The Pixel Watch 3 is the first Wear OS device I’d use over an Apple Watch
- Google’s Pixel Watch 3 impresses with a larger 45mm size, brighter display, and improved activity tracking.
- The smartwatch enhanced battery life and faster charging but still uses pin-based charging and can be bulky.
- Pixel Watch 3 offers solid design, software, and health features, positioning itself as a strong competitor to Apple Watch.
After years of rumors and the high-profile
acquisition of Fitbit
, Google finally revealed the original
Pixel Watch
back in 2022. While the first-generation smartwatch was a decent wearable, it ultimately fell short due to its sizable bezels, lackluster battery life, and software hiccups. In the truest sense of the phrase, it was a first-run device. In a vacuum, the original Pixel Watch was a decent smartwatch, but it didn’t fare well compared to the Apple Watch, Galaxy Watch, and even Google’s own Fitbit devices.The following year, Google released the
Pixel Watch 2
, adding a faster Qualcomm chip, better battery life, more accurate sensors, and a bigger display. Although the new model received a more positive reception, it still lagged behind the competition, particularly when it came to its sensors and fitness features.
Recommended
Pixel Watch 3
The Google Pixel Watch 3 builds on the previous model, introducing a new 45mm size along with the original 41mm watch. Both options feature a larger display with double the brightness. It offers plenty of runner-centric features along with more connectivity with Google’s ecosystem.
- Great-looking design
- Smoooth software experience
- Refined overall experience
- Wear OS 5 can sometimes be glitchy
- Pin-based charging can be finicky
- Software design can look child-like sometimes
This review is focused on the 41mm version of the Pixel Watch 3. I briefly went hands-on with the 45mm Pixel Watch 3 at Google’s Pixel 9 series launch event, and I can confirm that its screen is far more expansive than the Pixel Watch 2 and the 41mm Pixel Watch 3, making it easier to navigate (but it’s also really big). I can’t speak to Google’s battery life claims surrounding the 45mm version, though other reviews indicate it lasts a few additional hours over its 41mm counterpart. I’ve yet to be able to try notable features like “Target Load’ and “Cardio Load” because they take several days of consistent use to activate. This review will be updated with my hands-on thoughts about these features when I can test them out.
Price, availability, and specs
The Pixel Watch 3 starts at $350 ($450 for the LTE version) for the 41mm version and $400 ($500 for the LTE version) for the 45mm iteration. For the smaller model, colors include polished silver and a porcelain Active Band, champagne gold with a hazel Active Band, matte black with an obsidian Active Band, and polished silver with a rose quartz Active Band. On the other hand, the 45mm Pixel Watch 3 only comes in polished silver with a porcelain Active Band, matte black with an obsidian active band, and matte hazel with a hazel active band. You can only purchase the Pixel Watch 3 with an Active Band, with additional straps needing to be purchased separately.
The Pixel Watch 3 features a 320 PPI AMOLED display that’s capable of hitting 2,000 nits of brightness, Qualcomm’s W5 chip (the same processor as last year ) coupled with a new power-efficient Cortex-M33 co-processor that handles specific less intensive tasks to save more battery life. Other specs include 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, IP68 (water resistant in fresh water to a maximum depth of 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes, and dust resistant), and up to 35 hours of battery life with the new Battery Saver mode.
Pixel Watch 3 design
This year Google’s smartwatch features a slightly sleeker look
The Pixel Watch line has always reminded me of Pebble’s Time Round. I mean that as a compliment; the circular version of that ill-fated smartwatch is one of my favorite watches ever. The Pixel Watch 3’s curved display is elegant, and thanks to the 16 percent smaller bezels, the overall design evokes a more modern look than the Pixel Watch and the Pixel Watch 2.
As an interesting side note,
Google actually owns Pebble
in a roundabout way, given it sold to Fitbit in 2016, and the tech giant now owns the latter company.
They’re still there, though. It will be interesting to see how the Pixel Watch 3’s display compares to the Apple Watch Series 10’s expansive screen. The side of the smartwatch features an Apple Watch Digital Crown-like spinning dial to navigate menus and a button that gives you quick access to recently used apps. The crown spins fluidly and feels great, while the button has a satisfying tactile click to it.
The 45mm Pixel Watch 3 features a 40 percent bigger screen when compared to the 41mm Pixel Watch 3. While Google didn’t send me a 45mm Pixel Watch to review, in the brief time I spent with the wearable at the company’s Pixel 9 launch event, my key takeaway was that it felt enormous. Generally, the 45mm looks a little ridiculous on my thin wrists, similar to the 49mm Apple Watch Ultra, but if ample screen space is what you’re after, you’ll want to opt for the new bigger version of Google’s smartwatch.
