Pixel Watch 3

https://blog.google/products/pixel/google-pixel-watch-3/

by eamag • 2 years ago

107 187 2 years ago

drewg1236• 2 years ago

"all-day battery life"

Ugh, Apple really has lowered expectations. In order to switch from my Garmin, I'd want at least a week.. Even my MS Band from 10 years ago had 48hrs of battery life.

nickthegreek2• 2 years ago

At least it has this:

Plus, a new better Battery Saver Mode extends battery life to up to 36 hours across both sizes, without compromising any of your health and fitness tracking or safety features.

I don't know if 48 hr battery is that much better. Charging it everyday is easier than remembering every other day. You basically have to jump from 24hr to a week battery for people to truly care.

drewg1236• 2 years ago

That's what I've gotten used to from my Garmin. It has a claimed 2 weeks of life, and I charge it once a week.

I pointed out the 48hr life because I loved the MS Band, and I can't think of anything it didn't do that any modern smart watch does for me that I actually care about. And it got the same or better battery life as is typical in the market today. And on much worse hardware.

8bithero• 2 years ago

Personally I find notifications on a watch to be exceptionally annoying so I almost always have my watch set to sleep mode. The only thing I use the watch for is to tell the time, track my sleep, heart rate, and steps. I'm not sure if sleep mode affects the accuracy of the tracking but it does make my battery life last for a good 2-3 days.

drewg1236• 2 years ago

They are also a huge battery drain. I wish Garmin put the effort into their iOS app that they did with their Android so as to be able to filter notifications by app. Eg, I want iMessage notifications on my wrist, but I could care less about IG notifications, and I actively turn off bluetooth to save my battery life when my wife is forwarding me reel after reel...

dktp• 2 years ago

I'm in the same boat being extremely annoyed with notifications on the watch. But I just disabled them completely on my Garmin

There's a setting under Notifications & Alerts > Smart notifications > Status (switch to off). In the Garmin app

lurking_swe2• 2 years ago

i disable all notifications except texts from my spouse and phone calls (from anyone). that’s my suggestion, it’s good balance. :)

gwill• 2 years ago

my garmin is currently low and i have 4 days of battery life or 2-3 long runs with gps and bluetooth enable left. with physical shortcuts to payment and timers, i haven't worn my apple watch in weeks

entropie2• 2 years ago

Especially if you do a bit of serious (long-distance) running, you can't get past garmin. My partner has recently reached the semi-professional level and nobody there actually uses anything else. A few apple enthusiasts often refuse at first, but they all switch at some point.

I'm not that deep into the fitness scene, but I'm convinced by the 14-day battery life. But I also understand if you find the look a bit unfashionable.

kbknight• 2 years ago

Have had a Garmin Fenix for 4 years now. I will never again buy an Apple or Google smartwatch until they can complete on battery life.

CooCooCaCha7• 2 years ago

Weird take. Do you think your Garmin and your 10 year old watch can do the same things as an Apple Watch? No.

Apple Watches are more like mini-iPhones. For example, I can take calls from my watch without a phone nearby, which is more appealing to me than multi-day battery life.

giaour4• 2 years ago

Do you actually use the mic and speaker on your watch like Maxwell Smart, or do you need to also carry a bluetooth headset or pair of AirPods to take calls from your watch?

alexey-salmin3• 2 years ago

Your take is much weirder for me. I barely even make calls on my phone nowadays but I use my Garmin watch many times a day. I also use them to track my sleep which would be very inconvenient if I had to charge them daily.

maxglute• 2 years ago

Was hoping needle move to all-week within a few iterations but not even close.

Still enjoying my glorified fitness band watch with 2-3 week battery life.

giaour4• 2 years ago

100%! I switched from an Apple Watch to a WiThings ScanWatch for the battery life. Sleep tracking and vibrating alarms are kinda useless if you are expected to charge the watch every night.

officeplant2• 2 years ago

Honest question. Do you not have 30 minutes to spare daily where you don't wear your watch and it could charge?

rootusrootus3• 2 years ago

Why charge it all night? Just throw it on the charger when you get in the shower. Even if it doesn't hit 100% in the space of one quick shower, it'll easily add enough charge to go at least one more full day.

