They did mention that this is kind of geared toward the kind of people who are going to be futzing with it. For a small operation, having to replace shit buttons after 6 months for would...
They did mention that this is kind of geared toward the kind of people who are going to be futzing with it.
For a small operation, having to replace shit buttons after 6 months for would practically kill it.
I am 100% supportive of multi-year guarantees, but I also think that the scale should be proportional to the size and capability of said manufacturer.
Google, Apple, Nintendo hould be expected to cover 5+years defect free. A scrappy startup not so much.
Respectfully, if he ships a product where the buttons break after 6 months, it should probably be killed. I realize there is a difference between a Fortune 500 company and this, but there is still...
Respectfully, if he ships a product where the buttons break after 6 months, it should probably be killed. I realize there is a difference between a Fortune 500 company and this, but there is still a minimum level of longevity that a product should have. 30 days just isn't enough. It doesn't matter if it's for tinkerers or not.
I say this as someone who will most likely buy one of these because I absolutely loved the original Pebble and I like the way things look with the new one. But as I said, a 30 day warranty does not inspire confidence.
It's just one guy making this because he's passionate about it. It's not really reasonable to expect him to support it for years upon years like a company. It's a buy-at-your-own risk product....
It's just one guy making this because he's passionate about it. It's not really reasonable to expect him to support it for years upon years like a company.
It's a buy-at-your-own risk product. Which is fine. It's not for everyone, but there's no lack of other smartwatches if you want proper corporate support.
It's not just one guy. He's the face of the effort, but he posted some photos from his trip to their manufacturing plant in China showing off some of the design/manufacturing process. It's a small...
It's a small operation to be sure, but it's not just him. All that said, I think 30 days is just too short to even fully test a product, which @Weldawadyathink pointed out has a 30 day battery life. 90 days would be a much better compromise in terms of support.
It has a 30 day battery life, so you don’t even have time to get through an entire battery cycle before the warranty expires. Also, this does not meet the EU minimum 2 year warranty. Not sure if...
It has a 30 day battery life, so you don’t even have time to get through an entire battery cycle before the warranty expires. Also, this does not meet the EU minimum 2 year warranty. Not sure if that applies to small companies though.
I don’t believe it applies in that case. That EU law applies to sellers located in the EU. In this case you’re importing it from a US seller. Google, etc. have EU incorporations so it would apply...
I don’t believe it applies in that case. That EU law applies to sellers located in the EU. In this case you’re importing it from a US seller. Google, etc. have EU incorporations so it would apply for them. Not in this case.
Seems like this should still apply since the seller ships directly to the EU and isn't a private individual:...
Seems like this should still apply since the seller ships directly to the EU and isn't a private individual:
if you buy from a non-EU online trader who has specifically targeted EU consumers you should also be covered by EU rules, but you may find it difficult to assert your rights with a trader who is based outside the EU.
In this case that means break the law though. It's hard to assert that right when the seller is a company thats a middleman outside the EU, or simply some company in china that sells stuff and...
In this case that means break the law though. It's hard to assert that right when the seller is a company thats a middleman outside the EU, or simply some company in china that sells stuff and closes down but pops up again under a different name once there are issues. But if you buy from the manufacturer directly its much harder for them to do illegal shit and hide from the law afterwards. Once the first person sues you're gonna get in big trouble. Good luck doing any business after that in the EU.
I suspect that if an EU-based customer went to them within the 2 year window asking for repair/replacement, they'd be receptive because of how clear things are legally there. That would be the...
I suspect that if an EU-based customer went to them within the 2 year window asking for repair/replacement, they'd be receptive because of how clear things are legally there. That would be the best way to keep that short warranty policy for non-EU customers on their website and avoid getting sued.
The warranty side of things doesn't really affect my personal calculus on whether to buy one or not, but I can understand why it would for some other people.
I've been so excited for the rePebble. The original Pebble was the genesis of me getting into coding and being excited about future tech. Especially wearables. I've had every generation of smart...
