Pixel Watch 3 vs Galaxy Watch 7: Which smartwatch is best for you?

One of a slate of new Pixel products revealed at Google’s recent hardware event, the Pixel Watch 3 arrives just weeks after Samsung launched the newest version of its own Wear OS smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch 7.

The similarities between the two wearables are immediately apparent. Like the Galaxy Watch 7, Google’s third-generation Pixel Watch uses a classic round watch face in contrast to the square design found on the Apple Watch.

But the Pixel Watch 3 and Galaxy Watch 7 have a lot in common beyond their shape. They both run on Wear OS 5, the latest operating system built by Google for smartwatches.

While the Samsung watch builds on Wear OS 5 with its custom One UI interface, which adds unique features and gives the watch an unmistakably Samsung aesthetic, the shared framework means both watches share core functionality like access to the Google Play app store.

Both watches are designed to work with any Android phone, though pairing Pixel with Pixel and Galaxy with Galaxy will result in a more seamless experience and, in a few cases, unlock additional features not available when you mix and match.

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Your tastes may vary, but we reckon the Pixel Watch is the best looking smartwatch we’ve tested. It uses a smooth, rounded pebble look, with a domed glass front inspired by water droplets and a domed back that helps disguise the watch’s overall thickness. That shape, plus the clever design of the user interface, helped to conceal some relatively chunky bezels in the original Pixel Watch and Pixel Watch 2.

This year’s Pixel Watch 3 manages to shrink those bezels by 16 per cent. For the first time there’s a larger 45mm model too, offering 40 per cent more screen and a 35 per cent bigger battery. The display (which Google calls the Actua display) can reach a peak brightness of 2,000 nits, giving it much improved visibility on sunny days.

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The Galaxy Watch 7 plays it even safer with its design choices this year, and looks pretty much identical to its predecessor. It features two buttons, whereas the Pixel Watch features a digital crown you can twiddle plus a single physical button.

Samsung’s watch features a slightly larger AMOLED screen that reaches the same brightness as the Google watch. It attaches to its straps using a standard clasp design too, giving it a stylish look that could be mistaken for a traditional watch at a glance.

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The Pixel Watch 3 and the Galaxy Watch 7 are designed to be comprehensive fitness and workout trackers, with both wearables supporting custom workout routines. The Pixel Watch 3 tracks 40 exercise types, while the Galaxy Watch 7 manages more than a hundred – so either watch is almost certainly able to monitor your preferred style of exercise.

The Pixel Watch 3 is essentially a Fitbit smartwatch, and this year gets a vastly upgraded running coach that’s able to schedule workout sessions, actively monitor your pace and cadence with real-time guidance during runs, then offer a suite of post-workout metrics designed to help you better understand how you’re improving and where you could be doing better.

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On the Pixel Watch 3, you get a ‘workout builder’ which lets you add segments, create intervals and set targets for pace and heart rate, which the watch can make sure you’re hitting during your runs. New recovery features let you know when to take a rest day and when to push yourself. Three kinds of readiness score (one previously exclusive to Fitbit Premium) track your biometrics around the clock, even when sleeping, to give you a full morning report on how ready you are to train.

Samsung offers a similar feature in the style of its ‘energy score’, which uses a bunch of metrics including how well you slept to determine how ready your body is for a workout on any given day. The Samsung Health app is excellent too, smartly designed and easy to navigate, letting you drill down into the details of your health metrics or see you progress at a glance.

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The Pixel Watch 3 comes in two sizes for the first time, 41mm and 45mm, both of which are available with standard Bluetooth/wi-fi connectivity or with 4G LTE (which connects to the mobile data network using a separately sold eSIM, meaning it stays online when your phone isn’t nearby).

Here’s the UK price breakdown for each variant.

The Galaxy Watch 7 also comes in two sizes, 40mm and 44mm, and like the Pixel Watch there’s an option to add 4G connectivity to continue to stay online when not within Bluetooth range of your phone.

The Galaxy Watch 7 launched on 24 July in the UK. The Pixel Watch 3 will launch on 10 September, though pre-orders are open now.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 is one of the best smartwatches on the market, offering a range of advanced health-tracking features and a stylish design that mimics the look and feel of a classic watch. Our review of the Pixel Watch 3 is still in-progress, but Google’s touted design improvements look set to make it the best Google wearable yet.

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So which is better? The boring answer is that the right smartwatch for you will mostly depend mostly on the phone you’re using. The Pixel Watch pairs seamlessly with Pixel phones, likewise the Galaxy Watch with Galaxy phones, but if you’re prepared to part ways with your preferred brand, both wearables offer plenty of incentives to switch.

We’re particularly keen to see how Google’s improvements to Fitbit’s suite of run coaching tools play out in the real world. The new post-session metrics, real-time guidance, run planning and readiness scores looks set to rival low-end Garmin watches, giving casual runners greater insights and control over their workouts. If you’re a runner or hoping to become one, we’d hold off until September before upgrading your wristwear.

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