Taking its Fitbit-powered running features to the next level for athletes in serious training, the Google Pixel Watch 3 is for those who like to break a sweat.
Smartwatches began life as overpriced pedometers, but over the last few years, they’ve embraced a much wider range of health and fitness features for people wanting to manage their overall wellbeing.
As such, it was little surprise when Google acquired Fitbit a few years ago to give its health and fitness credentials a shot in the arm. The result was the original 2022 Google Pixel Watch, followed by last year’s Google Pixel Watch 2 which further tightened Fitbit integration.
Now the Google Pixel Watch 3 completes the processing of bringing Fitbit into the fold, with a strong emphasis on advanced running features designed to support those in training.
Google Pixel Watch 3 review
First impressions
At first glance, the Google Pixel Watch 3 looks exactly the same as its predecessors. It sticks with the traditional round 41mm aluminium casing, with the same domed glass face and minimalist styling. Plus it retains the twistable crown along with a flush action button.
The big change is that Google has introduced a larger 45mm option, bringing the Pixel Watch range roughly into line with the Apple and Samsung smartwatch ranges.
Look closer at the Pixel Watch 3’s 41mm body (reviewed here) and you discover that, while it’s the same width as the Pixel Watch 2, it’s a fraction thicker. More importantly, the bezel is around 16 per cent smaller, making the AMOLED touchscreen more than 10 per cent larger.
It’s a welcome change, considering that the Pixel 2’s chunky bezel felt like a missed opportunity. With the extra screen real estate comes a slight resolution bump, which means it’s still roughly 320 pixels per inch.
The larger screen isn’t that noticeable when glancing at the watch face, but becomes more valuable when looking at Google Maps (now with offline downloads) or the new ability to view live streams from Google Nest cameras and doorbells.
A more significant change is that the display’s peak brightness hits 2,000 nits, double that of the Pixel Watch 2. In bright sunlight, it makes the fine details of some watch faces easier to see and notifications easier to read.
Thankfully, unlike the Apple Watch, the Pixel Watch 3’s auto-dimming isn’t overly aggressive so it’s not too difficult to read the watch face in the dark.
Flip the Pixel Watch 3 over and you’re presented with the same back as the Watch 2, which isn’t surprising considering the newer model still features the same onboard sensors pressing up against your skin.
Like the Watch 2, the four points on the back align with the four pins on the charger. The charger still only attaches in one direction, with the cable towards the crown, otherwise the magnets refuse to connect – which is a bit annoying if you’re familiar with smartwatches that are less fussy about charge orientation.
Finally, the Pixel Watch 3 retains the same tricky-to-attach wristband as its predecessors, ensuring bands are backwards compatible between the 41mm bodies. Google includes two different length bands in the box.
I still argue that the included ‘fluoroelastomer’ rubber watch band doesn’t really match the elegance of the watch body. There’s still no option to switch it for a more premium band when you buy the watch, the only flexibility is the choice of an Obsidian or Rose Quartz active band with the 41mm polished silver body.
Thankfully, you can add another watch band as an optional extra – there’s a good range from Google and third-party suppliers.
Google Pixel Watch 3 specs and price in Australia
| Body size | 41 or 45mm aluminium casing |
| Thickness | 12.3mm |
| Weight | 31 / 37 gm (without band) |
| Display resolution | 456×456 pixel, 320 ppi |
| Display technology | AMOLED LTPO with DCI-P3 colour Always on 1-2000 nit brightness 1-60 Hz refresh rate |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.3 Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax 2.4GHz, 5GHz NFC Ultra-Wideband optional 4G LTE and UMTS |
| Chipset | Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 Cortex-M33 co-processor |
| RAM | 2 GB SDRAM |
| Onboard storage | 32 GB eMMC flash |
| Operating system | Wear OS 5.0 |
| Sensors | Compass Altimeter Red and infrared sensors for oxygen saturation (SpO2) monitoring Multipurpose electrical sensors compatible with ECG app Multi-path optical heart rate sensor 3-axis accelerometer Gyroscope Ambient light sensor Electrical sensor to measure skin conductance (cEDA) for body response tracking Skin temperature sensor Barometer Magnetometer |
| Ruggedness | Custom 3D Corning Gorilla Glass 5 50m/5ATM water-resistant IP68 |
| Handset compatibility | Works with most phones running on Android 10.0 or newer – not compatible with Android (Go edition) |
| Battery | 307 / 420 mAh rechargeable lithium-ion USB-C Fast Charging Cable |
| Body colours | Matte Black, Polished Silver or Matte Hazel |
| Band size | Includes two wristbands:41mm: Small fits wrists 130–175mm Large fits wrists 165–210mm 45mm: Small fits wrists 150–185mm Large fits wrists 165–215mm |
| Price | 41mm $579 / $749 Wi-Fi & LTE 45mm $669 / $839 Wi-Fi & LTE |
| Warranty | 2 years |
| Official website | Google Australia |
Hardware features
Under the bonnet, the Google Pixel Watch 3 retains the Watch 2’s Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 5100 processor with a Cortex M33 co-processor, accompanied by 2GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. It’s enough to ensure the watch is always responsive.
