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Pebble IMO was and still is the best wearable watch. I don’t think anything worked better largely due to the long battery life and generally the e-ink design. H

Pebble IMO was and still is the best wearable watch. I don’t think anything worked better largely due to the long battery life and generally the e-ink design. Had they added different wrist bands with smart tech in it, it would have gone even further. I don’t really think apple has a decade lead, what they do have is minimal innovation they’re competing with. AND more importantly, a brand and ecosystem. That being said if Samsung came out with a decent watch similar to pebble and bundled it with their phones I think they’d be outselling Apple.

flyinglizard 5y ago
I don’t get why battery life is important beyond 24h. I just put the watch on its charger at night. Only downside is during traveling, one more thing to carry and possibly the watch won’t make it through excruciating international travel. So it won’t matter to me if the watch lasts a day or a week, it’s off my wrist when I sleep and goes on it’s charger.
- btowngar 5y ago
  I’m T1 diabetic and use my watch for monitoring my glucose levels. I wear it 100% of the time, aside from showering when it charges. Charging quickly and having a minimum of 24hrs of charge is really important to me. Apple Watch hits both of those.
  - ValentineC 5y ago
    Do you have a separate accessory for monitoring glucose? I'm really looking forward to the Series 7 which is rumoured to have blood glucose monitoring.
    - btowngar 5y ago
      Yes, I use a Dexcom G6. If the rumors of the Series 7 having a glucose monitor and a blood pressure monitor on it are true, that would be incredible. They’re surely working on core body temperature monitoring too!
- cozzyd 5y ago
  If you want to track your sleep that doesn't work so well
  - usaphp 5y ago
    I never understood the point of tracking your sleep or even steps. It’s not like knowing that I had N hours of deep sleep will somehow change my sleep the following night. Same with steps, it’s pretty easy to understand without a tracker when you were active and when you weren’t.
    - handrous 5y ago
      I think people use them to: 1) figure out what's affecting their sleep quality, not necessarily just duration, and 2) trigger alarms within a window, rather than at a specific time, when the device registers that they're between REM sleep cycles so waking up to the alarm is less shocking and unpleasant, and 3) have an alarm or pager-duty-type alert that doesn't bother anyone in the bed with them.
    - graeme 5y ago
      What gets measured gets managed. Both my fitness and sleep improved after tracking. At the start I was able to use the sleep tracking to troubleshoot sleep issues and improve. After that, it’s mostly a warning system for when I may need to nap later (and thus plan for it) or make sure to get to bed early. The steps are also a fun social thing. My dad and I talk about them and have streaks of 10,000. If we handle our days well, that’s what we’d get anyway. But somedays, you slack. Being accountable to each other is a fun game and we walk more and are happier for it. The key to this kind of tracking is you mostly don’t think of it. It happens automatically in the background.
    - abawany 5y ago
      For me, it's the nags (e.g. Garmin's 'time to be active') that make it worthwhile to get me out of my groove. Also, the sleep tracking includes things such as SpO2 measurement, which can help one see if changing sleep positions makes a difference. I feel somewhat confident in saying that my Garmins have likely extended my life by a few years.
- kentlyons 5y ago
  Several years ago I did some research (published paper here: http://kentlyons.net/pubs/dumbwatch-iswc15.pdf http://kentlyons.net/pubs/dumbwatch-iswc15.pdf) and one of the findings I thought was interesting was there were 3 groups of people that implied different battery needs. One seemed similar to what you describe: people that took their watch off at night (so could charge it then). Another group wore their watch 24/7. And the final group which I wasn't expecting, but made sense in retrospect, was people that only wore their watch when out of the house. When they got home they'd take it off like setting down their keys.
