Technologies

Google Pixel Watch 4 Specs vs. Samsung Galaxy Watch 8: Circle Takes On Squircle

The battle of the best Android smartwatch is heating up with the new Pixel Watch 4 going head to head with Samsung’s heavyweight Galaxy Watch 8. Here’s how they stack up on paper.

Google’s Pixel Watch 4 has arrived with a sleeker design, better battery life, first-of-its-kind emergency satellite connectivity, and an AI-powered health coach, giving even the most established smartwatches a serious run for their money.

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 8, on the other hand, builds on more than a decade of experience, pairing advanced health metrics like Vascular Load and Antioxidant Index with seamless integration across Galaxy phones and the broader Samsung ecosystem.

As smartwatches (and now smart rings) evolve from nice-to-have phone companions into serious health tools with lifesaving safety features and advanced vitals tracking, both Google and Samsung are stepping up their game to earn a permanent spot on your wrist. And while we haven’t tested the Pixel Watch 4 in the wild just yet, here’s how it stacks up against the Galaxy Watch 8 — at least on paper.

Both nail the basics

Each watch starts at $350 and comes in two sizes. The Pixel Watch, however, gets pricier at the top end, with the larger LTE version costing $70 more than the equivalent Galaxy Watch.

Memory, processing power, mobile payments and most core smart features are on par and best in class. They’re both running the latest Wear OS 6 along with Google’s game-changing Gemini voice assistant built-in right out of the gate. Though the Pixel Watch 4 has a slight edge because it can summon the assistant with just the raise of the wrist (no «Hey Google» needed). But the Galaxy Watch 8 does offer gesture control for other shortcuts.

Design, display, dimensions and durability

The Pixel Watch 4 sticks with its signature minimalist, round design. It comes in 41mm and 45mm sizes, with a rounded case and no visible frame. The screen curves outward in a seamless, bubble-like finish that gives it an all-screen look.

The Galaxy Watch 8, by contrast, embraces a bolder, more divisive design. Its circular display sits inside a wider squared-off base with softened edges, available in 40mm and 44mm options.

The Galaxy Watch’s display makes content look crisper, but the Pixel’s all-screen design and slightly larger dimensions gives it more usable screen real estate that’s easier to see from every angle. And they both have an always-on display option. One advantage of the Galaxy Watch however, is that it’s a couple grams lighter, making it more comfortable to wear, especially at night.

Both come in silver and dark gray finishes, but only Google offers a gold option. Samsung’s flex is the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, a pricier sibling with a sleeker design and fan-favorite rotating bezel. They each have their own proprietary interchangeable band system with customizable options and standard durability (5ATM, IP68), meaning each should be able to stand water, dust and particles without any issue.

Health and safety features

Both watches cover the basics: advanced heart rate, ECG, blood oxygen and temperature tracking. Samsung pushes further with skin analysis that tracks carotenoids (a key indicator of nutrition and overall health) and advanced heart metrics.

The Pixel Watch 4 may not measure antioxidant levels, but its overall health package is more robust and easier to understand thanks to the Fitbit app integration. It also has a new retroactive workout detection feature that registers your workout even if you forget to press start. Most importantly, it debuts an AI coach that helps decode all your health data and uses it to make personalized training plans. You can even ask questions like «Should I workout or sleep in an extra hour?», or » How do I improve my VO2 max?»

The catch: We won’t be able to test the Pixel 4’s AI coach in the wild until October, and even then it’ll launch in preview mode first. It’s also tied to Fitbit Premium, which requires a $10/month subscription fee, though Pixel Watch 4 owners may get a free trial period. All of Samsung’s health features and data are free.

Safety is also a Pixel highlight. Both watches include fall detection and SOS alerts, but Google adds loss-of-pulse alerts, a safety check feature and emergency satellite connectivity that lets you send out a cry for help even when you’re off the grid without phone or cell service in sight (LTE models only, free for two years).

Battery and charging

Google claims a 30-40-hour battery life for the Pixel Watch 4 (depending on size), while our real-world battery testing of the Galaxy Watch 8 (40mm) delivered 26-30 hours with always-on display active. That gives the Pixel a small edge on paper.

A clear win for the Pixel Watch is charging speed: It powers up to 50% in just 15 minutes on the new charging dock and reaches a full charge in about an hour. The Galaxy Watch takes around 80 minutes to fill and only hits 13% after 15 minutes.

