The Pixel Watch 3 is no longer the new smartwatch on the market, which is an interesting situation for Google to be in. It’s easier to forgive flaws when you’re a newbie releasing a first-generation device into an already crowded market. It’s understandable that a second-generation device is still working out the kinks, but there are expectations when it’s your third time trying it out. So I was pleasantly surprised to come away from my experience impressed by the sheer number of features Google has packed into the Pixel Watch 3.
“We are deeply committed to this space,” said Sandeep Waraich, senior director of product management for Pixel wearables. “This is by far our biggest leap forward, probably even bigger than the launch of the first generation (Pixel Watch).”
You wouldn’t necessarily get that from checking out the Pixel Watch 3. Aside from the new colors, the design is identical to last year’s Pixel Watch 2, though there’s now a larger 45mm option. Internally, the processor sensors are the same, aside from the addition of an Ultra-Wideband chip. (It lets you unlock your Pixel phone, and if you have certain BMW models, you can unlock your car, too.) The main change is that the display is bigger and brighter. The bezels are 16 percent thinner, resulting in 10 percent more viewable real estate on the 41mm and 40 percent more on the 45mm. The displays — which Google now calls Actua displays, like on phones — now max out at 2,000 nits, but can also dim to 1 nit with a variable refresh rate of 1 to 60Hz. According to Waraich, the Actua displays are also more power efficient.
It’s hard to notice these changes unless you have a Pixel Watch 2 and both sizes of the Pixel Watch 3 lined up side-by-side. Thankfully, I was able to see that. The displays are definitely brighter, and you can actually fit more information on the 45mm screen. That said, the Pixel Watch’s watch faces have always made use of dark backgrounds, so I’ve never had much of an issue with their thick bezels. I just have even fewer issues now. Otherwise, I was pleasantly surprised that it was a bit difficult to tell the 41mm and 45mm watches apart when I wore them individually. The 45mm, of course, has a slightly larger battery, but we’ll have to see how far that (plus the new battery saver mode) extends in real-life testing.
The most impressive thing about the Pixel Watch 3 is the dizzying number of software updates. They can be divided into two categories: health/fitness and interconnectivity.
The most ambitious feature of the set is the ability to detect loss of pulse. It uses the watch's heart rate and other sensors to detect that someone's pulse has stopped (think heart attacks, overdoses, respiratory failure, etc.). After checking on the wearer, the watch will call emergency services if it detects no signs of movement.
Emergency SOS features aren't new to smartwatches, but this is a little different than fall or crash detection. This means that if your Pixel Watch 3 detects that you no longer have a pulse — meaning you're in a coma — it will detect a… dying — will intervene to save your life. That is a very important thing. big claim, one that requires regulatory clearance, which is why the feature will only be available in Europe at launch.
According to Waraich, this feature is possible because the Pixel Watch 3 measures your heart rate more frequently than most wearables on the market. The Apple Watch, for example, only measures your heart rate once every few minutes unless you're exercising. Waraich also says the feature can differentiate between simply taking off your watch and an actual heart rate loss event.
“It’s a combination of sensors and sensor fusion,” Waraich explains. “It looks at pulse, heartbeat, skin contact, and a bunch of other things, like motion.” If a loss of pulse is detected, the watch will also perform a number of escalations (like activating more precise infrared LEDs and looking for motion data) to minimize false alarms. How it will perform in real-life circumstances, though, is another story.
And while that alone would be an impressive update, Google is also packing in a ton of advanced running features. You can schedule custom workouts on your phone, for example, and have them sent to your wrist. The watch vibrates when you’re not hitting your goal during an interval or when it’s time to switch from speed training to cool down. There’s a new running dashboard in the Fitbit app, which breaks down more advanced metrics like stride length, cadence, vertical oscillation, and other data about your running performance. The Daily Readiness Score now includes your cardio load (a measure of how hard your heart has worked during the workout) and recommends a daily goal. When you wake up in the morning, there’s now a “Morning Brief” that summarizes your sleep, various health metrics, your progress toward goals, and the weather. Plus, there’s an ai feature that will let you receive an automatically generated workout suggestion based on your most recent workouts. Oh, and there are now offline Google Maps capabilities.
Watching demos of all these features, I was struck by how similar the previously casual Fitbit experience had become to Garmin's. But while Google clearly took inspiration from Garmin, it's not as similar to what Samsung did with Apple and its Galaxy Watch Ultra.
Many of the other software updates are clearly aimed at showing off Google’s ecosystem. You can now view the feed from a Nest Cam or Nest Doorbell right from your wrist. I tried out a demo, and while the Wi-Fi connection was iffy, I was able to easily hold a conversation with the person on the other end. The Pixel Watch 3 can also now control your Google TV and the camera on your Pixel phone. You can record audio from your wrist via the Pixel Recorder app, then view it on your phone.
It’s a little bittersweet. Google positioned the Pixel Watch as the Android smartwatch that worked no matter what phone you had. However, some of these features, like Nest feeds and the Pixel Recorder app, require you to have a Pixel phone. Waraich explains that to some extent, it’s a matter of technical logistics. There needs to be a handshake between devices, but he insists that aside from those few features, everything else “should work perfectly fine” as long as you have a compatible Android phone.
Granted, I saw controlled demos of these features, but it was a sneak peek into Google’s so-called future of ambient computing: a world where devices work together seamlessly in the background, as long as you’re firmly ensconced in a certain ecosystem. I’ll be eager to see how well this all plays out in the real world. Still, three years ago, this was something we were all nodding along to as we wondered if Google would abandon the Pixel Watch like so many other products in the world. Google's GraveyardNow everything is starting to take shape.