- datagram 5y ago
  To me, smartwatches are about making my life more convenient (not taking my phone out of my pocket). So any inconvenience is going to be a big deal. Having gone from a Wear OS watch with ~1d battery life to a hybrid e-ink watch with ~2w battery life I don't think I'll ever go back, even though I'm giving up features. You already mentioned travel, but an even bigger issue for me was that if my watch didn't get charged overnight for whatever reason (watch wasn't sitting correctly on the charger, fell asleep with my watch on, etc.), I'd basically have a paperweight on my wrist the next day. And having to disable features (always-on display) to get my watch to last through the day always felt silly. Overall, it's just one less thing to worry about on a daily basis. If I ever see a low battery warning on my watch, I know that it'll still last for more than a day.
emsy 5y ago
I had several pebbles (2 b/w and the colored one) and now have an apple watch. You don’t know what you’re talking about, the tech in the apple watch is years ahead. There’s much to criticize about the apple watch but it does the important things just so much better than the competition. I also never understood the focus on battery life. I put my watch on the charger whenever I go to sleep. If I forget it either still has more than 50% charge or I can charge it quickly. I don’t care for edge cases (camping etc.)
- amatecha 5y ago
  I mean, sure the Apple Watch is "years ahead". It not only came out two years later, but is developed by one of the most wealthy consumer tech/software companies in the world. Pebble was acquired by FitBit right around the time the second iteration of the Apple Watch was out, so there's really not much point in comparing the two in terms of technology. Despite Apple Watch's merits over the Pebble, I still miss my Pebble watches. The thing I actually miss the most is the physical buttons, so I can switch the currently-playing song with my watch without having to look at it. Having nearly all interaction with the Apple Watch being a touch screen is one big downside IMO -- still something it hasn't really "beaten" vs. Pebble Watch :)
  - psychomugs 5y ago
    I feel the same way with regards to the physical buttons, so easy to control by feel. I'd pay decent money for a phone case with external buttons for pausing/playing and other quick access functions.
  - emsy 5y ago
    The actual buttons on the pebble were terrible though but I do agree, it really sucks that this isn’t possible. I remember having a jailbreak tweak that allowed to use long presses on volume up/down to skip songs. Something like this could be done with the crown on the watch but we’re talking about apple, so don’t even think about using the physical inputs for something useful.
  - usaphp 5y ago
drewg123 5y ago
You should look at Garmin. They have models with battery life measured in weeks, not hours like the Apple watch. My 3+ year old 645 still gets 6 days of battery life.
- MrMember 5y ago
  I bought an Instinct about a month ago and love it. I like the G-Shock aesthetic which I know isn't for everyone but it's everything I want in a watch. The battery life is amazing as you said. I charge it once a week and even regularly using GPS for fitness tracking it's usually at around 40% (it can be extended further by using a GPS mode that polls less frequently). The interface is responsive and straightforward (and button based instead of touch which I personally prefer). Like a G-Shock it's waterproof and appears to be near indestructible. I can't see myself wanting to replace it any time soon.
  - nullwarp 5y ago
    I'm another Instinct fan, absolutely love this watch. Its just the right balance of smart watch features while not compromising on being an actual watch. I think the only real weakness is the Garmin software itself but its still decent. Sadly most smart watches seem to be heading the direction of just being a tiny phones with apps and crap that I'll never need and the segment of people who are just looking for a few concise features in something durable and stable will eventually have no options
