Pixel Watch 3 Review: Google Nails It By Enhancing This One Feature (2024)

If you are in the market for a watch that has a lot of style and class, the Google Pixel Watch 3 is where you should start your research. The Pixel Watch has always been one of the most attractive smartwatches you could buy, with a waterfall screen rolling right into the 100% recycled aluminum casing and the rotating crown sticking out the side. The straps for the watch have their own unique attachment which makes them blend right into the watch casing as well.

The biggest problem Google had was with battery life and style. The Pixel Watch and Pixel Watch 2 only came in the 41mm size, which for a big guy like me was like wearing a pimple on my wrist. The small watch came with a small battery as well, which was my biggest criticism of last year’s offering in my Google Pixel Watch 2 review.

That’s no longer a problem here as Google finally introduced two different sizes to the watch—45mm and the original 41mm. If you have smaller wrists, Google still has your back, but if you’re a bigger guy, you have an option now, too. That bigger case comes with a bigger battery and with that option, most of my criticisms of the watch have disappeared. I’ve been wearing the 45mm Pixel Watch 3 for about three weeks; read on for the full Google Pixel Watch 3 review and learn more about its design, software and more.

Google Pixel Watch 3

Our score: 9 | Battery: 307 or 420mAh | Waterproof rating: 5ATM + IP68 | Case/screen size: 41mm or 45mm

Best for:

  • Getting lots of customizable workouts
  • Having a long-lasting battery
  • Getting the Fitbit expertise into your smartwatch

Skip if:

  • You don’t want to deal with Fitbit, as the app is not intuitive
  • You want a smartwatch that can wirelessly charge

Google Pixel Watch 3: Design And Hardware

A New Size Available For Larger Wrists

The first thing I noticed about the Pixel Watch is the beautiful screen that looks like it takes up the entire casing. That’s not entirely true—there’s a bezel around the screen, but it’s very thin, and the AMOLED screen hides it well. Around the side of the watch you have the rotating crown and the Recents button, the latter of which is similarly molded into the side of the watch casing so it’s hard to see (but you know it’s there). Pressing and holding that Recents button activates Google Assistant.

Most interactions happen with the rotating crown. That’s the button you press to get to your apps list or to go back to the watch face. The rest is done with a series of gestures—swipe up to see notifications, side to side to see various tiles and swipe down to get to quick settings.

The screen itself is plenty bright, peaking at 2,000 nits in bright sunlight and dropping all that way down to one nit in darkness. The adaptive brightness function works well on automatic settings, which is a big plus.

Google Pixel Watch 3: Battery Life

Google Finally Nails It

One of the biggest needs going into the Watch 3 was battery life. The original Pixel Watch couldn’t last a full 24 hours. The Pixel Watch 2 lasted just over that and if you turned on automatic sleep mode and synced with your phone. The Pixel Watch 3 with its bigger battery lasted me around 40 hours with Always On Display, albeit without cellular connectivity. That’s a huge improvement over its predecessors.

Charging is still done with the same magnetic charger with four pins—so it’s not completely wireless, which is a bit of a bummer. It would be nice to be able to charge your watch with your phone, for example. It takes a little over an hour to charge up fully, which isn’t too bad.

The watch had no problem surviving through my recent trip to Germany for a multi-day trade show called IFA Berlin. Since I didn’t want worry about charging on the go, I topped it off every night for about 30-45 minutes just to make sure I had enough juice for the next day. So overall, battery life is on par with most other smartwatches in this neighborhood—the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7.

Google Pixel Watch 3: Performance

Get Google Assistant From Your Wrist

Two of the biggest benefits—aside from the larger design—that you get from the Pixel Watch is access to most of the Google ecosystem from your wrist. You can turn on your Google TV, adjust home controls (such as lights and cameras), check your email and more without having your phone. As mentioned, Google Assistant is right there if you press and hold the Recents button.

But Google also has apps for home, Gmail, Maps and more. If someone rings your Google Nest Doorbell, a video comes through on the watch. It’s a very robust ecosystem of apps and services that you can access from your wrist. Of course, it’s also worth mentioning that navigating something as complex as home controls isn’t nearly as easy on your watch as it is on your phone. But the point here is that you can, which is a lot more than other watches can claim.