I've been so excited for the rePebble. The original Pebble was the genesis of me getting into coding and being excited about future tech. Especially wearables. I've had every generation of smart watch since that Pebble, whether it's a Moto 360, various iterations of forerunners, a couple of Apple Watches. That being said, the one thing that would have made me buy instantly was if it had GPS support, even just support for GPS itself. But my understanding is that also comes along with a licensing fee, and so that's probably prohibitive.
What would the independent GPS do? I'm not one to do wearables so my question may be dumb, but I would've assumed a lot of the functionality of the device comes from a connection to another device...
What would the independent GPS do? I'm not one to do wearables so my question may be dumb, but I would've assumed a lot of the functionality of the device comes from a connection to another device that happens to usually be a phone. This is really just coming from the other stuff in this thread about it being used to read messages and play music and stuff, which I'm taking to mean as it doing those things over Bluetooth. This leads me to wondering though what use there would be for a GPS in it rather than just leveraging the one in the nearby device it is connected to.
It's an excellent question! I'm honestly not sure about current state, but even as of the iPhone 12, phone gps was just not nearly as good as gps that you could get on a watch. I feel like I've...
It's an excellent question! I'm honestly not sure about current state, but even as of the iPhone 12, phone gps was just not nearly as good as gps that you could get on a watch. I feel like I've read explanations before as to why but I can't come up with it myself right now.
All that to say - it's just nice to have devices where I can just put it on and go for a run. Be disconnected for a bit but still be able to get kudos upon my return. And this can do most of that, just not all the way
Sport watches like Garmin or Apple Watch has built in storage, Bluetooth host and GPS so you can go for a run without your phone weighting you down. Just connect your Bluetooth headphone with the...
Sport watches like Garmin or Apple Watch has built in storage, Bluetooth host and GPS so you can go for a run without your phone weighting you down. Just connect your Bluetooth headphone with the watch and start activity tracking. It then connects back to your phone once you finish to record the activity. They also advertise that with contactless payment support you also can buy drinks on the way.
Looks amazing! Was about to comment 'is it weird to feel nostalgia for a product that's not even a decade old' then realized that I got my first Pebble 12 years ago! Great watches. Have tried many...
Looks amazing! Was about to comment 'is it weird to feel nostalgia for a product that's not even a decade old' then realized that I got my first Pebble 12 years ago! Great watches.
Have tried many smartwatches in the years since my Pebble and Pebble Time Steel, and nothing comes close in terms of battery life. I miss being able to just go 1-2 weeks without thinking about the battery at all, then charging it for a half hour or so, then rinse and repeat.
The Huawei GT Pro line or the Garmin Phoenixes also boast long battery life. They're the only comparable watches. It's also the reason I can't ditch my somewhat unwanted Huawei dependency. Their...
The Huawei GT Pro line or the Garmin Phoenixes also boast long battery life. They're the only comparable watches.
It's also the reason I can't ditch my somewhat unwanted Huawei dependency. Their smart watches work incredibly snappy with a bunch of sensors and they still last a week or two.
I've seen every Pebble owner rave about the devices. I'm not sure they're the same target audience as the GT Pro watches though.
I didn't know that one! It appears Suunto didn't get much of a foothold here in the Netherlands with that specific watch and it's unavailable everywhere. Looks good!
I didn't know that one! It appears Suunto didn't get much of a foothold here in the Netherlands with that specific watch and it's unavailable everywhere.
Hadn't seen those before but they look to be in a whole different ballpark when it comes to prices and features (especially the Garmin which can go upwards of $1,000). The beauty of the pebble was...
Hadn't seen those before but they look to be in a whole different ballpark when it comes to prices and features (especially the Garmin which can go upwards of $1,000). The beauty of the pebble was its simplicity. To me it was like a digital watch+. It functioned exactly like a simple digital watch, but also displayed basic stuff like my messages and the weather, while also controlling my music without me having to take out or look at my phone each time. Plus it also collected some (admittedly basic but still pretty useful) health and sleep data, which was nice to keep track of. And it had some fun/silly watch faces to brighten my day and that I could swap out as desired.
