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Pixel Watch 3

107 points by eamag 2y ago

drewg123 2y 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.
- maxglute 2y 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.
- nickthegreek 2y 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.
  - drewg123 2y 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.
    - jsheard 2y ago
      Is that a MIP Garmin or an OLED Garmin? I've heard that their OLED battery life is getting better with newer models but usually you have to make a choice between battery life and sunlight readability (better on MIP) or brightness and vibrancy (better on OLED) with them.
      - drewg123 2y ago
        MIP ... Garmin Fenix 6 pro.
      - sdoering 2y ago
        It also heavily depends on the amount of notifications and the brightness of the display. As well as a few - to me not easily identifiable - other factors. In the last few weeks I had battery life between 30hours and nearly 6 days.
      - cogman10 2y ago
        I have an OLED garmin (965). Battery life is about 1 week for me.
- 8bithero 2y 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.
  - drewg123 2y 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 2y 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_swe 2y ago
    i disable all notifications except texts from my spouse and phone calls (from anyone). that’s my suggestion, it’s good balance. :)
- gwill 2y 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
  - entropie 2y 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.
    - intothemild 2y ago
      As a distance runner myself, this is accurate. I've known a few people who are hesitant to switch from Apple (or really any "smart watch"), but when they do, it's the same comment "Oh wow I didn't know these were so good!" A common complaint I hear is "yeah but there's no apps! how do I add extra functionality to my watch?" .. they just don't believe you when you say "it's already there" Smart watches are general purpose devices, more sandboxes than anything else.. where as Fitness/Sports Watches (Garmin/Coros/Suunto/etc) already have everything you need for Fitness/Sports, and things you didn't know existed. What's happened is that it's trivially easy for Fitness watches to add some smart offerings (Calls/Texts/Notifications) and also some apps...then it is for Apple/Google/Samsung to add fitness things. Sure Apple and also Google did add in some training load/status/etc stuff.. which is great cool... but it's also still a device that I have to charge daily, instead of monthly. And then, when theres a fitness metric or long term stat I want to see, i have to give some third party developer my health data to do it. An example of that last thing. I have a friend who's a triathlete, I'm going to travel to run a Half Marathon with him, he uses an Apple Watch SE, I'm on a Garmin Fenix 7x. He's jealous of all the long term stats I have, like all the training load over time, adaptive workouts, etc etc. He's on that cusp of ditching a smart watch and getting a dedicated fitness watch. When I see him, and he sees what I can do on my watch.. he's gonna love it.
- deleted 2y ago
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- CooCooCaCha 2y 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.
  - giaour 2y 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?
    - CooCooCaCha 2y ago
      I do use the mic and speaker for short and simple conversations. Overall I like that I can go on a run and leave my phone at home while also being able to take a call if I need to. Look, I’m not claiming it’s life changing. The way I describe the Apple Watch to people is that you can definitely live your life without it but the little conveniences add up. It’s silly that I’m getting downvoted because it’s true. The Apple Watch and some android watches are more powerful devices more akin to a mini-phone. And because they’re more powerful they use more power. Do people really think Apple is purposefully gimping their own device or maybe there’s more too it than “these are all smart watches”. I’m totally ok with charging my watch every night and the extra little conveniences I get from a more powerful device are worth it to me.
      - pphysch 2y ago
        > The way I describe the Apple Watch to people is that you can definitely live your life without it but the little conveniences add up. For a Garmin-style watch, the convenience of only needing a ~30min charge once or twice a month is pretty big.
        CooCooCaCha 2y ago
        I throw my watch on the charger when I go to sleep, so I don’t really seen the benefit. I’d rather have a more powerful device as a tradeoff. If that matters to you then great but I take issue with putting all of these watches in the same bucket and pretending that they’re all the same except for battery life. It’s just not true.
- giaour 2y 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.
  - officeplant 2y ago
    Honest question. Do you not have 30 minutes to spare daily where you don't wear your watch and it could charge?
    - giaour 2y ago
      I made the switch a few years ago, but I recall the Apple watch taking much longer than 30 mins to charge. The current iteration of the Apple Watch SE (which is what I had) claims that the battery lasts 18 hours and can charge from 0-80% in 90 minutes: https://www.apple.com/apple-watch-se/specs/ https://www.apple.com/apple-watch-se/specs/ I'm much happier with a watch that does fewer things but does them well. Only having to charge it for ~30 minutes once every few weeks means that I can just leave it on all the time like the non-smart watches I used to wear.
  - rootusrootus 2y 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.
    - giaour 2y ago
      I think this approach works for the newer and more expensive models but not for the SE (which is what I had). The SE's battery is only rated to last 18 hours and does not offer fast charging, so taking it off and sticking it on the charger when you go to bed made sense; otherwise, you need to charge it at alternating times of day or leave it off for 6 hours in the middle of the day.
