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Pixel Watch 3

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151–160 of 193 posts

Re: Pixel Watch 3

#151
post #76

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.fit…

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?

I used to be one of these and honestly I'm so tired of Google as a company lately I'm really considering jumping over to Apple's ecosystem.

Google just have an incredibly weak product team, across both hardware and software.

Re: Pixel Watch 3

#152
post #42

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…

If you’re into sport, I recommend Garmin. It shows notifications properly. Bonus, charge it once or twice in a week. It doesn’t try to be a smartwatch . No sport? I recommend a classy automatic wristwatch . Your movement winds it up. No charging. No apps. No updates. No battery. The spring is wind up by wearing, eight hours of wearing usually last for 24 hours. So sleeping without isn’t an issue and in worst case you…

Mobile payment and car unlock (when I don’t have my fob) are what I use my Apple Watch for mostly. Mobile payment in particular is a game changer (no need to whip out your phone). Notifications are also important, I didn’t wear an old fashioned watch before I bought an Apple Watch.

I can also unlock my house via my watch, but again, it’s just more convenient than using a phone.

Re: Pixel Watch 3

#153

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…

When I worked at Google I got re-orged into the same division as pixel / android. My director wore an Apple Watch and had an iPhone for personal use, and I am pretty sure I saw an Apple Watch on my VP too. Nobody was expected to eat the dog food and so few did. This was crazy to me coming from Apple- I remember several internal sites would ask you to file a radar (bug report) on why you switched to chrome from safari…

You can dogfood all you want at Google and file all the bugs and feedback, if it doesn’t fit in the snide product managers narratives, nothing gets fixed.

Re: Pixel Watch 3

#154
post #76

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.fit…

FWIW, I had a Pixel Watch 2 with this issue every now and then in the first couple of months when it was brand new. I've not had this issue in 2024 essentially (fixed as part of monthly updates).

Re: Pixel Watch 3

#155
post #2

" 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.

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).

Re: Pixel Watch 3

#156
post #76

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.fit…

I wonder if they have fixed the emergency call issues on their phones yet too: https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/y039zn/i_compi...

They seem to be let off the hook with things like this when other companies are dragged over the coals.

Re: Pixel Watch 3

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Think about this for a second, would Apple purposefully gimp their watch’s battery life Yes? Design a device with just enough to get through the day, forces getting replaced in a few years when battery degrades. Apple is a hardware company with the capability to optimize battery life but they don't since 80% health on a batt that lasts a week won't force a replacement for most customers.

Yet apple device batteries last longer than any other brand. My Apple Watch is 5 years old and lasts at least a day and a half. It feels as fast as the day I bought it and still gets major upgrades. My other apple devices are the same way. I switched to iPhone 10 years ago they’ve held up very well. Your statement is ignorant.

I replaced my first Garmin (640M) at roughly 5 years old due to physical damage (it got mangled badly enough that the part of the case that holds the band on broke off), and it was still getting roughly the same battery life as it did when it was new.

Re: Pixel Watch 3

#158
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

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.

Your pattern would not work for me, and a few other the other commenters on this thread, because we value sleep tracking.

I had an Android Wear watch years ago (2016?) that started with 36hr battery life and did great sleep tracking and fitness tracking. Between updates and battery degradation, after a year or so, it would barely make it 18 hours. Then I had to start charging overnight so it would be charged enough for my 5am runs, and so I lost the sleep tracking feature.

Re: Pixel Watch 3

#159
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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 unfas…

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.

Re: Pixel Watch 3

#160
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you’re into sport, I recommend Garmin. It shows notifications properly. Bonus, charge it once or twice in a week. It doesn’t try to be a smartwatch . No sport? I recommend a classy automatic wristwatch . Your movement winds it up. No charging. No apps. No updates. No battery. The spring is wind up by wearing, eight hours of wearing usually last for 24 hours. So sleeping without isn’t an issue and in worst case you…

Or a Casio f91w. Timeless.

Alarm, backlight, stopwatch, 8-10 years battery life. 20-30USD price tag. What is not to love?
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