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I've had the Pebble Time for about a year and really appreciate it. First, the fact that its "E-paper" display is always on means it works well as an old-fashi

by jbarham 10y ago

I've had the Pebble Time for about a year and really appreciate it. First, the fact that its "E-paper" display is always on means it works well as an old-fashioned watch so I can instantly tell the time. (I still find it crazy that the Apple Watch display is off by default!) Pebble's notification support works really well with Android so I can see at a glance whether a new email or WhatsApp message is something I need to respond to on my phone. Most of the time I don't, so I spend less time fiddling with my phone. The feature that I most appreciate that I hadn't anticipated is that the Pebble vibrates and shows who's calling when someone calls me. Which means I can keep my phone on silent all the time but never miss a phone call. So I'm definitely a fan of the Pebble Time. Its UI is really simple and well thought out, especially compared to the Apple Watch, and there's really nothing else I need it to do, apart perhaps from being more physically attractive.

fredley 10y ago
I really hope Pebble can take advantage of the swelling backlash against the overly complicated and 'feature'-ridden watches put out by Apple and other Android manufacturers, rather than be caught up in it. They got right pretty much first time around the minimal set of things you actually want to use a smart-watch for, and haven't swayed from this principal over their various iterations. I had one of the first KS originals, and have worn it, then my Time, almost every day since I got it.
- Retric 10y ago
  I think long term they are going to want both sides of the equation. That way they don't get left in the Dust if Android improves and they can play up e-ink as differentiation vs simply missing features. Basically, they can look more impartial by saying we think X is better, but we also sell Y if you really need Z. Much like how Amazon sells Fire and Kindle with some versions of Fire costing less than any version of Kindle.
  - ethbro 10y ago
    I think the key lesson of things like Fitbit's smart watch has been that you don't get a good watch by taking "everything it could do" and then subtracting features until you get where you want to be. You do it by building up features from user story primatives (e.g. I want to glance down and see who's calling). Then shipping with enough primatives covered to be useful.
- zepto 10y ago
  There is no swelling backlash. Apple Watch sales are growing strongly. The negativity in a few blog posts is because Apple Watch really doesn't do much to improve the lives of tech early adopters, whereas it is great for most other people.
gaius 10y ago
If I were in the market for a smartwatch right now, it would have to be the Suunto Spartan http://www.suunto.com/en-GB/spartancollection/ http://www.suunto.com/en-GB/spartancollection/
- bcraven 10y ago
  "Be the first to know when Suunto Spartan Ultra is available!" So not right now then
  - gaius 10y ago
    Sure, if I wanted one, I would wait for it, rather than buy something else immediately. Not so hard to understand.
- eitally 10y ago
  Why? It doesn't really offer much beyond what previous gen models from both Garmin & Suunto provide, at twice the cost. Just curious, because this is an active discussion in most of the fitness forums/sites I frequent.
  - robotresearcher 10y ago
    > Why? Because astroturfing.
fsiefken 10y ago
Pebble seems to have nailed 'wearable', something you forget about but is quite handy. I setup my Pebble Time in a way it can be used without a phone. Ok smart messages are handy to glance on your wrist but are not essential and perhaps even detrimental (they frequently disrupt the moment). If necessary I can get a week of battery life from it, I use a watchface that shows me a 24 clock with sunrise and sunset and a line where we are now. It has an offline calendar, tasklist, weight tracking, daily steps, expenses, 7+ minute workout exercises, timers for napping or meditation, games like chess or 2048, a compass to stay on course, various dice type rollers for portable solo board games, fitcat, planetarium and stellarium, calculator, moodtracker, sleeptracker, game of life... and it's UI is fast! It would be nice if I could connect a wearable keyboard or frogpad for navigation, could use database apps... but for bigger apps I can use my android based e-reader or my bullet journal
thehoff 10y ago
I've had my Pebble Time for about six months now and really like it (previously lifelong owners of basic $25 Timex watches). It does what I want and isn't overly complicated. Mainly got it because the 6s+ is just too big for my pockets so ends up being left on the desk (at work) or counter (at home) a lot more than the 5s I had and I wanted to get notifications for various apps/calls for these times.
- softawre 10y ago
  Maybe you should have got a non-plus iPhone?
taneq 10y ago
It's actually a low power memory LCD on the Time, not e-paper like the OG. The notifications and caller ID features are great, and being able to control the media player on my phone is very useful when I'm on the bike. I think they strayed from the path with Round because it sacrificed so much battery life. It looks like Pebble 2 is going to be 7-10 days again though.
- sp332 10y ago
  There isn't a "path". All versions of the Pebble are still available from pebble.com and the Round version is still the thinnest smartwatch on the market. It runs the same OS and (almost) all of the same apps as the Pebble Time. It's a nice tradeoff to be able to make.
  - taneq 10y ago
    Windows 98 SE was still around when Windows ME was released, that doesn't mean ME was good. The key advantages of a Pebble over other watches were always battery life and minimal-but-useful functionality. Take away the battery life and cram more fruit into it and you just have an underpowered copy of the mainstream smartwatches.
- btym 10y ago
  I don't have a problem with the PTR's battery life. It lasts two or three days, but that's not really a big deal because it only takes ~5 minutes to charge enough for a full work day. Oops, watch is running low, I'll just plug it in before I get in the shower.
- mcpherrinm 10y ago
  I know several people who bought the Round because it was finally small and light enough for their tiny wrists, and who didn't mind charging for 20 minutes every other day. Straying from the path is a pretty derisive way to characterize expanding a product line, even if the new product isn't for you.
samastur 10y ago
Every time I look at Pebble watches I wish they looked nicer. I'm not sold on Apple watch design either, but at least it looks less "gadgety" to me. Obviously (my) taste is very much personal.
- acqq 10y ago
  There's the steel-with-leather-band version: https://www.pebble.com/buy-pebble-time-steel-smartwatch https://www.pebble.com/buy-pebble-time-steel-smartwatch
- fuzzywalrus 10y ago
  I imagine we're still in the infancy of the "styling" as right now designs mostly are "how do we cram all this stuff inside and make it fit".
zodPod 10y ago
Totally agree! I was thinking all of this while reading the article. I don't feel the same as the author. I love my Pebble Time.
drzaiusapelord 10y ago
This is how I feel about my LG Urbane android watch. The battery lasts three days, the notifications are great, the turn by turn nav is great, screen is always on, great performance, etc. I paid about $100 more than you, but I do get a nice color screen as opposed to the e-paper display, which is nice. I really don't like the look of e-paper and frankly, OLED isn't that great either. I suspect a mirasol-like display will eventually be the future for wearables. I also do not bother with watch apps. No one is pointing a gun at your head to install and use watch apps. Its perfectly fine to use a AW device for its basic functionality. I think the idea that all watches need to be charged nightly and are a pain to use just isn't true anymore. Its a shame the Moto 360 and the Apple Watch became the first big e-watches. In retrospect, they were both fairly poor efforts, especially in terms of battery life.
toosmart4u12 10y ago
Huh? Have you even used an Apple watch? These are all features of the Apple watch... "I still find it crazy that the Apple Watch display is off by default!" Apple watch is default off, but turns on as soon as you look at it. I'd consider this a feature, if anything... "Pebble vibrates and shows who's calling when someone calls me" Apple watch does this too... you can even answer the call from your watch. "Its UI is really simple and well thought out, especially compared to the Apple Watch" How so?
amelius 10y ago
> So I'm definitely a fan of the Pebble Time. Its UI is really simple and well thought out, especially compared to the Apple Watch This is funny because it was the Apple iPod that defeated other mp3 players by its simplicity.
alttab 10y ago
Ya, the Pebble Time is awesome. Their appstore is fairly deep too.