Bottom line

If you’re already in Samsung’s ecosystem, you may not feel compelled to switch (unless you truly dislike the new design). But if you’re health-focused and open to something new, the Pixel Watch 4’s October health coach rollout could make it the one to watch. Check out the specs chart below for more on how the Pixel Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 8 stack up against each other.

Pixel Watch 4 vs. Galaxy Watch 8: Specs at a glance

	Pixel Watch 4	Galaxy Watch 8
Design & sizes	Round, 41mm & 45mm	Squircle (round screen), 40mm & 44mm
Display	AMOLED LTPO, 320 ppi	Super AMOLED, up to 480 ppi
Thickness & weight	12.3mm; 31–36.7g	8.6mm; 30–34g
Durability	5ATM water + IP68 dust	5ATM water + IP68 dust
Battery life	30–40 hrs + quick charge dock	26-30 hrs with always-on
Sensors	ECG, SpO₂, heart rate, skin temp, loss of pulse detection	ECG, SpO₂, heart rate, infrared temp sensor
Emergency features	Satellite SOS, Safety Check, Safety Signal, fall & crash detection	Fall detection, SOS, siren
AI & coaching	Gemini voice assistant; Fitbit AI health coach (via Premium)	Gemini voice assistant; Samsung Running Coach
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 2, Cortex-M55 co-processor	Exynos W1000 processor
RAM/Storage	2GB, 32GB (storage)	2GB, 32GB (storage)
Payments	Google Wallet	Samsung Wallet, Google Wallet
Price (US)	$350–$500	$350–$430

Technologies

You Can’t Trust Your Car’s Driving Assistance System Yet, AAA Report Finds

Both hands-on and hands-off systems required human intervention to avoid accidents in this study.

Technologies

Google’s AI Mode Is Getting New Agentic Features for Restaurant Reservations and More

AI Mode can now do most of the work to find dinner reservations for you.

Google’s AI Mode is getting new agentic capabilities and expanding to 180 new countries and territories around the world, Google announced Thursday. AI Mode allows you to ask questions directly to Google and it’ll kick off a series of searches on your behalf. From there, it will surface relevant information to your query without the need to do any of the deep research yourself. It changes the way you search for things online, and it’s getting even smarter with this latest rollout.

Powered by DeepMind’s Project Mariner, the latest additions bring us further into the agentic AI future we’ve been promised for some time, directly from a search box. Instead of just finding things for you, AI Mode can now do things for you, like finding dinner reservations, flights or concert tickets. The update also brings personalized recommendations and link-sharing capabilities for easier collaboration with friends and family.

Most of the new features are either limited to premium AI subscribers and tucked behind an experiment in Google Labs, but it might not take long before they’re a standard part of your future search experience.

Google did not immediately respond to CNET’s request for further comment.

Restaurant recommendations

Instead of searching for restaurant reservations and then clicking on a specific website to make a reservation, AI Mode surfaces everything you need to complete the action right there. Since it’s contextually aware, you can add specificities to your query that a typical Google search wouldn’t handle well.

You can add the type of cuisine, number of people, time and location to a single query, and AI Mode will get to work and display real-time restaurant reservation time slots to choose from.

Google says it’s partnered with OpenTable, Resy, Tock, Ticketmaster and several other companies to make finding and doing what you want easier, since you won’t have to put in the legwork yourself.

This feature is currently rolling out to Google AI Ultra subscribers in the US who have enabled the specific experiment in Labs.

Personalized recommendations

Another experiment that’s currently available in the US (that also needs to be enabled in Labs) is personalized recommendations. Google says it’s starting with dining-related recommendations, which implies more options will be on the way in the future.

The experiment will use your past conversations with AI Mode, places you’ve interacted with on Search and Maps to provide suggestions tailored specifically to you.

Share AI Mode links with others for collaboration

If you’re planning a vacation or a party, you can now share your research directly with others with a new link-sharing feature built into AI Mode. People who interact with the link will be sent to the last response sent by AI Mode and can continue the conversation on their own to do more exploration on the topic. The original sender of the links can manage them and delete them at any time.

For more, don’t miss everything Google announced at its Pixel 10 event.

Technologies

IPhone or Android, Here’s How to Finally Escape That Endless Group Chat

Done with a group chat? Here’s how to ghost it on any service.

