Google Pixel Watch 3: Upgrades, new Fitbit perks, and differences from the Pixel Watch 2

The Google Pixel Watch 3 holds on to all the things that make the Google-made wearables great. Its pebble-shaped body might be circular, but its style is unlike any other Wear OS smartwatch on the market. Google made subtle changes that add to the Pixel Watch 3's experience as well as powerful new internals for superior performance.

The real magic of the Pixel Watch 3 is on the inside. Google bumped the Pixel Watch 3's specs to bring valuable upgrades to your wrist. This Wear OS smartwatch is more powerful, smarter, and faster than ever before. It is as nice to use as it is to look at and wear.

If you held on to your last-gen Pixel Watch or Watch 2 bands, you can reuse them on the Watch 3 too. The old wireless charger, however, is not compatible anymore. Additionally, the Pixel Watch 3 finally comes in two sizes, so you can grab the petite option or go for the larger one depending on your wrist.

Google finally answered our prayers and gave us two size options for the Pixel Watch 3. You can now buy the Wear OS 5 smartwatch in a petite 41mm as well as a larger 45mm size option. It can get a little costly, especially if you get the LTE variant, but a good ol' Black Friday deal should help in that regard.

My in-depth Pixel Watch 3 review runs through my impressions of its fit, style, new fitness software, performance, and other subjective details. But if you're more interested in information on Pixel Watch 3 specs, availability, differences between the two sizes, upgrades from the Pixel Watch 2, and other hard details, this Pixel Watch 3 buyer's guide is for you.

Below, we'll focus on the Pixel Watch 3 specs, price, colors, release date, and everything else you should know!

Google Pixel Watch 3: Price, release date, and colors

The Google Pixel Watch 3 launched on September 10, nearly a month after its August 13 announcement. This Google Support page lists all 32 countries where the Pixel Watch 3 is available (11 more than the Pixel Watch 2). Of those, only 20 countries sell the LTE version; the rest are only available with Wi-Fi. 

The Pixel Watch 3 41mm costs $349 / £349 / €399 / CA$479 / AU$579, or $449 / £449 / €499 / CA$599 / AU$749 with LTE support. The Pixel Watch 3 45mm costs $399 / £399 / €449 / CA$549 / AU$669, or $499 / £499 / €549 / CA$669 / AU$839 with LTE.

If you buy from the Google Store, you can get trade-in value for your current watch. At the moment, the Pixel Watch 1 or 2 nets you $30 or $120 off, respectively; Galaxy Watches vary from $30 to $115 in value, with the Watch 6 Classic as the most valuable; most Fitbits are worth $30, but the Fitbit Charge 6 saves you $65; and a few Garmin watches will net you $50 off. Trade-in value changes depending on your region and the condition of your device, so be sure to take good care of your Google wearable!

The 4G LTE version costs twice as much as it did for the Pixel Watch 2. It comes with 500MB of free Google Fi data per month without needing a carrier, but you can't do much besides receive messages and basic searches. You'll need to add it to your phone plan for calls, emergency calling, and streaming. That same link above lists carriers for each country; North American carriers are listed below:

• AT&T (FirstNet)
• Cellcom
• CSpire
• Google Fi
• T-Mobile
• UScellular
• Verizon
• Xfinity
• Bell
• Rogers
• SaskTel
• Telus
• Virgin

Your limited Pixel Watch 3 warranty will vary by country; you can check the details at this link. After the warranty is up, it's impossible to repair it yourself because Google doesn't offer replacements for the display. Thankfully, the Pixel Watch 3 is protected by a durable layer of Gorilla Glass 5 on top. You can also add a screen protector for additional protection.

The Pixel Watch 3 41mm comes in four finishes: a Matte Black case with an Obsidian Band, Polished Silver with a Porcelain Band, Champagne Gold with a Hazel Band, and Polished Silver with a Rose Quartz Band.

The Pixel Watch 3 45mm has only three color options: the same Matte Black and Polished Silver case options, plus a Matte Hazel case with a Hazel band.