by jbarham 10y ago

fredley 10y ago

I really hope Pebble can take advantage of the swelling backlash against the overly complicated and 'feature'-ridden watches put out by Apple and other Android manufacturers, rather than be caught up in it. They got right pretty much first time around the minimal set of things you actually want to use a smart-watch for, and haven't swayed from this principal over their various iterations. I had one of the first KS originals, and have worn it, then my Time, almost every day since I got it.

Retric 10y ago
I think long term they are going to want both sides of the equation. That way they don't get left in the Dust if Android improves and they can play up e-ink as differentiation vs simply missing features. Basically, they can look more impartial by saying we think X is better, but we also sell Y if you really need Z. Much like how Amazon sells Fire and Kindle with some versions of Fire costing less than any version of Kindle.
- ethbro 10y ago
  I think the key lesson of things like Fitbit's smart watch has been that you don't get a good watch by taking "everything it could do" and then subtracting features until you get where you want to be. You do it by building up features from user story primatives (e.g. I want to glance down and see who's calling). Then shipping with enough primatives covered to be useful.
zepto 10y ago
There is no swelling backlash. Apple Watch sales are growing strongly. The negativity in a few blog posts is because Apple Watch really doesn't do much to improve the lives of tech early adopters, whereas it is great for most other people.

gaius 10y ago

If I were in the market for a smartwatch right now, it would have to be the Suunto Spartan http://www.suunto.com/en-GB/spartancollection/ http://www.suunto.com/en-GB/spartancollection/

bcraven 10y ago
"Be the first to know when Suunto Spartan Ultra is available!" So not right now then
- gaius 10y ago
  Sure, if I wanted one, I would wait for it, rather than buy something else immediately. Not so hard to understand.
eitally 10y ago
Why? It doesn't really offer much beyond what previous gen models from both Garmin & Suunto provide, at twice the cost. Just curious, because this is an active discussion in most of the fitness forums/sites I frequent.
- robotresearcher 10y ago
  > Why? Because astroturfing.