I don't think I'd want the extra battery life unless it was much longer. Like a month or more. Remembering to charge a device just once a week is harder to make a habit out of than just putting the device on the inductive charger every time I take a shower.

patwolf• 2 years ago

I tried many Fitbits and Samsung watches before discovering the ScanWatch. I briefly get excited when a new Pixel or Samsung watch is announced, and then I remember I have no interest in charging it every night, or every week.

aliasxneo• 2 years ago

I have failed to comprehend the allure for precisely this reason. I've looked at adopting the Apple Watch a few times now, but as a person who struggles with insomnia and finds sleep tracking valuable, I'd have to buy a separate device to use with the watch because of the battery life. Or, I could just keep my current Fitbit which consistently lasts a week and gives me good enough information.

brookst2• 2 years ago

FWIW the Android and Apple smartwatches will all charge nearly completely during a 15 minute shower. It's very possible to wear them for sleep tracking and only charge a bit a day.

But I agree there is a huge difference between once-daily charging and once-weekly charging.

officeplant2• 2 years ago

I just charge my watch once I get home from work. Only takes 30-40 minutes. Its not gonna miss many bio-metrics while I watch an episode of a favorite show.

rootusrootus3• 2 years ago

People make it out to be some big deal, but I don't really understand. I have an Ultra 2, and it goes an easy 2 days on a single charge. I wear it all day and all night (for sleep tracking), and put it on the charger when I get in the shower. When I'm getting dressed, I put it back on and it's good to go.

lurking_swe2• 2 years ago

not trying to sway you but just thought it’s useful to know, the apple watch ultra 2 easily lasts me 2.5 - 3 days without a charge with normal usage. That includes sleeping with it and some cellular-only usage as well.

SirMaster2• 2 years ago

Is it that big of a deal?

You can't just throw it on the charger for a few minutes before bed and awhile during shower in the morning?

trog2• 2 years ago

My Fitbit devices (first Ionic, and now on my second Sense) have spoiled me, I can't imagine having to think about charging on a daily basis. I get 3-5 days depending on what I'm doing.

I'm sure you get used to it and it becomes part of a routine but it's nice not having to deal with it daily.

lawn• 2 years ago

Indeed.

I went even further and got a Garmin Instinct 2X Solar with a battery life of a month.

I didn't understand how annoying it was to always charge the watch/Oura ring/Whoop band/phone until I got rid of them (except for the phone, that's still annoying).

juntoalaluna• 2 years ago

FWIW, I never ran out of battery with my Apple Watch. Charging it was part of my routine.

I changed to a Garmin this year (started to do ultra marathons) and I've run out a couple of times because I just don't remember to charge. Especially when using GPS and bluetooth audio with it massively bumps up power consumption (which felt less like the case on the Apple Watch)

Still prefer the Garmin, but just saying that I don't think battery life is the huge feature that people think it is.

Ajedi32• 2 years ago

I charge every night so all day is all I really need, but unless they're advertising at least 2 day battery life it's probably not going to consistently last all day (especially after a couple years of charge/discharge cycles) so that's a bit of a nonstarter for me.

nickthegreek2• 2 years ago

Doorbell live video integration looks pretty neat.

taeric• 2 years ago

Similar to my comment in the phone thread, a focus on "bigger" makes me sad.

Kind of hilarious to pair that with bragging rights on "all-day battery life."

sva_• 2 years ago

a focus on "bigger" makes me sad

I really want a smaller/lighter phone next time. My Galaxy S23 Ultra weighs almost 300g with the case.

I recently got wrist pain and some radiating pain in my pinky and ring finger. First I thought I'm getting carpal tunnel but that is quite literally the other tunnel in the wrist.

Took me a while to figure this out, but turns out holding a heavy phone in one hand, propping it up with your pinkie finger (bending the finger sideways) is not a natural way for the pinkie finger to function.

Stopped holding it like that and it seems to be getting better. Got a magsafe handle for the back of the phone which should arrive soon ... Hopefully it gives me more grip.

nkozyra• 2 years ago

I really want a smaller/lighter phone next time.

The standard Pixel a line is relatively small, ~6", but perhaps you're talking about going back to the under-6" range.

I definitely find the move to larger phones somewhat perplexing because even as a 6'4" guy it's pretty difficult to navigate that much screen space with one hand.

disqard• 2 years ago

Wow! I had the exact same experience as you --- also precipitated by the same "use pinkie sideways to support the bottom of the phone" usage.

I stopped holding the phone that way, and it went away.