Likewise, the Watch 3 retains the same sensors: oxygen saturation (SpO2), multipurpose electrical sensors compatible with the Fitbit ECG app, multi-path optical heart rate, skin temperature and skin conductance (cEDA) for body response tracking.
As for connectivity, you’ve still got dual-band 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi along with optional 4G LTE mobile connectivity which adds $170 to the price tag.
Bluetooth has been upgraded from 5.0 to 5.3, which should allow for more stable connections, plus the Watch 3 is the first Wear OS smartwatch to support Ultra-Wideband. UWB enables precise location tracking with Android’s Find My Device, along with the potential to use the watch to unlock devices like your car.
When it comes to charging, the Google Pixel Watch 3 offers a 20 per cent speed boost compared to Watch 2. As a result, the 41 and 45mm models can charge from flat to 50 per cent in 24 and 28 minutes respectively (the larger Watch 3 has a slightly larger battery).
You should easily get 24 hours from the battery if you don’t push the fitness features too hard – I still had 20 per cent in the tank after a day when it tracked a short run and several long walks. Of course, this watch is designed for people who will push the advanced fitness features hard, so your mileage may vary.
Google says the battery can last “up to 36 hours” in Battery Saver mode “without compromising health, fitness or safety capabilities”.
That still poses the question of when you’ll charge the watch if you intend to wear it for sleep tracking every night. You need sleep tracking in order to take advantage of advanced metrics like the Readiness Score, which in turn helps determine your Target Load.
A quick charge in the mornings while you shower, dress, and get ready for the day will do the trick for most days, but occasionally you might get caught short.
Software features
The Google Pixel Watch 3 runs Google’s Wear OS 5, offering the key improvements of extended battery life, new watch faces and a range of new fitness features.
During set up you can enable Google Assistant running on the watch and Google Wallet for contactless payments. If you haven’t done so already, you can also link the watch and your Google accounts to your existing Fitbit account.
For Fitbit fans, it’s time to bite the bullet and come to terms with the fact that Fitbit is now part of the Googleverse, if you want to make the most of the Pixel Watch 3. As part of this, you’re reliant on the Fitbit app to manage a lot of the fitness features.
To sweeten the deal, the watch comes with six months of Fitbit Premium for new and returning users, which is required to make the most of some advanced features. Google also throws in a free month of YouTube Music.
From here, things are pretty similar to the Pixel Watch 2 and fairly intuitive. You can swipe the watch face down to access settings or up to see recent notifications (the same when rotating the crown up/down).
Meanwhile, swiping the watch face left and right scrolls through key health data such as steps, heart rate and sleep score, as well as an exercise quick-start menu. Pressing the crown calls up the app list, while a double-press calls up Google Wallet.
If you wear the watch to bed, it automatically engages bedtime mode after a few minutes to disable the screen, snooze notifications and begin sleep tracking. In the morning, your Sleep Score takes into account your various sleep stages, heart rate, restlessness and other variables. Tap on it and you can see a breakdown.
As with many of the watch’s menus and apps, the watch’s sleep app lets you tap a button to automatically launch the corresponding app on your smartphone in order to see more detail. Unlike some phone-based sleep trackers, the watch doesn’t track sounds like snoring, coughing and other breathing issues.
Not long after you get out of bed, a new Morning Brief feature pops up to help you prepare for the day by summarising insights like your Sleep Score, Readiness for exercise and the weather forecast. Thankfully, access to your readiness score is no longer limited to Fitbit Premium subscribers.
