Google Pixel Watch 3 Review

Verdict

By introducing a larger edition of the Pixel Watch 3, Google has resolved the biggest issues with the first two generations: wearability for those with bigger wrists, and battery life.

There hasn’t been a huge leap forward made in the other key areas – smart features, health monitoring, or fitness tracking – but there’s just enough here to ensure this becomes the top Wear OS smartwatch for most Android users.

Introduction

After a promising but flawed first couple of smartwatch generations, Google has finally hit its stride with the Pixel Watch 3.

It’s not a significant departure from its predecessors in most aspects, but key criticisms have been addressed and work to deliver a powerful and versatile smartwatch.

Most importantly, Google has expanded beyond the 41mm case size with a larger 45mm edition, ensuring a comfortable fit for all wrists and a serious battery improvement.

Beyond this fundamental change, the Pixel Watch 3 boasts a brighter, more immersive display, and enhanced Fitbit integration, with exclusive new features tailored to fitness enthusiasts.

This all-new Pixel Watch 3 45mm isn’t without issue, but it represents a substantial leap forward and instantly becomes one of the best smartwatch options for users seeking a premium Android wearable experience.

Price

The Pixel Watch 3 41mm with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi is priced at $349/£349. The cellular option is $449/£449. 

The larger 45mm Pixel Watch 3 (reviewed here) starts at $399/£399, with $499/£499 for cellular.

Design and Display

• 41mm and 45mm versions are now available
• Peak brightness improved to 2000 nits
• The refresh rate has increased to 60Hz

Google has finally listened to its customers (and complaining reviewers like me) and expanded the Pixel Watch 3 lineup to include a larger 45mm model. It’s a welcome addition that means Google’s smartwatch now comfortably caters to those with larger wrists.

It’s the larger model, in the matte black hue is what I’ve been testing out over the last few months or so. Despite the bigger size, I’ve been pleasantly surprised how Google has retained the small, sleek feel of the smaller edition with this 45mm Pixel Watch 3. 

Naturally, that increased size also adds a lot to the on-wrist experience, providing a more immersive display (while also not straying into being overbearing, as some may find with the 46mm Apple Watch Series 10) and more room to play around with apps, watch faces, and notifications.

However, the Pixel Watch 3’s design still has the same durability drawback as the Pixel Watch 2. With no real change to the domed-display, circular case, it’s a smartwatch that remains susceptible to grazes (or worse). Owing to my experience with this design in previous generations, I’ve found myself naturally shielding it in rougher situations, such as gym sessions and DIY projects.

Even still, it’s managed to pick up a few minor scuffs in a relatively short amount of time and therefore isn’t one I recommend if you’re pretty hard on your smartwatch.

However, in ‘regular’ daily use – where you’re doing things like commuting, sitting at a desk, or engaging in the odd bit of non-contact activity – the Pixel Watch 3 is perfectly durable, and now boasts a few display upgrades.

The peak brightness has been doubled to 2000 nits, ensuring excellent visibility even in bright sunlight. Additionally, the always-on display now supports a lower brightness setting of 1 nit, conserving battery life.

The Pixel Watch 3’s display also benefits from a reduced bezel, providing more screen real estate for content. The refresh rate has also been increased to 60Hz, resulting in smoother animations and a more responsive user interface.

They’re neat improvements, to be sure, but don’t feel too hard done by if you’re an original Pixel Watch or Pixel Watch 2 owner. With Wear OS predominately featuring white text on a black background, these changes don’t fundamentally alter the overall experience.

Instead, the biggest design change is the introduction of a new case size – and, as I’ll explore, it’s a change that trickles down to other areas of the smartwatch, too.

Smart Features and Software

• UWB promises more precise location accuracy
• Improved integrations with Google services

The Pixel Watch 3 doesn’t introduce groundbreaking new smart features, but it does refine the existing ones and offers tighter integration with Google’s ecosystem.

It becomes just the second set of smartwatches – following Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 7 / Galaxy Watch Ultra – to run Wear OS 5, but, when you live with the device, you quickly realize that this doesn’t mean much. 

I don’t think many users would be able to spot tangible differences between this and Wear OS 4. It’s a stark contrast to Apple’s software updates for its smartwatches, which almost always deliver fundamental shifts to the user experience

Yet, one notable enhancement is the improved offline functionality of Google Maps, which now allows users to navigate without an internet connection. Plus, improved integration with Google Home has resulted in security camera footage being shown right from the wrist. And if you’re a Google TV owner, the Pixel Watch 3 can be used as a remote control.

