Pebble smartwatch founder is launching a smaller-scale, open source reboot
- Thread starter JournalBot
- Start date
I missed out on Pebble the first time, but always thought it seemed nifty and very wholesome. While not holding my breath it's unexpected and kind of exciting to see that they might be revived
Upvote
56
(57
/
-1)
Would be great if he was able to get https://smallandroidphone.com/ to market too…
Upvote
20
(22
/
-2)
I was an original Pebble Kickstarter backer. Now I have a Pixel Watch 3 XL.
I liked my Pebble...12 years ago. Today? No, I wouldn't make that trade. At the very least, it's going to need much nicer hardware. A nice glass and metal body, withna crisp, clear screen as close to that watch glass as possible. An off the shelf e-ink screen buried 3mm behind some injection molded plastic isn't going to cut it today.
I liked my Pebble...12 years ago. Today? No, I wouldn't make that trade. At the very least, it's going to need much nicer hardware. A nice glass and metal body, withna crisp, clear screen as close to that watch glass as possible. An off the shelf e-ink screen buried 3mm behind some injection molded plastic isn't going to cut it today.
Upvote
32
(62
/
-30)
I was given a Samsung smartwatch for my birthday last year, and while I find it useful, it's honestly just too much. I've disabled most of its health and fitness stuff, toned down notifications, and figured out how to sideload useless apps to it for fun, so a Pebble sounds like it would fit me much better.
Upvote
59
(61
/
-2)
The Pebble Time Round is the best watch I've ever had.
Yeah the battery was small but it was beautiful and light and tiny.
I haven't been able to use a smart watch since my last Pebble died. I tried the Fossil Hybrids, but they are just to heavy in comparison.
Yeah the battery was small but it was beautiful and light and tiny.
I haven't been able to use a smart watch since my last Pebble died. I tried the Fossil Hybrids, but they are just to heavy in comparison.
Upvote
36
(36
/
0)
"Apple has limited the functionality of third-party smartwatches so that users who purchase the Apple Watch face substantial out-of-pocket costs if they do not keep buying iPhones."
There's the Silicon Valley oligopolistic market distortions we know and... know.
There's the Silicon Valley oligopolistic market distortions we know and... know.
Upvote
82
(85
/
-3)
Did anyone suggest kicking your door down and taking your Casio?
Upvote
94
(104
/
-10)
I think you missed a couple of iterations after the OG.
The Pebble Steel is exactly what you're describing, and it was my all-time favorite smartwatch. If they release an identical model with smaller bezels, it's an instabuy from me.
Upvote
87
(87
/
0)
Heck my current Seiko watch is solar powered, so no batteries being replaced and thrown out every few years.
And with watches becoming more a fashion piece than a strict necessity a mechanical watch won't have any consumables at all and is powered by you, either via manual winding or on some watches an automatic wind rotor that winds it as you wear it. The lower accuracy compared to quartz matters less as an accessory than the old days when it was your primary time source on the go
Upvote
44
(44
/
0)
And that fact is such a bummer. If this does come to fruition I hope they find a way to do the basic integrations
Upvote
3
(3
/
0)
What I'd like is an e-ink display, a solar cell ring, integrated capacitors, and no battery.
Nice-to-haves would be bluetooth and/or NFC communication via open standards, a few hardware buttons, and possibly ANT integration (so the body sensors go in a dedicated piece of hardware separate from the watch, and the watch is limited to displaying notifications and acting as a mobile remote.
Nice-to-haves would be bluetooth and/or NFC communication via open standards, a few hardware buttons, and possibly ANT integration (so the body sensors go in a dedicated piece of hardware separate from the watch, and the watch is limited to displaying notifications and acting as a mobile remote.
Upvote
8
(13
/
-5)
or a replacable solar charged button cell like most solar quartz watches. Make it easily serviced like a regular watch
Upvote
18
(19
/
-1)
I personally think that the bigger "14 day" battery in the Fossil hybrids justifies the extra weight, but it's academic now that Fossil has exited the smartwatch game.
I'll keep an eye on RePebble, though. If they do a hybrid or an attractive modernization of the "Time Round" I'll be interested.
