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Hardware

Pebble Unveils Pebble 2, Pebble Time 2, and Pebble Core Smartwatches (kickstarter.com) 77

Posted by msmash from the in-Pebble,-we-trust dept.
Pebble on Tuesday unveiled its latest line of wearable devices. The company announced the Pebble 2 -- a sleeker successor to the company's four-year-old Pebble watch -- and the Pebble Time 2, which comes with a large colour display and steel frame. Both the devices are up on Kickstarter, and scheduled to be shipped later this year. The company also announced the Pebble Core, a square-shaped timepiece which supports 3G, GPS, and Bluetooth connections and lets users stream music using Spotify and make emergency calls without the need of a smartphone. The Pebble 2 and the Pebble Time 2 come equipped with heart-rate sensors, a feature that was missing from the earlier Pebble smartwatches. The Pebble Core runs Android 5.0 Lollipop, and also has a 4GB storage which users can use when they don't have a flash drive in handy. The Pebble 2 is priced at $99, whereas the Pebble Time 2 will cost you $169. The Pebble Core is priced at $69. Pebble's new devices will be up on Kickstarter for 36 days, should you feel the urge to support the company. However, it is worth noting that in within hours, Pebble has received more money than it had asked for.
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Pebble Unveils Pebble 2, Pebble Time 2, and Pebble Core Smartwatches More

Pebble Unveils Pebble 2, Pebble Time 2, and Pebble Core Smartwatches

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  • Bigger display is appealing (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 24, 2016 @12:26PM (#52171855)

    One of the things I don't like about my Pebble Time is how small the display is. More real estate would allow more legible watch faces and apps.

    • The other problem is that while it was really cool at the time, android wear has really caught up and does everything the pebble does with a wider variety of choices of watches and watchfaces.

      The only thing the pebble would still lead at is battery life (assuming it's still as good as it was with the first watch.)

      • Battery life is the entire reason why I bought my Pebble Time in the last kickstarter.

        People who wear watches that need daily charging are either:
        1. People who take their fitness seriously - not applicable anymore with the Pebble Time 2 with the new heart rate monitor.
        2. Tossers who love showing off their smart watch and the Pebble's dimmer (but entirely usable) screen isn't suited for that.

  • Pray you get your watch around December or January. I was one of the very first to get in on pebble time steel and mine did not show until late October.

    Just in time for them to announce, "your newwatch is obsolete! get the round one!"

    I have since walked away to the land of apple watch as they still do not have voice control on pebble working for ios nor any text responses.

  • smartwatches (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Phusion ( 58405 ) on Tuesday May 24, 2016 @12:32PM (#52171893)
    I was really excited when the Pebble was first announced. I was tired of taking my phone out of my pocket for every little message/alert and when I wanted to know the time. It was sleek, lightweight and seemed to have support for my iPhone. I never ended up buying one, mostly because I couldn't afford it or justify buying one, as it's kind of a luxury, I guess. This new model looks even sweeter, I might have to buy one. I don't think I have any use for the Pebble Core, but I think the Pebble guys got the smart watch right, unlike a certain fruit based company that made a mostly useless, but fashionable piece of hardware. It looks great in photos, but in real life, on your wrist, I think it's not very impressive, or useful. I hope these start shipping sooner than later so I can give it a whirl.

  • The screen is too dim.

  • Smartwatches are the 2016 equivalent to walking around with a bluetooth in your ear 24/7.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by geek ( 5680 )

      Smartwatches are the 2016 equivalent to walking around with a bluetooth in your ear 24/7.

      I used to agree. I tried a pebble and liked it but the apps suck and it lacked a heart rate monitor. I ended up getting a Garmin Vivosmart HR which works as a watch/fitness tracker with notifications from my phone and some basic stuff like weather etc. I love it. I actually took it off for a week because my wrist was getting irritated and I noticed the difference of not having notifications on my wrist. I wear slightly baggy pants and keep my phone in my pocket. I rarely feel it vibrate and I prefer to not

      • I have had an LG Urbane for a year and IMO it is not that heavy and is decent looking when viewed as just a watch. There are lots of fancy faces available but I use a simple analog one that shows the next calendar item.

