Facepalm: Remember when an Apple employee left his first-gen iPhone prototype at a bar? Here we go again. An anonymous source claims to have found a prototype Google Pixel Watch at a restaurant somewhere in the US.
Android Central wound up with some exclusive pictures of what might be Google’s Pixel Watch. The images are not the same as renders leaked by Jon Prosser two weeks ago. These are photos of what looks to be an actual prototype.
The watch does look similar to the renders Prosser leaked — it’s round and has a watch crown. However, it’s also markedly thicker. Additionally, there are two buttons on either side of the crown, which are not present in the the renders.
Unfortunately, we don’t know what the buttons do because the watch is not operational, or if it is, there is a trick to getting it to boot up. The finder tried to turn it on and was greeted with a splash screen featuring a white Google logo, then nothing.
There is a four-pin interface on the one side that is likely for testing. It could be that the prototype has to be connected to a secondary device to boot up an operating system. Apple did something similar to keep developers compartmentalized. There would be no need for such a connector in the final product, so that interface is not likely to remain. Another notable feature includes a sensor on the back, probably a health monitor similar to an Apple Watch.
The images from the prior leak showed a wrist strap with a unique hidden back-side clasping mechanism, while this prototype has a more traditional fastener. The prototype’s band could be temporary, with a different one coming with the device’s release.
Of course, as this is a prototype (the packing says as much), so a lot could change when it comes time to ship the final product. However, its general design does jive with the renders, so we will likely see something much different from an Apple Watch or Samsung Galaxy Watch form factor.
