Google CEO Pichai photographed wearing unannounced Pixel Watch

On October 6th, along with the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, Google will finally introduce the long-awaited Pixel Watch. The device sports a round dial and will be pre-installed with Wear OS 3.1. The timepiece will support Google Assistant and it will allow users to access Google Maps navigation even if they left their smartphone at home.

If there is an issue with the Pixel Watch, it is with the chip inside the device which is an older Samsung Exynos 9110 that was first released in 2018. The device is expected to be released with a 300mAh battery and could be offered in Black, Gray, and Gold. The watch will charge with a magnetic puck.

Speaking about forcing a photo opportunity, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman disseminated a tweet a couple of days ago which included a photo of Google CEO Sundar Pichai wearing the Pixel Watch at Vox Media’s 2022 Code Conference. This isn’t the first time that a CEO brought an unreleased device to an event. In 2017, Apple’s Tim Cook appeared at Oxford University for a Q&A session that was recorded on video.

In the past, Google blamed Wear OS shortcomings for the failure of the Pixel Watch to appear. But it doesn’t appear that there will be any disappointments this year as Pichai has been building a Pixel ecosystem that he hopes will eventually rival Apple’s. Pixel will soon have its premium flagship handsets surrounded by premium earbuds, a Pixel Tablet (coming next year), and a smartwatch. Apple has had a huge head start, but we will see if Google can at least gain some traction, build from there, and close the gap.