Both watches come with an Active Band in small and large sizes, plus a USB-C charging cable. It's not the same charger as the first-gen Pixel Watch, but you can use the one for the Watch 2. The Active Band is made of a hypoallergenic fluoroelastomer material which feels incredibly soft and comfortable, almost velvety to the touch. Bear in mind that Google's first-party metal bands for the Pixel Watch 3 do not come in Champagne Gold.

To use a Pixel Watch 3, you'll need an Android phone running Android 10+ and a Google account. 

Google Pixel Watch 3: Specs and 41mm vs. 45mm

Qualcomm hasn't made a new Snapdragon W5 chip since 2022, leaving Google stuck with the same CPU while Samsung and Apple can upgrade their chips whenever they want. Still, plenty of watches keep the same CPUs for years at a time, and Wear OS 5's robust new software tricks, like Nest livestreams, prove that the Pixel Watch 3's "old" CPU has some life left in it.

The Google Pixel Watch 3's 41mm and 45mm variants mostly share the same specs and features. They have different display sizes but the same pixel density. 

Wear OS 5 has an adaptive UI layout that changes how text and menus are laid out based on the display size. The photo above shows what we mean: the 41mm Pixel Watch 3 only fits three Fitbit sports icons per screen, while the 45mm Pixel Watch 3 fits six.

The Pixel Watch 3 45mm has an extra 114mAh of capacity over the 41mm. Naturally, some of that goes directly into powering the larger display, but it may also help the larger watch last slightly longer. In either case, we've found that the Pixel Watch 3 lasts significantly longer than Google's 24-hour estimate. The 45mm Pixel Watch 3 can easily last up to 40–48 hours, depending on how active you are with it.

The other difference between the 45mm and 41mm Pixel Watch 3 is that the 41mm watch can be charged in 60 minutes, while the 45mm watch takes 80 minutes. The smaller watch takes four minutes less to reach 50% but 15 minutes less to reach 80%. 

Google Pixel Watch 3 vs. Pixel Watch 2

We have an in-depth Pixel Watch 3 vs. Watch 2 guide that runs through every key difference. By and large, the Pixel Watch 3 41mm is quite similar to the Watch 2. All of the following design elements or features are unchanged:

• Both use a Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 with four Arm Cortex-A53 cores at 1.7GHz, plus a Cortex M33 MCU.
• You get 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage with either watch.
• They have the same ingress protection against dust and water, plus the same Gorilla Glass 5 layer.
• They share all of the same health sensors, measure the same size, and weigh the same.
• Both have a 306mAh battery and 24-hour estimate per charge with AOD active (though the Pixel Watch 3 is slightly more efficient).

Highlighting what's different, the Pixel Watch 3 41mm display shrunk its display bezel by 16%, so you get a 1.27-inch, 408x408 display instead of 1.2-inch, 384x384 display. The brightness jumps from 1,000 to 2,000 nits, matching the new industry standard and visibly improving usability under the sun. The display itself uses LTPO tech to hit 60Hz for normal use or as low as 1Hz for the always-on display. 

Of course, you have a new 1.43-inch display option in the 45mm Pixel Watch 3, hitting 456x456. The PPD is the same, but you do get much more space that Wear OS 5 uses to fit more information on-screen.

In terms of connectivity, the Pixel Watch 3 leaps from Bluetooth 5.0 to 5.3, so you'll have a stronger phone connection that uses less battery power and cuts through any signal interference more easily. Bluetooth 5.3 also significantly reduces the amount of power consumed when in use.

The Watch 3 also supports the Wi-Fi 5GHz standard, not just the 2.4GHz standard like the Pixel Watch 2; that'll significantly improve app download speeds. And you get Ultra Wideband for the first time, enabling a Watch Unlock feature for your connected Android phone.

