Google says it can’t fix Pixel Watches, please just buy a new one | With no official repair program and no parts, broken Pixel Watches are just e-waste.::With no official repair program and no parts, broken Pixel Watches are just e-waste.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Google makes a big deal out of its partnership with iFixit and the availability of replacement parts for its products, but one Google product that doesn’t seem fixable is the Pixel Watch.
After spotting some posts from Pixel Watch users seeking a remedy after cracking the glass and coming up with no clear answers, The Verge got Google to confirm that, even 11 months after launch, there is no repair plan right now.
Google can’t fix your watch.
The whole top half of the watch is one big glass hemisphere, so it’s not difficult to bang one of the glass corners into something and shatter the watch.
This might all seem like it’s against the spirit of Google’s big repairability announcement in 2022, but that blog post says the program is for Pixel phones, not any of the other stuff Google sells.
With the Pixel Watch 2 coming out soon, we’ll be sure to ask Google if there are any repair plans this time.
The original article contains 216 words, the summary contains 164 words. Saved 24%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
On the other hand, a Garmin Fenix can be easily opened with an inexpensive tool and replacement parts are easily found online.
Garmin watches look amazing. I just wish they had more smartwatch capabilities. I’d love complications on the watch face, and I feel like I should be able to start the assistant with a hotword.
I’m not sure if the Google Watch can do the latter.
On the other side of things. I’m super happy that garmin watches don’t have more smartwatch capabilities. Their laser focus on sports wearable is what keeps them massively competitive there and keeps me on weeks of battery life instead of hours of battery life
I totally understand that. They look perfect for their target market.
As far as I know, they’re the only wearable that does realtime stroke/length tracking for swimming, which is really cool. If I was more serious about exercise, that’d be the perfect excuse reason to buy one.
I’ve got an OG Garmin vivoactive. Besides the naming bullshit of this being vivoactive and there now being a “vivoactive 1”, it’s great. It’s a sidegrade to thebpebble, which I never thought I’d find. So now I just swap between this and the pebble when the mood suits me.
Love Garmin smartwatches.
I’m leaning this direction because I don’t really use any smart features in my watch. Just my fitness shit.
Any recommendations on Garmin watches for a guy who likes to bike/bike but not crazy sports level enthusiast?
What kind of smart watch doesn’t have complications? Does it at least have sleep tracking?
There’s plenty of watch faces with cool shit on them in the store, same as with Google
And having had watches that do respond to “hey Google” they were super iffy and inconsistent. Buttons are easier to avoid frustration, which the Garmin has.
As far as “smartwatch capabilities” I haven’t missed anything from my Wear watch. I certainly don’t miss charging it every day or having it die by 5pm because I actually used it
I’m charging my Garmin this morning. Haven’t charged it since Sunday… a week ago Sunday
Buttons on smart watches are a must. I really appreciated them on my Pebble.
Their customer support is also aces too. I’ve got a Fenix 6s and the battery is going out on it, and they’re replacing it for free. No questions or fuss. Just a shipping label.
For as expensive as they are, I’ve been extremely happy with them. When this replacement dies in another 3+ years I’ll definitely be getting another Garmin.
Same with the Google Nest Hub.
It cost me around $600 and has a known splash-screen issue which I just woke up to one morning.
No fix available when it happens. Nothing I did caused it. I just had to bin it.
It’s either planned obsolescence or just shitty design.
Probably both tbh
Let’s mint a new razor: assume both malice and incompetence
Companies should have fines for at least as much as the revenue they generated with those devices. Designed obsolescence is something that needs to be *abandoned, even if it hurts really bad financially.
Even simpler: If you sell it, and it breaks or becomes useless, you’re expected to take it back and dispose of it responsibly. Electronics retailers can charge a deposit, just like the supermarket does for beer and Coke.
Just imagine if things worked that way —
Find the broken husk of an iPod Shuffle on the beach? Take it to an Apple Store; they give you five bucks.
Find a roadkill Dell laptop on the side of the road? (I did earlier this summer.) Take it to any big-box store that sells Dell laptops; they give you five bucks.
Pixel Watch turned into e-waste? Mail it to Google; they give you five bucks. (Probably on your Google Pay account, yeah, but that’s better than nothing.)
But before that make it like a tire. Bought a pixel watch and it died in a year an a half? If the device should have lasted 3-5 years, you should be able to send it back to the manufacturer for a percentage of the cost back. Sure, google can say it’s watches only last 12 months, but as a consumer would you buy such a disposable item?
Pretty clear stuff like this is why we’re speed running to a dystopian future. Hopefully Googles profits can survive. /s
Expecting companies to be good citizens is crazy. Expecting consumers to be informed consumers is crazy. Our gov’t needs to pass regulations about repairability for just about any consumer product. But expecting voters to be informed voters also seems crazy.
And expecting our government to have the knowledge to regulate is crazy. I agree with you but our current government doesn’t have the slightest clue what technology is.
