I ordered it from the Google Store on Thursday, May 1st, and it arrived on Saturday, May 3rd. This is my first smartwatch since the Amazfit Bip I got back in [2018-01-28-1] .

Purchase Price

The retail price was ¥32,800, but I had ¥15,000 in Google Store credit from buying a Pixel 9a in [2025-05-04-1] , so I effectively paid ¥17,800.

I think that’s a great deal for a smartwatch.

Why I Bought It

I didn’t strictly need to spend the Google Store credit, but I figured it was a good opportunity to try out a modern smartwatch.

That naturally led me to compare it with the Pixel Watch 3 . In the end, the deciding factors were:

• Battery life reportedly lasts about 6 days
  • Pixel Watch 3 only lasts 24-36 hours
• The price of ¥32,800 is reasonable
  • Pixel Watch 3 costs ¥52,800 for 41mm and ¥59,800 for 45mm

…That said, the real reason I pulled the trigger was that I mistakenly thought the Fitbit Sense 2 could detect signs of atrial fibrillation (AFib) 😅

🔗 Fitbit、「Inspire 3」「Versa 4」「Sense 2」を日本で発売――心電図は非対応も「承認に向けて取り組んでいる」 - ケータイ Watch

なお、Sense 2について、日本では「心電図」機能は利用できない。

This article is dated September 16, 2022, but the ECG app still appears to be unavailable in Japan as of now. Disappointing.

In hindsight, the Fitbit Versa 4 (¥27,800) might have been good enough.

The Good

My usage is fairly light, but the smartwatch works just fine for everyday use.

• It tracks steps, calories burned, floors climbed, heart rate, sleep duration, etc.
• I can check smartphone notifications on the watch
• I can set a Do Not Disturb mode to disable vibrations during specific hours each day

The battery life is excellent, so I rarely have to worry about charging. Charging during bath time is more than sufficient, and forgetting once isn’t a problem.

The pin buckle is flat, and the band tucks inward, so it rarely catches on clothing.

By the way, I’m using the ChronoBasic watch face. I chose it because it can optionally display seconds, step count, calories, and more.

But I Can’t Recommend It

Unreliable Behavior

Sometimes a tap is mistakenly recognized as a scroll. The overall responsiveness also feels a bit sluggish at times.

After changing the watch face, fonts occasionally become inconsistent — some turning bold, for instance. It usually fixes itself eventually.

The tiles that appear when swiping horizontally also don’t reliably reflect the settings from the Fitbit app.

False Detections

It counts clapping as steps. I’ve been attending women’s pro wrestling events frequently lately, which means plenty of clapping…

After waking up and removing the watch to get ready in the morning, my heart rate suddenly spikes and active zone minutes shoot up. I’d really like to believe that’s a false reading.

Uncertain Future for the Product

Fitbit was acquired by Google in January 2021¹. The Fitbit Sense 2 was released on September 29, 2022.

No successor has been announced since then, and given that Google has the Pixel Watch, I think it’s unlikely that Fitbit will see a resurgence. There have been leaked reports suggesting the same.

That said, metrics flow into Google’s Fit app, so I’m not too concerned about it.

Half-Baked Features

I don’t use these myself, but several features feel half-baked 💦

• The voice assistant is Alexa, not Google Assistant
• It can’t sync with the Suica on your phone. You’d need to create a new Suica specifically for Fitbit
• The selection of supported credit/debit cards is limited²
  • In Japan, you apparently use the “Fitbit Pay” app instead of “Google Wallet”

Conclusion

I’ve listed plenty of complaints, but wearing a smartwatch on a walk after such a long time does lift my spirits a little. And the daily step count is more accurate than relying on a phone.

I’ll keep using the Fitbit Sense 2 until I get bored of it or it breaks.

【Suica対応】Fitbit Sense 2スマートウォッチ ルナホワイト [6日間以上のバッテリーライフ/Alexa搭載/GPS搭載] FB521SRWT-FRCJK [日本正規品] Lunar White amazon.co.jp

The Japan release was announced on April 9 (Wed), and I pre-ordered from the Google Store the same day. It arrived on the release date of April 16 (Wed). Excellent.

There was nothing particularly wrong with my Pixel 6a other than slightly declining battery life, but after 3 years, I was curious to see how much things had improved, so I went for it.

• Google Pixel 6a Specs
• Google Pixel 9a Specs

Storage and Color Choice

I went with 128GB storage and the Iris (light blue) color.

