Google just unveiled a slew of new products at its big Made by Google event, including the new Pixel Watch 3. It’s the biggest upgrade we’ve seen thus far to Google’s smartwatch, with the introduction of a completely new size, AI upgrades for runners, automatic sleep detection, energy scores and more.
We had a chance to go hands-on with the watch ahead of today’s announcement, and it’s safe to say that the Wear OS market is about to get pretty interesting.
How to preorder the Pixel Watch 3
The Pixel Watch 3 promises more advanced fitness features and finally introduces the larger watch face option fans have been asking for.
The Google Pixel Watch 3 is available for preorder from Google’s online store as well as select online retailers, and is set for a Sept. 10 release date. The 41mm model costs $349 while the 45mm is priced at $399. Both offer options to upgrade to get LTE built in and you can pick from a variety of bands, from sporty silicone to classic stainless steel.
Finally, a bigger size with slimmer bezels
The Pixel Watch has always been offered in a single 41mm size. That’s fine for people who like to wear a smaller watch, but for folks who prefer something a bit bigger, you’ve had to shop elsewhere. Fortunately, with the Pixel Watch 3, Google has added a second 45mm size that gives you a bigger screen and a more significant presence on the wrist.
Like most smartwatches, the two sizes share the same design, which is essentially identical to last year’s. That’s not a bad thing, mind you; the Pixel Watch is one of the best-looking Wear OS watches you can get, so it’s nice to see its design carried over for another year and still feel fresh. It uses 100% recycled aluminum for its construction, which helps it stay nice and light, and the glass curves all the way to the sides for a futuristic appearance.
Both watches come with really nice displays, and after two straight years of reviewers and customers complaining, Google has finally slimmed down the bezels. The screens stretch much closer to the edges of the watch than before, which gives you more room to glance at notifications, fitness data and more. The company says the bezels have shrunken by more than 16%.
The Actua displays on each model are also much brighter than the Pixel Watch 2, reaching 2,000 nits of peak brightness instead of 1,000. What’s more, the refresh rate can also slow down when you aren’t using the screen to preserve battery life, which is pretty cool.
Running gets a big upgrade, while sleep tracking goes automatic
The Pixel Watch 3 shares all the same sensors as the Pixel Watch 2, so you can keep track of your health, and there’s deep integration with Fitbit for a more informative experience. The big fitness upgrade this year involves runners, who are getting a much more comprehensive approach to tracking and planning their workouts.
With the Pixel Watch 3, Google is including an entirely new experience that lets you create custom routines with timed warmups and cooldowns, target paces and heart rate goals. The watch then takes you through the workout and pings you when you’re off pace or exceeding your target heart rate, or it’s time for a sprint or cooldown. The watch uses advanced motion sensing and machine learning to collect your data so you can see a thoroughly detailed graph in the Fitbit app when you’re done. Data points like your weekly mileage, PRs and heart rate trends are all collected.
During my demo with the Pixel Watch 3, a Google spokesperson guided me through a running workout, and I was impressed by how intuitive and customizable running is about to get on Wear OS.
If you’re subscribed to Fitbit Premium, Google will also incorporate some AI to track your readiness each day based on past runs and your cardio load. You’ll also receive tips on how to improve your form.
In addition, Google is introducing automatic sleep detection. When you finally go to bed and shut your eyes, the Pixel Watch 3 is able to detect you’re resting and automatically enter bedtime mode. It’ll disable your notifications, turn off the always-on display and begin tracking your sleep.
New daily scores and morning briefs can help kickstart your day
Google’s AI appears again in the Pixel Watch 3’s readiness and cardio load tracking, which deliver a readiness score in the morning that’s more contextual to your fitness habits than before. It uses your sleep data, resting heart rate and heart rate variability to improve your daily score so you know whether you’re on the right track or could use some work to reach your goals.
You also get a cardio load report that lets you know how hard your heart is working to recover, which is useful when you’ve overstrained or think you could be doing more to improve your fitness. Neither of these metrics will paint a crystal clear picture of your health, but they at least catch up with other fitness wearables like the Whoop band and Oura Ring that are famous for tracking recovery.
There’s also a new feature called Morning Brief that presents you with your most important health metrics when you wake up, such as your sleep report and readiness score. It’ll also inform you of whether you’re on track to meet your fitness goals that week. Other information like the daily weather is sprinkled in to make the feature even more helpful.
Deeper integration with your Pixel phone
The Pixel Watch 3 runs Wear OS 5.0 with Google’s Pixel experience layered on top, and while you won’t notice much of a difference on the surface, those who pair it with a Pixel phone will be able to take advantage of a few new features.
These include things like viewing your Nest doorbell camera right from your wrist. If you get notified that someone is at your door, you can tap into a live feed and see who’s there. It even supports two-way talk through your watch.
You can also control your Pixel’s camera and remotely take photos, use Call Screen from your wrist to screen calls and see what the person wants on the other end with transcriptions, and access recordings in the Recorder app on your wrist. There are also new controls for Google TV that let you pause the content you’re watching, adjust the volume or change the channel.
Some of these features are exclusive to Pixel phones, while others will be available with other Android phones, but it’s clear that Google wants you to buy a Pixel phone and Pixel Watch together for the best setup. We’ll be the judge of that once we’ve had a chance to review it.
Similar battery life and fast charging
Google says the new Pixel Watch 3 will last up to 24 hours on a full charge, or up to 36 hours with Battery Saver turned on. That’s about the same as what the company claimed with the Pixel Watch 2, and that watch let us down when it came to endurance.
When it’s time to recharge, Google includes a fast charger that can take the 420mAh battery from zero to 50% in around 28 minutes.
The takeaway
The Pixel Watch 3 is very similar to the Pixel Watch 2, which was similar to the original Pixel Watch. This product line is still in its infancy, and incremental upgrades like these are expected until Google finds the right formula it wants to follow.
That being said, this is the most exciting version of the Pixel Watch yet. With the new larger size, advanced running features, brighter display and deeper integration with the Android ecosystem, the Pixel Watch 3 is shaping up to be quite the wearable. We’re excited to get our hands on some review samples and let you know whether or not you should buy it.