There's a lot of smartwatches and fitness trackers out there that do a lot of that and way more. But for me personally, the Pebble was the perfect balance of features and battery life. It had everything that I wanted/needed, and almost nothing that I didn't. Other watches do more, but cost more and usually don't have as great of a battery life. And other fitness trackers track way more data, but don't have the same look and feel and customization that the Pebble did.
Plus there's one silly little feature that I really miss from the OG Pebble: you could charge it without ever taking it off your wrist. I'm constantly forgetting about and leaving my gadgets behind when I put them to charge, so having the ability to just hook up the cable while I'm sitting at my desk working on something for like 15 minutes was super handy. Then I'd go about my day and enjoy another week or so of battery life.
The Garmin Phoenix is genuinely good at what it does. If you want a professional watch to take with you on a two week long deep wilderness hike, that's your pick. The pricetag fits but good lord...
The Garmin Phoenix is genuinely good at what it does. If you want a professional watch to take with you on a two week long deep wilderness hike, that's your pick. The pricetag fits but good lord is it prohibitive. It's also a bit too smarttech-y and function-over-form design for my tastes.
The GT Pro line is expensive but in my opinion one of the better choices when it comes to bang for your buck, even with the Huawei sanctions imposed stripping certain functionality like NFC Pay, it still manages to do a lot right.
I was shopping for an upgrade from my GT2 Pro but literally nothing on the market lasts longer than a day, maaaaybe two if you turn off continuous sensors.
Having to take it off every day defeats the purpose of a smartwatch and is a deal breaker for me. I just ended up with the GT5 Pro as the only reasonable alternative (and even that choice came with concessions to battery life!). An Apple Watch costs about $150-200 more and lasts less than 24 hours. The GT5 has a factory listing of 336 hours. Mine lasts about a week and a half.
I know the Pebble isn't anywhere near these devices, nor did it ever try to be I don't think. As I said earlier, different target audience.
My wife has a Garmin Lily -which is a relatively long lasting semi-smart watch- but where I think the Pebble will shine is just above that semi-smart segment, because there's a clear gap in the middle segment of affordable but long lasting that this reboot could easily fill.
If I didn't recently get the GT5, I would've probably considered it! The Pebble sounds like it was an incredible device.
Well hot damn. Just last year I switched to just a regular old Timex Expedition because I was so disappointed in Smartwatches after having several Pebbles. I did what I could to keep my Pebble...
Well hot damn.
Just last year I switched to just a regular old Timex Expedition because I was so disappointed in Smartwatches after having several Pebbles. I did what I could to keep my Pebble Steel going, but ultimately I had to stop using it because I could never find a new battery for it, coupled with all the other little issues from not being supported anymore. I had switched to a Fossil Hybrid and it was nothing but a pain in the ass for the 2-years I wore it, which caused me to switch back to "Dumb" watches.
I might be able to get my wife to invest in one of these as a birthday gift, though I'm also not entirely sure about having a smartwatch anymore. Much as I like controlling my music from my watch, there's something freeing about having a watch I can just throw on and not have to futz with; never need to charge it, never need to sync it, never need to interact with it other than glancing at the time.
I only own a couple watches, none very expensive. But I'm not interested in a typical smartwatch. But this pebble is the exception. I'll wear this regularly because I like the style.
I only own a couple watches, none very expensive. But I'm not interested in a typical smartwatch. But this pebble is the exception. I'll wear this regularly because I like the style.
The original design is definitely not my favorite. I had one for awhile, but sold it to get a Steel, which I adored, so this one isn't quite what I'm looking for. That said, I'm still interested,...
The original design is definitely not my favorite. I had one for awhile, but sold it to get a Steel, which I adored, so this one isn't quite what I'm looking for.