        I

      • Have any of them actually gotten hart rate working correctly, or are they all approximations based on vaso-dilation or some such, like fitbit?

    • Smartwatches are the 2016 equivalent to walking around with a bluetooth in your ear 24/7.

      Yeah, everyone knows bluetooth implants are the way to go.

  • For their first device, sure. But at this point they're an established business - why should anyone basically just give them free money?

    I see the point from Pebble's perspective - they are trying to avoid directly competing in the marketplace. But why would anyone buy into it?

  • Is a rip of a 1940's comic strip tech.

    I wonder if it'll be able to play lemmings.

  • this is what a smartwatch is supposed to be (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Espectr0 ( 577637 ) on Tuesday May 24, 2016 @12:53PM (#52172047) Journal

    wonderful 7 to 10 day battery. easy to read screen. built in health monitoring. excellent price. my only complain is that they didn't announce a steel model, which i still use. If i use a display that only updates once per minute and no notifications, battery lasts 2 weeks.

    • Steel model (Score:3, Informative)

      by phorm ( 591458 )

      I was wondering about the steel model myself, but looking at the specs it appears that the Time 2 is steel, though with a standard plastic band out of the box.

      The description near the top of "about this project" on the kickstarter [kickstarter.com] says:
      "A premium heart rate enable stainless-steel smartwatch with an updated color display"

      My current pebble supports standard watch bands, so I'd imagine the Time 2 will also. I've ordered a Time 2 and will just get a nice steel band for it (or take one off of one of my older wat

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by T.E.D. ( 34228 )

      If i use a display that only updates once per minute and no notifications, battery lasts 2 weeks.

      I've got one ("Very Fuzzy") that only updates about every 10 minutes. Right now the time reads "one or so".

      It sounds silly (and it is), but its also very functional. Its very rare when I check the time that I actually want more precision than that.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hey! ( 33014 )

      And, if the original is anything to go by, terrible build quality. Mine had screen tearing practically from the day it was out of warranty, and when I looked into it this was a *very* common problem, and by design the thing is impossible to repair.

      Otherwise I liked my Pebble; it was ugly as sin but functional. But I'll wouldn't buy another one from the company, particularly not one of the more expensive ones, unless they come with a three year warranty. I hate buying stuff that that ends up getting tosse

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Wizarth ( 785742 )

        I agree the screen tearing issue with the Pebble OG really sucks (although to be fair, it's plausible it didn't show up in QA, since it's an interaction with the case slightly changing shape after multiple warm/cool cycles). Given that it's been fixed with the Time models, I assume it's also fixed for the 2's.

        Fortunately for me, I'm in Australia, where it's law to have a minimum 2 year warranty.

    • I have both an Apple Watch, and a Pebble Time (the last color model). The Apple Watch is much easier to read, even in direct sunlight - eiInk is a nice idea but is low contrast. Indoors even with the backlight I found the eInk super hard to read.

      The newer Time at least has a larger display, perhaps it will be easier to read than the first model.

      I figure with as much money as they have pledged already, they will for sure do a steel model.

      • i don't have a color model, but i can tell you that my steel actually reads BETTER in direct sunlight

        • They both read better in direct sunlight than indoors. But they also both do not read as well as the Apple Watch which has a very bright display... the Apple Watch is of course not always on, which is a downside. But at least I can read it anywhere. Indoors I found the Time just about hopeless, even with the backlight on!

  • As much as I want to like Pebble, I just can't get behind their aesthetics. I feel this is an issue about most smart watches in general, but Pebble with their shape, bands, and plastic casings feel particularly toy-like in my opinion. I would love to see their screen technology in a more formal form. Their metal line is a step in the right direction, but still has a ways to go before I'd wear one to work.