- aliasxneo 2y 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.
  - brookst 2y 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.
  - officeplant 2y 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.
  - rootusrootus 2y 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.
    - willio58 2y ago
      Same here. It's been great, and I'm on the Ultra 1 still. I will say it wasn't great when I had the non-Ultra. It was fine at first, the watch would last a full day, but like 2 or 3 years later it would struggle if I did a lot of exercise in a day to make it to the time I go to bed. I also recently went on a 5-day backpacking trip and it was a struggle to keep my phone and watch charged with an external battery. If the ultra lasted even 3 days instead of just 2ish on a charge this would have made it way easier. By the end of the trip to save charge I just gave up charging the watch.
- trog 2y 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 2y 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 2y 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 2y 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.
nickthegreek 2y ago
Doorbell live video integration looks pretty neat.
taeric 2y 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_ 2y 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 2y 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 2y 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.
zeroCalories 2y 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 2y 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 2y 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 2y 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
    - drdaeman 2y ago
      Apple Watch used to have Uber app, then it was discontinued and removed for some reason. I suspect it’s probably the same for other watches.
  - zeroCalories 2y 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.
- localfirst 2y ago
deleted 2y ago
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modeless 2y 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 2y 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.
paxys 2y 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 2y 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 2y 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.
  - paxys 2y ago
    Not having features like unlocking your Mac from your phone, Apple Pay etc. is the deal breaker.
    - 015a 2y ago
      Garmin has contactless payment.
      - timv 2y ago
        It's not as widely available. My bank doesn't support registering my card with GarminPay. Pretty much every bank supports Apple and Google.
  - ethbr1 2y 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.
lighttower 2y ago
My pixel watch 2 can't sync the Google workspace calendar.
Beretta_Vexee 2y 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 2y ago
  seriously? no GPS?
  - Beretta_Vexee 2y 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-hands-on.html 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.
    - spywaregorilla 2y ago
      > "Notably, the Pixel Watch 3 doesn't include dual-frequency/multiband GPS/GNSS." That doesn't mean "no GPS" Weird cherry pick from a larger quote that clearly implies it has GPS: > Again, this is an area I’ll dive into during my in-depth review down the road, looking at both the heart rate accuracy in running, as well as various changes they’ve made around GPS/GNSS accuracy. Notably, the Pixel Watch 3 doesn’t include dual-frequency/multiband GPS/GNSS. However, as I’ve constantly said: I don’t care how a company arrives hardware-wise at an accurate GPS track, as long as they do so. We’ve seen companies with multiband implementations do worse than other companies without multiband. So as long as Google can deliver accurate GPS tracks, I’m happy.
    - 2y ago
losvedir 2y 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.
- rootusrootus 2y 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 2y ago
    Automatic (out-of-cycle) sleep tracking is coming in watchOS 11.
- ValentineC 2y ago
advisedwang 2y 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 2y 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 2y 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 2y 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 2y 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_dreamer 2y 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.
Marsymars 2y 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 2y 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-Watch-2-GPS-data-missing/td-p/5476172 https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Android-App/Google-Pixel-Wat... - https://support.google.com/googlepixelwatch/thread/242833127?hl=en https://support.google.com/googlepixelwatch/thread/242833127...
- hipadev23 2y 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 2y 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.
  - ensignavenger 2y 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.
    - wilsonnb3 2y ago
      Android wear watches only work with android these days
      - 2y ago
reisse 2y 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 2y ago
  Most men’s watches are round. The only square watches I ever see are apple.
underlogic 2y 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
hnburnsy 2y 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-garmin-smartwatch-battery-last/ https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/general/how-long-will-my-g...
- geor9e 2y 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.
  - hnburnsy 2y ago
    OK, being tied into the Google Eco system is a good reason. Dexcom and HA are available for Garmin watches.
SirMaster 2y ago
No Afib detection or BP reading?
roshankhan28 2y ago
i personally enjoy the samsung series, better price to performance ratio aswell as the amoled display is awesome
lazycouchpotato 2y 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 https://www.youtube.com/@TheQuantifiedScientist/videos

