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Pebble's next step

blog.getpebble.com

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Re: Pebble's next step

#371

Post by this-dang-guy »

darklajid wrote: post #331
tw04 wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like I'm starting to sound like a fanboy - but it's because I've had other smart watches and it's just so much better . Why not consider garmin? Not sure if their SDK is going to hit the mark as I'm guessing you want complete control and it's definitely not that, but they have everything else you've asked for. https://developer.garmin.com/connect-iq/sdk/

Well, they're three times the price. That's a bit hard to swallow, honestly. A Pebble is a nice gadget. The Garmin (looking at garmin.com, clicking the first thing that looks like a watch) is close to a month of rent. I believe you when you state that you're satisfied. On the other hand, I really don't feel that this is in the Pebble replacement league.

The fenix 3 does look nice, and 2 weeks battery in 'smartwatch' mode is a reasonable amount.

Been badly burned by Garmin in the past, but maybe I'll take a look. They seem to be competing with Suunto, but without that ridiculous iOS only thing.

Re: Pebble's next step

#372

Post by this-dang-guy »

KallDrexx wrote: post #319
nathan_f77 wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Check out the Vector Watch [1]. It's a monochromatic smart watch with 30 days of battery life. [1] http://vectorwatch.com/

I have a Vector watch and really enjoy it, but I was also going for more of a watch with some smart features rather than a full on smart watch.

That is exactly the sort of watch I'm looking at. It's a watch first, a smartwatch second - those notifications look ideal.

How does it hold up "out there" in the real world? Is it too focused on the suit/office crowd?

Re: Pebble's next step

#373

Post by djsumdog »

Fnoord wrote: post #237
hedora wrote: post #226

Tldr: FitBit acquires( ) bankrupt pebble, lays of 60% of staff, cancels all pebble product lines. FitBit also cancels the warranties on already sold pebbles. FitBit may also have stiffed some holders of $27m of pebble's debt. ( ) due to legal shenanigans we must not call this an acquisition or an acqui-hire. Also, FitBit didn't do those things, a shell company created by this deal did, which is totally different some…

> When things like this happen, I always hope that consumers that got screwed over by the deal (and people that hear about it) avoid the acquiring company after the fact. If they treat pebble customers like this, how will they treat their own customers later? Well, the CEO of Pebble Technology, Corp is joining YC. Also, the services aren't shutting down right away. If everyone gets their money back, the major downsid…

The trouble is all the apps come via the services. I hope they release some tools so you can at least install all the watchfaces; maybe give their repo/archives over to archive.org or some other entity that can at least maintain what's there even if you can't add anything new.

This is the trouble with everything hosted in "the cloud" or where you have apps that need to be downloaded. If the company and distribution platform goes away, your device can become useless (or require way more effort to get working).

It's like trying to play an old MMORPG you paid for years ago, but is gone today.

Re: Pebble's next step

#374

Post by delecti »

mikestew wrote: post #265
captainmuon wrote: post #64

I'm quite angry. This sucks so bad. I "ordered" a Time 2 via Kickstarter. I'm glad they are refunding me, but that makes me think... WTF, did they not produce any Time 2's? Or are they all going to the landfill? How long have they been knowing that they are going to be insolvent? This doesn't happen overnight! Was the last Kickstarter a gamble? Why does everybody have to aim for total market dominance to be successfu…

I don't want to hit a person while they're down (in the dumps about their "purchase"), but going to Kickstarter for version 3 was my sign to give it a rest on buying Pebbles. Maybe it was just marketing, but it caused me to wonder "have you not made enough profit to support rolling out your third version without outside backing?" If it finally hit retail, great, I might get one then. But in the meantime I bought a Ga…

> have you not made enough profit to support rolling out your third version without outside backing

I interpreted it more as a way to build hype around pre-orders for something that wouldn't come out for a while. In light of them going under, your explanation seems to gain some support, but I still wonder if they were also using Kickstarter as a hype builder and pre-order managment system.

Re: Pebble's next step

#375

Post by jtmarmon »

Ezhik wrote: post #363
wenbin wrote: post #317

Just read previous posts on https://blog.getpebble.com/ . Man, you really can't tell whether a startup is doing well or not from outside. Everything's AWESOME all the time: * Oct 31, 2016: Get Spooky with Halloween Pebble Faces! * Oct 18, 2016: What’s New in Pebble’s 4.2 Firmware and Apps * Oct 05, 2016: Pebble 2: Fit & Smart * Sep 30, 2016: Pebble 2 Kickstarter Rewards Start Shipping * Sep 14, 2016: Pebble Core = Mo…

Apparently if they don't blog for a while, things are bad.

