Pebble Time Smartwatch

[Bert]

What? No Elgin watch??
I used to have one that controlled tvs and sterios remotely. Turned on VCRs and televisions with it.
Made a couple of boring briefings more interesting with it..
About the fourth battery in, it quit. Took it in and the jeweler said I was wasting my time with it.

 

[goofyone]

As I wrote above I love all kinds of watches and my interest in smart watches is definitely not new.

My first 'smart' watch was my first Casio Databank calculator watch in the later 1980's which was not only a calculator but could also store appointments, names, addresses, and phone numbers.

From the mid 1990's through the mid 2000's I owned a series of Timex Datalink watches which communicated with a computer in various ways to upload data to the watch. The two on the left have a little optical sensor which started out reading a sequence of flashing symbols on a computer monitor and then a series of flashes from a little LED bulb which was connected to a computer's USB port. The one on the right was the first of this series which could be connected to a USB port directly to upload data to the watch.

In the mid 2000's I also tried a Fossil wrist PDA running PalmOS

In late 2010 I purchased a Fashion S9110 smartphone watch which was huge and really sucked to use but was pretty cool.

Finally in 2012 I backed the original Pebble on Kickstarter which arrived in early 2013 and I have been using it ever since as it was the first, and so far only, smart watch I have found which is truly great to use as a daily wear watch.

 

[CheeseheadEarl]

G1, I'm a caveman. Want to explain some smart watch functions? Pretty sure I don't need one, but maybe there's a purpose I don't see.

 

[RUCRAYZE]

Iwatch,(of which there are many models/finishes,size and bands including a5k gold ) will, as with all the recent tech tools. blow the competition away with it's introduction in the next few months. Yep, base price@$349 is high, but you get what you pay for. Including materials, design, and a new touch/pressure membrane - totally intuitive (as per apple)AND it looks beautiful!! Personally, I only use a fitbit- I'm retired keeping track of days is more important than the time!!
IX:II (early in)

 

[JEBar]

OK, when it comes to many things, I'm cheap .... the only watch I've worn for many years is a Timex Ironman .... well over a year ago the hole for the pin that secures the band to the watch wallowed out .... the watch still worked , no way I was going to spend the money for a new one .... a drill bit and section of paper clip took care of the problem.... since then I have had to add another paper clip but its still the watch I wear every day

 

[Chaz]

I have over 40 watches ranging from Rolex to Timex. I want a watch for one thing time. I have a Seiko that uses GPS to tell time which is as smart a watch as I will ever get. Unless of course my phone could be replaced completely like Dick Tracy's watch. I just don't see the point, I don't like using my smart phone. Why replace something that has soul like a mechanical watch with a display that is so small I would have to put on my reading glasses to see it. i would also miss the comforting tic.

 

[goofyone]

Iwatch,(of which there are many models/finishes,size and bands including a5k gold ) will, as with all the recent tech tools. blow the competition away with it's introduction in the next few months. Yep, base price@$349 is high, but you get what you pay for. Including materials, design, and a new touch/pressure membrane - totally intuitive (as per apple)AND it looks beautiful!! Personally, I only use a fitbit- I'm retired keeping track of days is more important than the time!!
IX:II (early in)

I believe the Apple watch will sell a lot of units as Apple is good at leveraging their installed base to buy something like this. However while it does look nice it is not the most handsome smartwatch as that title belongs currently to the LG Watch Urbane. The Apple watch will also suffer from the basic problem which afflicts all current smartwatches, other than the Pebble, which is that it will fail at simply being a watch which is what it needs to be first to make it worth keeping it on your wrist.

