IMDA listing confirms Google is behind mystery wrist wearable

We already knew G8BL6 looked like some kind of mystery wrist wearable. Now the same device has popped up in Singapore’s IMDA database, and this time there is a useful extra detail: the brand is listed as Google.

The device was first spotted in an FCC filing, where the paperwork pointed to a gadget with straps, a screen, GNSS and Bluetooth LE. The FCC never actually named Google, though. The new IMDA entry does, which makes the whole thing a lot less speculative.

IMDA actually names Google

The Singapore listing is pretty straightforward. G8BL6 appears under the Google brand, with “Wireless Device” as the equipment description and Bluetooth as the equipment type. Wideminds Pte. Ltd. is listed as the local supplier, while the marketing-name field is still blank.

That last bit means we still do not know what Google plans to call this thing. But having Google sitting there in the Brand/Trade Name column is a big step forward because the FCC filing itself only names Weifang Goertek Electronics as the applicant.

When we first looked through the FCC paperwork, there were already plenty of reasons to suspect Google. Goertek also handled the FCC filing for Fitbit Air, and G8BL6 follows the sort of model naming Google uses for its hardware.

The IMDA entry now removes that part of the detective work. Whatever G8BL6 eventually turns out to be, it is a Google device.

The FCC clues now make a lot more sense

That makes everything buried in the FCC reports a bit more important.

The paperwork mentions different straps being tested, while the RF exposure testing treats G8BL6 as an extremity device with zero separation. In other words, this looks very much like something intended to sit directly on the wrist.

There also appears to be a display. The device’s regulatory information can be opened from its Home screen by going through Settings > System > Regulatory Information, where the FCC ID appears electronically.

Then there is GNSS. The FCC testing lists both Bluetooth LE and GNSS, which points to onboard satellite positioning rather than a tracker that depends entirely on a connected phone for location.

The test setup also mentions a charging base. And Sporton used ADB, Google’s Android debugging toolkit, to put G8BL6 into engineering modes during testing. None of that proves it runs Wear OS, but it is another clue that fits much better now that IMDA has directly tied the hardware to Google.

So far, there is no Wi-Fi or cellular radio authorization attached to G8BL6. That makes another conventional Pixel Watch look less likely and pushes us back towards some kind of fitness tracker or lighter wrist wearable.

That mystery Google band is back in the conversation

There is an obvious device sitting in the background here.

Google has already shown an unidentified screen-equipped fitness tracker in its own Pixel advertising. We covered the mystery band in August because it does not match Fitbit Air, Fitbit Charge 6 or Pixel Watch 5.

A Fitbit Charge 7 was the obvious possibility, although there was nothing solid connecting that name to the device. Google could just as easily be preparing something new under the Fitbit or Google branding.

Source: IMDA via thetechoutlook