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I use a Pebble and also have an LG G Watch (Android Wear). Not all smartches are "dumb", only the good ones. Normal watches are also "dumb": all they do is tel

I use a Pebble and also have an LG G Watch (Android Wear). Not all smartches are "dumb", only the good ones. Normal watches are also "dumb": all they do is tell the time and show off as dad's jewelry. Most smartwatches try to do too much "smart" stuff stuff but end up doing badly the dumb watch part. I am referring to the Android Wear, Samsung-Tizen and Apple Watch. They are horrible because they don't even do right the "dumbness" of normal watches: they're easily not visible in bright light, are bad at telling the time (screen is off most of time, doesn't always turn on easily), are not waterproof, battery lasts just one day... The Pebble is ugly as a cheap toy, but does the watch job decently and a little more. This little more is not essential but it is very convenient.

eclipxe 11y ago
I haven't had a problem with my watch (Apple) not being visible in bright light and the screen turns on as soon as I lift my wrist to view it. Hasn't been an issue for me. It is also waterproof (see youtube videos submerging it underwater - I believe it is IPX7 (1 meter for up to 30 minutes)). And I haven't found the battery life to be a problem - at the end of most days I have 40-50% battery left, but I take my watches off at night anyway, so charging is a non-issue.
- diego_moita 11y ago
  > the screen turns on as soon as I lift my wrist to view it. I am lazy. Don't want to think of that when my arm is on the chair armrest. > It is also waterproof I swim. And want a leaps counter on the watch. > I take my watches off at night anyway I sleep with mine, to use it as an alarm clock that doesn't wake my wife.
  - citruspi 11y ago
    > I sleep with mine, to use it as an alarm clock that doesn't wake my wife. I sleep with mine as well. My Apple Watch takes ~60 minutes to charge so I'll normally set it to charge after I wake up and it's ready to go by the time I head out for work.
    - christopane 11y ago
      Huh my Apple Watch takes 2 hours to recharge. I forgot to put it on the induction dock one night before falling asleep and spent most of the morning waiting for it to get back to ~90%. Do you have the 38mm?
      - citruspi 11y ago
        Yeah. Do you have the 42mm?
jordonwii 11y ago
I was under the same impression until somewhat recently. If I'm going to buy a watch, I want it to be a watch first, and "smart" second, and I was convinced that only the Pebble did that. I tried the original Pebble for a while - but lately I've been pleasantly surprised trying Sony's Smartwatch 3. - Its screen is always on, and always readable to me - I'm not sure about this, but I think it has a variant of the Pebble's e-paper screen. I know Sony makes Pebble's screen. - It has the highest IP water-resistance rating out of the Android wear watches (IP68, which is supposedly suitable for swimming), although not quite as waterproof as the Pebble. - The battery can also easily last through a full day and night, in my experience, with about ~30% remaining for the next day. That's even less of an issue given that the battery can be charged up fully fairly quickly (can't quantify that any further at the moment, but it's always been pretty quick for me). Now, if you swim, like you mentioned you do, then the waterproofing thing might be a dealbreaker. But other than that, this Android Wear watch is almost on par with the Pebble as a "watch", and you get a bunch of added benefits (like GPS, which is great for running, better Android integration, touchscreen, polished voice interaction, etc.). IMHO, if you're just looking for a watch that's got some extra features, then the _original_ Pebble is great just because it's so cheap. But, if one's willing to spend more like $200 (Pebble Time), it's not much of a competition, unless you _really_ value the extra battery and waterproofing. Edit: clarity.
- orillian 11y ago
  Sony Smartwatch 3 uses a transflective LCD display which is fairly old tech. But one that for a long time had little to no color option. It was rather expensive to make TFT type displays transflective, and other things won out. Like OLED and just brighter LCD's. Sony is the first to bring it back in any significant way for new tech. I do hope more device manufacturers take a look at this tech again, as it has some very useful applications. If Sony's Smartwatch 3 is any indication, the pricing is finally becoming more affordable to do this type of thing with full color. I just really don't like the look of the Sony Watch so I'm waiting for something else.
- jordonwii 11y ago
  For anyone who's interested, I just timed charging. It looks like it would charge from 0-100% in about 30 minutes.

eclipxe 11y ago

I haven't had a problem with my watch (Apple) not being visible in bright light and the screen turns on as soon as I lift my wrist to view it. Hasn't been an issue for me. It is also waterproof (see youtube videos submerging it underwater - I believe it is IPX7 (1 meter for up to 30 minutes)). And I haven't found the battery life to be a problem - at the end of most days I have 40-50% battery left, but I take my watches off at night anyway, so charging is a non-issue.

diego_moita 11y ago
> the screen turns on as soon as I lift my wrist to view it. I am lazy. Don't want to think of that when my arm is on the chair armrest. > It is also waterproof I swim. And want a leaps counter on the watch. > I take my watches off at night anyway I sleep with mine, to use it as an alarm clock that doesn't wake my wife.
- citruspi 11y ago
  > I sleep with mine, to use it as an alarm clock that doesn't wake my wife. I sleep with mine as well. My Apple Watch takes ~60 minutes to charge so I'll normally set it to charge after I wake up and it's ready to go by the time I head out for work.
  - christopane 11y ago
    Huh my Apple Watch takes 2 hours to recharge. I forgot to put it on the induction dock one night before falling asleep and spent most of the morning waiting for it to get back to ~90%. Do you have the 38mm?
    - citruspi 11y ago
      Yeah. Do you have the 42mm?

jordonwii 11y ago

I was under the same impression until somewhat recently. If I'm going to buy a watch, I want it to be a watch first, and "smart" second, and I was convinced that only the Pebble did that. I tried the original Pebble for a while - but lately I've been pleasantly surprised trying Sony's Smartwatch 3. - Its screen is always on, and always readable to me - I'm not sure about this, but I think it has a variant of the Pebble's e-paper screen. I know Sony makes Pebble's screen. - It has the highest IP water-resistance rating out of the Android wear watches (IP68, which is supposedly suitable for swimming), although not quite as waterproof as the Pebble. - The battery can also easily last through a full day and night, in my experience, with about ~30% remaining for the next day. That's even less of an issue given that the battery can be charged up fully fairly quickly (can't quantify that any further at the moment, but it's always been pretty quick for me). Now, if you swim, like you mentioned you do, then the waterproofing thing might be a dealbreaker. But other than that, this Android Wear watch is almost on par with the Pebble as a "watch", and you get a bunch of added benefits (like GPS, which is great for running, better Android integration, touchscreen, polished voice interaction, etc.). IMHO, if you're just looking for a watch that's got some extra features, then the _original_ Pebble is great just because it's so cheap. But, if one's willing to spend more like $200 (Pebble Time), it's not much of a competition, unless you _really_ value the extra battery and waterproofing. Edit: clarity.

orillian 11y ago
Sony Smartwatch 3 uses a transflective LCD display which is fairly old tech. But one that for a long time had little to no color option. It was rather expensive to make TFT type displays transflective, and other things won out. Like OLED and just brighter LCD's. Sony is the first to bring it back in any significant way for new tech. I do hope more device manufacturers take a look at this tech again, as it has some very useful applications. If Sony's Smartwatch 3 is any indication, the pricing is finally becoming more affordable to do this type of thing with full color. I just really don't like the look of the Sony Watch so I'm waiting for something else.
jordonwii 11y ago
For anyone who's interested, I just timed charging. It looks like it would charge from 0-100% in about 30 minutes.