    • Re:Still Looks Like a Toy (Score:4, Informative)

      by Espectr0 ( 577637 ) on Tuesday May 24, 2016 @01:11PM (#52172173) Journal

      my pebble steel (black) looks classy with my long sleeve shirt and tie. sadly no steel product was announced today, all other models do look as toys as you stated.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        The Time 2's are all "marine grade stainless steel". They've consolidated the Time/Time Steel into a single line.

        • It doesn't come with a steel bracelet, so it is still plastic to me. I know i can buy a separate one, but i shouldn't need to

  • This is the interesting thing that kind of jumped out at me, perhaps because I've been known to tether a tablet to a phone via Bluetooth for lower power consumption.

    This is starting to move towards the Personal Area Network, where you have one device with Internet access (phone or Core) sharing it via Bluetooth with other devices you're wearing (watch, Google Glass, etc.).

  • Interesting (Score:4, Interesting)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Tuesday May 24, 2016 @01:59PM (#52172683)

    If you look at the videos, all of the devices seem kind of large still.

    But the devices obviously have a draw to them, already nearly $3 million and just started. It's amazing how they can keep going back to the Kickstarter well, and pull up another bucks filled past the brim with cool clear funding.

    I have to admit that even though I have the Time and ended up preferring the Apple Watch instead, I like the ideas Pebble has and the directions they are taking the product. Especially the pebble core seems like an interesting idea, almost like a portable Amazon Echo - the only thing I think is a mistake there is it should also have some kind of heart monitor, if they really mean for it to be used in exercise.

    I' considering getting the Time 2 and the Core, but it;s nice to see Pebble will carry on whatever I decide.

  • Core Departure (Score:4, Insightful)

    by T.E.D. ( 34228 ) on Tuesday May 24, 2016 @02:07PM (#52172763)

    The others are just new generations of Pebbles. The Core however is something altogether different.

    It looks like a device to take the whole "talking to the network" functionality off of your "phone" and put it into is own displayless device. The implication of this is that there's now no need to "upgrade" this component constantly. The only time you'd need a new one is when there's a newer faster cell network tech you want to connect to. But even when that happens, its only a $69 upgrade.

    If you want to do stuff like run apps, or surf the web, you can do that with a separate device, which you can "upgrade" whenever you want a new display technology. That device could have the form-factor of a phone, or a full-blown tablet, or something in-between. Whatever you want. But it now has nothing to do with a cell carrier whatsoever. The Cell carrier only interacts with your $69 Core unit.

    This completely changes the way we (well, I at least) think about cellurlar tech. Its going to take some time to fully wrap my head around it.

    • The Pebble Core looks really interesting to me.

      In a previous article discussing diabetes I posted wishing there was a Glucometer that could push data directly over Wifi. Unfortunately they only go over Bluetooth.

      This Pebble Core could be a cheap, hackable, interim solution to what I was looking for. My young son is a Type 1 Diabetic, and I would love to receive alerts that he is actually checking his glucose levels when he is supposed to. This is small enough I could clip it to his backpack when he goes off

    • I've occasionally thought one feature that would be cool (but not necessary) to have in a fitness smartwatch is live network connectivity. I think the biggest reason it's not being done is that it would increase the physical size, and drain the battery. The core looks like a great compromise. I definitely think this is the kind of thing that will only appeal to the early-adopter kind of tech geeks. In a few years, either people will either decide it's a silly, unnecessary feature, or else the tech will have

  • The Pebble Core is the big news to me... Looks to me like the start of adding 3G to the watch so a Cell is no longer needed at all. Will be interesting to see if it ends up as being part of a watch band. Also wonder if it would pair with the older Pebbles... (Bet it will...)

  • For the Time 2 early bird, as of 11:15 there are "514 left of 10000" and I also discovered that this will set me back $169 plus another $15 for shipping.

    I was going to jump on this but I couldn't find the formal specifications concerning watch dimensions, number of pixels, amount of storage. The early bird will be gone by the time I have this purchase fully triangulated, but I guess that's a formal element of the Kickstarter business model.

    Once the early bird is gone, the discount for buying sight-unseen be

  • They need to put the GPS into the watch. Do that and I'll bite.

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