Upvote
16
(16
/
0)
Just your friendly reminder too that wearing a watch every day can be good for your productivity. I've seen a bunch of stories recently of people, often younger but not always, finding that wearing a watch and not relying on their phone for the time helps keep better awareness of the time, notice time being wasted, and just keep on time in general.
And there's as plenty of nice but budget watches out there for the watch curious. Heck I regularly use a $50 Timex Easy Reader that's often on sale for about $30 and includes both day and date features along with Indiglow for low light viewing for when I don't want to worry about banging around my nicer watch on the weekends
And there's as plenty of nice but budget watches out there for the watch curious. Heck I regularly use a $50 Timex Easy Reader that's often on sale for about $30 and includes both day and date features along with Indiglow for low light viewing for when I don't want to worry about banging around my nicer watch on the weekends
Upvote
14
(24
/
-10)
I had a Pebble Time a couple to few years ago (since sold, I didn't get into it until long after the brand's assimilation and discontinuation) and it has been my favorite watch by far and that face with the smiley and current weather conditions was a great whimsical and useful blend.
The closest I got to that smartwatch nirvana was a Garmin Instinct but it's notification handling and UX left so much to be desired compared to Pebble.
I know iOS doesn't allow the integration allowed to Apple Watches but the Pebble paired with the app on my iPhone worked great. Notifications from apps I wanted as opposed to Garmin's all-or-nothing notification proposition.
Ultimately, I decided no watch was the way to go but this has a shot of getting me to put something on my wrist again.
The closest I got to that smartwatch nirvana was a Garmin Instinct but it's notification handling and UX left so much to be desired compared to Pebble.
I know iOS doesn't allow the integration allowed to Apple Watches but the Pebble paired with the app on my iPhone worked great. Notifications from apps I wanted as opposed to Garmin's all-or-nothing notification proposition.
Ultimately, I decided no watch was the way to go but this has a shot of getting me to put something on my wrist again.
Last edited:
Upvote
9
(9
/
0)
So long as this stays out of the controlling death hands of google, samsung, or any other big corp, I'd be interested else forgetaboutit. I don't need a Swiss army knife on my wrist, a simple digital watch will do, or I'll just stick to an og Swatch or nothing at all and just keep pulling my phone outta my pocket as I've been doing for years now.
Upvote
21
(21
/
0)
Wonder if they're going to have good quality hardware this time around. My OG Pebble was ... not good ... from a reliability standpoint. Replaced 4 times under warranty for the tearing effect on the screen
Upvote
9
(11
/
-2)
I had an OG pebble, loved it! Will probably get a new Pebble too...
Although reading his blog post, I realised that most of the things I loved about my Pebble, have been fulfilled by my Garmin Fenix!
(Not as hackable as the Pebble I assume though)
More competition in the market is always welcome!
Although reading his blog post, I realised that most of the things I loved about my Pebble, have been fulfilled by my Garmin Fenix!
- Non-emissive MIPS screen
- HUGE 20+ day battery life
- Buttons! All the buttons!
- And you can even program your own apps to boot!
(Not as hackable as the Pebble I assume though)
More competition in the market is always welcome!
Upvote
23
(23
/
0)
Sounds good to me. I don't know why people would want a screen on their watch that's more geared for Youtube than being a watch. (Same for the innards.) And being a watch means having enough battery life to be on when I look at it, all the time, and not require charging every night while we're at it.
Upvote
14
(15
/
-1)
If it can give me good health tracking and functionality and have a battery that doesn't need to be charged every 30 hours "or else", I'm down like a clown.
Upvote
5
(6
/
-1)
After Pebble went tits up I went Garmin, then Apple Watch, now back to Garmin. I also still wear my old Seiko 5 mechanical from time to time. Consider it like touching grass, but as a watch. I'd totally be down for an open source Pebble to add to the stable.
Upvote
11
(11
/
0)
I've gone through two smart watches, both dying within two years of purchase and no longer able to hold a charge ever again. Meanwhile, my ancient "Timex" watch I got as a teen with it's simple "CR2032" battery is still perfectly usable and I only need to physically replace that battery every 7 or 8 years, and it's STILL water resistant while allowing me to do just that.