That said, I'm still interested, because Pebble is Pebble and it was the only smart watch ever worth a damn. I couldn't care less about touchscreens, fitness stuff and having to charge every day or every other day.
I feel very similar to you, the only reason I've considered a smart watch is so that I don't have to deal with adjusting my watch every couple of months (Date dial goes up to 31) or around...
I feel very similar to you, the only reason I've considered a smart watch is so that I don't have to deal with adjusting my watch every couple of months (Date dial goes up to 31) or around daylight savings. So far not having to charge it is winning so I have no plans to move from my dumb watch any time soon.
How did I not know this existed?!?!? It's perfect, thanks for the suggestion! Edit: Actually I spoke too soon, no transmitters on this side of the world. Though it looks like you can create your...
How did I not know this existed?!?!? It's perfect, thanks for the suggestion!
Edit: Actually I spoke too soon, no transmitters on this side of the world. Though it looks like you can create your own with a phone app so I might look into that.
I made a jjy transmitter with a raspi and some wire/basic components. It has enough transmission range that if my citizen I imported from Japan is on my bedside table at night it syncs. Been using...
I made a jjy transmitter with a raspi and some wire/basic components. It has enough transmission range that if my citizen I imported from Japan is on my bedside table at night it syncs.
Been using it for 2 years
That's the instructions/tool I used! I have been taking it off to sleep and putting it on my bedside table - it may work depending on where my arm is when I sleep. It's not meant to be a powerfull...
That's the instructions/tool I used!
I have been taking it off to sleep and putting it on my bedside table - it may work depending on where my arm is when I sleep. It's not meant to be a powerfull transmitter.
That said it's probably not a hard circuit to give a little boost to.
I got rapidly so tired of fucking around with my Fossil; it just constantly had these little software bugs that I had to adjust for and it got so annoying. It eventually broke with a small fall...
I got rapidly so tired of fucking around with my Fossil; it just constantly had these little software bugs that I had to adjust for and it got so annoying. It eventually broke with a small fall onto the tile floor that I don't think would have killed my Pebble or my Timex and I sold it for parts on eBay for like $20. That watch was kind of a piece of junk from the day I got it.
Ahahaha, a few years ago I also switched from a Pebble (Time Round, no intervening smart watches because I could pretty much just look at the feature lists and go "no") to a Timex Expedition. =)
Ahahaha, a few years ago I also switched from a Pebble (Time Round, no intervening smart watches because I could pretty much just look at the feature lists and go "no") to a Timex Expedition. =)
It's a pretty great watch, I actually love it. I love the sheer simplicity of the entire thing. My wife asked me yesterday if I want this new Pebble for my birthday and...I think I do? At least, I...
It's a pretty great watch, I actually love it. I love the sheer simplicity of the entire thing.
My wife asked me yesterday if I want this new Pebble for my birthday and...I think I do? At least, I want to try it out, but I feel like I'm going to have trouble going back to a tinkering watch when I have something that just works and is comfortable to wear all day.
But I also thought that when I was buying the Timex and moving away from the smart watch.
This seems so cool. Never owned a Pebble but 30 day battery life and the basic features seem like all that I need in a smart watch. Too bad preordering a device from the US seems iffy at best...
This seems so cool. Never owned a Pebble but 30 day battery life and the basic features seem like all that I need in a smart watch.
Too bad preordering a device from the US seems iffy at best right now. I'll wait until I know what the actual cost will be with whatever tariffs and alike.
Damn. One of the things I was most frustrated with about the patents and everything being tied up when the OG pebble collapsed. Adding extra room for batteries, GPS, or other modules like solar...
Smartstraps: neither watch will support smartstraps. Sorry. Most people don’t even remember this feature even existed, which is kinda the answer to why it will not be supported. RIP.
Damn. One of the things I was most frustrated with about the patents and everything being tied up when the OG pebble collapsed. Adding extra room for batteries, GPS, or other modules like solar panels seemed like one of the coolest ways to expand smartwatch capabilities without bulking up the watch part nearly as much.
