Pebble and other smartwatches: Info at a glance!

My Pebble Time is getting delivered tomorrow. It’s high time I replaced my original Kickstarter Pebble. Its screen had become unreliable and buggy to say the least.

I didn’t go for the Steel as the Time is available so very cheap and does everything I want it to. Considering I was wearing an original Pebble, look is not a major concern. :)

I’ll be looking at replacement straps though. Maybe reuse the replacement one i got for my original Pebble if it fits.

Other smart watches are just too expensive and the thought of having to charge them every day or 2 doesn’t appeal one bit. Pebble got the battery consumption right.

And after years of wearing one, I still find getting notifications and reminders on my wrist as useful as ever. I won’t be playing Pokemon Go on it, but that’s fine.

Wendelius

I’ve been able to reduce the number of five or six charging cables in my office to two. One is for the Pebble and I use the USB connector to charge my phone, Kindle, and everything else. The only one that I need to keep out is the USB charger. That was another good thing about my move to non-Apple.

The Pepple Time 2 looks like it may be a winner, with its 10 days of battery life.

That Pebble Time 2 watch does look nice. It ticks a lot of boxes for me: ten day battery, waterproof, heart rate monitor, stylish looks, relatively thin… I may have to pre-order that one. Wish I had gotten in on the kickstarter.

Yeah, i think i may get one when they come out in November.

I picked up a pebble time a couple of months back because it was so cheap. I really do like it a lot more than the original pebble which I passed down to my older son who just started high school.

It feels so much less bulky and a lot more comfortable too.

So apparently Pebble is being sold to Fitbit? That makes me sad. Especially when it’s probably going for $40 mil and they had a chance to sell to Citizen for around 700 mil a couple of years back. I was going to skip the new Pebble Time 2 but I may have to pick it up just for future proofing if Fitbit kills it off. Very sad.

I read that Fitbit wanted the Pebble OS, which to me is good news. It means Pebble still lives, with more money backing it, it’s just that there is no Pebble brand anymore. But if future Fitbit watches are running Pebble OS, using e-ink, I don’t see any problem here.

The Pebble Time 2 doesn’t seem to be available to order. Has it been like that ever since the Kickstarter ended? Because if it’s suddenly disappeared then that’s a pretty good sign that it will never see the light of day.

I am gonna be pissed if I can’t get a time 2, because I want that watch.

Well this certainly helps explain why they’ve been dead silent about the Time 2 on their Kickstarter. Hopefully those still go through.

I have a Time 2 ordered via KS, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens.

Been wearing an Apple Watch for about a week and there are some things I like and some things I really think Pebble does so much better. But above all, a daily recharge for a watch (looks like I can squeak two days typical usage if I don’t track a run) is just dumb. I like Pebble’s notifications a lot better, too.

I switched to an Apple Watch when the 2nd one came out and like it so much better than my Pebble. I always had issues with Pebble (and Pebble Time) missing notifications periodically, and it was infuriating that there were things Apple wouldn’t let them do (like respond to text messages). I have the dock next to my bed for charging every night so that part doesn’t really bother me. Don’t get me wrong, the Pebbles were nice watches, it’s just that when you have full integration and bulletproof connectivity, it’s a huge boon to the smart watch experience.

I also had a Time 2 on pre-order, but with no news, delays, and now the selling of the company, I ordered a Samsung Gear S3 Frontier from AT&T. Loved my Pebble Time Steel, but needed a HR monitor and better health app integration. S3 Frontier arrived today and I’ve been impressed so far.

Weird. I never had issued with the Time Steel missing notifications, but my Apple Watch (2nd edition) seems almost random in the notifications it wants to show me… Texts from two different people this morning, notification for one and not the other.

Debating whether to contact Pebble and see if I can go ahead and get a refund for the Time Steel 2. I’m still in the returnable period on the Apple Watch and I was debating going back to the Pebble, but the FitBit news changes that, sigh.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the Apple Watch won’t send notifications if your phone is unlocked for things like texts. Apparently they assume you’re using your phone and don’t need it on your watch.

There’s probably a setting for that? I know the Pebble can do that, if you want it to.

It’s dead. Pebble will cease to be a company and FitBit has acquired assets. Refunds are promised for any unfulfilled Kickstarter pledges in March 2017. I don’t expect to see that money.

https://twitter.com/tim/status/806505351319195650

As a satisfied Time (1st gen) owner, the “for now” doesn’t fill me with happiness either. Thanks Pebble.

From the KS page:

Active Pebble watches will work normally for now. Functionality or service quality may be reduced down the road. We don’t expect to release regular software updates or new Pebble features. Our new mission will focus on bringing Pebble’s unique wearables expertise to future Fitbit products. We’re also working to reduce Pebble’s reliance on cloud services, letting all Pebble models stay active long into the future.

Wendelius

[quote]
Functionality or service quality may be reduced over time, and Pebble watches are no longer covered by or eligible for warranty exchange.[/quote]

Interesting. Is that going to fly in Europe?