Don't get me wrong. Being able to quickly James Bond my way through incoming messages and voice commands and the like is great and I do miss it. But, unless and until I can easily replace the battery in a smart watch with a reliable industry standardized part by just unscrewing the back with my jeweler's kit sized screwdriver, I'm not going to waste money on something like this again. Fool me twice... um... you're not gonna fool me again!
Don't get me wrong. Being able to quickly James Bond my way through incoming messages and voice commands and the like is great and I do miss it. But, unless and until I can easily replace the battery in a smart watch with a reliable industry standardized part by just unscrewing the back with my jeweler's kit sized screwdriver, I'm not going to waste money on something like this again. Fool me twice... um... you're not gonna fool me again!
Upvote
9
(10
/
-1)
Why is his morality being put to question for Beeper Mini?
Is white-hat (or at least grey) hacking now frowned upon on Ars?
He had clear arguments on why it was not illegal, and Apple did not go after them from a legal standpoint.
Ars was even intrigued enough to look at it, something I doubly they would go into such detail on if it was clearly illegal:
https://meincmagazine.com/gadgets/202...ve-reverse-engineered-imessage-compatibility/
(Having said that, the whole exercise was moot as Apple found a workaround, really not unexpected.)
Upvote
42
(51
/
-9)
I think smartwatches have gotten too complicated. A watch that tells time accurately, has a programmable face, and lasts forever without recharging would be a winner, IMO.
Upvote
7
(12
/
-5)
If you want a hackable smartwatch, consider the PineTime https://pine64.org/devices/pinetime/
Costs less than $30. I have one, battery lasts ages (almost 2 weeks, I think). Does notifications. Allegedly does heart rate & steps, but I had that disabled.
I used it for a couple of months. I liked that it was open and hackable. I disliked that it was fat & ugly, and sometimes notifications got lost.
Now I own a Samsung smart watch. Costs 10x more, and I have to charge every day. But the screen is amazing, it's small, and it "just works" as far as notifications and interactions go. PineTime is in a drawer somewhere...
Costs less than $30. I have one, battery lasts ages (almost 2 weeks, I think). Does notifications. Allegedly does heart rate & steps, but I had that disabled.
I used it for a couple of months. I liked that it was open and hackable. I disliked that it was fat & ugly, and sometimes notifications got lost.
Now I own a Samsung smart watch. Costs 10x more, and I have to charge every day. But the screen is amazing, it's small, and it "just works" as far as notifications and interactions go. PineTime is in a drawer somewhere...
Upvote
2
(6
/
-4)
I do miss my pebble, but mainly for the battery life. I would love an Android Wear watch with an e-ink display, I would have thought that'd get a few days battery life at least.
Upvote
4
(4
/
0)
"Smart watches" sit on your wrist and can be used to tell the time, but that's where the similarities with traditional watches end. They're primarily phone peripherals rather than timekeeping devices.
I primarily use a smart watch for fitness tracking and as an extension of my phone. I can perform most tasks I would use a phone for without actually needing to have my phone with me. In trying to reduce the procrastination potential associated with phone doomscrolling, this is a good thing! Some days, when working from home, I'll go to put my phone on charge at the end of the day and find it's already there because I haven't touched it all day.
I also have a nice collection of mechanical watches (some decades old) I wear for dress purposes. They also sit on the wrist, and also tell the time, but their primary purpose is frankly as jewellery, with timekeeping as an added bonus.
The term "watch" really describes a form-factor as much as it describes functionality. A smart watch, a utilitarian digital watch, and a dress watch are all very different things.
Upvote
17
(18
/
-1)
David Mayer
Ars Centurion
Maybe for you, but if I wanted a smart watch, I would absolutely not give two shits about a metal and glass body or a fancy screen that makes the battery life crap.
Upvote
-10
(7
/
-17)
For me indeed. Thats why I said "I" rather than "you" or "anyone" or "everyone".
Upvote
7
(15
/
-8)
Upvote
11
(11
/
0)
Just two days ago I was talking to a friend about tide watches, and our mutual disappointment with the options available on the market, and I found myself wishing they still made the Pebble, thinking that, if need be, I'd make the darn app myself. This is wonderful news.
Upvote
3
(4
/
-1)