- chrisseaton 5y ago
  I use a Garmin Tactix Bravo in tactical situations and it's brilliant! I think the battery lasts about two weeks.
333c 5y ago
I had both the original Pebble and the Pebble Time. The battery life, always-on screen, and readability in the sun made for an incredibly useful experience. After my Pebble Time broke, rather than switching to another smart watch I got a simple "dumb" watch. Frankly I don't think I'll wear another smart watch that isn't a Pebble, which means I don't think I'll get another smart watch.
PragmaticPulp 5y ago
Pebble was a lot of fun for tech people who wanted a minimalistic watch, but the Apple Watch is in a different league altogether. The two aren't really comparable. There may be a niche market for low power, hackable, e-ink watches with minimal functionality, but the size of that market is orders of magnitudes small than what companies like Apple are addressing. Pebble ultimately fizzled out because the demand just wasn't there. It might be possible for an indie company to make something similar if they focus on staying lean and small, but it's difficult to cater to niche audiences with small TAMs where the barrier to entry gets lower every year.
kentlyons 5y ago
I'm going to miss my Pebble when it finally dies. Still wearing my Kickstarter Pebble Time. One thing it did well was be a watch first, as opposed to a small phone on your wrist. Depending on your needs/expectations those are very different wearable experiences. Sure the nice OLED is great, but clearly that comes at the cost of battery life. This is especially notable if you use to wear dumb watches.
Pxtl 5y ago
This. A smartwatch must be a watch first. A watch is small, always-on, and recharged rarely. Most smartwatches aren't - short batteries, screens that you have to shake to wake, and large.
- dgarrett 5y ago
  A smartphone must be a phone first. A phone is large with a comfortable earpiece, has large easy-to-press physical numbers, and is plugged into the wall so it doesn't require recharging.
m-p-3 5y ago
A refreshed version with a thin display bezel and NFC to pay with NFC and I'd be sold. The timeline UI makes such much sense.
gnicholas 5y ago
Still loving my Pebble, but sad as I've watched the battery life dwindle to ~4 days. I even put my phone in airplane mode overnight, which has extended it a bit. Does anyone else have any tips on how to make a Time Steel last? (I considered putting the Pebble into airplane mode, but it seems to be less reliable reconnecting to the phone if I do this.) What do Pebble-lovers get if they don't want an Apple Watch? I was hopeful about the Fossil hybrid smartwatches, but the UI just wasn't there (two clicks to see more of a message?). Garmin is on my list, but they have so many models I can't tell which ones are best, or where they are in their upgrade cycles.
- modeless 5y ago
  I recently replaced the battery in my Pebble Time Round. Replacements are on iFixIt. It's not easy, but not impossible either. For me, it's well worth another 5+ years of use while I wait for someone, anyone, to make a decent competitor.
  - gnicholas 5y ago
    Awesome. How does it affect water resistance?
    - modeless 5y ago
      I re-sealed mine with Sugru. It is as waterproof as it was before, as far as I can tell. Unfortunately I used too much and some of it got squashed under the glass so it's slightly visible. It's really hard to use the correct (very small) amount. There are other adhesive options that I haven't tried.
jollybean 5y ago
And BlackBerry was always the best for communications. I think we're confusing 1) tech 2) product 3) marketing/positioning and 4) brand. All of that together, Apple has a very powerful entrenched lead. They can launch almost anything and own the category, the are firing on all pieces. Google doesn't have either the supply chain, distribution or hardware-product discipline. And who else is going take on Apple's machine? So from a tech perspective, it's doubtful they are '10 years ahead' but from an operational perspective, it sure feels that way.