107 points by eamag 2y 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.

maxglute 2y 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.
nickthegreek 2y 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.
- drewg123 2y 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.
  - jsheard 2y ago
    Is that a MIP Garmin or an OLED Garmin? I've heard that their OLED battery life is getting better with newer models but usually you have to make a choice between battery life and sunlight readability (better on MIP) or brightness and vibrancy (better on OLED) with them.
    - drewg123 2y ago
      MIP ... Garmin Fenix 6 pro.
    - sdoering 2y ago
      It also heavily depends on the amount of notifications and the brightness of the display. As well as a few - to me not easily identifiable - other factors. In the last few weeks I had battery life between 30hours and nearly 6 days.
    - cogman10 2y ago
      I have an OLED garmin (965). Battery life is about 1 week for me.
8bithero 2y 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.
- drewg123 2y 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 2y 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_swe 2y ago
  i disable all notifications except texts from my spouse and phone calls (from anyone). that’s my suggestion, it’s good balance. :)
gwill 2y 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
- entropie 2y 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.
  - intothemild 2y ago
    As a distance runner myself, this is accurate. I've known a few people who are hesitant to switch from Apple (or really any "smart watch"), but when they do, it's the same comment "Oh wow I didn't know these were so good!" A common complaint I hear is "yeah but there's no apps! how do I add extra functionality to my watch?" .. they just don't believe you when you say "it's already there" Smart watches are general purpose devices, more sandboxes than anything else.. where as Fitness/Sports Watches (Garmin/Coros/Suunto/etc) already have everything you need for Fitness/Sports, and things you didn't know existed. What's happened is that it's trivially easy for Fitness watches to add some smart offerings (Calls/Texts/Notifications) and also some apps...then it is for Apple/Google/Samsung to add fitness things. Sure Apple and also Google did add in some training load/status/etc stuff.. which is great cool... but it's also still a device that I have to charge daily, instead of monthly. And then, when theres a fitness metric or long term stat I want to see, i have to give some third party developer my health data to do it. An example of that last thing. I have a friend who's a triathlete, I'm going to travel to run a Half Marathon with him, he uses an Apple Watch SE, I'm on a Garmin Fenix 7x. He's jealous of all the long term stats I have, like all the training load over time, adaptive workouts, etc etc. He's on that cusp of ditching a smart watch and getting a dedicated fitness watch. When I see him, and he sees what I can do on my watch.. he's gonna love it.
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CooCooCaCha 2y 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.
- giaour 2y 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?
  - CooCooCaCha 2y ago
    I do use the mic and speaker for short and simple conversations. Overall I like that I can go on a run and leave my phone at home while also being able to take a call if I need to. Look, I’m not claiming it’s life changing. The way I describe the Apple Watch to people is that you can definitely live your life without it but the little conveniences add up. It’s silly that I’m getting downvoted because it’s true. The Apple Watch and some android watches are more powerful devices more akin to a mini-phone. And because they’re more powerful they use more power. Do people really think Apple is purposefully gimping their own device or maybe there’s more too it than “these are all smart watches”. I’m totally ok with charging my watch every night and the extra little conveniences I get from a more powerful device are worth it to me.
    - pphysch 2y ago
      > The way I describe the Apple Watch to people is that you can definitely live your life without it but the little conveniences add up. For a Garmin-style watch, the convenience of only needing a ~30min charge once or twice a month is pretty big.
      - CooCooCaCha 2y ago
        I throw my watch on the charger when I go to sleep, so I don’t really seen the benefit. I’d rather have a more powerful device as a tradeoff. If that matters to you then great but I take issue with putting all of these watches in the same bucket and pretending that they’re all the same except for battery life. It’s just not true.
giaour 2y 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.
- officeplant 2y ago
  Honest question. Do you not have 30 minutes to spare daily where you don't wear your watch and it could charge?
  - giaour 2y ago
    I made the switch a few years ago, but I recall the Apple watch taking much longer than 30 mins to charge. The current iteration of the Apple Watch SE (which is what I had) claims that the battery lasts 18 hours and can charge from 0-80% in 90 minutes: https://www.apple.com/apple-watch-se/specs/ https://www.apple.com/apple-watch-se/specs/ I'm much happier with a watch that does fewer things but does them well. Only having to charge it for ~30 minutes once every few weeks means that I can just leave it on all the time like the non-smart watches I used to wear.
- rootusrootus 2y 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.
  - giaour 2y ago
    I think this approach works for the newer and more expensive models but not for the SE (which is what I had). The SE's battery is only rated to last 18 hours and does not offer fast charging, so taking it off and sticking it on the charger when you go to bed made sense; otherwise, you need to charge it at alternating times of day or leave it off for 6 hours in the middle of the day.
aliasxneo 2y 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.
- brookst 2y 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.
- officeplant 2y 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.
- rootusrootus 2y 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.
  - willio58 2y ago
    Same here. It's been great, and I'm on the Ultra 1 still. I will say it wasn't great when I had the non-Ultra. It was fine at first, the watch would last a full day, but like 2 or 3 years later it would struggle if I did a lot of exercise in a day to make it to the time I go to bed. I also recently went on a 5-day backpacking trip and it was a struggle to keep my phone and watch charged with an external battery. If the ultra lasted even 3 days instead of just 2ish on a charge this would have made it way easier. By the end of the trip to save charge I just gave up charging the watch.
trog 2y 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 2y 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 2y 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 2y 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.

