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Kudos to Pebble for being the one smartwatch producer who understands their product. A smartwatch is about checking the time, notifications, and other simple in

Kudos to Pebble for being the one smartwatch producer who understands their product. A smartwatch is about checking the time, notifications, and other simple information at a glance. It should not require focused attention, it should not require much maintenance (daily charge, anyone?), and it should not be physically obtrusive. It's job is to be a seamless part of the fabric of your daily life. I loved my pebble, but when it died I decided to try something else, one of the fancier watches. I bought the samsung gear because it has the longest battery life of the non-pebble market (2 days), it's waterproof, and it looks unobtrusive. It's fine, if you disable wifi, turn the screen brightness down, and disable most of the builtins. But then I basically have a pebble with a shitty battery. My next watch will be a pebble, because they understand the point of a smart watch.

fredley 10y ago
I like that they've staunchly resisted trying to compete with Android Wear / iWatches, but are sticking to their guns, even with their 3rd-gen products (most recent KS). Although a shiny full-colour watch might be an easier sell to the mass market, what Pebble produces is a superior device in almost every way that counts, and most people I know who wear them, myself included, are repeat customers (unlike most wearers of other smartwatches I know of). Long may they continue.
imaffett 10y ago
I have a garmin vivoactive smartwatch. It does most of what my pepple could do, but has a lot more. It has built in GPS and an amazing battery life. I get 1 week with daily runs using the gps. I get 2 weeks when im not running. I actually just broke the screen while replacing the siding on my house. Reason being I wear it all the time. No need to charge it every day or so, so I forget about it.
ozkan 10y ago
I do charge my Pebble Time Round daily, and it's not waterproof :/ Yet I still backed the Pebble v2.
- aerique 10y ago
  One buys the PTR mostly for the looks since it lacks the battery life and water-proofing of its siblings. A good reason to buy a watch for and it looks mighty fine! [1] Still, a daily charge is too often. I charge mine every other day. Do you have a watchface showing the seconds ticking by? [1]: https://twitter.com/aerique/status/770983686539972609 https://twitter.com/aerique/status/770983686539972609
- organsnyder 10y ago
  The PTR is a bit of a different beast: they sacrificed battery life and water resistance for styling. The result is (IMHO) the best-looking smartwatch available. I've been drooling over the PTR ever since it came out (I have an OG Steel). When they announced the "limited-edition" polished gold model during their Kickstarter campaign, I jumped at it, even though it will effectively a previous-generation model (I also got a Pebble 2 to use as a "beater" watch). I think that Pebble understands better than most that, to many people, a watch is a piece of jewelry more than it is a gadget or piece of equipment—hence why very expensive watches often have less functionality and reliability than a $10 quartz Casio. IMHO, the PTR and OG Steel are the only two smartwatches on the market that really appeal to this demographic. I think that Pebble's challenge is that the traditional watch market seems to be shrinking—most of the people I know that wear an Apple Watch or Android Wear are people that wouldn't otherwise be wearing watches, and are more interested in the gadget aspect. Regardless of hardware, I don't think that Pebble will ever be able to compete in that market; Pebble support will always be an afterthought for app developers, compared to the ease of the native Apple and Android SDKs. In my experience, Pebble is already falling behind here—the quantity and quality of apps isn't that great (though perhaps I'm missing out on some good apps because my Steel is too old?). They do seem to realize this, and seem to be actively trying to build a larger developer community. Also problematic for attracting developers: the Pebble app store has no built-in payment facilities, and developers must resort to clunky third-party solutions (such as KiezelPay) to sell paid apps and watch faces. This might not be Pebble's fault, though—I'm guessing that they're restricted by the requirements placed on them by Apple (and perhaps Google) to be in their stores.
tdkl 10y ago
Also sport watch makers who added notifications (most usage of a smart watch consists of those) to their devices are in this basket, while having a week or more battery life. I don't need to order pizza from my wrist, despite Google/Apple and their marketing partners want me to.
- roadnottaken 10y ago
  This. I went from an original Pebble to a Garmin FR 235 and am completely satisfied. All I want is time, GPS, and notifications. Most watch apps are a novelty.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
ultramancool 10y ago
Yeah, I started looking around the market for smart watches recently and a Pebble seemed like the only realistic option. Does the notifications perfectly, uses an eink display so you get maxed out battery life and don't have to do obnoxious things like tap your watch to see the time and the price is very right. Look at the price on most Android Wear watches or an Apple Watch and Pebble seems like a steal, especially when they go on sale for $150 for a Pebble Time. Pretty happy with the purchase so far.
tw04 10y ago
You should try a Garmin. I've got a Fenix 3 and it's got amazing battery life (I think I charge it once every two weeks), best gps on the market, integration with my phone to provide notifications, and it's an excellent fitness tracker to boot.
- mikestew 10y ago
  You forgot: "three times the price of a Pebble". Don't get me wrong, I bought a Fenix this year and I'm tickled as hell with it. But for $600 I damned well better be. Now, that said, perhaps you just meant Garmins in general. There are a few choices with notifications and apps, IIRC, priced close to the Pebble.
  - roadnottaken 10y ago
    An FR 235 is around $300 and has rock-solid GPS and basically equivalent features to a pebble.
tw04 10y ago
You should try a Garmin. I've got a Fenix 3 and it's got amazing battery life (I think I charge it once every two weeks), best gps on the market, integration with my phone to provide notifications, and it's an excellent fitness tracker to boot.
BillinghamJ 10y ago
WatchOS 3 is already everything you've described. It is not designed to be used for more than a few seconds at once.
- soperj 10y ago
  except battery life is what?
  - pawadu 10y ago
    I think he already answered that for you :) not designed to be used for more than a few seconds at once.
pawadu 10y ago
Samsung just announced Gear 3, and I hear they claim 3-4 days of use of normal use. I assume that is without turning off everything?