flyinglizard 5y ago

I don’t get why battery life is important beyond 24h. I just put the watch on its charger at night. Only downside is during traveling, one more thing to carry and possibly the watch won’t make it through excruciating international travel. So it won’t matter to me if the watch lasts a day or a week, it’s off my wrist when I sleep and goes on it’s charger.

btowngar 5y ago
I’m T1 diabetic and use my watch for monitoring my glucose levels. I wear it 100% of the time, aside from showering when it charges. Charging quickly and having a minimum of 24hrs of charge is really important to me. Apple Watch hits both of those.
- ValentineC 5y ago
  Do you have a separate accessory for monitoring glucose? I'm really looking forward to the Series 7 which is rumoured to have blood glucose monitoring.
  - btowngar 5y ago
    Yes, I use a Dexcom G6. If the rumors of the Series 7 having a glucose monitor and a blood pressure monitor on it are true, that would be incredible. They’re surely working on core body temperature monitoring too!
cozzyd 5y ago
If you want to track your sleep that doesn't work so well
- usaphp 5y ago
  I never understood the point of tracking your sleep or even steps. It’s not like knowing that I had N hours of deep sleep will somehow change my sleep the following night. Same with steps, it’s pretty easy to understand without a tracker when you were active and when you weren’t.
  - handrous 5y ago
    I think people use them to: 1) figure out what's affecting their sleep quality, not necessarily just duration, and 2) trigger alarms within a window, rather than at a specific time, when the device registers that they're between REM sleep cycles so waking up to the alarm is less shocking and unpleasant, and 3) have an alarm or pager-duty-type alert that doesn't bother anyone in the bed with them.
  - graeme 5y ago
    What gets measured gets managed. Both my fitness and sleep improved after tracking. At the start I was able to use the sleep tracking to troubleshoot sleep issues and improve. After that, it’s mostly a warning system for when I may need to nap later (and thus plan for it) or make sure to get to bed early. The steps are also a fun social thing. My dad and I talk about them and have streaks of 10,000. If we handle our days well, that’s what we’d get anyway. But somedays, you slack. Being accountable to each other is a fun game and we walk more and are happier for it. The key to this kind of tracking is you mostly don’t think of it. It happens automatically in the background.
  - abawany 5y ago
    For me, it's the nags (e.g. Garmin's 'time to be active') that make it worthwhile to get me out of my groove. Also, the sleep tracking includes things such as SpO2 measurement, which can help one see if changing sleep positions makes a difference. I feel somewhat confident in saying that my Garmins have likely extended my life by a few years.
kentlyons 5y ago
Several years ago I did some research (published paper here: http://kentlyons.net/pubs/dumbwatch-iswc15.pdf http://kentlyons.net/pubs/dumbwatch-iswc15.pdf) and one of the findings I thought was interesting was there were 3 groups of people that implied different battery needs. One seemed similar to what you describe: people that took their watch off at night (so could charge it then). Another group wore their watch 24/7. And the final group which I wasn't expecting, but made sense in retrospect, was people that only wore their watch when out of the house. When they got home they'd take it off like setting down their keys.
datagram 5y ago
To me, smartwatches are about making my life more convenient (not taking my phone out of my pocket). So any inconvenience is going to be a big deal. Having gone from a Wear OS watch with ~1d battery life to a hybrid e-ink watch with ~2w battery life I don't think I'll ever go back, even though I'm giving up features. You already mentioned travel, but an even bigger issue for me was that if my watch didn't get charged overnight for whatever reason (watch wasn't sitting correctly on the charger, fell asleep with my watch on, etc.), I'd basically have a paperweight on my wrist the next day. And having to disable features (always-on display) to get my watch to last through the day always felt silly. Overall, it's just one less thing to worry about on a daily basis. If I ever see a low battery warning on my watch, I know that it'll still last for more than a day.

emsy 5y ago

I had several pebbles (2 b/w and the colored one) and now have an apple watch. You don’t know what you’re talking about, the tech in the apple watch is years ahead. There’s much to criticize about the apple watch but it does the important things just so much better than the competition. I also never understood the focus on battery life. I put my watch on the charger whenever I go to sleep. If I forget it either still has more than 50% charge or I can charge it quickly. I don’t care for edge cases (camping etc.)

amatecha 5y ago
I mean, sure the Apple Watch is "years ahead". It not only came out two years later, but is developed by one of the most wealthy consumer tech/software companies in the world. Pebble was acquired by FitBit right around the time the second iteration of the Apple Watch was out, so there's really not much point in comparing the two in terms of technology. Despite Apple Watch's merits over the Pebble, I still miss my Pebble watches. The thing I actually miss the most is the physical buttons, so I can switch the currently-playing song with my watch without having to look at it. Having nearly all interaction with the Apple Watch being a touch screen is one big downside IMO -- still something it hasn't really "beaten" vs. Pebble Watch :)
- psychomugs 5y ago
  I feel the same way with regards to the physical buttons, so easy to control by feel. I'd pay decent money for a phone case with external buttons for pausing/playing and other quick access functions.
- emsy 5y ago
  The actual buttons on the pebble were terrible though but I do agree, it really sucks that this isn’t possible. I remember having a jailbreak tweak that allowed to use long presses on volume up/down to skip songs. Something like this could be done with the crown on the watch but we’re talking about apple, so don’t even think about using the physical inputs for something useful.
- usaphp 5y ago

drewg123 5y ago

You should look at Garmin. They have models with battery life measured in weeks, not hours like the Apple watch. My 3+ year old 645 still gets 6 days of battery life.