You get 20% faster charging speeds on the newer Pixel Watch; it takes six minutes less to hit 50% power and 15 minutes less to hit 100% compared to the Pixel Watch 2. With the Pixel Watch 3 45mm, it takes two minutes less to hit 50% but five minutes more to hit 100%, thanks to the extra capacity.

Google also told us that the Pixel Watch 3 has their "most accurate heart rate for running" compared to the Pixel Watch 2 and 1 because it uses machine learning to reduce motion and light artifacts from rapid arm movement and from changing running pace. In our review, we found the Pixel Watch 3 did quite well for heart rate accuracy, though not perfectly.

Every other new Pixel Watch 3 feature should trickle down to the Pixel Watch 2 and 1 eventually, though Google had to roll back its Wear OS 5 update in late September due to major issues. For now, they're Pixel Watch 3-exclusive.

Google Pixel Watch 3: New software

Wear OS 5 on the Pixel Watch 3 is all about integrating more closely with other Google devices and improving the Fitbit fitness experience.

If you own a Nest Doorbell, you can see a live feed of whoever's at the door and hit the mic button to talk to them through your watch. You can use it as a remote control for your Google TV Streamer or other Google TV devices. Google is also promising offline Google Maps navigation for the first time.

With a Pixel phone, you can see Expanded Call Assist screening data or use Pixel Recorder with your phone in your pocket. If you're taking a group photo, you can place your Pixel phone down and then use your Pixel Watch 3 as a viewfinder, switching between camera modes if you want.

Google wants the Fitbit app and the Pixel Watch 3 to become more tempting for runners. You can now build custom workouts on your phone or watch, with warmup periods, target paces for set distances or times, intervals, and so on that'll buzz your wrist or provide audio cues during a run. If you don't want to create your own, Fitbit Premium will have AI-generated workouts, too.

You'll now get running form insights for things like cadence and ground contact time after a run, recommending "content and drills" to improve weak points in your form.

While Fitbit has offered a Daily Readiness Score for years via Premium, Google's "All-New Readiness" score is available to everyone, not just subscribers. You'll see how ready you are for your next workout based on your recent sleep, HRV recovery, resting heart rate, and recent training load.

You'll see your Readiness score, sleep summary, today's weather, and other data in your Morning Brief that pops up after you wake up. It's quite similar to the Morning Report you get on Garmin watches, except with more of a health focus. You'll get a warning, for example, if your HRV, breathing rate, or blood oxygen is out of your usual nightly range.

The Pixel Watch 3 will judge your Cardio Load, or how hard you've worked out in recent weeks, and judge whether you're "improving, maintaining, or falling behind" on your fitness. You'll see a "Target Load" stat based on Google's machine-learning data on how much Cardio Load you should do to improve without overtraining. 

Fitbit will also save your personal running records, such as the "fastest 10K" or "farthest run" for the first time. We'll have to wait and see whether Google focuses on other popular sports like Cycling or Weightlifting for future updates.

Google Pixel Watch 3: Should you buy it?

The beautiful circular Pixel Watch 3 currently ranks second on our list of best Android watches. Unless you want the less-stylish but impressive Galaxy Watch 7 or the ultra-pricey Galaxy Watch Ultra, you won't find another watch that matches it for speedy Wear OS updates.

I'm especially fond of the Pixel Watch 3 45mm, as I love how Wear OS 5 adapts to the extra space and the extra 6g of weight is barely noticeable. Most importantly, it does slightly better for battery life, though it's still on the low end compared to other Wear OS watches. Of course, others on the team with smaller wrists can't stop raving about the petite 41mm option, so it seems both big and small-wristed folks will be happy with the size options.

You can grab a OnePlus Watch 2R or TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro for less than the Pixel Watch 3 45mm and get three or four days of battery life, instead of two. But they have other downsides that make me recommend the Pixel Watch 3 if you can afford it.

Overall, the Pixel Watch 3 is a fantastic Wear OS watch. It's stylish, fast, and better connected with your other Google and Pixel devices. If you're intrigued by its new Fitbit tools and like its aesthetic, then this is a no-brainer.