Fitness features
The Google Pixel Watch 3 retains the wide range of fitness capabilities offered by its predecessor, including the ability to track practically the full gamut of physical activity. What is new is the Fitbit-powered “comprehensive running experience” designed to help you plan, perform and progress your running routine.
As you’d expect, the watch can auto-detect common activities like walking, running and cycling. Alternatively, you can manually start them, with a lot of granular control over what’s displayed on the screen and different modes – including a handy quick-start list for different running routines.
You can also create your own running routines including warm-ups and cooldowns, with the ability to set target pace, heart rate, times, distances and intervals. It’s easy to create these on the watch for a one-off, or save them as custom activities.
While you’re exercising, audio and haptic cues guide you through your routine. Media controls are now embedded in the workout screen, you just need to swipe left. Easier access to media controls is a welcome improvement if you don’t want to break your stride.
Some feedback from the watch is also spoken, but not others. For example, the watch speaks aloud to tell if you’re ahead, behind or on range with your desired speed. But if you’re doing interval training it doesn’t actually say “run” and “recover”, it just dings and expects you to read the screen.
While the watch’s built-in speaker is clear when walking suburban streets, you might struggle to hear it when running along a busy road.
Keep in mind, you won’t hear this feedback if you’re listening to music with your Pixel Buds connected to your Android smartphone – the feedback will still come from the watch’s speaker. Instead, like Apple’s ecosystem, the earbuds need to be connected directly to the watch via Bluetooth – which means your music also needs to be playing on the watch if you want to hear both music and prompts.
After a run, you get a detailed breakdown of your performance and a new running dashboard for tracking your progress. The amount of data collected while running is likely overkill for most people.
Along with stride length and cadence, you can dive in to find more obscure metrics like your vertical ratio (how much height you get off each stride), and vertical oscillation (how much your torso moves up and down with each step).
Tracking your vitals and performance allows Fitbit to provide Readiness Score, Cardio Load and Training Load metrics so you can optimise your exercise regime. It takes a few days to calibrate some metrics like Sleep and your Readiness Score, while Target Load – which relies on your Readiness Score and Cardio Load to suggest how much you should take on – takes two weeks.
The idea is to optimise your performance, balance your recovery and avoid overtraining. It’s valuable information to receive as part of your morning briefing if you’re in serious training, but again complete overkill if you’re just a casual walker or runner.
Throw in Fitbit Premium and it analyses your past runs, Readiness and Target Load to customise run recommendations each day, along with exclusive workout content from Fitbit Premium trainers.
Health features
From a health perspective, the Pixel Watch 3 retains the ability to take ECG readings and detect irregular heart rhythm. You can also opt in to a new loss of pulse detection feature, that senses when your heart stops beating and calls emergency services, although it’s not enabled in Australia at this point.
When it comes to mental health, you’ve still got assistance with mindfulness and stress management. Plus there’s Fitbit’s Body Response, which watches your heart rate, heart rate variability, skin temperature and electrodermal activity in order to identify physical signs of stress.
Body Response notifications are disabled by default which is likely for the best. It’s a nice idea in theory, but not really all that practical.
No one likes being told to calm down. Having your so-called smartwatch tell you to “reflect on your mood” when you get stressed or angry is a surefire way to end up with a smashed watch (perhaps a sneaky ploy by Google to drum up repeat business).
Who is the Google Pixel Watch 3 for?
The Google Pixel Watch 3 is a solid all-rounder that has gained a few more high-end fitness features to help it compete with the likes of Samsung and fitness-centric smartwatch makers such as Garmin.
Realistically, most people won’t make the most of everything the Pixel Watch 3 has to offer, although you could say the same about any smartwatch these days. In particular, the high-end Fitbit metrics like Target Load and Readiness Score won’t be all that useful to many people, especially when you need to be prepared to wear the watch to bed every night.
Not much has changed in the way of hardware so, if you’ve already got a Pixel Watch 2 on your wrist, the Pixel Watch 3 isn’t really a compelling upgrade unless you’re desperate for a little more screen real estate. Or you’re chasing the enhanced Fitbit features, although it’s worth seeing which features will trickle down to the Watch 2 in software updates.
It’s worth noting that Google still sells the Pixel Watch 2, which has dropped in price to $429, along with the Fitbit Sense 2 and Fitbit Versa 4.
The post Google Pixel Watch 3 review: On the run appeared first on GadgetGuy.
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