nickthegreek 2y ago

Doorbell live video integration looks pretty neat.

taeric 2y 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_ 2y 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 2y 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 2y 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.

zeroCalories 2y 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 2y 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 2y 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 2y 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
  - drdaeman 2y ago
    Apple Watch used to have Uber app, then it was discontinued and removed for some reason. I suspect it’s probably the same for other watches.
- zeroCalories 2y 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.
localfirst 2y ago

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modeless 2y 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 2y 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.

paxys 2y 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 2y 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 2y 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.
- paxys 2y ago
  Not having features like unlocking your Mac from your phone, Apple Pay etc. is the deal breaker.
  - 015a 2y ago
    Garmin has contactless payment.
    - timv 2y ago
      It's not as widely available. My bank doesn't support registering my card with GarminPay. Pretty much every bank supports Apple and Google.
- ethbr1 2y 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.

lighttower 2y ago

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

Beretta_Vexee 2y 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 2y ago
seriously? no GPS?
- Beretta_Vexee 2y 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-hands-on.html 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.
  - spywaregorilla 2y ago
    > "Notably, the Pixel Watch 3 doesn't include dual-frequency/multiband GPS/GNSS." That doesn't mean "no GPS" Weird cherry pick from a larger quote that clearly implies it has GPS: > Again, this is an area I’ll dive into during my in-depth review down the road, looking at both the heart rate accuracy in running, as well as various changes they’ve made around GPS/GNSS accuracy. Notably, the Pixel Watch 3 doesn’t include dual-frequency/multiband GPS/GNSS. However, as I’ve constantly said: I don’t care how a company arrives hardware-wise at an accurate GPS track, as long as they do so. We’ve seen companies with multiband implementations do worse than other companies without multiband. So as long as Google can deliver accurate GPS tracks, I’m happy.
  - 2y ago

losvedir 2y 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.

rootusrootus 2y 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 2y ago
  Automatic (out-of-cycle) sleep tracking is coming in watchOS 11.
ValentineC 2y ago

advisedwang 2y 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 2y 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 2y 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 2y 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 2y 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_dreamer 2y 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.

Marsymars 2y 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 2y 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-Watch-2-GPS-data-missing/td-p/5476172 https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Android-App/Google-Pixel-Wat... - https://support.google.com/googlepixelwatch/thread/242833127?hl=en https://support.google.com/googlepixelwatch/thread/242833127...

hipadev23 2y 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 2y 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.
- ensignavenger 2y 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.
  - wilsonnb3 2y ago
    Android wear watches only work with android these days
    - 2y ago

reisse 2y 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 2y ago
Most men’s watches are round. The only square watches I ever see are apple.

underlogic 2y 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

hnburnsy 2y 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-garmin-smartwatch-battery-last/ https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/general/how-long-will-my-g...

geor9e 2y 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.
- hnburnsy 2y ago
  OK, being tied into the Google Eco system is a good reason. Dexcom and HA are available for Garmin watches.

SirMaster 2y ago

No Afib detection or BP reading?

roshankhan28 2y ago

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

lazycouchpotato 2y 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 https://www.youtube.com/@TheQuantifiedScientist/videos