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.

On the other hand, a Garmin Fenix can be easily opened with an inexpensive tool and replacement parts are easily found online.

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.

Their support is infamously hard to contact, they discontinue projects very often, and now this. Google makes some very interesting products, but there would have to be a huge shift at the company, which won't happen, for me to buy them.

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.

Google support for literally anything is non existent. Same could be said about Meta.

I am slowly shifting away from Google. Gmail and Google Photos is going to be the hardest. :/

Definitely falls under the “evil” company vibe.

My solution is to steer clear of Google products. They excel at producing disposable… everything.

I think I will stick to my dumb watches, thanks. Mechanical or quartz.

Cool i'll just buy a watch that can be repaired then

i bought a P-Watch due to the circular aesthetic, have been wearing mine since release. it's "OK" but last week i fell on my bicycle and scratched up the watch face pretty badly, so QUITE annoying that there is no repair program.

doesn't matter though, switching to a classic Cassio watch soon anyways. "Smart Watches" aren't that helpful for me, ultimately i don't understand the appeal. it's just PHONE ON WRIST, seems like another way to "PLUG INTO THE MATRIX"

So they should be labelled "disposable" and priced accordingly.

Yeah fuck all of that.

Ever since the eu repair bill came out, my goal is to not buy electronics until i can get electronics that comply with that law.

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!

Pretty clear stuff like this is why we’re speed running to a dystopian future. Hopefully Googles profits can survive. /s

Shame on Google!

Shame on Google!

Also, look what I found...

I don't mind that excuse about my Mi Band 6, because it was like £25.

I would mind that excuse when we're talking about a £339 smartwatch. So I won't buy one.

I won't buy a Fitbit either, because the wife had one and every week was a complex dance of restarting the phone and watch several times until they agreed to connect to each other.

I get Google bad but what watch face is that in the thumbnail of the link?

Aren't all smart watches just e-waste? Always found them ridiculously redundant and wasteful. I mean my gshock is still on the same battery after 11 years and it's still precise, has a calendar, alarm clocks, timers, backlighting and went through hell and back. I used to swim and take showers without taking it off, crawling in a desert, all sorts of abuse with not even a scratch.

Also the same applies with Xbox Series consoles. Mine stopped working and Micro$oft doesn’t fix it. They tell me to pay almost full price for a refurbished one… or buy a brand new one.

Pixel Buds are the same way. IIRC from a teardown vid, those earbuds (and I'm guessing most of their competitors' too) are designed to be quasi-disposable in this way. They're glued together, the only way to open them up destroys them, warranty support consists of replacing defective earbuds.

This business model does create an e-waste issue... More lithium ion batteries ending up in landfills, more gold extracted from components by kids in developing nations burning them and breathing the carcinogens...

It's shit like this that's the reason I haven't gotten another pixel. My pix 5a died in within a year, I sent it to a Google certified repair shop, they couldn't fix it, concluded it needed to be sent to Google.

Once it got to Google they claimed it had water damage. It took me 3 months to go through all the bullshit and get a new phone from them. I had gotten an Azus Zenfone 9 by that point.

If you are a google product adopter in 2023 then you deserved to be relieved of your money.

This doesn’t surprise me. This is exactly what i would expect from google.

I own a pixel watch, I'm on my first RMA.

If they offer an upgrade option to send in my current watch for the new version, I'll probably take it. If I get 50% off or better, then I'm in.

Hopefully their second attempt is better than the first.

who needs an e-watch really

"But... but... Apple USB 2 ports!"