The phone being big and heavy is quite insidious. Turns out that "you're holding it wrong" can really be a problem... not for the antenna/reception, but for our own hands.

zeroCalories2• 2 years ago

I could realistically see myself replacing my phone with a 5g smartwatch. The hardware seems good enough, but tere's a few use cases that make me hesitant. If the ecosystem and support continues to improve I'll probably do that in a couple years.

BoredPositron• 2 years ago

I was hoping for the galaxy watch ultra but it's not it maybe the new Apple Watch Ultra can finally do it.

bramhaag• 2 years ago

Just curious, what do you usually use your phone for? Just calling and texting? Or maybe reading emails and browsing the web too?

ugh123• 2 years ago

I'd like to be able to do the following things on a watch with just 5g and not paired with a cell phone:

- call uber

- maps navigation

- a camera. I need to be able to capture photos and videos things while out. even at lower specs i'd love this

zeroCalories2• 2 years ago

Besides what you listed: maps, payments, door locks, and music. I'm mainly concerned about losing the web browser that lets me do everything from my phone, but stuff like gpto could replace a lot of stuff, and if there are more actually usable apps(with potential ai integration for ux), that might be enough for me to ditch my phone.

localfirst3• 2 years ago

good examples I also would like to be able to just have peace of mind for texting and calling for uber

dont really need a screen, its cubersome when you are outside for long periods of time and battery life on Apple phones isn't very good

Need something, I don't care if its big, that will last for at least a week, can do 3g/4g (5g is too much) SMS globally and calling internationally

bonus points for satellite connectivity and extended battery mode (where you can text your coordinates in mountains etc)

daneel_w3• 2 years ago

dont really need a screen, its cubersome when you are outside for long periods of time and battery life on Apple phones isn't very good
Need something, I don't care if its big, that will last for at least a week, can do 3g/4g (5g is too much) SMS globally and calling internationally

That depends on if you feel that you need to keep everything that needs network running in the background all the time. I keep some things running in the background, but not everything. My aging iPhone 8 lasts me a week between charges, and it's got 4 years on its back and still using the original battery, now down to just under 80% maximum capacity. Really, the iPhones' battery life is fine.

modeless6• 2 years ago

My Pixel Watch sucks and it's not because the screen isn't big or bright enough. The implementation of notifications is awful. It's actually faster and easier in many cases to whip out my phone to see a notification than to see it on the watch.

Why? Because notifications are not shown by default. The watch vibrates but nothing is there on the screen but the watch face. To trigger a notification to actually show, you need to rotate your wrist down (if it is up) and then up again (impossible if you are carrying something). Then you have to wait for it to recognize the gesture. Then you have to wait for a fade animation to an intermediate screen that shows half of the information about the notification. Then you have to wait for a fade animation to the final screen that actually shows the notification text. And if you lower your wrist at all during or after this process, the notification disappears instantly and won't come back without the use of both hands to activate the touchscreen or crown. And in many cases the information shown is useless, like "so-and-so sent a picture." Show me the goddamn picture then!

It boggles the mind that anyone could think this is a good experience to ship at all, let alone for three generations! Especially when Pebble had it right 10 years ago. You show the notification on the screen first, then you vibrate the watch, then you leave the notification there for at least 30 seconds so it can be read. You show the whole notification at once (as much as possible on the small screen, of course), and you also show a small clock at the top so you can still see the time while the notification is shown. How hard is that?

Of course this isn't the only way the Pixel Watch software sucks. The whole UX is pretty terrible, like they had some ideas and went straight to final implementation, never bothering to iterate based on user feedback. Low information density, low customizability, feature-poor, unresponsive interactions, blocking animations. It's everything bad about modern UI in a tiny frustrating package.

I don't know what is wrong with all the tech reviewers that fail to call Google out on this stuff. Maybe it's better than Samsung or whatever but that doesn't make it good. At least the hardware is nice. Though, like all smartwatches except the Pebble Time Round, far too thick.

dotnet00• 2 years ago

Yeah this is very annoying about notifications on my Samsung watch too, probably an android watch issue in general. For me, watch notifications have become just a way to know about particularly important things like email or certain chats. Often my watch will vibrate and I'll just switch to the tab with my mail in it without bothering to wait for the watch.

It's crazy how they can't manage to make these work faster. There's more than enough processing power in there, but the software is just so bloated.

mattnewton2• 2 years ago

When I worked at Google I got re-orged into the same division as pixel / android.