None of these upgrades are unique to the latest Pixel Watch, though. Instead, the unique smart feature that sets the Pixel Watch 3 apart is ultra-wideband (UWB) support. 

This technology enables precise location tracking through Android’s Find My Device function, making it easier to locate the watch if it’s lost or misplaced. It also promises keyless unlock support for BMW/Mini owners, but I can’t count myself among that crowd, though if it is a neat feature.

So, there’s not much new to speak of here. But it’s easy to forget how Google’s smartwatch platform has matured into such a capable one over the last few years, meaning the lack of new features in Wear OS 5 and those specific to this edition don’t prove to be that much of a negative in the Pixel Watch 3.

The Pixel Watch 3 is still awash with refined apps and deep integrations with Google services, there’s reliable and useful optional LTE if you require it, and the array of safety features is still class-leading.

Activity Tracking

• Advanced insights for run workouts
• No dual-frequency GNSS

Runners are a key focus of the Pixel Watch 3 fitness tracking experience, with Google offering advanced insights like stride length, cadence, ground contact time, and vertical ratio.

These metrics aligned closely with those on a sports watch like the Garmin Fenix 8 – my ‘B’ device when testing the Pixel Watch 3. These insights aren’t ones I grade as crucial for every runner but they can provide valuable information for those looking to learn more about their form. And they have become pretty fashionable additions for wearable makers in 2024, which is probably why they crop up here.

Beyond running metrics, a crucial Pixel Watch 3 exclusive is the all-new Cardio Load and Target Load; these two are front and centre in the fitness tracking experience, adding a much-needed level of advanced insights.

While Cardio Load initially requires some adjustment to understand its scaling, it effectively measures the intensity of recent workouts, distilling them into a score. Meanwhile, Target Load gives you a zone to aim for each day based on your Daily Readiness (now available to all users after being behind the Fitbit Premium paywall) and recent activity.

Perceived intensity levels are sometimes on the low side when put next to comparable metrics from Garmin and Whoop, though they are at least consistent with the Target Load figures and everything remains loosely in sync between the two.

I particularly liked the way the chart visualises current fitness levels and whether cardio capacity is improving, declining, or maintaining. It’s an actionable feature I’ve found far more useful than the traditional Fitbit Active Zone Minutes (still present here).

With the Daily Readiness Score also involved, it’s a more rounded look at your training than I’ve become accustomed to with Fitbit. Sleep quality, skin temperature, resting heart rate, and previous activity now play a central role in activity guidance.

As for GPS, Google didn’t make any changes for the Pixel Watch 3 – and that feels like a missed opportunity. 

I don’t advocate for manufacturers throwing in dual-frequency GNSS willy-nilly – Apple has shown through its best Apple Watch models that algorithms still ultimately play a much bigger role. 

Yet, given Google’s single-band GPS hasn’t performed quite as well as Apple’s in the last few years, it’s something that could have given the activity tracking some real bite for this generation.

To be clear, the GPS performance of the Pixel Watch 3 was still mostly solid in testing, but it generally underreported distances compared to Garmin’s gold-standard Multi-Band mode. Over 10-mile distances, it’s typically a few hundred meters behind, at least. 

It’s not a terrible performance by any stretch, but it’s not as on the money as a Wear OS watch like the Galaxy Watch Ultra. I also tested the Pixel Watch 3 on an open coastline, so I suspect its performance would drop further in a dense urban setting.

Health and Sleep Tracking

• Retains solid accuracy of Pixel Watch 2
• Improvements for runners aren’t necessarily noticeable

Heart rate tracking has always been a strength of the Pixel Watch lineup, and Google claims to have fine-tuned the algorithms this time for better run tracking. 

I’ve tested it in some shorter, injury rehab runs, and plenty of strength training and cycling workouts. The results have been consistently solid – even if they’ve not been quite as spot on as I found with last year’s Pixel Watch 2. 

For that model, I found the latency run very close with the Garmin HRM-Pro Plus chest strap which is about as well as you can find on an optical sensor. The session averages/maximum HR figures were also very tight. 

Most of the time, they were identical – but this year that discrepancy has stretched slightly, to around 3 BPM, and typically lower than my Whoop 4.0 and Fenix 8. 