The biggest deal breaker for most people will be the simple fact that the Apple watch will barely last through a day before the battery dies. This means it will need to be charged every night but unlike your cell phone it takes a special dedicated charger to charge the watch and you can not use the watch while it is charging so if you fail to charge it you now no longer have a working timepiece on your wrist. To 'help' with its dismal battery life Apple has already said the screen will not always be on and users will have to shake their wrist or press the button dial to activate it which means it takes more effort to read the time on the several hundred dollar Apple watch than a disposable dollar store watch. Apple has said the watch will be splashproof however if you submerse it in liquid or run too much water over it then the watch will die unlike that dollar store watch again which you can actually wear while washing your hands without worrying about killing it. Then there is also the simple fact that no matter how intuitive Apple makes the interface they are simply trying to do too much on a tiny 1.5" screen which will make aspects of using it quite annoying.

As I wrote these issues are not unique to Apple and are shared by many other smartwatches which has lead to a return rate of 30%+ being common. So far most smartwatches which are not returned end up collecting dust after the novelty wears off and their shortcomings become increasingly apparent with the biggest shortcoming being the need to charge the watch every night. From everything I have read Apple has made many of the same mistakes and I would bet even though the watch sells well it ends up suffering the same fate. To me it will be really interesting to see what Apple does next year.

The most telling thing about the current smart watch market is that at the end of 2014 when the review sites did their best of 2014 smartwatch comparisons they almost unanimously picked the Pebble. This is even more amazing considering the Pebble was designed about two years before the watches it was compared to and only received an exterior design refresh with the software and functionality remaining exactly the same as the original model.

 

[goofyone]

G1, I'm a caveman. Want to explain some smart watch functions? Pretty sure I don't need one, but maybe there's a purpose I don't see.

Unless you are an always connected type of person and/or simply enjoy technology, which from what you wrote you are likely neither, then a smart watch is not for you. Some people think they would want one as a phone replacement however unless you also carry a headset you would actually look pretty stupid talking to your watch. I enjoy watches, and smartwatches in particular, however I am just sharing my experience and not trying to push smartwatches onto everyone as in my opinion they are not a good fit for many people or even most people.

I love my Pebble smartwatch because it actually functions as a basic timepiece, which as I have written is for many reasons unusual for a smartwatch, and it also keeps me from having to look at my smartphone all the time simply to read the notifications. While this may not sound like much to many people for anyone who is a busy smartphone user you simply do not realize just how much time you waste checking your phone until you have a smartwatch and the important notifications come to you whether the actual phone is on you or 50 feet away.

 

[CheeseheadEarl]

Thanks. This one will work a while longer for me. Currently counting down the time till I turn the wood stove back down after filling. I like my smart phone, but am not tied to it 24-7 like some I know. I actually forget it at home sometimes and manage to survive every time.

 

[Ty]

The current pre-order price for the new Pebble Time watch is $189 including shipping. The retail price when it becomes available at retail will be $199. The first generation Pebble watches are currently available in plastic for $99 or metal for $199.

I understand about many people not being interested in a smart watch and the fact is that most people are not likely to want one. Despite the current hype surrounding this area from my experience I believe that, for at least the near future, smart watches will only appeal to a limited market as I have found that there are several basic issues which will prevent wider adoption. Smart watches are still not very mature as a product which results in most current smart watches actually creating additional distraction and additional annoyance in users lives with little in return. When compared to nicer watches smart watches are not expensive however when compared to the more common Timex or Casio smart watches are more expensive than these watches most people use. There is also the simple fact that a large portion of the population simply does not wear watches and I just do not see most of these people being likely to begin doing so simply because a watch is 'smart'. Finally we reach the fact that many people simply do not care about having access to notifications and information at all times and there is nothing wrong with that but it does make these people highly unlikely to own a smart watch.

You know, I've followed electronic ink back when Millennium Plastics pioneered it... (that stock did me no good) and bought the first generation Kindle... I love those things... Everyone in my family has 2 - one tablet for play and an electronic ink version for reading as that eInk is SO much better for reading. I like the new color eInk and have wondered why we haven't seen a color version of the Kindle (not the tablets with the LED, but a real eInk color screen).
I don't understand why an established company has to use kickstarter. I thought that was supposed to be to help get ideas off the ground. Maybe I just don't understand it but what keeps Ford from doing a kickstarter campaign for the next Mustang for instance?