Probably going to wait to order at least until they have an actual IP rating, but maybe, hopefully, that's something that could come back in the next generation.
I loved my Pebble Time. Wore it daily until I upgraded to a Pixel 6 and it was constantly dropping connection and required so many workarounds to make it work. This is relatively exciting news!
I loved my Pebble Time. Wore it daily until I upgraded to a Pixel 6 and it was constantly dropping connection and required so many workarounds to make it work.
Sadly, that's the reason my wife won't be buying one for now. She loves Pebble, but she's a stalwart iPhone user. I'm on android, so I'm considering it. The lack of compass on the full colour...
Sadly, that's the reason my wife won't be buying one for now. She loves Pebble, but she's a stalwart iPhone user.
I'm on android, so I'm considering it. The lack of compass on the full colour version with a heart rate monitor gives me pause.
If not for the private APIs limiting two way communication, I'd consider going back to a pebble. The Android UX makes me just unhappy enough to stay away—even though there are distros that have...
If not for the private APIs limiting two way communication, I'd consider going back to a pebble.
The Android UX makes me just unhappy enough to stay away—even though there are distros that have the delightful benefit of not tying me to big tech. So tempting. But I'm already handcuffed to Apple... 🙄
I love Pebble and was early in on it. I've got two OGs and one 2HR. I hope they aren't using those terrible buttons from the 2HR that crumble after a year or so of use. Good to have them back in...
I love Pebble and was early in on it. I've got two OGs and one 2HR. I hope they aren't using those terrible buttons from the 2HR that crumble after a year or so of use.
Good to have them back in the game. Props to the Rebble crew for their work all these years keeping the dream alive.
- The first new Pebble smartwatches are coming later this year, The Verge
The first watch that Migicovsky and Core plan to ship is called the Core 2 Duo (not to be confused with the old Intel processor), which Migicovsky says will cost $149 and will ship in July. The name explains the whole idea, he says: “It’s like a Pebble 2, but it’s made by Core devices. And then ‘Duo’ is for do-over.”
This does feel like a terrible naming idea. The last association I made with "Core 2 Duo" was "outdated and slow". These aren't good connotations to be bringing to mind with your product. Perhaps...
This does feel like a terrible naming idea. The last association I made with "Core 2 Duo" was "outdated and slow". These aren't good connotations to be bringing to mind with your product. Perhaps their intention is to reclaim the phrase, in some way, but I don't think they wield that sort of influence, frankly.
From the store page:
Yikes. That does not inspire confidence, even with the founder’s solid track record.
They did mention that this is kind of geared toward the kind of people who are going to be futzing with it.
For a small operation, having to replace shit buttons after 6 months for would practically kill it.
I am 100% supportive of multi-year guarantees, but I also think that the scale should be proportional to the size and capability of said manufacturer.
Google, Apple, Nintendo hould be expected to cover 5+years defect free. A scrappy startup not so much.
Respectfully, if he ships a product where the buttons break after 6 months, it should probably be killed. I realize there is a difference between a Fortune 500 company and this, but there is still a minimum level of longevity that a product should have. 30 days just isn't enough. It doesn't matter if it's for tinkerers or not.
I say this as someone who will most likely buy one of these because I absolutely loved the original Pebble and I like the way things look with the new one. But as I said, a 30 day warranty does not inspire confidence.
It's just one guy making this because he's passionate about it. It's not really reasonable to expect him to support it for years upon years like a company.
It's a buy-at-your-own risk product. Which is fine. It's not for everyone, but there's no lack of other smartwatches if you want proper corporate support.
It's not just one guy. He's the face of the effort, but he posted some photos from his trip to their manufacturing plant in China showing off some of the design/manufacturing process.
It's a small operation to be sure, but it's not just him. All that said, I think 30 days is just too short to even fully test a product, which @Weldawadyathink pointed out has a 30 day battery life. 90 days would be a much better compromise in terms of support.
