8 ms·

I loved, loved, loved my Pebble Time. It did everything I wanted out of a smart watch, especially eliminating my phone-checking habit, because I was always on t

by ericd 5y ago

I loved, loved, loved my Pebble Time. It did everything I wanted out of a smart watch, especially eliminating my phone-checking habit, because I was always on top of whether new emails were worth reading, it was a sanity saver during an intense M&A process. Also, it somehow had a super long-lived battery, and it had so much more personality than most electronic devices, with its little 8-bittish animated icons, reminded me of a Gameboy Advance or something. Thanks for making one of my favorite devices of the last decade, Eric.

jszymborski 5y ago
You can always still run you Pebble Time with Rebble [0] :) I still use mine to this day! [0] https://rebble.io/ https://rebble.io/
- jimmux 5y ago
  I pulled mine out of storage a few weeks ago to resurrect it as a display for my EUC, and was surprised by it yet again. The fast refresh and good visibility is just so pleasant to use. Rebble was much easier to set up than I had assumed it would be, and isn't missing anything as far as I can tell.
- ericd 5y ago
  Thanks for the link! I actually stopped wearing it at the end of the M&A process, because of how stressful the the M&A process was. As much as I liked the device, I started getting a bit of a negative Pavlovian reaction to the wrist buzzes, because the contents of the emails tended to be pretty stressful. I intended it to be a short digital detox, but since then, I've only worn the dumbest of dumbwatches. But maybe it's time to give it another go, it'd be great to have it help kill off my phone checking habit again. It's truly awesome that the fact that it was so open has allowed it to live past its parent company.
  - WesternWind 5y ago
    Yeah I turned of email notifications on my pebble (and quite a few other apps), but I still use it for a quick check if someone texts or whatever.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- TaylorAlexander 5y ago
  Oh cool! A friend worked at Pebble and I volunteered to run a Pebble hackathon in 2014 (sticker is still on my old macbook) and for my time they gave me a Pebble Time Steel and even a little wood panel sticker for the front. I knew they ceased operations but I did not know about rebble! I will have to check it out. I think I know exactly where my pebble is.
- happymellon 5y ago
  Unfortunately only if they still work. I went through 3 of them that failed due to the screen corrupting.
  - HeadlessChild 5y ago
    This might be helpful in that regard https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/How+to+Fix+E-Paper+Tearing/64701 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/How+to+Fix+E-Paper+Tearing/6470....
  - Daneel_ 5y ago
    This was the end of both my kickstarter Pebble and my Pebble Steel. I adored my steel - it was such a great watch. I struggled for years to find a replacement and eventually settled on a Skagen Jorn Hybrid because the long battery life, notifications for calls and always accurate time are the most important features to me. I don't need to read notifications, I just want an accurate and long lasting watch with critical notifications only. They look like classic watches as well, so they fit in very well in corporate environments. I'd recommend them to anyone else who feels a little lost after their pebble died.
jakecopp 5y ago
And the battery life!! My first Pebble still had about 7 days of battery life after ~6 years of use, just unreal. I think it was rated for 10 at launch. Seeing 10% battery usually means I'm good for a day, maybe two. I'm on my second Pebble Time Steel now - I only had to get a new one because the waterproofing failed while I was surfing! I've had two separate instances of strangers (in Sydney) coming up to me and bumping their wrist to my wrist, because they also had a Pebble and recognised mine. Really lovely community.
- ericd 5y ago
  Oh, that's crazy that it still lasts 7 days. I guess it's had a lot fewer cycles than a smartphone battery typically gets in that time, because of the long battery life. And looking on eBay, used Pebbles are actually surprisingly affordable, like $20-50.
  - Markoff 5y ago
    used Amazfit Bip cost also nothing and will still last you 3 weeks with always on display and Bluetooth enabled, Pebbles are overrated
    - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
      Same. The Bip has a 30 day battery life. There's no SDK though so it's not as tinker friendly but when used with Gadgetbridge I get the privacy and some neat features on top. Plus there's a pretty big online community around hacking it.
    - jclardy 5y ago
      Overrated? By who? The amazfit came out like 2 years ago, Pebble launched with 7 day battery in 2012...
      - Markoff 5y ago
        overrated since 2018 release of Amazfit Bip, yes, it has more features than Bip but they are hardly usable on such small screen anyway
Groxx 5y ago
I'm also stunned at how much better it was at connecting and staying connected to every single phone I've owned. Every other smartwatch I've tried (a couple fitbits, fossils, etc) has been absurdly flaky. It's common for all of them to just not react to notifications for a couple hours. Or they'll connect to some wifi but not others (why wifi anyway!?? it's insane! it's SO much more complicated!). Or their apps have utterly monstrous installation and/or permissions setups (looking at you in particular, Fitbit) and any connection they use breaks randomly every few days. If I could just get another, I'd stick with a pebble time for probably a decade. It did almost everything right.
- ericd 5y ago
  You're right, the connection was rock solid in a way that bluetooth basically never is. And I don't know how that didn't wreck its battery life. Even my Airpods give me grief every now and then, and those are often held up as the exception to the rule that is bluetooth being crap. I think that was why I liked it so much, it was a tool I could trust to just work consistently. Tech doesn't have enough of those outside of Unix CLI tools. I just looked them up on eBay, looks like you can get another for <$50. I wonder if there's going to be a Pebble maintenance scene in 20 years, I wouldn't be too surprised if there was.
  - grawlinson 5y ago
    Sort of like how retro IBM Thinkpads have all sorts of modifications from new motherboards to screens? I can see something like that happening, I was on the verge of purchasing a Pebble when they announced their doom ^W acquisition via Fitbit.
  - drewzero1 5y ago
    I really hope so. I wear my Time Steel daily and will probably continue to do so as long as I can get parts for it. I've seen some guides out there on replacing the screen and battery, but so far I haven't had to crack mine open. I'd estimate I still get about 5 days of battery (depending on how much solitaire I play, or how long I use the speedometer app).
- 5y ago
animal_spirits 5y ago
I loved my pebble time, but it has been absolutely infuriating that I can't manually set the date and time on the watch. I no longer have an android phone and I can't use Rebble. I would continue to use this watch if I could change the damn time but alas, another piece of waste in my life. I am going to get rid of it
- jccooper 5y ago
  At least resell it. Plenty of people out there still using them.
andrelaszlo 5y ago
Same. I was devastated when I broke it. I would probably still be wearing it. My modern smart watch really doesn't do much more - except perhaps keeping track of my heart rate.

by ericd 5y ago

jszymborski 5y ago

You can always still run you Pebble Time with Rebble [0] :) I still use mine to this day! [0] https://rebble.io/ https://rebble.io/

jimmux 5y ago
I pulled mine out of storage a few weeks ago to resurrect it as a display for my EUC, and was surprised by it yet again. The fast refresh and good visibility is just so pleasant to use. Rebble was much easier to set up than I had assumed it would be, and isn't missing anything as far as I can tell.
ericd 5y ago
Thanks for the link! I actually stopped wearing it at the end of the M&A process, because of how stressful the the M&A process was. As much as I liked the device, I started getting a bit of a negative Pavlovian reaction to the wrist buzzes, because the contents of the emails tended to be pretty stressful. I intended it to be a short digital detox, but since then, I've only worn the dumbest of dumbwatches. But maybe it's time to give it another go, it'd be great to have it help kill off my phone checking habit again. It's truly awesome that the fact that it was so open has allowed it to live past its parent company.
- WesternWind 5y ago
  Yeah I turned of email notifications on my pebble (and quite a few other apps), but I still use it for a quick check if someone texts or whatever.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
TaylorAlexander 5y ago
Oh cool! A friend worked at Pebble and I volunteered to run a Pebble hackathon in 2014 (sticker is still on my old macbook) and for my time they gave me a Pebble Time Steel and even a little wood panel sticker for the front. I knew they ceased operations but I did not know about rebble! I will have to check it out. I think I know exactly where my pebble is.
happymellon 5y ago
Unfortunately only if they still work. I went through 3 of them that failed due to the screen corrupting.
- HeadlessChild 5y ago
  This might be helpful in that regard https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/How+to+Fix+E-Paper+Tearing/64701 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/How+to+Fix+E-Paper+Tearing/6470....
- Daneel_ 5y ago
  This was the end of both my kickstarter Pebble and my Pebble Steel. I adored my steel - it was such a great watch. I struggled for years to find a replacement and eventually settled on a Skagen Jorn Hybrid because the long battery life, notifications for calls and always accurate time are the most important features to me. I don't need to read notifications, I just want an accurate and long lasting watch with critical notifications only. They look like classic watches as well, so they fit in very well in corporate environments. I'd recommend them to anyone else who feels a little lost after their pebble died.

jakecopp 5y ago

And the battery life!! My first Pebble still had about 7 days of battery life after ~6 years of use, just unreal. I think it was rated for 10 at launch. Seeing 10% battery usually means I'm good for a day, maybe two. I'm on my second Pebble Time Steel now - I only had to get a new one because the waterproofing failed while I was surfing! I've had two separate instances of strangers (in Sydney) coming up to me and bumping their wrist to my wrist, because they also had a Pebble and recognised mine. Really lovely community.

ericd 5y ago
Oh, that's crazy that it still lasts 7 days. I guess it's had a lot fewer cycles than a smartphone battery typically gets in that time, because of the long battery life. And looking on eBay, used Pebbles are actually surprisingly affordable, like $20-50.
- Markoff 5y ago
  used Amazfit Bip cost also nothing and will still last you 3 weeks with always on display and Bluetooth enabled, Pebbles are overrated
  - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
    Same. The Bip has a 30 day battery life. There's no SDK though so it's not as tinker friendly but when used with Gadgetbridge I get the privacy and some neat features on top. Plus there's a pretty big online community around hacking it.
  - jclardy 5y ago
    Overrated? By who? The amazfit came out like 2 years ago, Pebble launched with 7 day battery in 2012...
    - Markoff 5y ago
      overrated since 2018 release of Amazfit Bip, yes, it has more features than Bip but they are hardly usable on such small screen anyway

Groxx 5y ago

I'm also stunned at how much better it was at connecting and staying connected to every single phone I've owned. Every other smartwatch I've tried (a couple fitbits, fossils, etc) has been absurdly flaky. It's common for all of them to just not react to notifications for a couple hours. Or they'll connect to some wifi but not others (why wifi anyway!?? it's insane! it's SO much more complicated!). Or their apps have utterly monstrous installation and/or permissions setups (looking at you in particular, Fitbit) and any connection they use breaks randomly every few days. If I could just get another, I'd stick with a pebble time for probably a decade. It did almost everything right.

ericd 5y ago
You're right, the connection was rock solid in a way that bluetooth basically never is. And I don't know how that didn't wreck its battery life. Even my Airpods give me grief every now and then, and those are often held up as the exception to the rule that is bluetooth being crap. I think that was why I liked it so much, it was a tool I could trust to just work consistently. Tech doesn't have enough of those outside of Unix CLI tools. I just looked them up on eBay, looks like you can get another for <$50. I wonder if there's going to be a Pebble maintenance scene in 20 years, I wouldn't be too surprised if there was.
- grawlinson 5y ago
  Sort of like how retro IBM Thinkpads have all sorts of modifications from new motherboards to screens? I can see something like that happening, I was on the verge of purchasing a Pebble when they announced their doom ^W acquisition via Fitbit.
- drewzero1 5y ago
  I really hope so. I wear my Time Steel daily and will probably continue to do so as long as I can get parts for it. I've seen some guides out there on replacing the screen and battery, but so far I haven't had to crack mine open. I'd estimate I still get about 5 days of battery (depending on how much solitaire I play, or how long I use the speedometer app).
5y ago

animal_spirits 5y ago

I loved my pebble time, but it has been absolutely infuriating that I can't manually set the date and time on the watch. I no longer have an android phone and I can't use Rebble. I would continue to use this watch if I could change the damn time but alas, another piece of waste in my life. I am going to get rid of it

jccooper 5y ago
At least resell it. Plenty of people out there still using them.

andrelaszlo 5y ago

Same. I was devastated when I broke it. I would probably still be wearing it. My modern smart watch really doesn't do much more - except perhaps keeping track of my heart rate.