My director wore an Apple Watch and had an iPhone for personal use, and I am pretty sure I saw an Apple Watch on my VP too. Nobody was expected to eat the dog food and so few did. This was crazy to me coming from Apple- I remember several internal sites would ask you to file a radar (bug report) on why you switched to chrome from safari if you opened them in chrome. So many crazy issues I saw and reported didn’t actually matter to many high ranking members of the pixel team because they didn’t use the devices after 5pm.

There is a lot of incredible talent in that team but I think Google needs a minor culture shift to compete with Apple here.

tomComb• 2 years ago

Interacting with Googler's in the past I noticed the same thing but took it a different way.

Clearly there was no pressure to use the Google product so they used a wide diversity of devices and services, and I saw this as a healthy thing.

from-nibly• 2 years ago

Not wanting to dog-food your own product is probably the hardest culture to change I can think of, I wouldn't call it minor by any stretch

brookst2• 2 years ago

Dogfooding is so important, but so is competitive awareness. There has to be a good balance, where enough people are using your own product to find (and document) all of its flaws, but enough people are using competitive products to see bigger picture gaps.

neilv• 2 years ago

There's something to be said for being familiar with the popular competition, but, yeah, I'd be disappointed if my teammates weren't dogfooding something like that.

physhster• 2 years ago

You can dogfood all you want at Google and file all the bugs and feedback, if it doesn’t fit in the snide product managers narratives, nothing gets fixed.

stronglikedan• 2 years ago

With the original Wear OS, you could check your notifications at any time and even scroll through them, all without touching the watch. The gestures were amazing. They eventually took them away, for reasons that I cannot comprehend.

senectus1• 2 years ago

yeah, I've been a wearOS owner from the beginning. I wish I has the early OS on the current Galaxy Watch 7 hardware... that would be nearly perfect.

Having said that, I don't think I've been happier than with the GW7 I have atm. It does what i want, I can wear it all day and all night and charge it back to 100% in the time it takes me to have a shower get a cuppa and be ready to walk out the door.

Its giving me interesting data on sleep and heart rate etc etc (though if I'm honest I'm not sure I'm really using that data for anything)

ho_schi• 2 years ago

If you’re into sport, I recommend Garmin. It shows notifications properly. Bonus, charge it once or twice in a week. It doesn’t try to be a smartwatch.

No sport? I recommend a classy automatic wristwatch. Your movement winds it up. No charging. No apps. No updates. No battery. The spring is wind up by wearing, eight hours of wearing usually last for 24 hours. So sleeping without isn’t an issue and in worst case you can wind up manually. Best purchase of my life.

PS: Teached me also other things. Mine has an “old” acrylic glass which I considered first as drawback. It isn’t. It doesn’t break up easily like gorilla glass. And no notifications.

NotSammyHagar• 2 years ago

Yeah! I was going to say, google should just buy the garmin products and add a few more features. Love my garmin products. Great battery life too.

LeifCarrotson• 2 years ago

Seconding the Garmin rec - though stay away from new 265/965/Epic, which have the same OLED screen and resultant "shake it all about" and then wait a blink to see the time issue as Pixels and Apple watches, and stick to Fenix/Forerunner x55 MIPS displays for weeks-long battery life with always-on display. And no need to update every 2 years.

Suppafly3• 2 years ago

I just recommend no watch at all. Once I got a cell phone, wrist watches lost all appeal to me other than being a fancy piece of mechanical or digital jewelry and I have never seen the appeal of smart watches, despite working with technology every day. I'm sure they are useful for a subset of people, but this idea that everyone should have a smartwatch boggles my mind.

adamweld• 2 years ago

Or a Casio f91w. Timeless.

seanmcdirmid• 2 years ago

Mobile payment and car unlock (when I don’t have my fob) are what I use my Apple Watch for mostly. Mobile payment in particular is a game changer (no need to whip out your phone). Notifications are also important, I didn’t wear an old fashioned watch before I bought an Apple Watch.

I can also unlock my house via my watch, but again, it’s just more convenient than using a phone.

insane_dreamer3• 2 years ago

I've stayed away from smart watches as I don't want to be pinged all the time. (I used to wear a smart watch during the week while at work, and a classic watch on the weekends, but if I'm at work I can get the notifications on my phone or computer just fine (watch is redundant), so now I just wear my classic watch all the time.