MrMember 5y ago
I bought an Instinct about a month ago and love it. I like the G-Shock aesthetic which I know isn't for everyone but it's everything I want in a watch. The battery life is amazing as you said. I charge it once a week and even regularly using GPS for fitness tracking it's usually at around 40% (it can be extended further by using a GPS mode that polls less frequently). The interface is responsive and straightforward (and button based instead of touch which I personally prefer). Like a G-Shock it's waterproof and appears to be near indestructible. I can't see myself wanting to replace it any time soon.
- nullwarp 5y ago
  I'm another Instinct fan, absolutely love this watch. Its just the right balance of smart watch features while not compromising on being an actual watch. I think the only real weakness is the Garmin software itself but its still decent. Sadly most smart watches seem to be heading the direction of just being a tiny phones with apps and crap that I'll never need and the segment of people who are just looking for a few concise features in something durable and stable will eventually have no options
chrisseaton 5y ago
I use a Garmin Tactix Bravo in tactical situations and it's brilliant! I think the battery lasts about two weeks.

333c 5y ago

I had both the original Pebble and the Pebble Time. The battery life, always-on screen, and readability in the sun made for an incredibly useful experience. After my Pebble Time broke, rather than switching to another smart watch I got a simple "dumb" watch. Frankly I don't think I'll wear another smart watch that isn't a Pebble, which means I don't think I'll get another smart watch.

PragmaticPulp 5y ago

Pebble was a lot of fun for tech people who wanted a minimalistic watch, but the Apple Watch is in a different league altogether. The two aren't really comparable. There may be a niche market for low power, hackable, e-ink watches with minimal functionality, but the size of that market is orders of magnitudes small than what companies like Apple are addressing. Pebble ultimately fizzled out because the demand just wasn't there. It might be possible for an indie company to make something similar if they focus on staying lean and small, but it's difficult to cater to niche audiences with small TAMs where the barrier to entry gets lower every year.

kentlyons 5y ago

I'm going to miss my Pebble when it finally dies. Still wearing my Kickstarter Pebble Time. One thing it did well was be a watch first, as opposed to a small phone on your wrist. Depending on your needs/expectations those are very different wearable experiences. Sure the nice OLED is great, but clearly that comes at the cost of battery life. This is especially notable if you use to wear dumb watches.

Pxtl 5y ago

This. A smartwatch must be a watch first. A watch is small, always-on, and recharged rarely. Most smartwatches aren't - short batteries, screens that you have to shake to wake, and large.

dgarrett 5y ago
A smartphone must be a phone first. A phone is large with a comfortable earpiece, has large easy-to-press physical numbers, and is plugged into the wall so it doesn't require recharging.

m-p-3 5y ago

A refreshed version with a thin display bezel and NFC to pay with NFC and I'd be sold. The timeline UI makes such much sense.

gnicholas 5y ago

Still loving my Pebble, but sad as I've watched the battery life dwindle to ~4 days. I even put my phone in airplane mode overnight, which has extended it a bit. Does anyone else have any tips on how to make a Time Steel last? (I considered putting the Pebble into airplane mode, but it seems to be less reliable reconnecting to the phone if I do this.) What do Pebble-lovers get if they don't want an Apple Watch? I was hopeful about the Fossil hybrid smartwatches, but the UI just wasn't there (two clicks to see more of a message?). Garmin is on my list, but they have so many models I can't tell which ones are best, or where they are in their upgrade cycles.

modeless 5y ago
I recently replaced the battery in my Pebble Time Round. Replacements are on iFixIt. It's not easy, but not impossible either. For me, it's well worth another 5+ years of use while I wait for someone, anyone, to make a decent competitor.
- gnicholas 5y ago
  Awesome. How does it affect water resistance?
  - modeless 5y ago
    I re-sealed mine with Sugru. It is as waterproof as it was before, as far as I can tell. Unfortunately I used too much and some of it got squashed under the glass so it's slightly visible. It's really hard to use the correct (very small) amount. There are other adhesive options that I haven't tried.

jollybean 5y ago

And BlackBerry was always the best for communications. I think we're confusing 1) tech 2) product 3) marketing/positioning and 4) brand. All of that together, Apple has a very powerful entrenched lead. They can launch almost anything and own the category, the are firing on all pieces. Google doesn't have either the supply chain, distribution or hardware-product discipline. And who else is going take on Apple's machine? So from a tech perspective, it's doubtful they are '10 years ahead' but from an operational perspective, it sure feels that way.