiled on Wednesday that it's revamping the Fitbit Premium experience to make the app feel and act more like a personalized health coach. I didn't get to try this revamped Fitbit, as the revamp arrives on watches in October, but Google says it will adapt to and create custom routines, generate workouts based on the data it's collected on your activity level and sleep quality, and offer check-ins and adjustments mid-workout. 4. Watch faces adapt to customizable themes Pixel Watch 4 on the left and Pixel Watch 3 on the right. The new watch has buttons that hug the edges of the screen. Nina Raemont/ZDNET As somebody who loves form equally, if not more, than function, I can't deny myself an aesthetic touch. Google's wearable comes in the form of watch faces that adapt to customizable themes, so that your display is cohesive, personalized, and, in my opinion, cool to look at. 5. Brighter display 3,000 nits seems to be the magic number for watch brightness this tech season. Google upgraded its smartwatch, matching the brightness of Samsung's recently released Galaxy Watch 8 and Apple's Ultra Watch 2. The display was bright and vivid. Also: Google is officially replacing Assistant with Gemini - and there's only one way to keep it Additionally, Google developed a domed Actua-360 display that's made to be more glanceable and complement the new edge-hugging buttons that take up more of the Pixel Watch screen. 6. Replaceable battery For the first time, Google is making the Pixel Watch 4's battery and display replaceable. This is a major stride for both customers and sustainability and seems to be one way the tech giant is addressing the issue of e-waste. Once your Pixel Watch 4's battery dies or its display cracks, you can replace it with a new one and avoid buying a new watch altogether. 7. Goodbye, Hey Google If you wanted to activate Google's assistant on previous watches, you'd have to say Hey Google. Now, all you have to do is raise the smartwatch and start speaking for quicker query activation. This update makes triggering Gemini quicker, convenient, and conversational.