Google Pixel Watch 3

Third time's a charm for Google's fitness and health watch, particularly the new, larger 45mm model

- DAN BRACAGLIA

While the new Pixel phones have attracted the most attention, Google’s third-generation Pixel Watch has introduced some big upgrades too. The most obvious is a new size option: you can still buy the familiar 41mm format for £349 inc VAT (or £449 with an LTE cellular connection), but for an extra £50 there’s now a version with a larger 45mm face, in a selection of three tasteful colour options.

Those extra millimetres make a big difference. The plus-sized model looks and feels more luxurious, yet it’s no thicker and weighs only 6g more. It also helps that Google has slimmed down the bezels, and pumped up the brightness on both models to a claimed peak of 2,000cd/m2 – double the Pixel Watch 2. The maximum refresh rate has been doubled too, to a smooth 60Hz.

Aside from the display, the main selling point of the Pixel Watch 3 is its improved health and fitness capabilities. Google says this year’s model incorporates the company’s most accurate heart-rate sensor yet, plus better running data with new metrics such as stride length, step cadence and vertical ratio joining the regular measurements of calories burned, distance covered, pace, elevation gain and average heart rate.