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A New Face for Pebble

blog.getpebble.com

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Re: A New Face for Pebble

#81

Post by brazzledazzle »

djrogers wrote: post #39
irl_zebra wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry if I was unclear. Basically, I meant to say that for Apple Watch owners that I know personally, they're able to get through a 24-hour period, but since the watch would be dead the next day, they charge at night. Which in my opinion makes the watch essentially useless for sleep tracking unless you charge mid-day at the office or something.

Makes it convenient that the watch was never marketed, promoted, or sold as a sleep tracking aid... That said, @_davidsmith 's new sleep tracking app for wOS2 is quite nice, and I found that his charging strategy does the trick - https://david-smith.org/blog/2015/09/21/how-to-wear-your-app... I only needed 15-20 min in the morning and evening to get to all day usability.

Does that charging strategy have any impact on the battery's life? I know batteries are rated for a certain number of recharge cycles but I don't know enough about the technology to know if multiple partial recharges have a neutral or negative impact.

Re: A New Face for Pebble

#83

Post by jammur »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #79
aetherson wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That all sounds right, except... I don't think that the Apple Watch or at least some Android Wear watches are aimed at a "geeky" audience. And I don't think that anyone has found anything more compelling than "receive notifications" to use Apple or Android watches for.

Indeed. In my personal not so humble opinion, it's Pebble that leads the actually smart watch pack; Apple Watch and Android Wear are shiny toys for non-geeks who like fitness. It saddens me that Pebble seems to turn toward this audience. Not that mind "normal people" having their toys, it's just that Pebble seeed to be the only company that tried to make a tool .

What does Pebble do that Apple Watch or Android Wear doesn't? I know many more "geeks" with Apple Watch or Android Wear than Pebble.

Re: A New Face for Pebble

#84

Post by mikestew »

Ugh. Now, I've been a big fan of Pebble, and a two-time backer (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9101787), but I'm skipping this one. Truth be told, I'm not even particularly happy with my current Pebble Time/Time Steel. The screen still has a huge bezel around it, and the colors don't pop nearly like they did in the pictures. In fact, I'd describe the new color screen as a bit washed out. Voice replies and quick replies don't work on iOS (I know what the reason is, and I don't care because that was a listed feature when they wanted money).

The new ones are delicate, too. I've got an actual scratch on both the bezel and screen on the Time (thankfully, a screen protector covers that up) from just brushing against a wall. The Time Steel has a scuff on the bezel from who knows what.

Now we have the option to have even a bigger bezel, and the battery life has been cut to about the same as Pebble's competitors. Might as well buy an Apple or Android watch (or Microsoft Band, if that's your thing). And were I to buy another smartwatch, Apple is what I'd buy. For $100 more, all of the advertised features work, and the battery life isn't all that much worse. Or if I just wanted notifications, one of the Garmin devices, which I could also use to go running without toting a phone.

For the moment, Pebble's remaining advantages are price and battery life if you don't get the round one. And Garmin can meet or beat them on both right now, depending on one's need of other features. I'm interested to see what the next version has to offer, because it better be a big jump if they're going to stay competitive.

Re: A New Face for Pebble

#85

Post by chockablock »

Someone1234 wrote: post #62
djrogers wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And about 1/5th of the "I've strapped a toy can of dog food on my wrist" from the 360's thickness...

What's interesting to me, is that people are starting to forget how thick mechanical watches were. Here's a Rolex[0] (Sea-Dweller 4000). Here's a Moto 360[1]. And now instead of holding eWatches to the same standard as mechanicals, it has turned into another thickness race. [0] https://imgur.com/TVroPQp [1] https://imgur.com/Vbve1pq

I'm not choosing between a Rolex and a smartwatch; I'm choosing between a smartwatch and nothing.

Re: A New Face for Pebble

#86

Post by nostromo »

kozukumi wrote: post #48
anujdeshpande wrote: post #15

This is very weird tbh I mean you just shipped thousands of people something And now you announce something which makes that look old. It's scary to own something from a company like this. Am i to understand that I wont be getting updates on my Pebble Time in the near future because there is a new kid on the block ?

You realise you are posting on Hacker News not the Daily Mail yes? This is a heavily technology focused community and in the wonderful world of technology things change. Quickly. Complaining about a new product coming out is quite baffling to me. Perhaps your post would make sense if they had announced they were only going to develop and support this product going forward but they didn't so I find your post quite out…

It's a fair criticism. They even felt the need to address it in their announcement.

If Apple released a new Apple Watch tomorrow, early adopters would feel cheated and may think twice about buying future products so quickly.

The Kickstarter approach exacerbates this problem. I understand that many people that bought the last Pebble product don't even have it in their hands yet.

Re: A New Face for Pebble

#87

Post by Animats »

There's no excuse for it not being waterproof to at least the 1m level. What's their problem? It doesn't need to be openable. The previous models were not. Just seal it up permanently, preferably under dry nitrogen so it can't corrode inside.

Re: A New Face for Pebble

#88

Post by fra »

tiles wrote: post #2

Will these still support Smart Straps?

They do, albeit the different strap size(s) will make it a bit more complicated to make cross-compatible smartstraps. Hardware APIs are tricky!

Re: A New Face for Pebble

#89

Post by djsumdog »

jammur wrote: post #83
TeMPOraL wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. In my personal not so humble opinion, it's Pebble that leads the actually smart watch pack; Apple Watch and Android Wear are shiny toys for non-geeks who like fitness. It saddens me that Pebble seems to turn toward this audience. Not that mind "normal people" having their toys, it's just that Pebble seeed to be the only company that tried to make a tool .

What does Pebble do that Apple Watch or Android Wear doesn't? I know many more "geeks" with Apple Watch or Android Wear than Pebble.

It doesn't really do anything the other two don't. The bid difference that I think people are trying to state is that no one really uses any of those other features. Not really.

Pebble gives you notifications, time ... new ones give you heart rate monitors (I think?). You don't get those other features no one else cares about, but you do get like five days of battery life.

I'm still on my Pebble Steel and I still really like it. I even saw one in a retail store in Ireland today. Was kinda weird.

Re: A New Face for Pebble

#90

Post by djsumdog »

pfooti wrote: post #44
oniony wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new Time Round has a two day battery life, FYI. Even more reason to not buy it.

Woah, two days? I missed that in the description. Yep, not going to get one of those at all.

Two days and not waterproof! What's the point? Plus I bet most apps will still display in a square box on the screen for quite some time.
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