Had a Citizen that was radio controlled, meaning that the time would update itself using a radio signal. Automatic calendar (accounts for leap years, etc.), time zones, etc. Solar powered (no battery change). Scratch-proof (no protective film needed). Had it for 10 years (unfortunately lost it) and never needed anything else.

Baeocystin• 2 years ago

It is also maddening to me the degree to which sensor information is hidden, or simply not available at all. I got my Pixel 2 watch specifically for fitness and sleep tracking. A year on, and I am still completely unable to perform a spot SpO2 check. I'll get a nice, pretty and utterly unlabeled graph of my supposed saturations when I sleep, but that's it. It definitely feels like the people that make it don't actually use the thing.

modeless6• 2 years ago

Yeah Fitbit is a toy, not a tool. The graphs are vague and the data behind them is inaccessible. The sensors are unreliable. The metrics are made up. The whole thing is a waste of time.

If they ever figure out a way to measure blood sugar or blood pressure, that would actually be useful. Until then I would much prefer a thinner and more comfortable watch without the protruding sensors.

cogman104• 2 years ago

If you are a data nerd, Garmin is 1000x better. It tracks everything and the app displays everything.

Some of the smart features aren't quiet as good... but like everything I've needed has worked great (like tap and pay).

jayd16• 2 years ago

All of this plus it doesn't integrate well with G-suite accounts. I can never get my calendar to sync...

dialup_sounds• 2 years ago

I don't hate my Pixel Watch (yet?) but dear God, getting a text message notification that doesn't actually show you the message is a baffling step backwards coming from a Fitbit.

modeless6• 2 years ago

I'm still wearing mine. But I only really get value from two features.

One is literally just the vibration motor on my wrist, so I can turn off all sound and vibration on my phone without missing calls and texts.

The other is "Extend Unlock" (formerly "Smart Lock") which makes the bad fingerprint reader on my Pixel 7 a non-issue, and is just generally convenient.

Funnily enough they're trying to replace "Extend Unlock" with a new feature called "Watch Unlock" and (quite predictably) they screwed up the implementation so bad it's not worth using at all. It's slower than entering my unlock code and annoying because it vibrates the watch every time my phone unlocks, with a random delay. Luckily they didn't actually remove the old "Extend Unlock" feature, they just hid it. I suppose someday they will remove it and I'll have one less reason to wear a smartwatch.

shawnz2• 2 years ago

Fitbit has the same behaviour they're describing where the screen only turns on when it detects that you're holding your wrist up.

I personally don't have a problem with that behaviour and find it to be a natural gesture. Maybe the Pixel watch isn't as good at recognizing it.

playingalong• 2 years ago

Interestingly Fitbit is also Google.

ClassyJacket3• 2 years ago

Android Wear is pretty much abandoned, which is ridiculous considering they're still putting out new Pixel Watches. It's insane that this OS has been around for a decade and pretty much not improved at all. The software still feels the same as it did in 2014 - slow, laggy, and badly designed.

Don't get me started on the insanity of making round smartwatches. You wouldn't make a round phone.

mvdtnz2• 2 years ago

I would never consider a square/rectangular watch, ever, for any reason. Aesthetically (which is super important for a watch) they look ridiculous.

trog2• 2 years ago

I had a Fitbit Sense for a couple years, before it finally died in the shower. It was just out of warranty. I bought a Fitbit Sense 2 which I thought would be an upgrade but it was amazingly a much worse device.

A huge part of it was a similar notifications issue to what you describe - get a notification, raise wrist, and have to wait for a stupid animation to play before displaying the notification.

There were a bunch of other problems, including some unbearably stupid ones like it would only work with Alexa and not assistant (wtf who owns fitbit?). I took it back and managed to buy another original Sense. (I posted about them on the Fitbit forum: https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Sense-2/Is-Sense-2-a-downgra... which seemed to get a bit of agreement from others).

My conclusion was that literally nobody working on this watch or responsible for its success actually used one.

ziml77• 2 years ago

It really sucks to hear this. I was going to once again try swapping back to Android with these new Pixel devices but it sounds like it's going to be a downgrade from the Apple ecosystem. I'm not happy with the things that Apple does with their strong market position created by having such locked down systems, but I'm not going to downgrade my experience solely on principle (also it's not like Google is saintly).

happymellon• 2 years ago

Pebble was peak smart watch.

