Sleek, beautifully designed, and highly functional, the Google Pixel Watch 3 represents a major change for the mega-company’s smart device ecosystem. Whereas the original Pixel Watch and Pixel Watch 2 failed to make much of an impact, the third time is most definitely a charm for this product line.
But first. Frustration.
Google’s bizarre system for attaching straps to the circular watch body is nowhere near as smooth as Apple’s. There’s a camouflaged button that you need to press before you slide each band into its slot. But it’s one of those buttons you can only just slightly depress with the tip of your fingernail. With the circular body, sliding it in feels unnatural. My fingers kept slipping off the button and it took me around 10-15 minutes to finally set everything in place. Even with the included pictogram and an instructional YouTube video, I struggled.
A design flaw? Sure. But once you get past that, the Pixel Watch 3 is shockingly easy to use, feature-rich and functional, beautiful to look at, and easily the best non-phone device Google has ever released.
How? Refinement. With Google’s unfathomably deep pockets and endless resources, you’d think they’d get it right the first time. They didn’t. But is this the watch that’ll win people back over to Pixel? I just think it just might.
Design
Right out of the box, the Pixel Watch 3 impresses with its sleek circular design, now sporting a slightly larger 1.3-inch AMOLED display that boasts an impressive 2,000 nits of peak brightness, making it perfectly readable even when the sun is at its peak. Google has maintained the distinctive dome-shaped glass but reduced the bezels by nearly 20%, resulting in more screen real estate without significantly increasing the overall footprint.
There are two size options. The standard 41mm feels bigger because of the display and looks more attractive and pointed as a result. This means the 45mm isn’t necessary if you’re just looking for a watch that appears larger, but of course, if your physicality lends itself to a bigger watch then it’s good to have that option available.
A textured, responsive crown is kept consistent with how it looked for the previous generation. You’ll still find it on the right of the body in the centre, alongside a button. Flip the watch over and you’ll see the sensor array which this time is calibrated for better heart rate and sleep tracking as well as ECGs and stress monitoring.
Google’s designers clearly just felt the need to make room for a bigger, more attractive display without changing the look and feel that Pixel Watch users are used to. Google’s watches may be few and far between, but they’ve always struck that nice balance between maintaining an identity and presenting a simple watch that no one would be embarassed to wear. Not even the fussiest of watch collectors.
Performance
I do wonder how advanced the Pixel Watch 3 would feel if Google chose to include a Tensor chip like they did for the Google Pixel 9 phones and even the (very, very good) Google Pixel Buds 2. You’ve still got a Qualcomm cortex chip running the show, so everything feels zippy and response with no perceptible lag between applications.
More detail in the basic apps is appreciated. The Weather app, for example, has always been one of Google’s better design-forward widgets. Here, you’ve got much more detail and sharper graphics and a comprehensive, by-the-minute forecast. The redesign of these apps typically means more information read more efficiently for quick reads.
The design language of smartwatches has a few different concerns to phones because of the size of the screen. How fast users are able to get important information while on the move is a big consideration and it seems like Google’s designers had this front and centre when thinking about how the performance works with the content.
Morning Brief would be my favourite new feature for the Pixel Watch 3, each morning giving you a day readiness and sleep score, as well as the weather for the day and any important notification that came through. Given the whole “wake up, look at phone” process that most are trying to move away from is becoming such a big talking point in modern wellness circles, I feel like Google has struck an important balance here that’s just another creative, small-on-paper, big-in-reality way to use these watches as agents of profound change – the antidote to the ongoing screen time debate.
The Qualcommon cortex chip may be smart, but it’s lacking when it comes to power efficiency. I’d only get a day’s use out of the battery, so if you’ve got a 41mm version then keep in mind that you’ll need to be changing the device every night, which takes it away from being an efficient sleep tracking. The 45mm version has a much bigger battery and some reviewers say they can milk 2-3 days out the watch.
Value
For $404, you’re getting a best-in-class Android smart watch that’s been dusted up with some AI features and a better overall approach to design, both for hardware and software. I feel like Google’s finally moved in the right direction here. Tracking is just as accurate as I’ve found it to be for the Apple Watch, the design doesn’t feel cheap and tacky like it did for recent generations, and you’ve got the best display in the game.
It’s just a shame the battery life is notably poor and largely falls short of what you’d expect at this price point.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
