Review – Google Pixel Watch 3 (41mm): Clean, chic design

We got the Google Pixel Watch 3 for review – and this is my first time using a smartwatch from Google. It’s a sleek design that looks like I’m wearing a pebble on my wrist – and this watch surprised me in a few ways.

Now, we’ll have to talk about the unboxing first. The box has two compartments, one of it is for the watch unit itself, and another box is for the strap. Understand the strap compartment, we have another piece of strap – and that is meant for those with bigger wrists. Essentially, they’re providing you with a small and big wrist strap size.

I opted to use the small wrist strap even though it can barely wrap around my wrist. It’s still nice that Google included another strap for those with thicker wrists.

I’m not sure if the strap installation is the same as before – but it’s very straightforward here. Just push in this area and then slide it and it’ll lock in place. To remove the strap, we have to press on that piece and then slide out the strap. It’s better conveyed in the video.

Most of the time, I’ll instantly change out the strap because I don’t like it. The included Pixel Watch 3’s strap though – they’re actually very good. I never once complained about how the strap felt on my hands and they’re also very flexible.

Now, the watch itself is… fairly simple in terms of its design. It’s circular and curved into the body of the watch – which makes it look like a pebble. The actual viewable part of the screen is… quite small, honestly. Our particular unit is the 41mm version and it looks dainty on my hands.

It is using an Actua display – presumably the same as the Pixel 9 series – and it looks really nice. I even used it outdoors while navigating through the city and it works very well.

Then I realized that the bezels are quite huge. Actually, I’m not sure if this happens to all units – but when light reflects off the screen, I can see a weird… indentation around the circumference. That indentation is when the screen ends and the bezel starts.

We also have a microphone on the right side, a rotating crown that can be press, and also a side button above the crown. There is a speaker on the left side which I think doesn’t sound loud enough even at the highest volume. It even starts to sound a bit distorted.

It is also running on Wear OS 5.0, and the overall interface is clean. Navigation is as smooth as ever – just like the Pixel 9 series. There are quite a lot of watchfaces to select from but for whatever reason – Facer and Timeflik doesn’t work with this watch. At least not yet. Good riddance anyway, the battery drain on those watchfaces was atrocious.

To pair the Google Pixel Watch 3 to my phone, I need to install the Google Pixel Watch app. This app has a lot of common features like changing and customizing the watchfaces.

There are a lot of choices and the customizer is pretty comprehensive too. I eventually settled for this because I like to see as many things on the screen as possible, at a single glance.

We can also customize the tiles – which loops when we swipe from side to side on the watch.

One thing I find weird is that some of the settings aren’t available on the companion app on the phone. For example, if I want to change the Do Not Disturb options, I need to swipe down, then tap and hold on the icon because I am too lazy to find in the general settings menu – and then I can change the options.

While we’re here, let’s talk about it. The Do Not Disturb does not sync with the phone – so when my phone goes into DND mode, the watch stays in whatever mode it was in. It does have something called Bedtime Mode which automatically enables DND mode when it detects I’m sleeping.

This actually works surprisingly well and it never rang once when scammers call me in the middle of the night.

By the way, we can press the crown button to bring up the app list. We can even install more apps if we want to.

One nice integration is Google Home. I can turn on my lights with the watch but it’s rather slow. I like it to just toggle on or off when I tap on the icon.

Now, the health parts. I’m not really an expert in this but I can offer you some history lessons. This watch does indeed look like a pebble – wink wink – and if you haven’t already know, Google acquired quite a lot of smartwatch companies in the past, namely Fitbit – who also acquired Pebble a few years ago.

To track all the health stuff, we’ll have to use the Fitbit app. Every purchase of the Google Pixel Watch 3 also comes with 6 months of free Fitbit Premium subscription.

The interface is okay as it presents the data in a nice, simple manner. We can even customize the interface to suit how you want it to be as well.

If you want to know how accurate the data it tracks, then check out the Quantified Scientist’s channel. His tests are scientific – and I like what he does.

Now, the battery life. I can stretch it to two days with a single charge with AOD off. If my usage is a bit more intense that day, the watch will automatically turn on the Battery Saver mode when it hits 15% battery. I mean, having a two-day battery life is pretty much expected now – so it’s nice to see the Pixel Watch 3 41mm hitting that 2-day mark.

By the way, the charging speed is actually quite good. It takes about an hour to charge from nearly empty to completion – but this charger is actually a wired charger. Yes, wired charger. There are 4 pogo pins that connect to the back of the watch.

Should you buy the Google Pixel Watch 3?

Now, what do I think about this watch – it’s a pretty hefty. The Pixel Watch 3 41mm is at RM1,849, this is nearly double the price of something similar like the Galaxy Watch 7 40mm. The 45mm of Pixel Watch 3 is only slightly more expensive – at RM1,999.

Honestly, if I’m you, I’ll get the 45mm version. The 41mm is just way too small even for my wrist.

And overall, I think that the Pixel Watch 3 is very clean in terms of the interface. It’s not a bad thing – but I do wish some of the settings could be changed via the phone companion app instead of doing them on the watch directly.

Otherwise, this is a fine watch. It’s sleek, nicely designed, and does what I need it to do.

Where to buy? (Affiliate links)

• Amazon
• Lazada
• Shopee

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