The roughly 2x brighter display makes viewing the Pixel Watch 3’s always-on screen easier under direct sunlight. It impressively matches the Apple Watch Series 10’s 2,000 nits of peak brightness (the Galaxy Watch 6 beats it at 3,000 nits, however). I’d even go so far as to say I prefer the look of the Pixel Watch 3 over the Apple Watch and Samsung’s chunky Galaxy Watch line. The rounded aesthetic looks far more like a regular watch than the squared Apple Watch.
Sticking with the display, the always-on screen can now drop to just 1 nit in dark environments and dynamically refreshes between 1 and 60Hz, depending on what you’re doing with it. This saves battery life and results in a smoother experience compared to the Pixel Watch 2’s sometimes choppy-looking 30hz, particularly when rapidly scrolling through menus.
My review device is a matte black watch with an obsidian band — I’m a big fan of its understated color and design.
When it’s not on your wrist, the Pixel Watch looks a little thick, but that disappears when you’re wearing it (it is still a bit thicker than the Apple Watch). Still, if you were hoping Google would shrink the Pixel Watch 3’s thickness, you’ll be disappointed with the new smartwatch’s design. Speaking of the look, the back of the smartwatch is stainless steel and where its several sensors are located, while the front features a sleek-looking brushed aluminum.
I’m still not fond of how Pixel Watch’s band snaps into place. You have to slide the strap under the side with the button and then push it in firmly. Once you’ve done it once, it makes sense, but it took me about 10 minutes to figure out the first time, even though I own a Pixel Watch 2 (I never took the strap off after initially setting it up).
At this point, Google can’t change the clasp design, or it’ll ruin backward compatibility with earlier Pixel Watches, but that doesn’t change the fact that the mechanism is confusing compared to the Galaxy Watch and the Apple Watch. The Active Band reminds me of the Apple Watch’s Sport Band, which means it’s a decent, sweat-resistant everyday strap that’s very durable but not super comfortable. At some point, I’ll likely buy a Woven Band for the Pixel Watch 3 since I find fabric watch bands far more comfortable.
My review device is a matte black watch with an obsidian band — I’m a big fan of its understated color and design. It feels refined and sleek, but I’m unsure how it’ll withstand scratches and scuffs.
Pixel Watch 3 durability
Google’s latest smartwatch looks like it could take a hit
When it comes to smartwatches, durability is very important. After all, you’re theoretically nearly always wearing a smartwatch regardless of what you’re doing. Over the years, I’ve scratched nearly every Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch I’ve ever owned, leading me to often use less-than-stellar screen protectors. While I can’t speak to the Pixel Watch 3’s display durability given I’ve only spent a little over a week with the smartwatch, it feels like it could take a hit. However, like the Apple Watch, I’m worried its curved display will easily scratch against rough surfaces.
It doesn’t feel quite as premium as the Galaxy Watch 6 or Apple Watch Series 9, but it’s strikingly close.
The Pixel Watch 3 features IP68 certification, which means that it’s water-resistant at a maximum depth of roughly 5-feet (about 1.5 meters) for 30 minutes, and it’s protected from dust. As a result, it can handle dips in the water with confidence. Overall, the Pixel Watch 3 feels like a premium, very solid wearable that’s a cut above the Pixel Watch 2 and every Fitbit I’ve used, including the Sense line. It doesn’t quite feel as premium as the Galaxy Watch 6 or Apple Watch Series 9 (I haven’t used the Series 10 yet), but it’s strikingly close. It’s great to see how far the Pixel Watch line has come in such a short period in terms of overall build quality.
Pixel Watch 3 software features
Wear OS 5’s simple design can sometimes take things too far
Look, I get it. Google’s take on Android is playful, silly, and simple. In fact, despite being a long-time Apple Watch and iPhone user, I stated that I prefer the Pixel 9 Pro series’ version of Android 14 in my recent review of the flagship smartphone. It’s just easier to use and doesn’t feature the abundance of unnecessary menus iOS has gathered over the last few years. While I don’t mind the look of the Pixel Watch 3’s Wear OS 5 it can at times look rather childish thanks to its bright, saturated colors and simplistic menu design. On the plus side, this makes it easy to navigate and understand how to use, so there are benefits to this stripped-back, unrefined approach to a smartwatch user interface.
On another note, there aren’t many watch faces I actually like. I found myself sticking with Classic, Everyday, or Index because they strike a decent balance between showing complications with additional information, and actually letting me tell the time easily. The more animated or complicated watch faces, like Digital Bold or Adventure, for example, just aren’t my vibe.
The overall Pixel Watch 3 software experience is pretty solid, and I haven’t encountered many instances of slowdown or lag. However, I wouldn’t say it’s as smooth as the Apple Watch or a recent Galaxy Watch. I ran into a few stutters when using the Strava Wear OS app, for example, and when launching certain apps, including even Google’s Fitbit ECG app. On the plus side, Wear OS third-party app support has come a long way over the past few years. If you use a notable fitness app, there’s likely a Wear OS version.
