Technology
The Pixel Watch 3 is good for runners, but one AI feature could make it great
The Pixel Watch 3 is now official and the biggest news is that it will come in two sizes, get a potentially life-saving feature that can detect the loss of a heartbeat, and that Google is also beefing up the Pixel Watch’s fitness tracking capabilities.
One type of watch wearer that Google plays a big role in is runners like me. While previous Pixel smartwatches have covered the run tracking basics, with Watch 3 it’s a completely different story.
It’s going to make it easier to build up interval running workouts, the kind of short and sharp workouts that can help improve running pace and strengthen your cardiovascular fitness. It’s the kind of training you’d want as part of any half-marathon or marathon training plan.
There’s more. Google is adding real-time haptic and audio feedback while running to ensure you’re tracking your workouts closely, you can download areas on Google Maps to ensure you have a clear view of your running environment and it promises improved heart rate tracking accuracy compared to the Pixel Watch 2.
Google could have stolen a march on the competition by doing more to help users understand how to work on running form
Find out where you can pre-order the Pixel Watch 3 with the best deals.
A new addition that piqued my interest was the introduction of advanced running metrics, which provide runners with data on running form and technique. These advanced metrics have been available on sports watches for a while and were recently also introduced on the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra.
According to Google’s Pixel Watch 3 announcement blog post, these new advanced running metrics, including cadence, stride length and height, and ground contact time, will be provided by “advanced motion sensing.” That’s combined with machine learning to analyze the data, which is presented in the Fitbit app for viewing.
Google has provided an example of what that analysis will look like (image below), suggesting it can tell you if your running frequency is low, but what doesn’t seem clear is whether the Fitbit app will show you how to make improvements to your running frequency can apply. current form based on the data it can record.
This is something that Apple, Samsung and sports watch makers like Garmin and Coros are also missing when it comes to offering these advanced running stats from the wrist. Yes, they’ll capture them and plot them in a series of nice graphs, but when it comes to taking that information and telling you what to do with it, that’s notably absent.
That’s why I’m surprised that a company whose most recent I/O developer conference was so heavily dominated by machine learning didn’t seem to take the opportunity to use it for this specific function.
Granted, it hasn’t completely ignored the use of AI for some of the Pixel Watch 3’s new running features and will use it to power its daily running recommendations, which are based on Google’s machine learning technology in addition to your exercise history and willingness to to train under other data points such as cardio load.
However, Google could have stolen a lead over the competition by doing more to help users understand how to work on running form with access to these advanced running metrics. Things like couch to 5K are so popular these days that anyone getting a Pixel Watch 3 could be a real boon.
There’s been a coaching spin on things before in the running and wearable space. In 2017 I tested a device called the Lumo Run. This was something you attached to the back of your shorts and it used the kind of motion sensors you normally find in smartwatches these days.
That is an accelerometer, gyroscope and a magnetometer. It was also able to capture the type of running metrics that Google promises on the Pixel Watch 3. Additionally, it offered simple pre- and post-run exercises related to your running form data. It even tried to improve things in real time, using audio cues to tell you to do things like keep your chin up or roll your arms back to improve your form while running.
The Lumo Run, which unfortunately no longer exists, required the device, a smartphone for GPS tracking and headphones to use it optimally. Google has built the GPS and the ability to track those extra metrics into its smartwatch, so it could have tried offering similar exercises in the app if it didn’t want to try to offer that form correction during a run.
I think the steps Google has taken to make the Pixel Watch 3 better suited to runners are generally positive. I shouldn’t rule out that it could choose to bring AI and those advanced running metrics much closer together further down the line.
From a distance and without having it on my wrist, Google at least seems to be going above and beyond what Apple and Samsung offer when it comes to offering some form of analysis of that ongoing shape data. It may seem like a niche feature in the grand scheme of what the new Pixel Watch 3 is capable of, but Google may have missed a good opportunity to do things differently. Hopefully that will still be the case.
Related reading:
