7 ms·

The Pebble Steel review: Wearables 2.0 arrive

26 points by avsaro 13y ago

startuup 13y ago
Seeing if anyone in HN community has been playing around with wearables by developing apps for them and whats your experience been like so far?
- lowglow 13y ago
  I'm interested in this as well. If you're in SF come out to http://hackendo.techendo.co/ http://hackendo.techendo.co/ I'll be there building and figuring out how wearables fit into the future of tech.
- sahaskatta 13y ago
  I think it's absolutely a hot space. I know a good number of people who work for Pebble and love their product, however I personally put that particular device aside once I got a Google Glass. I have something in the works for Pebble coming very soon, however I actually launched GlassTesla last year. http://glasstesla.com http://glasstesla.com There are currently ~200 folks who happen to have both Google Glass and a Tesla Model S using the app.
- milesokeefe 13y ago
  I'm a web developer so diving into pebble dev was my first time writing C. That said, I've really enjoyed it. The SDK is excellent and hacking apps on a watch is terribly fun. Here are some of the apps I've made so far: https://github.com/MilesOkeefe/freedom-clock https://github.com/MilesOkeefe/freedom-clock https://github.com/MilesOkeefe/magic8 https://github.com/MilesOkeefe/magic8
njharman 13y ago
2.0? That falls fare short of what wearables were doing decades ago.
- aaronem 13y ago
  Really? Which wearable, decades ago, had the ability to pair with a smartphone and access the Internet to retrieve information for display?
  - lnanek2 13y ago
    Wearables decades ago were generally big computer bricks on your waist or otherwise strapped to your body, then a separate display up at your head, and often a separate input in your hand like a Twiddler chorded keyboard. They did tend to range in power and capabilities up to matching laptops of the day, though.
  - njharman 13y ago
    They didn't need to depend on a smartphone. One of Steve Mann's many wearables used radio to base station. He may of later had cellular.
- mikestew 13y ago
  What do you mean? A decade ago it was Microsoft SPOT, which could do Microsoft Messenger, weather, stocks and news. Is there something else you're thinking of?
  - kylec 13y ago
    Well, there was Fossil's Wrist PDA that ran Palm OS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_Wrist_PDA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_Wrist_PDA
    - mikestew 13y ago
      Fair enough. Though at 108g, just 4g shy of the weight of an iPhone 5S, it begins to stretch the meaning of "wearable".
      - TheAnimus 13y ago
        In otherwords slightly less than an Omega Seamaster? Which is 111g as per: http://www.pmwf.com/Watches/ARTICLES/TwoOmegaSeamaster/A%20real%20and%20a%20fake%20Omega%20compared.htm http://www.pmwf.com/Watches/ARTICLES/TwoOmegaSeamaster/A%20r...
mikestew 13y ago
I find it interesting that the Android app update is being delayed, given that Android has thus far been the platform of choice if you own a Pebble. For the longest time you couldn't do that much with unjailbroken iOS due to limitations. SMS, phone calls, and music control, that was it. Email was unreliable at best (iOS-using Pebble owners know the notification settings "finger dance" all too well). No worries now that an Android phone is my daily driver. The watch does what I expected it to do when I bought it, and I can wait. Because, frankly, Yelp and FourSquare on a watch display aren't going to have me swapping the SIM card back to an iPhone.
- wvenable 13y ago
  Because of iOS and App Store restrictions, the new Pebble Store is necessary for getting 2.0 applications to work on the iPhone. The iOS Pebble app actually bundles the JavaScript-side of every Pebble store application to get around the platform restrictions. On Android, this hack isn't necessary and users aren't missing out on much because they can use the store on the web and install whatever they want. So there is much less reason to work on the Android app right now.
pkteison 13y ago
I know 3 people with pebbles. All 3 have had the screens stop updating properly after several months. Plenty of other folks on the forums also have display problems. I feel like it was an ok level of satisfaction for a kickstarter and proof-of-concept, but nowhere near good enough for me to stick with the platform. I'm just hoping it inspires another company to do a great job of making an awesome e-ink watch now that the market has been demonstrated.
- DouweM 13y ago
  Interesting. I know 3 people with Pebbles and have one myself, and none of us have had any problems of the sort. At one point my charging cable broke, probably due to my transporting it rolled up, but that's it.
- Leszek 13y ago
  You can add one more to that list, I'm currently waiting for my RMA replacement to arrive. I do love having it when it works, but I'm a bit disappointed with the hardware issues. Reminds me of the old RRoD issue on the old Xbox360s.
- cstrat 13y ago
  I feel like you've got an unlucky group of friends. I bought a ten pack for a group of us at my work, none of them have had any issues at all, yet. My personal experience has been 10 for 10, and I know some people who have bought in later and haven't had issues. The only issues I see are the ones I read about.
- r00fus 13y ago
  Count me as an anecdotal rebuttal - no issues, even after machine-washing the damn thing.
- dromidas 13y ago
  Never had an issue on my pebble... been fairly rough with it too I might add. It's a solid piece of tech.
Thiz 13y ago
Apple is missing big time in the smart watch camp. Imagine all the NFC possibilities, like the article about hotel check in and stuff like that. PC activation. Car activation. Passcode integration. Lights on/off on enter/leave, etc. People may react with disdain about the idea, but once smart people start building cool apps, they undoubtedly will follow. Just do it Apple, damnit, we will build the apps, they will surely come.
- MartinCron 13y ago
  As someone who buys pretty much every (non-mac-pro) thing that Apple sells, I'm perfectly happy with Apple waiting and letting other people experiment with the first few generations of crappy wearable tech before making something that I'm de-facto obligated to buy.