After my third one broke I had some time where I tried a Galaxy Watch, played with an Apple watch, and finally settled on nothing until there was something that lasted longer than a day. Fitbit Versa being the spiritual successor I moved to, but its frustrating that Google picked them up after i bought it and slowly the software is becoming less reliable.

My wife's will keep unpairing from her Pixel, mine is insistent on moving the account from Fitbit to Google but the "account migration" fails so once a month it just logs out.

I actively avoid new Google products these days.

paradox4602• 2 years ago

Garmin is the spiritual successor to Pebble

Pyrodogg• 2 years ago

I had one a while ago and notifications, specifically google calendar notications were terrible. While they would appear on the watch they were completely absent from my phone.

So if I didn't specifically look at and flip through the watch, and instead looked at my phone there would be zero indication I had a appointment coming up.

I'm happy with my Withings Scan watch now. I'm largely passed active-smart watch territory and only passively check the stats on it.

paxys2• 2 years ago

I'm too locked in to the Apple ecosystem to switch, but I really wish they made a round watch. This one looks so good compared to whatever Apple puts out every year. A round watch face just makes so much aesthetic sense.

r00fus• 2 years ago

I could never give up those corner complications. Round looks better if you're only interested in the clock aspect, but for text display, a rectangle is incredibly more functional and with rounded rect shape, it's good enough for me.

You would need to refactor the entire UI interaction model to properly take advantage of a circular face.

zukzuk• 2 years ago

Have you considered a Garmin watch? It works well enough (for me anyway) for showing and dismissing notifications from my iPhone. The battery lasts well over a week, and the biometrics and fitness/training stuff is way ahead of anything Apple has to offer. And most of the Garmin watches are indeed round.

paxys2• 2 years ago

Not having features like unlocking your Mac from your phone, Apple Pay etc. is the deal breaker.

ethbr1• 2 years ago

Seconded. I bought a Garmin on the basis of recommendations here and don't regret it.

If you're fitness first, tiny screen strapped to your wrist second, they're excellent devices.

Marsymars2• 2 years ago

Grass is greener I guess; I don't have an iPhone so can't use an Apple Watch, but I'd prefer a square display to match the content it displays.

ClassyJacket3• 2 years ago

Round smartwatches make no sense and I don't know why anybody is making them. Scrolling content needs a constant-width display. If there was a square android watch I would get it.

archagon2• 2 years ago

Most of the time, I’m not using my smartwatch for scrolling content.

lighttower• 2 years ago

My pixel watch 2 can't sync the Google workspace calendar.

Beretta_Vexee2• 2 years ago

"fine-tuned for fitness" the product presentation page scrupulously avoids talking about sport and systematically uses "fitness" instead. Anyone who has ever tried to use Fibit + Google Health for their training knows that it's going to be a disaster.

This product seems destined for those who like something big and bright on their wrist.

In principle, this watch has no built-in GPS. One day's autonomy is therefore well below that any entry-level sport watches released in the last 5 years could offer.

laweijfmvo• 2 years ago

seriously? no GPS?

Beretta_Vexee2• 2 years ago

No reference is ever made to a positioning system, whether GPS, Galileo, GNSS or Glosnav.

DC Rainmaker confirms in its test that this watch is not equipped with a GPS chip. "Notably, the Pixel Watch 3 doesn't include dual-frequency/multiband GPS/GNSS. "

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2024/08/google-pixel-watch-3-han...

It's not clear whether the watch has a single-band GPS or no GPS at all. The fact that they don't communicate one it is not encouraging.

plorg• 2 years ago

Parent is wrong. It includes GPS.

https://store.google.com/product/pixel_watch_3_specs

deelowe• 2 years ago

In principle, this watch has no built-in GPS.

Please don't post false information. The specs are readily available.

losvedir• 2 years ago

Huh, just yesterday I started setting up and getting used to my new (to me) Apple Watch Series 6, after having used a Pixel Watch 2 for several months.

I'm surprised to find myself somewhat disappointed, and preferring my Pixel Watch, though I'm still giving myself some time in case it's just familiarity. But a few things:

* The available watch faces are pretty underwhelming, particularly digital ones. There's only a single one that actually includes the seconds, as far as I can tell. And the only one with lots of complications is Modular, which sticks the time in the corner, and has a big unwieldy complication in the center. My kingdom for Pixel Watch's Utility.

