Ever since the original Apple Watch, smartwatches as a complete have actually taken off. Though Apple largely dominates the market, there are nonetheless loads of non-Apple smartwatches to select from.
I’ve been solely an Apple Watch consumer for the previous decade, however I’ve been attempting out a Google Pixel Watch 3 for the previous couple of weeks. And, actually, I form of love it.
A spherical smartwatch is a lot sleeker
Apple has been utilizing a rounded sq. design all through the Apple Watch’s life, even with the Apple Watch Ultra. Though many rumors of huge redesigns existed main as much as the Series 7 and the Series 10, Apple caught with the tried-and-true sq. design. And whereas it works, it additionally seems to be like a piece of tech in your wrist. It’s not fairly as elegant as a conventional timepiece.
That’s the place Android smartwatches differ. Popular fashions from Samsung and Google use a round physique, which is extra akin to the conventional watch model. It seems to be much less nerdy or geeky, per se, and I really feel like it simply seems to be higher general.
Originally, I wasn’t certain if I would love a round watch face when taking a look at my notifications, messages, apps, and no matter else. In observe, although, it’s not dangerous in any respect. Sure, some issues will get minimize off a bit resulting from the round bezel, however the aesthetic seems to be extra elegant general and makes up for it, for my part.
In my brief time with it, I’ve come to love the spherical and clean design of the Pixel Watch 3 greater than the very sq. form of my Apple Watch Ultra.
The watch faces really feel recent and enjoyable
Ever since I bought my Apple Watch Ultra, I’ve been a large fan of the Ultra Modular watch face. Before the Ultra, I just about simply used the common Modular face. These aren’t the most enjoyable watch faces, however they provide me all the info I must know at a look. But they’re not very enjoyable.
Right now, on my Pixel Watch 3, I’ve settled on the Active watch face in the Rosebush coloration theme since it combines my two favourite colours: pink and inexperienced. It’s beautiful and distinctive, and it provides me sufficient house for purposes that I wish to examine on all through the day.
I love how a lot selection there’s with the watch faces, in addition to the coloration schemes. On the Apple Watch faces that permit for coloration modifications, you usually get both a single coloration or multi-color, however surprisingly, Apple doesn’t have dual-tone coloration schemes for most of the out there Apple Watch faces.
With the Pixel Watch 3, there are a lot of watch faces with enjoyable fonts, daring colours with dual-tone combos, gradients, and extra. It feels a lot extra recent and enjoyable, and a lot of those coloration combos are incredible. I’ll be going via extra of the watch faces and coloration mixtures on my Pixel Watch 3 in the coming weeks, however for proper now, I’ll be sticking with Active Rosebush. This is a lot simpler to match with outfits or events.
Wear OS 5 is fairly nice
As somebody who solely used watchOS all these years, I by no means had expertise with Wear OS till the Pixel Watch 3. And I must say that I’m fairly impressed.
The Pixel Watch 3 options the Snapdragon W5 chip inside, the identical as the Pixel Watch 2. So far, I’ve discovered efficiency to be quick, snappy, and very responsive. There has been no delay when I open apps, which I can’t say the identical for my Apple Watch Ultra — generally, it takes a whereas for the exercise to start out when I use the Action button shortcut.
I additionally observed that the Pixel Watch 3 is healthier at mechanically detecting if I’m exercising, resembling the lengthy stroll again to my automobile from Disneyland. That immediate got here up at the very least twice throughout my full day in the parks, however it didn’t seem on my Apple Watch Ultra.
Furthermore, I’ve loved the clear aesthetics of Wear OS on the Pixel Watch 3, and navigating via the interface is definitely fairly easy. Swiping left and proper to view your tiles/widgets, swipe down for Quick Settings, and swipe up for notifications — it’s all very intuitive. I want watchOS had a faster approach to get to the settings like that.
An ideal non-Apple smartwatch
Again, I’ve been an Apple Watch wearer for the previous decade, and it’s actually all I’ve identified till now. But after utilizing the Pixel Watch 3 for a bit, I must say I love it.
The spherical design simply seems to be a lot nicer than the sq. of the Apple Watch and brings the conventional timepiece aesthetic into the digital age. When you mix the spherical design with the enjoyable and colourful number of watch faces that the Pixel Watch 3 gives, there are a lot of how to decorate it up or down. I additionally love the proven fact that there are distinctive dual-tone faces with some coloration mixtures. I actually can’t get sufficient of these.
Wear OS 5 can be way more intuitive than I thought. It’s simpler to navigate, the interface is less complicated than watchOS, and efficiency has been quick and snappy. The battery life can be spectacular, matching my Apple Watch Ultra on most days (ending with about 50% left).
I’ve at all times been an Apple Watch consumer, however the Pixel Watch 3 has proven me that some nice non-Apple smartwatches are on the market. If I had been primarily utilizing my Pixel 9 Pro as a substitute of my iPhone 16 Pro, I can be completely happy to make the full change over with Pixel Watch 3 — it actually is that good.