fredley 10y ago

I like that they've staunchly resisted trying to compete with Android Wear / iWatches, but are sticking to their guns, even with their 3rd-gen products (most recent KS). Although a shiny full-colour watch might be an easier sell to the mass market, what Pebble produces is a superior device in almost every way that counts, and most people I know who wear them, myself included, are repeat customers (unlike most wearers of other smartwatches I know of). Long may they continue.

imaffett 10y ago

I have a garmin vivoactive smartwatch. It does most of what my pepple could do, but has a lot more. It has built in GPS and an amazing battery life. I get 1 week with daily runs using the gps. I get 2 weeks when im not running. I actually just broke the screen while replacing the siding on my house. Reason being I wear it all the time. No need to charge it every day or so, so I forget about it.

ozkan 10y ago

I do charge my Pebble Time Round daily, and it's not waterproof :/ Yet I still backed the Pebble v2.

aerique 10y ago
One buys the PTR mostly for the looks since it lacks the battery life and water-proofing of its siblings. A good reason to buy a watch for and it looks mighty fine! [1] Still, a daily charge is too often. I charge mine every other day. Do you have a watchface showing the seconds ticking by? [1]: https://twitter.com/aerique/status/770983686539972609 https://twitter.com/aerique/status/770983686539972609
organsnyder 10y ago
The PTR is a bit of a different beast: they sacrificed battery life and water resistance for styling. The result is (IMHO) the best-looking smartwatch available. I've been drooling over the PTR ever since it came out (I have an OG Steel). When they announced the "limited-edition" polished gold model during their Kickstarter campaign, I jumped at it, even though it will effectively a previous-generation model (I also got a Pebble 2 to use as a "beater" watch). I think that Pebble understands better than most that, to many people, a watch is a piece of jewelry more than it is a gadget or piece of equipment—hence why very expensive watches often have less functionality and reliability than a $10 quartz Casio. IMHO, the PTR and OG Steel are the only two smartwatches on the market that really appeal to this demographic. I think that Pebble's challenge is that the traditional watch market seems to be shrinking—most of the people I know that wear an Apple Watch or Android Wear are people that wouldn't otherwise be wearing watches, and are more interested in the gadget aspect. Regardless of hardware, I don't think that Pebble will ever be able to compete in that market; Pebble support will always be an afterthought for app developers, compared to the ease of the native Apple and Android SDKs. In my experience, Pebble is already falling behind here—the quantity and quality of apps isn't that great (though perhaps I'm missing out on some good apps because my Steel is too old?). They do seem to realize this, and seem to be actively trying to build a larger developer community. Also problematic for attracting developers: the Pebble app store has no built-in payment facilities, and developers must resort to clunky third-party solutions (such as KiezelPay) to sell paid apps and watch faces. This might not be Pebble's fault, though—I'm guessing that they're restricted by the requirements placed on them by Apple (and perhaps Google) to be in their stores.

tdkl 10y ago

Also sport watch makers who added notifications (most usage of a smart watch consists of those) to their devices are in this basket, while having a week or more battery life. I don't need to order pizza from my wrist, despite Google/Apple and their marketing partners want me to.

roadnottaken 10y ago
This. I went from an original Pebble to a Garmin FR 235 and am completely satisfied. All I want is time, GPS, and notifications. Most watch apps are a novelty.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

ultramancool 10y ago

Yeah, I started looking around the market for smart watches recently and a Pebble seemed like the only realistic option. Does the notifications perfectly, uses an eink display so you get maxed out battery life and don't have to do obnoxious things like tap your watch to see the time and the price is very right. Look at the price on most Android Wear watches or an Apple Watch and Pebble seems like a steal, especially when they go on sale for $150 for a Pebble Time. Pretty happy with the purchase so far.

tw04 10y ago

You should try a Garmin. I've got a Fenix 3 and it's got amazing battery life (I think I charge it once every two weeks), best gps on the market, integration with my phone to provide notifications, and it's an excellent fitness tracker to boot.

mikestew 10y ago
You forgot: "three times the price of a Pebble". Don't get me wrong, I bought a Fenix this year and I'm tickled as hell with it. But for $600 I damned well better be. Now, that said, perhaps you just meant Garmins in general. There are a few choices with notifications and apps, IIRC, priced close to the Pebble.
- roadnottaken 10y ago
  An FR 235 is around $300 and has rock-solid GPS and basically equivalent features to a pebble.

tw04 10y ago

BillinghamJ 10y ago

WatchOS 3 is already everything you've described. It is not designed to be used for more than a few seconds at once.

soperj 10y ago
except battery life is what?
- pawadu 10y ago
  I think he already answered that for you :) not designed to be used for more than a few seconds at once.

pawadu 10y ago

Samsung just announced Gear 3, and I hear they claim 3-4 days of use of normal use. I assume that is without turning off everything?