* No watch face store!?

* I can't seem to set up a minimal all-red face for night time, like I had on the Pixel Watch.

* The heart rate complication is just a picture of a heart that I click and it takes me to a widget that measures my heart rate. I had a real time glance on Pixel Watch, right in the complication, always up to date.

* The sleep tracking is weird and confusing. I need to set up schedules and such? On the Pixel Watch, it just tracks my sleep automatically.

* Subjective, but I still like the size and shape (round) of the Pixel Watch more than this Apple Watch, for now.

rootusrootus3• 2 years ago

I know you won't like this answer, but you probably want the Ultra. The Modular Ultra watch face does the things you want. Heart rate on the screen, lots of complications (six small ones, one big one in the middle), seconds displayed in several possible ways. Screen turns red automatically in the dark.

Sleep tracking should be pretty much automatic. I don't have any fancy schedules configured, although maybe at one point the phone did ask me what my usual sleep times are. It just automatically collects sleep stats and puts them in the Health app.

The round watch face preference is definitely a subjective thing. I can't imagine how it works as a practical matter since so much of what makes a smartwatch useful benefits from the rectangle form factor and space.

chrisdroukas• 2 years ago

Automatic (out-of-cycle) sleep tracking is coming in watchOS 11.

ValentineC• 2 years ago

* I can't seem to set up a minimal all-red face for night time, like I had on the Pixel Watch.
* The sleep tracking is weird and confusing. I need to set up schedules and such? On the Pixel Watch, it just tracks my sleep automatically.

If you switch to Sleep focus (side button, moon, Sleep) it'll switch to a more minimalistic face and turn off the Always On Display. A quick tap on the screen would still show the time.

I bought AutoSleep [1] back when in the day when watchOS still didn't have sleep tracking, and still use it daily. It's fabulous for automatically tracking naps.

[1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/autosleep-track-sleep-on-watch...

advisedwang• 2 years ago

These never have the features I want:

* small/thin/light

* Battery lasts multiple days

* notifications are main feature

Has anyone tried one of the hybrid smart watches like Withings ScanWatch series or Garmin vivoactive?

burkaman• 2 years ago

I have a Garmin Forerunner which satisfies these requirements. It's basically the size of a normal watch, notifications work very well, and it has a GPS for tracking runs if you want that. I've had it for years and charge it at most once a day for ~15 minutes when I'm in the shower and it has literally never run out of battery. You can take it on a weeklong camping trip and probably be fine as long as you don't use the GPS.

TrianguloY• 2 years ago

Same for me, in the end I got the pixel 2 because its one of the few (if not the most recently) small android wear watches. I'm sad people complained a lot about the size and this new version is bigger. The software is so-so, but I love the design and feel.

Peanuts99• 2 years ago

I've had a Withings HR watch for 8 years, it's so old it's got the old Nokia branding but the battery still lasts for a month, handles android notifications and basic fitness stuff and looks decent. I'd buy another one instantly if this one was to give out.

Arelius• 2 years ago

These + contactless payments for me. I still have a pair of pebble time rounds I use occasionally. But use my pixel watch more for payments.

I've been eyeing the Garmin Venu and Vivo active as replacements though

insane_dreamer3• 2 years ago

I have a Withings ScanWatch. Was pretty much what I wanted in a smart watch: looks like an analog watch but has discreet notifications plus the fitness features. I got it because I wanted to track EKG, which it is very good at (I was able to provide the readings to my cardiologist who accepted them). However, the HR monitor (using PPG) is now malfunctioning and it's out of warranty and there's no repair options, so it's just sitting on my desk and I'm back to my "classic" watch.

Also, it wasn't fully waterproof (5 ATM is not enough) and I didn't like having to take it off to go swimming etc. My classic watch is 20 ATM.

Marsymars2• 2 years ago

I've got a Pixel Watch 2, and it's okay, but the fitness features are all unusable to me; I use a Fitbit Inspire for sleep tracking and wake alarms while my Pixel Watch is on its charger overnight, and Google only lets me turn on fitness tracking on the Pixel Watch if I migrate my fitness tracking from the Fitbit.

vially• 2 years ago

For anyone considering buying the Pixel Watch 3, please keep in mind that Pixel Watch 2 has some long-standing issues where the GPS completely cuts out during runs or walks.