For example, in an indoor cycling session, Pixel Watch 3 was closely aligned with the HRM-Pro Plus chest strap and the Whoop 4.0. It matched the maximum heart rate exactly and only showed a couple of beats lower than the average BPM. This kind of story has been typical.

The slight difference between the Pixel Watch 3 and last year could be the increased size – and, therefore, increased weight – given this can sometimes create more movement on the wrist. However, with most sessions being strength training or outdoor cycling, typically the hardest for an optical sensor to manage, this average may even out with more running workouts.

In a few dabbles with the run tracking next to last year’s model, nothing in the data jumped out as more accurate. Though, as I said, this wasn’t exactly an area of concern previously, so you can still be sure that this is a top smartwatch for runners – especially with those new insights discussed in the previous section.

So, away from activity, what’s new with the Pixel Watch 3’s tracking? Well, not a whole lot. 

Last year, we got a revamped optical sensor, a continuous electrodermal activity (cEDA) sensor, and skin temperature tracking. This time around, the big addition is Loss of Pulse Detection which is a novel feature that automatically calls emergency services if it thinks, well, you’re wearing the watch and your heart isn’t beating.

Thankfully, I haven’t had a chance to test out Loss of Pulse Detection, and it’s also not available everywhere – only in the UK and Europe, at the time of writing. But it’s a cool feature and one not available on another smartwatch, and I’m sure it’ll save lives over the next year and beyond.

For health tracking, similar to the array of smart features, that lack of change isn’t necessarily a major downside. The Health Metrics dashboard still delivers comparable data to competitors like Whoop and Oura, offering insights and trends into HRV, skin temperature, resting heart rate, and more from within the Fitbit app.

Sleep tracking remains unchanged, too. Accuracy of sleep stages from all wrist-based devices is notoriously lacking in top-end accuracy, so this isn’t an area I put too much stock into, but the rest of the package remains solid. The Pixel Watch 3 consistently registers when we fall asleep/wake up in line with Garmin and Whoop, and scores are always loosely true-to-feel.

It’s just a shame that some features remain locked behind Fitbit’s Premium paywall.

However, one area where I hoped for more change is stress tracking. As I’ve pointed out in previous Fitbit/Google reviews: I applaud the company for trying to present stress differently to basic 0-100 measurements that are ubiquitous in wearables, but using the cEDA sensor to try and map body responses isn’t actually much more effective. 

I often see anywhere from 5 to 40 minutes of body responses logged daily, but it’s just not a system that leaves me with many takeaways. Even if it does clock a shift in body response, it still relies on the user understanding what’s happened at that moment. The fact it isn’t graded for you in the way we see from Oura’s Daytime Stress or Whoop’s Stress Monitor means it’s hard to feel compelled to change behaviour based on it. 

Again, if Google’s goal is to raise awareness of your body’s responses, this feature does that to some extent, but I still think there’s more work to be done here. 

Battery Life

• Much improved compared to previous Pixel Watch models
• Around 48 hours per charge

Battery life has been the Achilles heel of the Pixel Watch across its first two versions. And though I haven’t had the chance to try the 41mm version to see if the Pixel Watch 3 can outlast the 24-hour staying power quoted, that’s certainly been the case with the 45mm version. 

Even with the always-on display active, regular outdoor tracking, maximum brightness, frequent notifications, and daily use, the Pixel Watch 3 easily lasted over 48 hours per charge. But what stands out isn’t just the extra day of use; it’s the consistency. 

Last year, I complained about erratic battery performance, with power drain varying unpredictably between similar activities or daily routines.

This time, that problem hasn’t reared its head. For instance, sleep tracking only drained about 1% per hour, and general desk time (with the AOD on) saw a slightly higher drain of just under 2% per hour. During an hour of indoor exercise, I saw the battery drop by about 6%, or 1% every 10 minutes.

More demanding outdoor GPS tracking consumed about twice that rate. However, I should note that I didn’t connect Spotify during any workouts, which traditionally drains much more battery, so keep this in mind if you plan to use it for a long-duration race like a marathon.

For most uses, though, the larger Pixel Watch 3 can comfortably be recommended for extended wear. While two days of battery life isn’t groundbreaking, it’s a relief from the burden of daily charging. Plus, the watch now charges faster than earlier models, making it convenient for quick top-ups before bed or a workout.

In my tests, the Pixel Watch 3 went from 15% (when power-saving mode activates) to fully charged in around an hour, with a significant boost in just 30 minutes.

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