Google Pixel 9a 128GB+8GB SIMフリー [Iris] * SIM FREE スマートフォン amazon.co.jp

Storage options were 128GB and 256GB. Since I had plenty of room with 128GB on my Pixel 6a, I chose 128GB again without hesitation.

The available colors were Iris (light blue), Peony (light pink), Porcelain (white), and Obsidian (black). Light pink wouldn’t exactly suit me, and I’d used white and black plenty during my iPhone days, so I went with Iris (light blue). My Pixel 6a was Sage (light green), and I think I made a similar decision back then.

Purchase Price

It was ¥79,900. Compared to iPhones, which now regularly exceed ¥100,000 and can even go above ¥200,000, that’s quite affordable. And the performance is solid.

On top of that, the trade-in value for my Pixel 6a was ¥25,100, bringing the effective price down to ¥54,800.

I also received ¥15,000 in Google Store credit, plus a 15% off coupon for things like the Pixel Watch 3, valid until May 31.

As for what to buy on the Google Store, I can’t help you there 😅

Migration Process

When I powered on the Pixel 9a, a migration wizard kicked in just like last time. Previously, I had to connect both phones with a USB cable, but this time it worked over Wi-Fi without one.

For the physical SIM card, I just had to swap it following the wizard’s instructions. The IIJmio “Access Point Name” configuration that was required last time wasn’t needed this time.

Once the wizard finished, apps from my Pixel 6a started downloading and installing one after another. I did wonder what determines which apps stay logged in and which don’t.

Some apps required manual migration:

• LINE
  • When I tried to log in on the Pixel 9a, the migration process started automatically, and LINE on the Pixel 6a was deactivated
  • Friends are carried over, but chat history needs to be migrated manually via Google Drive, so I’d recommend doing a manual backup beforehand if you’re worried
• Mobile Suica
  • Same as last time, I had to temporarily transfer the card to the server via the Osaifu-Keitai app on the Pixel 6a, then receive it on the Pixel 9a
• Google Maps
  • Starting around this time last year, Timeline storage moved from Google’s servers to users’ individual mobile devices, so I needed to carry over the data from my Pixel 6a
  • Tapping the ☁️ icon in the top right of Timeline showed my Pixel 6a backup, which I imported. Unfortunately, the location corrections I had been diligently making almost every day were not reflected…
  • On a separate note, finding the UI to enable Timeline was quite tricky
• My Number Portal (Myna Portal)
  • I activated the smartphone digital certificate on the Pixel 9a. The certificate on the Pixel 6a was deactivated

What Got Better

• Noticeable performance improvement
  • Thanks to the upgrade from Google Tensor to Google Tensor G4
• Fingerprint recognition accuracy improved
  • The phone unlocks just fine even with a glass screen protector
  • On the Pixel 6a, unlocking was difficult even with “Screen Protector Mode” enabled
• Face unlock is now available
  • Having both fingerprint and face unlock is surprisingly convenient
• Wireless charging is supported
  • I can now use the wireless charger from [2024-06-25-1] with my Pixel too, but it gets uncomfortably hot when slightly misaligned. I think it’s the charger’s fault, but still, it’s not even fast charging…
• Google VPN¹ is available
  • Being able to enable VPN on any Wi-Fi access point other than designated ones is really great. Now I can use public Wi-Fi without worry
  • This solves the issues I had with NordVPN, which I decided not to adopt in [2024-05-29-1] 👍

What Got Worse

It’s not terribly bad, but the phone feels bigger and heavier than the specs alone would suggest.

Not Much Has Changed

Other than what I mentioned above, nothing has really changed, but maybe that’s a good thing in itself.

Whether it was worth paying ¥54,800 for, I’m not so sure 😅

Case and Screen Protector I Bought

I was satisfied with the “plain, nothing-special case” from [2023-12-10-1] , so I bought a similar one.

A glass screen protector was also included, so I put it on, but it felt unnecessary, so I ended up removing it. As I mentioned, fingerprint recognition works fine even with this glass protector on.

Google Pixel 9a ケース クリア 黄変防止 グーグルピクセル9a ケース 耐衝撃 ガラスフイルム保護付き 指紋防止 落下防止 耐久性 ストラップホール付 薄型 軽量 ソフトカバー ワイヤレス充電対応 googleピクセル9a用 amazon.co.jp

Conclusion

I wrote about buying the Pixel 9a, migrating from the Pixel 6a, and my overall impressions.

Nothing has dramatically improved, but I’m glad I got to experience a bunch of small improvements for ¥54,800.

With the ¥15,000 Google Store credit I earned, I also bought a Fitbit Sense 2. But that’s a story for the next article 🙃