This year’s Made by Google event, as with the last few, was quite predictable, with most things leaked beforehand. The Pixel 9 series got some hype, but the Pixel Watch 3 was the real sleeper hit. I like how Google is shaping it into a really good smartwatch with each iteration, offering users more choices beyond the Galaxy Watch.
Now, the design remains familiar with the similar dome-style display, so no visual surprises here, but there are some interesting changes under the hood. Let’s explore what the Pixel Watch 3 has to offer and how it compares to its predecessor.
Table of Contents
1. Pixel Watch 3 Has a Bigger Size and Slimmer Bezels
While the previous Pixel Watch came in a single 41mm size, this year’s Pixel Watch 3 offers two options – 41mm and 45mm. The larger size makes it more suitable for people with bigger wrists. And for everyone who disliked those thick bezels on the previous model, Google has heard you. The Pixel Watch 3 now has slimmer bezels.
You get an AMOLED LTPO display that is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. It’s also significantly brighter at 2,000 nits, which is double that of its predecessor, and helps if you generally use your smartwatch a lot outdoors, be it for walking or exercise.
With that larger screen and new Google Home integration, you can open a live camera feed in the Google Home app on-wrist to see who’s at your Nest Doorbell or Nest Cam. You can also use it as an on-wrist remote for your Google TV.
Apart from the size options and bezels, the design remains largely unchanged, featuring the familiar round and curvy aluminum casing, 20mm strap size, and rotating crown on the right side.
2. New Features: Readiness, Cardio Load, Target Load
Pixel Watch 3 is heavily focused on health and well-being. It brings three new features: Daily Readiness, Cardio Load, and Target Load. These features are mainly useful for those in to regular exercise and workout routines.
Daily Readiness tracks your body’s recovery state — basically how ready your body is to take on training each day. It analyzes your body’s key recovery biometrics — like resting heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), and recent sleep data.
On the other hand, Cardio Load tracks how much you’re exerting your heart and the intensity during an activity and throughout the day. It even checks your trends over time to help you know if you’re over or under-training, maintaining, or improving your fitness.
Target Load combines all the information your watch has on you, including the above data, and gives you a target each morning along with the new Fitbit Morning Brief. So each day you have exactly what to target, which is realistically based on your body insights.
3. Pixel Watch 3 Can Call for Help in a Cardiac Emergency
In addition to fitness features, Pixel Watch 3 gets a one-of-a-kind smartwatch feature: Loss of Pulse detection. As the name says, it detects loss-of-pulse events, such as when your heart stops beating suddenly. This can be due to primary cardiac arrest, respiratory or circulatory failure, overdose, or poisoning.
It’s a health emergency that can be fatal if not attended to promptly. In such cases, your Pixel Watch 3 can now automatically call emergency services and share an automated message with critical context, along with your location.
This feature will be available on Pixel Watch 3 in September in various countries in Europe, with more countries joining in the future. While the watch already has fall detection, this can be an added life-savior feature given many loss of pulse incidents happen when a person is alone.
4. You Finally Get Ultra-WideBand Support
Another new feature is Ultra-Wideband (UWB) connectivity support. This makes Pixel Watch 3 the first Android smartwatch to have UWB, enabling it to accurately track and pinpoint a lost gadget or tracker using Google’s Find My feature.
You’d also be able to find your Pixel Watch itself more accurately from your phone in case you lose it. The watch can also unlock your car by acting as a digital key, provided your car supports the feature.
Pixel Watch 3: Specifications
The Pixel Watch 3 comes with a 100% recycled aluminum casing and a Fluoroelastomer band with a soft-touch coating. The 41mm variant weighs 31 grams, while the larger 45mm model weighs in at 37 grams.
Both watches are 12.3mm thick (just a bit over a centimeter) and feature Gorilla Glass 5 on the screen, along with a 5ATM + IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. The watch features a 320 ppi AMOLED LTPO display with a DCI-P3 color gamut, capable of reaching a peak brightness of 2,000 nits and a minimum of 1 nit in Always-on Display (AOD) mode.
Powering the watch is a Qualcomm SW5100 processor clocked at 1.7GHz, alongside a Cortex-M33 co-processor, 2GB of SDRAM, and 32GB of eMMC flash storage. It runs Wear OS 5.0 out-of-the-box and will get 3 years of OS updates.
The watch is equipped with sensors such as a Compass, Altimeter, SpO2, ECG, accelerometer, gyroscope, ambient light sensor, Electrical sensor to measure skin conductance (cEDA), skin temperature, barometer, and magnetometer.
In terms of connectivity, you get Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 802.11 (5GHz), NFC, and UWB. For location tracking, you get GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, Beidou, and QZSS.
The Pixel Watch 3 (41mm) has a 307mAh battery (nearly the same as the Watch 2’s 306mAh cell), while the 45mm model gets a larger 420mAh battery to power its bigger display. Google has also improved charging speeds, with the 41mm model charging 20 percent faster than the Watch 2 which charged 50% in 30 minutes and 80% in 43 minutes.
Pixel Watch 3: Colors and Pricing
The 41mm model comes in Matte Black/Obsidian, Silver/Porcelain, Gold/Hazel, and Silver/Rose Quartz color options. For easier understanding, I’ll call them Black, Silver, Gold, and Pink. The 45mm model has all these color options except for the Silver/Rose Quartz (Pink).
It comes in both Wi-Fi only and LTE variants. Here’s the pricing information:
- Pixel Watch 3 (41mm, Wi-Fi): $349
- Pixel Watch 3 (41mm, LTE): $449
- Pixel Watch 3 (45mm, Wi-Fi): $399
- Pixel Watch 3 (45mm, LTE): $499
While the Pixel Watch 3 costs $50 more than the Galaxy Watch 7, I still believe it’s a great smartwatch, albeit not the most budget-friendly option available. I love its classy design and I’m still enamored with that tiny curvy dome display. There are plenty of colors to choose from, and the new health features, especially the Pulse Loss detection alongside UWB, are what make this watch special. While I’d hoped for better battery life, let’s leave that improvement for the next iteration.
