This is my same complaint. I have been using Garmin watches for fitness, and when they got got a little less utilitarian looking I started wearing it full time to be a watch/track steps and continue tracking fitness activities.
I would like a better notification handling and ability to reply to notifications/message but not at the expense of battery life.
I got a Pixel 2 watch ‘free’ with the purchase of a Pixel 8Pro last year. I tried wearing it for a few weeks, and no surprise, the battery life is just not enough for me (non starter). Second, IMHO that watch overall is too small. My Garmin is the largest they have (Fenix 6X Pro) as it had the best battery life. Going down to the tiny screen/battery Pixel watch 2 was just never going to work for me.
The 3 has two sizes now which is nice, but the battery life is still way to short.