26 points by avsaro 13y ago

Seeing if anyone in HN community has been playing around with wearables by developing apps for them and whats your experience been like so far?

lowglow 13y ago
I'm interested in this as well. If you're in SF come out to http://hackendo.techendo.co/ http://hackendo.techendo.co/ I'll be there building and figuring out how wearables fit into the future of tech.
sahaskatta 13y ago
I think it's absolutely a hot space. I know a good number of people who work for Pebble and love their product, however I personally put that particular device aside once I got a Google Glass. I have something in the works for Pebble coming very soon, however I actually launched GlassTesla last year. http://glasstesla.com http://glasstesla.com There are currently ~200 folks who happen to have both Google Glass and a Tesla Model S using the app.
milesokeefe 13y ago
I'm a web developer so diving into pebble dev was my first time writing C. That said, I've really enjoyed it. The SDK is excellent and hacking apps on a watch is terribly fun. Here are some of the apps I've made so far: https://github.com/MilesOkeefe/freedom-clock https://github.com/MilesOkeefe/freedom-clock https://github.com/MilesOkeefe/magic8 https://github.com/MilesOkeefe/magic8

njharman 13y ago

2.0? That falls fare short of what wearables were doing decades ago.

aaronem 13y ago
Really? Which wearable, decades ago, had the ability to pair with a smartphone and access the Internet to retrieve information for display?
- lnanek2 13y ago
  Wearables decades ago were generally big computer bricks on your waist or otherwise strapped to your body, then a separate display up at your head, and often a separate input in your hand like a Twiddler chorded keyboard. They did tend to range in power and capabilities up to matching laptops of the day, though.
- njharman 13y ago
  They didn't need to depend on a smartphone. One of Steve Mann's many wearables used radio to base station. He may of later had cellular.
mikestew 13y ago
What do you mean? A decade ago it was Microsoft SPOT, which could do Microsoft Messenger, weather, stocks and news. Is there something else you're thinking of?
- kylec 13y ago
  Well, there was Fossil's Wrist PDA that ran Palm OS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_Wrist_PDA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_Wrist_PDA
  - mikestew 13y ago
    Fair enough. Though at 108g, just 4g shy of the weight of an iPhone 5S, it begins to stretch the meaning of "wearable".
    - TheAnimus 13y ago
      In otherwords slightly less than an Omega Seamaster? Which is 111g as per: http://www.pmwf.com/Watches/ARTICLES/TwoOmegaSeamaster/A%20real%20and%20a%20fake%20Omega%20compared.htm http://www.pmwf.com/Watches/ARTICLES/TwoOmegaSeamaster/A%20r...

mikestew 13y ago

I find it interesting that the Android app update is being delayed, given that Android has thus far been the platform of choice if you own a Pebble. For the longest time you couldn't do that much with unjailbroken iOS due to limitations. SMS, phone calls, and music control, that was it. Email was unreliable at best (iOS-using Pebble owners know the notification settings "finger dance" all too well). No worries now that an Android phone is my daily driver. The watch does what I expected it to do when I bought it, and I can wait. Because, frankly, Yelp and FourSquare on a watch display aren't going to have me swapping the SIM card back to an iPhone.

wvenable 13y ago
Because of iOS and App Store restrictions, the new Pebble Store is necessary for getting 2.0 applications to work on the iPhone. The iOS Pebble app actually bundles the JavaScript-side of every Pebble store application to get around the platform restrictions. On Android, this hack isn't necessary and users aren't missing out on much because they can use the store on the web and install whatever they want. So there is much less reason to work on the Android app right now.

pkteison 13y ago

I know 3 people with pebbles. All 3 have had the screens stop updating properly after several months. Plenty of other folks on the forums also have display problems. I feel like it was an ok level of satisfaction for a kickstarter and proof-of-concept, but nowhere near good enough for me to stick with the platform. I'm just hoping it inspires another company to do a great job of making an awesome e-ink watch now that the market has been demonstrated.

DouweM 13y ago
Interesting. I know 3 people with Pebbles and have one myself, and none of us have had any problems of the sort. At one point my charging cable broke, probably due to my transporting it rolled up, but that's it.
Leszek 13y ago
You can add one more to that list, I'm currently waiting for my RMA replacement to arrive. I do love having it when it works, but I'm a bit disappointed with the hardware issues. Reminds me of the old RRoD issue on the old Xbox360s.
cstrat 13y ago
I feel like you've got an unlucky group of friends. I bought a ten pack for a group of us at my work, none of them have had any issues at all, yet. My personal experience has been 10 for 10, and I know some people who have bought in later and haven't had issues. The only issues I see are the ones I read about.
r00fus 13y ago
Count me as an anecdotal rebuttal - no issues, even after machine-washing the damn thing.
dromidas 13y ago
Never had an issue on my pebble... been fairly rough with it too I might add. It's a solid piece of tech.

Thiz 13y ago

Apple is missing big time in the smart watch camp. Imagine all the NFC possibilities, like the article about hotel check in and stuff like that. PC activation. Car activation. Passcode integration. Lights on/off on enter/leave, etc. People may react with disdain about the idea, but once smart people start building cool apps, they undoubtedly will follow. Just do it Apple, damnit, we will build the apps, they will surely come.

MartinCron 13y ago
As someone who buys pretty much every (non-mac-pro) thing that Apple sells, I'm perfectly happy with Apple waiting and letting other people experiment with the first few generations of crappy wearable tech before making something that I'm de-facto obligated to buy.