One reason people prefer group chats in Apple’s iMessage or RCS texting is the extra control and security these platforms provide. If everyone in your group is using iPhones, or if you’re on Android chatting through RCS, you’ll get features like typing indicators, high-quality media sharing, and the option to mute or leave a conversation when you need fewer notifications.

The biggest advantage is privacy. Both iMessage and RCS group chats offer end-to-end encryption, so your conversations stay secure. The only time that doesn’t apply is when a thread includes a mix of iPhone and Android users, which limits encryption support.

Knowing these differences can help you manage your chats more effectively, whether you’re keeping up with friends, planning events, or just looking for a little more control over your notifications.

And with RCS support with iOS 18, group chats that include a mix of iPhone and Android participants have more features than ever — but it’s not at the level you’ll experience when a conversation is fully on iMessage or Google Messages. «Green bubble chats» from an iPhone to an Android phone can now include typing indicators, higher-quality media and easier group chats.

However, RCS conversations between the iPhone and Android phones don’t include encryption now, but it should be added in a future update. This will hopefully give these conversations a similar level of privacy that we expect when using chat services like iMessage, WhatsApp or Signal.

Regardless of how you’re in a group chat with others, you can leave a chat. Here are the steps to leave any conversation from your phone’s texting app, regardless of whether it’s happening on iMessage, RCS or as a mixed MMS chat.

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Leaving group chats on an iPhone

You can leave group conversations on your iPhone in two ways. You can either mute a chat,which keeps you in a conversation but you no longer receive notifications about it, or you can outright leave and no longer have access to the chat.

On an iPhone, open Messages and go to the chat thread you want to leave. At the top of the screen are conversation controls, a group of icons with the participants. Tap this to open a pop-up menu. As long as your conversation has four or more participants, iOS gives you the ability to tap Leave this Conversation with red text. If your chat has three or fewer participants, though, the option is grayed out, but you can tap Hide Alerts to prevent the conversation from notifying you further. Tapping Hide Alerts also allows you to mute a conversation, letting you keep access to a chat without necessarily leaving it. These steps apply to both iMessage conversations and to those over RCS.

Hide and block MMS chats on an iPhone

Although you can’t officially leave MMS group chats, you can hide or block the conversation. It’s not as good as outright leaving a conversation (other participants will still see you as in it), but you at least have no personal evidence of the conversation continuing.

On an iPhone, visit the group chat and tap the conversation controls. Instead of seeing Leave this conversation, you will see the option to Delete and Block this conversation. If you’d rather just mute the conversation instead of deleting and blocking it, you can hit Hide Alerts to mute it.

Leave group chats on an Android phone

On an Android phone using Google Messages, visit the chat thread you want to leave. Tap the conversation’s name to bring up the Group Details menu. Within this menu is the Leave Group button. Unlike with iMessage, you can leave chats with as few as three participants.

If you want to just mute notifications, tap Notifications on the Group Details screen to bring up a window with notifications controls. This includes options to make the conversation stay Silent to prevent it from ringing your chat, and if you tap Lock Screen, a pop-up menu will give you the option to prevent notifications. Tap Don’t show notifications at all to enable.

Hide and block MMS chats on an Android phone

On an Android phone with Google Messages, follow the same steps to access options for controlling notifications. This includes visiting the MMS chat thread and then tapping either the name of the conversation or the names of the participants at the top to bring up the Group Details menu. You won’t see a Leave Group option like you did with an RCS thread, but you do get the same ability to tap Notifications to access controls for hiding the conversation. This includes the same options for turning the conversation to Silent and to select Don’t show notifications at all.

SMS vs. MMS vs. RCS

SMS stands for Short Message Service and debuted in 1992. Text messages are limited to 160 characters. MMS stands for Multimedia Messaging Service and supports sending photos, videos or other files and messages longer than 160 characters. MMS supports a group of people chatting in a single conversation thread, while SMS can text multiple people at once but is sent as individual messages to each person. RCS, which launched 15 years ago, is short for Rich Communication Services and can show typing indicators, read receipts and has end-to-end encryption.

While cross-platform chat apps like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram have better controls for conversations, encryption and privacy, regardless of the type of phone participants are using, they don’t support SMS, MMS or RCS. That’s why the default messaging app on most phones is still widely used, even if it means that a group chat is on a less feature-filled, unsecured standard like MMS.