It’s worth noting that updating apps with the Pixel Watch 3 or with your connected Android device is far from intuitive and requires digging through several menus. This isn’t a big deal, but it’s noteworthy enough that it’s worth mentioning.
Pixel Watch 3 health and fitness features
‘Target Load’ seems surprisingly useful if you don’t know much about exercising
Diving deeper into the smartwatch’s hardware, the Pixel Watch 3 can track steps, calories, and exercise minutes like its predecessor, but now the wearable can also keep tabs on your heart rate, take an ECG, create custom workouts, and more, bringing it up to feature parity with other similarly priced smartwatches. There’s also the new “Morning Brief” that gives you a “Readiness” and sleep score (which is now free for all users) if you wear the Pixel Watch 3 overnight for several days. Other new software features include a focus on two metrics: “Cardio Load,” which aims to track how hard your heart is working throughout the day, and “Target Load,” which offers a recommendation about how much activity you should be doing based on your Cardio Load, other activity and your Readiness score. This includes recommending specific workouts and suggesting rest days. This seems like a nice change of pace from the way fitness features typically always bug you to push harder.
The latter feature uses an algorithm to make workout recommendations to you, but it needs to gather data for several days before your score and recommendations show up, so I haven’t had the chance to try it out yet (when I do, I’ll update this review). Given I’m pretty clueless when it comes to fitness, I have a feeling this feature will be very useful as it offers tangible advice and metrics to work towards. The key will be if I stick with it. Other features like Daily Run recommendations and classes that are behind Fitbit Premium’s paywall ($9.99/month or $79.99/year), though you do get six months free with the Pixel Watch 3.
When I say that the Pixel Watch 3 is the Apple Watch of the Android world, that’s not hyperbole.
The above features aren’t really for me given I primarily use smartwatches for notification triage and basic exercise tracking, but for those that felt the Pixel Watch 2 fell behind the competition when it came to workout customization, these are great additions. Like with the Apple Watch, connecting the Fitbit app to Strava is a one-click, straightforward process. That said, I didn’t realize Google’s Fit platform is in the process of being killed off, so I spent a few days using it with the Pixel Watch 3 and encountered a few oddities, like the inability to export a Fit activity to Strava (I eventually switched to using the Fitbit app exclusively).
Pixel Watch 3 battery life
All-day battery life and then some (depending on what you’re doing)
Google says the Pixel Watch 3’s battery life comes in at about 24 hours. In my experience, that number seems pretty accurate, with the watch lasting throughout the day and night but requiring a charge in the morning. However, I needed to top up battery life a few times in the evening when doing a lot of fitness tracking. While I didn’t try the 45mm Pixel Watch 3 myself, Google claims it can hit 36 hours with Battery Saver enabled, which is impressive and pushes it into the Apple Watch Ultra 2’s range. I only briefly used Battery Saver with the 41mm version of the smartwatch when my battery was dangerously low, and it managed to push its life span well over 24 hours and into the following day. On paper, Google says the 45mm Pixel Watch 3 features a 35 percent larger battery when compared to the 41mm Pixel Watch 2.
On another note, I find it wild that the Pixel Watch 3 still features a PIN charger in 2024 and not Qi or some form of proprietary wireless charging. The pins are difficult to line up, and on more than one occasion, the smartwatch just didn’t charge overnight because it was slightly off its magnetic dock. It’s odd that Google has stuck with this archaic charging style, and I hope the company changes this with the Pixel Watch 4. On the plus side, both versions of the Pixel Watch 3 offer 20 percent faster charging overall, amounting to getting from 0-100% in 60 minutes from for the 41mm 0-100% in 80 minutes from with the 45mm version.
Should you buy the Pixel Watch 3?
When I say the Pixel Watch 3 is the Apple Watch of the Android world, that’s not hyperbole. It’s no secret that I’m primarily an iPhone user, and part of that lock-in has been how much I like the Apple Watch. I use it for a few notifications, including Ring Smart Doorbell notifications, phone calls, and at-a-glance information like the weather and tracking the occasional bike ride or run. And, of course, I also use it to tell the time and appreciate its simple design (sure, I could use a Galaxy Watch, but I’ve never been a fan of its chunky design).
While the Pixel Watch and Pixel Watch 2 were valiant efforts at offering an Android equivalent to the Apple Watch, both generations featured notable shortcomings. With the Pixel Watch 3, Google’s smartwatch has finally hit a level of polish and functionality that closely rivals the Apple Watch and at least for my purposes, surpasses Samsung’s Galaxy Watch line, both regarding design and functionality.
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