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| Pixel Watch 4 gets pinch and wrist gestures, faster Smart Replies |
For anyone who’s ever fumbled with their smartwatch while carrying groceries, walking a dog, or during a busy workout, Google has just delivered a highly practical solution. The latest update for the Pixel Watch 4 introduces intuitive one-handed gestures, finally bringing the wearable in line with a hands-free future. This isn’t just a minor tweak; it’s a fundamental shift in how you can interact with your watch when your other hand is occupied.
The star of the show is the new Double Pinch gesture. By simply pinching your index finger and thumb together twice, you can command your watch to perform a surprising number of tasks. Need to answer an incoming call while your hands are wet? A double pinch does the trick. Want to pause your timer, snooze an alarm, control your music, or even snap a photo with your connected smartphone? All of this is now possible without ever touching the screen. The gesture works by utilizing the watch’s sensors to detect the specific muscle movements in your hand and wrist, a technology similar to that found on Apple and Samsung devices.
But Google didn’t stop there. A complementary Wrist Turn gesture is also part of the package. Quickly turning your wrist out and then back in allows you to swiftly dismiss incoming calls or silence alerting notifications—a perfect solution for those moments when you just can’t take the call.
To help users discover and remember these new controls, Google is rolling out Gesture Hints across Wear OS. These subtle visual cues will appear directly over buttons or near scroll bars to indicate when a gesture can be used instead of a tap. Worried about prompts getting annoying? You have full control. In the Settings > Gestures > Hand gestures menu, you can not only toggle each gesture on or off individually but also customize how often the hints appear, setting the frequency from daily to just once.
For the full details straight from the source, be sure to check out the official announcement on the Google blog.
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| Smart replies on Pixel Watch Image |
Smarter Replies and a Better Assistant Experience
Alongside the gesture update, Google is supercharging the Smart Reply feature on both the Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Watch 4. The upgrade comes from a new, more efficient on-device language model based on Gemina. Google states this new model performs two times faster and is nearly three times more efficient with memory usage than the previous system. This means quicker, more relevant suggested replies for messages without draining your battery.
The company is also focused on improving the onboarding experience. A new step-by-step tutorial for the Raise to Talk feature aims to help new users seamlessly learn how to activate the Google Assistant simply by lifting their wrist and speaking, completing the hands-free trifecta.
The Takeaway
This update significantly elevates the Pixel Watch experience from a convenience standpoint. By integrating robust one-handed gestures and a smarter, faster on-device AI, Google is addressing real-world usability pain points. It moves the Pixel Watch closer to being a truly autonomous device on your wrist, reducing dependency on the touchscreen and making interactions feel more natural and immediate. For current Pixel Watch 4 users, it’s a substantial free upgrade. For those considering one, it just made the value proposition a lot more compelling.