It has a 30 day battery life, so you don’t even have time to get through an entire battery cycle before the warranty expires. Also, this does not meet the EU minimum 2 year warranty. Not sure if that applies to small companies though.
It does. It applies to any and all things you buy.
I don’t believe it applies in that case. That EU law applies to sellers located in the EU. In this case you’re importing it from a US seller. Google, etc. have EU incorporations so it would apply for them. Not in this case.
Seems like this should still apply since the seller ships directly to the EU and isn't a private individual:
https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/shopping-consumer-rights/index_en.htm#bought-outside-eu
Seems like for all intents and purposes, given
It probably isn’t going to change their policy.
No and I agree that it's entirely unlikely, but they are technically subject to the law.
In this case that means break the law though. It's hard to assert that right when the seller is a company thats a middleman outside the EU, or simply some company in china that sells stuff and closes down but pops up again under a different name once there are issues. But if you buy from the manufacturer directly its much harder for them to do illegal shit and hide from the law afterwards. Once the first person sues you're gonna get in big trouble. Good luck doing any business after that in the EU.
I suspect that if an EU-based customer went to them within the 2 year window asking for repair/replacement, they'd be receptive because of how clear things are legally there. That would be the best way to keep that short warranty policy for non-EU customers on their website and avoid getting sued.
The warranty side of things doesn't really affect my personal calculus on whether to buy one or not, but I can understand why it would for some other people.
I've been so excited for the rePebble. The original Pebble was the genesis of me getting into coding and being excited about future tech. Especially wearables. I've had every generation of smart watch since that Pebble, whether it's a Moto 360, various iterations of forerunners, a couple of Apple Watches. That being said, the one thing that would have made me buy instantly was if it had GPS support, even just support for GPS itself. But my understanding is that also comes along with a licensing fee, and so that's probably prohibitive.
Not just licensing, but GPS receivers are big and power hungry.
What would the independent GPS do? I'm not one to do wearables so my question may be dumb, but I would've assumed a lot of the functionality of the device comes from a connection to another device that happens to usually be a phone. This is really just coming from the other stuff in this thread about it being used to read messages and play music and stuff, which I'm taking to mean as it doing those things over Bluetooth. This leads me to wondering though what use there would be for a GPS in it rather than just leveraging the one in the nearby device it is connected to.
It's an excellent question! I'm honestly not sure about current state, but even as of the iPhone 12, phone gps was just not nearly as good as gps that you could get on a watch. I feel like I've read explanations before as to why but I can't come up with it myself right now.
All that to say - it's just nice to have devices where I can just put it on and go for a run. Be disconnected for a bit but still be able to get kudos upon my return. And this can do most of that, just not all the way
Sport watches like Garmin or Apple Watch has built in storage, Bluetooth host and GPS so you can go for a run without your phone weighting you down. Just connect your Bluetooth headphone with the watch and start activity tracking. It then connects back to your phone once you finish to record the activity. They also advertise that with contactless payment support you also can buy drinks on the way.
Personal/fitness tracker? Though start/stop a thing that's actually on the phone is probably sufficient.
Looks amazing! Was about to comment 'is it weird to feel nostalgia for a product that's not even a decade old' then realized that I got my first Pebble 12 years ago! Great watches.
Have tried many smartwatches in the years since my Pebble and Pebble Time Steel, and nothing comes close in terms of battery life. I miss being able to just go 1-2 weeks without thinking about the battery at all, then charging it for a half hour or so, then rinse and repeat.
The Huawei GT Pro line or the Garmin Phoenixes also boast long battery life. They're the only comparable watches.
It's also the reason I can't ditch my somewhat unwanted Huawei dependency. Their smart watches work incredibly snappy with a bunch of sensors and they still last a week or two.
I've seen every Pebble owner rave about the devices. I'm not sure they're the same target audience as the GT Pro watches though.
