The Pixel Watch 3 was announced on Tuesday, adding a highly anticipated option to the lineup, while the Buds Pro 2 earbuds arrive just over two years after the company launched the first-generation product.
Until Tuesday’s Made by Google 2024 event, the Pixel Watch was only available in one size: 41mm, which has now been joined by the new 45mm. Both versions feature a larger display than the Pixel Watch 2, thanks in part to reduced bezels.
The display is also brighter, ranging from a peak of 1,000 to 2,000 nits – a good improvement for a device designed to be viewed in daylight. The AMOLED display has a pixel density of 320ppi, with a refresh rate of 60Hz.
The chipset remains unchanged from last year’s model. It’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 5100, with a Cortex M33 processor. The battery is also the same size, with 306mAh on the 41mm model and 420mAh on the 45mm. Google claims the same 24-hour battery life with the always-on display enabled. With Battery Saver mode, that increases to 36 hours.
By comparison, the Apple Watch performs less well with a battery life of up to 18 hours, but the OnePlus Watch 2 promises 100 hours thanks to its dual chips, alternating between economy mode and other performance.
Attracting athletes
To appeal to the running community, the watch uses a combination of motion detection and machine learning to get a more complete picture of things like cadence, stride length, and vertical oscillation.
The new Running Dashboard brings all this data together in one place.
Subscribe to Fitbit Premium to benefit from Google AI
The company is still trying to sell it to athletes. Fitbit Premium subscription is $12.99 per month or $104.99 per year. This upgrade leverages Google's AI, combined with previous races, to create training goals.
The Fitbit app now offers a “Morning Briefing” feature. It includes sleep metrics, “readiness score,” weekly goals, and other health data. Weather is also included for a better view of what your morning run will be like.
Pixel Watch 3 Videos
Pixel Buds Pro 2
As with all the devices unveiled at Tuesday's event, Google is putting its generative AI experience — particularly Gemini Live's conversational capabilities — front and center.
“With the new Gemini Live in your headphones, you can have a real conversation with your AI assistant,” Google says. It’s like talking to a loved one.
One thing that neural networks built on language models do very well is simulate conversation, so Gemini Live is a logical step in that direction.
The arrival of Gemini Live on the Buds coincides with the fact that Google has made Gemini the default assistant for the new Pixel 9 lineup, powered in part by the Tensor A1 chip in the earbuds, allowing Google to apply its mobile chip manufacturing know-how to the Pixel Buds lineup for the first time.
Google says the new chip also reduces the size of the Buds by 27%, with faster processing speeds and increases battery life to 12 hours on the Buds and 48 hours with the charging case. The Buds Pro 2 also supports the feature Find my device From Google, which lets you locate lost devices on a map or link them to their charging case if they're buried under a pile of clothes in your apartment.
New passive noise reduction system silent sealAlong with improvements to active noise reduction capabilities, it “cancels up to twice as much noise as before,” according to Google.