Get Your Heart Going With Customized Fitness Tracking

Exercise detection works very well on the watch. On more than one occasion during IFA, my watch would suddenly spring to life and say, “Hey, it looks like you’re on a power walk—want to track it?” It takes about 10 minutes for it to kick in, but when you say yes, it retroactively tracks stats from the start of your walk. You can also manually start a walk in the FitBit app or by summoning Google Assistant and telling it to, “start a walking activity.” Of course, at IFA, usually by the time it would notify me it detected a walk, I was almost to my next appointment, so it was a moot point.

Speaking of IFA, I ran into an issue at the conference where my watch and FitBit app would not show the same numbers. That issue seemed to go away once I left the tradeshow. I contacted Google to troubleshoot, and it’s likely the issue came from spotty connectivity during the show. It also stabilized once I returned home and away from throngs of people. Regardless, eventually the Pixel Watch synced to the app and everything is as it should be, so if you’re in an area with a rough connection, just bear that in mind.

The FitBit app is also really (potentially) great for runners and those who take exercise seriously. Fitbit allows you to set up custom workouts including both exercise and cooldown periods and run them sequentially. I am on the wrong side of 40 years old and the wrong side of 300 pounds, so—spoiler alert—I didn’t get a chance to test this particular feature. For some reason there’s no interval setting that involves a run for 15 seconds followed by a six-hour cooldown. Go figure. But for those who can actually run for longer than an average commercial break, that feature is waiting for you.

That Said, The FitBit App Isn’t Great

While it comes with it, the one weakness I see in the whole experience is in the FitBit app. It’s simply not designed for people like me who are not fit and therefore don’t live up to half of the app’s name. That’s a fair point. My experience with the FitBit app comes down to step tracking and heart rate, and while those statistics are in there, it’s not terribly intuitive to find them and view the data in any way that makes sense. Other apps like Garmin and even RingConn make it pretty easy to see day-by-day steps, so FitBit could use some work here.

One nice thing about the FitBit app is the daily Morning Brief, which is a feature borrowed from other fitness platforms. The morning brief gives you a summary of your sleep and your general readiness to tackle the day. It’s a great way to wake up and get moving in the morning, and I’m here for it.

Google Pixel Watch 3: Verdict

One Of The Best Right Now

Overall, this is arguably my favorite Android smartwatch for now. It doesn’t have the prodigious battery life, nor the sleep apnea detection of the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, but it looks great and is very customizable which is what I want in a smartwatch. The battery life got a great boost which is also awesome. I love this watch. I just wish more third-party options were available for the proprietary straps. Those will come—the 45mm Pixel Watch 3 is brand new after all—but I wish they’d come sooner.

The FitBit app would be nicer if it could be designed for the lowest common denominator. The fact of the matter is most people want smartwatches to serve notifications and track their steps. I appreciate that Google is going after the more athletic crowd, but it shouldn’t ignore the commoners while doing so. Everything else is spot on.

How I Tested The Google Pixel Watch 3

I wore the Google Pixel Watch 3 as my main smartwatch for three weeks. During that time, I tested the battery life across a myriad of settings, from the Always On Display to battery saver modes. I wore the Pixel Watch 3 to bed every night and charged it when necessary, keeping a spreadsheet of times charging and discharging.

Additionally, I wore it around a major European trade show in Berlin for a week, testing the walking and smart fitness tracking features and allowing the Pixel Watch to automatically detect my workouts to see how long it took to register. I also cross-tested it with the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold tested the slew of new health features, including Morning Brief.

My Expertise

I’m a Chicago-based freelance reviewer and have been writing about consumer electronics for over a decade with a particular focus on mobile phones and cellular technology including the birth of 5G. I’ve also tested most smartphones on the market over the last several years, including the Google Pixel 8 Pro. I also have compared top devices, from the Oneplus 12 versus the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra to the iPhone 14 versus iPhone 15. And, of course, I’ve tested each phone’s software, comparing Android versus iPhone to help you make informed buying decisions. I also have rigorously tested the best smartwatches on the market.

When I’m not testing the latest and greatest flagship phones, I’m hosting the Benefit of the Doud podcast/YouTube channel with my co-host Clifton M. Thomas and editing technology news articles for SlashGear. In addition to Forbes and SlashGear, I have bylines at Android Central, Reviewed.com, Android Authority, Lifewire and more.

Pixel Watch 3 Review: Google Nails It By Enhancing This One Feature (2024)
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