I have a Suunto Vertical Solar that lasts 3 weeks
I didn't know that one! It appears Suunto didn't get much of a foothold here in the Netherlands with that specific watch and it's unavailable everywhere.
Looks good!
They’re way less known than Garmin, polar and coros here in Belgium as well but I still found it in a running shop
Hadn't seen those before but they look to be in a whole different ballpark when it comes to prices and features (especially the Garmin which can go upwards of $1,000). The beauty of the pebble was its simplicity. To me it was like a digital watch+. It functioned exactly like a simple digital watch, but also displayed basic stuff like my messages and the weather, while also controlling my music without me having to take out or look at my phone each time. Plus it also collected some (admittedly basic but still pretty useful) health and sleep data, which was nice to keep track of. And it had some fun/silly watch faces to brighten my day and that I could swap out as desired.
There's a lot of smartwatches and fitness trackers out there that do a lot of that and way more. But for me personally, the Pebble was the perfect balance of features and battery life. It had everything that I wanted/needed, and almost nothing that I didn't. Other watches do more, but cost more and usually don't have as great of a battery life. And other fitness trackers track way more data, but don't have the same look and feel and customization that the Pebble did.
Plus there's one silly little feature that I really miss from the OG Pebble: you could charge it without ever taking it off your wrist. I'm constantly forgetting about and leaving my gadgets behind when I put them to charge, so having the ability to just hook up the cable while I'm sitting at my desk working on something for like 15 minutes was super handy. Then I'd go about my day and enjoy another week or so of battery life.
The Garmin Phoenix is genuinely good at what it does. If you want a professional watch to take with you on a two week long deep wilderness hike, that's your pick. The pricetag fits but good lord is it prohibitive. It's also a bit too smarttech-y and function-over-form design for my tastes.
The GT Pro line is expensive but in my opinion one of the better choices when it comes to bang for your buck, even with the Huawei sanctions imposed stripping certain functionality like NFC Pay, it still manages to do a lot right.
I was shopping for an upgrade from my GT2 Pro but literally nothing on the market lasts longer than a day, maaaaybe two if you turn off continuous sensors.
Having to take it off every day defeats the purpose of a smartwatch and is a deal breaker for me. I just ended up with the GT5 Pro as the only reasonable alternative (and even that choice came with concessions to battery life!). An Apple Watch costs about $150-200 more and lasts less than 24 hours. The GT5 has a factory listing of 336 hours. Mine lasts about a week and a half.
I know the Pebble isn't anywhere near these devices, nor did it ever try to be I don't think. As I said earlier, different target audience.
My wife has a Garmin Lily -which is a relatively long lasting semi-smart watch- but where I think the Pebble will shine is just above that semi-smart segment, because there's a clear gap in the middle segment of affordable but long lasting that this reboot could easily fill.
If I didn't recently get the GT5, I would've probably considered it! The Pebble sounds like it was an incredible device.
Well hot damn.
Just last year I switched to just a regular old Timex Expedition because I was so disappointed in Smartwatches after having several Pebbles. I did what I could to keep my Pebble Steel going, but ultimately I had to stop using it because I could never find a new battery for it, coupled with all the other little issues from not being supported anymore. I had switched to a Fossil Hybrid and it was nothing but a pain in the ass for the 2-years I wore it, which caused me to switch back to "Dumb" watches.
I might be able to get my wife to invest in one of these as a birthday gift, though I'm also not entirely sure about having a smartwatch anymore. Much as I like controlling my music from my watch, there's something freeing about having a watch I can just throw on and not have to futz with; never need to charge it, never need to sync it, never need to interact with it other than glancing at the time.
I only own a couple watches, none very expensive. But I'm not interested in a typical smartwatch. But this pebble is the exception. I'll wear this regularly because I like the style.
The original design is definitely not my favorite. I had one for awhile, but sold it to get a Steel, which I adored, so this one isn't quite what I'm looking for.
That said, I'm still interested, because Pebble is Pebble and it was the only smart watch ever worth a damn. I couldn't care less about touchscreens, fitness stuff and having to charge every day or every other day.