"Going bankrupt" canary

Re: Pebble's next step

#376

Post by vnchr »

scblock wrote: post #329

Considering that Pebble is stopping product development, cancelling orders, ending warranties, ending support, and essentially completely shutting down I find the positive tone of this post and the Kickstarter update post to be nearly unbelievable. I know we see plenty of "our incredible journey" posts filled with optimism, but euphemistic language and dozens of photos of watches and happy people and more watches is…

They might have gotten a relatively lucrative deal with FitBit by way of an asset sale with hiring bonuses for transitioning staff, enough for them to abandon their current efforts without any sort of Hail Mary fundraising or outreach to their customer base. This doesn't seem like an act of desperation to me, and if that's the case then they would have to down-play internal celebration since such a deal negatively impacts their user base. As for Fitbit, they don't have to honor warranties or fulfill orders for Pebble if they scrap the company while still getting what they want. They are competitors, so even if Pebble had strong cash flows worth maintaining, it's still a competing product line they might have eventually consolidated. Cut out the middle man. Buy the assets you want to keep. Avoid the liabilities. Tell customers whatever you think they need to hear.

Re: Pebble's next step

#377

Post by djsumdog »

problems wrote: post #337
TeMPOraL wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or at least treat any kind of cloud integration as a big negative. Without cloud dependence, the devices can always be hacked and made to work again until hardware dies.

One of the main reasons I went with the Pebble over other options was that I could use sleep tracking with it via a 3rd party app, without any need for their cloud. Sleep as Android has your back there. It's the only sleep tracking tool I like because it's able to keep your data locally on your phone or sync'd via a few mechanisms. As for the step tracking... yeah, not sure.

Your device will keep working yet, but what if you switch phones/tablets? Now you need to setup a new device with the watch and...oh wait... Pebble re-downloads and re-installs all the apps. If their app/servers go away, now we'll be looking up hack people wrote on github to get our devices working again.

Re: Pebble's next step

#378

Post by problems »

djsumdog wrote: post #377
problems wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the main reasons I went with the Pebble over other options was that I could use sleep tracking with it via a 3rd party app, without any need for their cloud. Sleep as Android has your back there. It's the only sleep tracking tool I like because it's able to keep your data locally on your phone or sync'd via a few mechanisms. As for the step tracking... yeah, not sure.

Your device will keep working yet, but what if you switch phones/tablets? Now you need to setup a new device with the watch and...oh wait... Pebble re-downloads and re-installs all the apps. If their app/servers go away, now we'll be looking up hack people wrote on github to get our devices working again.

Yeah, fortunately TiBu can backup both the Pebble app and the Bluetooth pairing. But that's basically next, modified firmwares already exist I believe, so I don't think it's unreasonable to think that if we need to use those and sideload apps we'll be able to.

I'm fairly sure that I could crack the pebble apk myself to remove the authentication stuff at the beginning if it's needed. Backing up all the apps and stuff before it's gone might be the bigger worry here.

Re: Pebble's next step

#379

Post by jlgaddis »

tw04 wrote: post #262
TeMPOraL wrote: post #202

I'm sad/angry/depressed as any Pebbler right now, so I won't repeat those comments. Instead, since this is HN after all, let me ask - what shall we do? In a year or two, when my current Pebble Time fails, I'd love an equivalent smartwatch to be available. Since the market doesn't seem to want it, how can we make it happen anyway? Features I'm looking for are, in order of priority: - always-on screen, preferably color…

I feel like I'm starting to sound like a fanboy - but it's because I've had other smart watches and it's just so much better . Why not consider garmin? Not sure if their SDK is going to hit the mark as I'm guessing you want complete control and it's definitely not that, but they have everything else you've asked for. https://developer.garmin.com/connect-iq/sdk/

You've tried several different brands of smart watches and you like Garmin the most? Can I ask what you actually use your smart watch for?

I've always had nice wristwatches (and prefer to look at my wrist for the time instead of my phone) but I've been thinking about buying one recently. Most of them seem centered around health / fitness tracking, though, and that's not something I need or want. Mostly, I just want a "regular watch" (date/time) and perhaps notifications of incoming calls/messages (not necessarily even the content of messages -- just, for example, "SMS from Alice" or "Call from Bob", enough to let me decide whether to go pick up my phone). Garmin's API/SDK looks pretty cool, though.

I looked at some devices a week or two when purchasing a new FitBit for the girlfriend but, like I said, they had loads of features I didn't want. I'm tempted to just continue to wait on purchasing a "smart watch" and get a new wristwatch instead. I'm not really thrilled at the idea of having to charge my watch all the time anyways.

Re: Pebble's next step

#380

Post by djsumdog »

andrewblossom wrote: post #131
gregmac wrote: post #40

> Pebble devices will continue to work as normal. No immediate changes to the Pebble user experience will happen at this time. > Pebble functionality or service quality may be reduced in the future. That's very unfortunate. How much of Pebble relies on some online service? Is it still possible to install apps/updates without their infrastructure? For companies that don't open source their stuff by default, it would b…

It sounds like the developers at Pebble are hopeful that Fitbit will allow the community to step in where Fitbit can't (or won't): https://developer.pebble.com/blog/2016/12/06/developer-commu... "Further down the road, we’ll be working to phase out cloud services, providing the ability for the community to take over, where possible."

I understanding them selling a lot of IP to Fitbit to pay back their debts and settle bankruptcy, but I really feel all the source for their app/store-services should have been made open source instead, prior to this announcement.

That way at least their customers could try to hack together stuff or make mirrors of their app repos to keep their devices functional.

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