Some users believe it to be a hardware issue but it's still unacknowledged by Google and the forum thread where people have been discussing it has just been locked recently. Just mentioning it for awareness and visibility.

- https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Android-App/Google-Pixel-Wat...

- https://support.google.com/googlepixelwatch/thread/242833127...

hipadev23• 2 years ago

Genuinely don’t understand why Google continues to produce these products and refuse to support them. Do they just know there’s a contingency of anti-apple users who will buy their devices regardless of extreme usability issues?

zamadatix• 2 years ago

Anti-Apple users have plenty of places to get their hardware and firmware updates from, few users are going to look this deep into getting a device though.

ensignavenger3• 2 years ago

Apple has its own issues. And if I'm not mistaken, you need an iPhone to use an Apple watch, but you can use a Pixel watch with either an Android phone or an iPhone. Of course, Samsung, Garmin, and others also make campatible smart watches, so if I were in the market, I would certainly be comparing alternatives.

tidenly• 2 years ago

I used to be one of these and honestly I'm so tired of Google as a company lately I'm really considering jumping over to Apple's ecosystem.

Google just have an incredibly weak product team, across both hardware and software.

viraptor• 2 years ago

It's not just the watches. Chromecast/GoogleTV devices have been missing an audio sync adjustment for ages. That feature is being asked about/requested all over the related discussion boards. Amazon Fire has it built in. Google doesn't care across so many product lines.

sdf3221a• 2 years ago

FWIW, I had a Pixel Watch 2 with this issue every now and then in the first couple of months when it was brand new. I've not had this issue in 2024 essentially (fixed as part of monthly updates).

thebruce87m• 2 years ago

I wonder if they have fixed the emergency call issues on their phones yet too: https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/y039zn/i_compi...

They seem to be let off the hook with things like this when other companies are dragged over the coals.

Saris• 2 years ago

That's pretty standard for Google.

Their Pixel phones have tons of issues that never get acknowledged or fixed, as do most of their products.

I've stopped considering anything google makes as a viable purchase unless I want to be a beta tester the whole time.

reisse• 2 years ago

Looks like one thing Google cannot get right for the third generation in a row is that the smartwatch is the _watch_. Something you wear all day, something looking good, something matching a wide range of looks.

Apple Watch managed to push instantly recognizable rectangular style. Galaxy Watch tries to pass as a regular watch, more or less successfully. And Pixel Watch? It looks either as a children's toy or as a cheap fitness band. It might be smart, might have the best software and hardware, but it just isn't something I'd like to wear, except maybe for a training session.

lokar• 2 years ago

Most men’s watches are round. The only square watches I ever see are apple.

underlogic• 2 years ago

Maybe they'll sell your heart health data to life insurance companies. You can't trust google and they can't make hardware anyway

hnburnsy3• 2 years ago

I don't understand why anyone would get a Pixel watch or a Samsung watch when Garmin watches have battery life of 1-4 weeks versus 1-3 days.

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/general/how-long-will-my-g...

geor9e• 2 years ago

I like saying "hey google play drum and bass" into my wrist as I ride my bike. I also run the Dexcom continguous blood sugar monitor graph as my always-on watchface. I also have Home Assistant assigned to a button, so whatever I speak gets emailed to me as text, or if it starts with "question" it uses groq llama3 to reply a short answer on the screen. It doesn't often die before bed time. I set it on it's wireless charging dock. I don't like wearing a watch (or anything) when I sleep. Perhaps if I had a free Garmin I would give it a whirl, but I know very little about it's capabilities. So that's why I have a Samsung Watch4 currently. Also the 40mm version is really small which I like. I can't stand medium/large watches.

hnburnsy3• 2 years ago

OK, being tied into the Google Eco system is a good reason. Dexcom and HA are available for Garmin watches.

SirMaster2• 2 years ago

No Afib detection or BP reading?

roshankhan28• 2 years ago

i personally enjoy the samsung series, better price to performance ratio aswell as the amoled display is awesome

lazycouchpotato• 2 years ago

Looking forward to The Quantified Scientist's [1] review of it. I don't care about any of the mainstream tech reviewers who read the spec sheet. I care about the accuracy of the advertised health features.

Pixel Watch 2 was significantly better than Pixel Watch 1 but still behind an Apple Watch SE2 which is $100 cheaper.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/@TheQuantifiedScientist/videos

Pixel Watch 3

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