I feel very similar to you, the only reason I've considered a smart watch is so that I don't have to deal with adjusting my watch every couple of months (Date dial goes up to 31) or around daylight savings. So far not having to charge it is winning so I have no plans to move from my dumb watch any time soon.
Just get a radio synchronized watch! I love my Casio gw-m5610. Has solar as well.
How did I not know this existed?!?!? It's perfect, thanks for the suggestion!
Edit: Actually I spoke too soon, no transmitters on this side of the world. Though it looks like you can create your own with a phone app so I might look into that.
I made a jjy transmitter with a raspi and some wire/basic components. It has enough transmission range that if my citizen I imported from Japan is on my bedside table at night it syncs.
Been using it for 2 years
Thanks! I did find this project when I looked into it so not all is lost.
Do you need to take the watch off for it to work?
That's the instructions/tool I used!
I have been taking it off to sleep and putting it on my bedside table - it may work depending on where my arm is when I sleep. It's not meant to be a powerfull transmitter.
That said it's probably not a hard circuit to give a little boost to.
I got rapidly so tired of fucking around with my Fossil; it just constantly had these little software bugs that I had to adjust for and it got so annoying. It eventually broke with a small fall onto the tile floor that I don't think would have killed my Pebble or my Timex and I sold it for parts on eBay for like $20. That watch was kind of a piece of junk from the day I got it.
Ahahaha, a few years ago I also switched from a Pebble (Time Round, no intervening smart watches because I could pretty much just look at the feature lists and go "no") to a Timex Expedition. =)
It's a pretty great watch, I actually love it. I love the sheer simplicity of the entire thing.
My wife asked me yesterday if I want this new Pebble for my birthday and...I think I do? At least, I want to try it out, but I feel like I'm going to have trouble going back to a tinkering watch when I have something that just works and is comfortable to wear all day.
But I also thought that when I was buying the Timex and moving away from the smart watch.
This seems so cool. Never owned a Pebble but 30 day battery life and the basic features seem like all that I need in a smart watch.
Too bad preordering a device from the US seems iffy at best right now. I'll wait until I know what the actual cost will be with whatever tariffs and alike.
Damn. One of the things I was most frustrated with about the patents and everything being tied up when the OG pebble collapsed. Adding extra room for batteries, GPS, or other modules like solar panels seemed like one of the coolest ways to expand smartwatch capabilities without bulking up the watch part nearly as much.
Probably going to wait to order at least until they have an actual IP rating, but maybe, hopefully, that's something that could come back in the next generation.
Hopefully they do address the IP issue.
I loved my Pebble Time. Wore it daily until I upgraded to a Pixel 6 and it was constantly dropping connection and required so many workarounds to make it work.
This is relatively exciting news!
Something something fuck private APIs (Apple) and bring on Sherman.
Sadly, that's the reason my wife won't be buying one for now. She loves Pebble, but she's a stalwart iPhone user.
I'm on android, so I'm considering it. The lack of compass on the full colour version with a heart rate monitor gives me pause.
If not for the private APIs limiting two way communication, I'd consider going back to a pebble.
The Android UX makes me just unhappy enough to stay away—even though there are distros that have the delightful benefit of not tying me to big tech. So tempting. But I'm already handcuffed to Apple... 🙄
I love Pebble and was early in on it. I've got two OGs and one 2HR. I hope they aren't using those terrible buttons from the 2HR that crumble after a year or so of use.
Good to have them back in the game. Props to the Rebble crew for their work all these years keeping the dream alive.
Anybody else wondering why they named a model after an Intel CPU?
- The first new Pebble smartwatches are coming later this year, The Verge
This does feel like a terrible naming idea. The last association I made with "Core 2 Duo" was "outdated and slow". These aren't good connotations to be bringing to mind with your product. Perhaps their intention is to reclaim the phrase, in some way, but I don't think they wield that sort of influence, frankly.