fsiefken 10y ago

Pebble seems to have nailed 'wearable', something you forget about but is quite handy. I setup my Pebble Time in a way it can be used without a phone. Ok smart messages are handy to glance on your wrist but are not essential and perhaps even detrimental (they frequently disrupt the moment). If necessary I can get a week of battery life from it, I use a watchface that shows me a 24 clock with sunrise and sunset and a line where we are now. It has an offline calendar, tasklist, weight tracking, daily steps, expenses, 7+ minute workout exercises, timers for napping or meditation, games like chess or 2048, a compass to stay on course, various dice type rollers for portable solo board games, fitcat, planetarium and stellarium, calculator, moodtracker, sleeptracker, game of life... and it's UI is fast! It would be nice if I could connect a wearable keyboard or frogpad for navigation, could use database apps... but for bigger apps I can use my android based e-reader or my bullet journal

thehoff 10y ago

I've had my Pebble Time for about six months now and really like it (previously lifelong owners of basic $25 Timex watches). It does what I want and isn't overly complicated. Mainly got it because the 6s+ is just too big for my pockets so ends up being left on the desk (at work) or counter (at home) a lot more than the 5s I had and I wanted to get notifications for various apps/calls for these times.

softawre 10y ago
Maybe you should have got a non-plus iPhone?

taneq 10y ago

It's actually a low power memory LCD on the Time, not e-paper like the OG. The notifications and caller ID features are great, and being able to control the media player on my phone is very useful when I'm on the bike. I think they strayed from the path with Round because it sacrificed so much battery life. It looks like Pebble 2 is going to be 7-10 days again though.

sp332 10y ago
There isn't a "path". All versions of the Pebble are still available from pebble.com and the Round version is still the thinnest smartwatch on the market. It runs the same OS and (almost) all of the same apps as the Pebble Time. It's a nice tradeoff to be able to make.
- taneq 10y ago
  Windows 98 SE was still around when Windows ME was released, that doesn't mean ME was good. The key advantages of a Pebble over other watches were always battery life and minimal-but-useful functionality. Take away the battery life and cram more fruit into it and you just have an underpowered copy of the mainstream smartwatches.
btym 10y ago
I don't have a problem with the PTR's battery life. It lasts two or three days, but that's not really a big deal because it only takes ~5 minutes to charge enough for a full work day. Oops, watch is running low, I'll just plug it in before I get in the shower.
mcpherrinm 10y ago
I know several people who bought the Round because it was finally small and light enough for their tiny wrists, and who didn't mind charging for 20 minutes every other day. Straying from the path is a pretty derisive way to characterize expanding a product line, even if the new product isn't for you.

samastur 10y ago

Every time I look at Pebble watches I wish they looked nicer. I'm not sold on Apple watch design either, but at least it looks less "gadgety" to me. Obviously (my) taste is very much personal.

acqq 10y ago
There's the steel-with-leather-band version: https://www.pebble.com/buy-pebble-time-steel-smartwatch https://www.pebble.com/buy-pebble-time-steel-smartwatch
fuzzywalrus 10y ago
I imagine we're still in the infancy of the "styling" as right now designs mostly are "how do we cram all this stuff inside and make it fit".

zodPod 10y ago

Totally agree! I was thinking all of this while reading the article. I don't feel the same as the author. I love my Pebble Time.

drzaiusapelord 10y ago

This is how I feel about my LG Urbane android watch. The battery lasts three days, the notifications are great, the turn by turn nav is great, screen is always on, great performance, etc. I paid about $100 more than you, but I do get a nice color screen as opposed to the e-paper display, which is nice. I really don't like the look of e-paper and frankly, OLED isn't that great either. I suspect a mirasol-like display will eventually be the future for wearables. I also do not bother with watch apps. No one is pointing a gun at your head to install and use watch apps. Its perfectly fine to use a AW device for its basic functionality. I think the idea that all watches need to be charged nightly and are a pain to use just isn't true anymore. Its a shame the Moto 360 and the Apple Watch became the first big e-watches. In retrospect, they were both fairly poor efforts, especially in terms of battery life.

toosmart4u12 10y ago

Huh? Have you even used an Apple watch? These are all features of the Apple watch... "I still find it crazy that the Apple Watch display is off by default!" Apple watch is default off, but turns on as soon as you look at it. I'd consider this a feature, if anything... "Pebble vibrates and shows who's calling when someone calls me" Apple watch does this too... you can even answer the call from your watch. "Its UI is really simple and well thought out, especially compared to the Apple Watch" How so?

amelius 10y ago

> So I'm definitely a fan of the Pebble Time. Its UI is really simple and well thought out, especially compared to the Apple Watch This is funny because it was the Apple iPod that defeated other mp3 players by its simplicity.

alttab 10y ago

Ya, the Pebble Time is awesome. Their appstore is fairly deep too.