Pixel Watch 3

Google has behaved strangely over the past few years when it comes to WearOS and the smartwatch market in general. First they seemed to lose interest, then they launched an exclusive partnership with Samsung that effectively locked the latest WearOS platform to Samsung products, culminating in the almost comically petite Pixel Watch.

Now, it's not like WearOS has been sorted out - some third parties can't offer Google Assistant for some unfathomable reason, Gemini is nowhere to be found and Google has reportedly been so difficult to work with that the entire Fossil Group pulled out of the WearOS and smartwatch market altogether.

But amidst all the chaos, we now find Google's Pixel Watch 3, a smartwatch that thankfully appears a little more solid, and at a size of 45 millimetres this time. It's Google's take on a defacto smartwatch for Android and is now in direct competition with Samsung's Galaxy smartwatches and Mobvoi's Ticwatch. So what do they have to offer?

There are no qualms about the hardware here, let's start by making that clear. Although Google has gradually transitioned partially to a more industrial design profile with the new Pixel 9 phones, the Pixel Watch 3 retains the more rounded, natural and curvy profile from before. It's a small riverstone with no screen edge, no extra pieces of distracting material besides the simple little rotating crown. Simplicity, elegance, build quality. It's a beautiful watch, and this time it's big enough for those of us with a little more... well, bigger wrists can join in.

Sure, it's Gorilla Glass 5, but Google should be using sapphire crystal here, especially when they charge the same for a Pixel Watch as the main competitors from Samsung, Huawei, Mobvoi and others. The Pixel Watch 3 is a pretty beautiful watch, but when the display is so exposed all the time, it's easy to imagine that Gorilla Glass 5 isn't going to be enough in the long run. However, it's IP68 certified and 5ATM as well, so it should be possible to wear it in all weathers and take it for a swim.

The display is a 1.4-inch LTPO AMOLED with a resolution of 456x456. It's all very reliable, and this 45 millimetre variant doesn't have those scary edges that previous versions have had. There's an always-on display option if you want it, but with battery life only on the better side of 'acceptable', it's easy to imagine that this will be downright mediocre if the display is always on. However, it's a Snapdragon SW5100 under the hood along with 2GB of RAM, and there's 32GB of space on board too.

This means the watch has the horsepower to run WearOS 5 in the smoothest and most responsive way I've seen so far, and it's easy to trust that the watch will run the three free platform updates Google has promised just as smoothly. This is in many ways the most responsive smartwatch experience I've had outside of the Apple ecosystem, and it puts both Mobvoi and Samsung in particular to shame when it comes to that smooth, connected and above all bloat-free software experience.

There are things I wish Google would have fixed now that the third generation Pixel Watch has been launched. The proprietary straps could easily be swapped out for more standardised ones, it lasts a day and a half on a charge, but charging via POGO connection means that there isn't a very efficient ecosystem of third-party chargers, and Fitbit really should be free forever, not just the six months that comes with the purchase of every new Pixel Watch.

It's still the best Android-based WearOS smartwatch on the market due to Google's magnificent ability to create a cohesive, well-functioning ecosystem of Pixel products, but there's work to be done.