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We're bringing Pebble back

repebble.com

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Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#271

Post by modeless »

0xEF wrote: post #254

Wearing my OG Pebble on my wrist as I read this, having just dropped a fresh battery in it about a month ago. It has been a faithful companion for many years (thanks in part to the Rebble.io community) and will continue to be. This is pretty happy news, to me and I am looking forward to the next generation!

My PTRs didn't last long after my battery replacements. I couldn't restore the waterproof seal well enough to withstand bathtime with the kids. I am so excited about the prospect of new Pebble hardware!

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#272

Post by jrockway »

askvictor wrote: post #193
teruakohatu wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can download the SDK and side load applications. No annual developer fee. Not sure how it’s more locked down.

One example: I would like to program a (dumb/ID-only) RFID card into it to unlock a door. I can't as the NFC off limits to apps.

Apparently there is some transit system in China that uses this format for payments. So you can get one of those cards, add it to your watch, and program the RFID system to accept the ID of the card you got. There was an HN article about it this weekend.

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#273

Post by jrockway »

DwnVoteHoneyPot wrote: post #165
foobarchu wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the positive side, I adore that they sell (sold?) the forerunner series with all physical buttons and no touchscreen. Garbage software, but being able to click through by muscle memory instead of dealing with a touch interface in sunny conditions is essential to me. Fitbits and apple watches have just always been too reliant on the touch method for my liking. The software is pretty crap though, and forerunner in p…

You have trouble with touch interface in sunny conditions??? Try cold conditions with gloves on, then you'll have real problems with the Apple Watch. Or wet conditions. Or fast conditions like on a bike where you rather not look to turn off the alarm. Sunny conditions is the only time my watch works fine.

My gloves work well on my Apple watch.

Wet is always a disaster, though. If it's going to be moist outside (like hiking with a rain jacket), you have to remember to apply water lock immediately, or you're done for. In that case, the watch is pretty much useless until you get back inside, which is in fact very annoying.

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#274

Post by ost-ing »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #60
mrinterweb wrote: post #26

I noticed my mouth had been hanging agape for a while while reading this. This is huge news. I feel like Pebble is the smartwatch that got it right the first time. So many smartwatches try to replace the phone instead of being an extension of the phone. Pebble seemed to better understand what is important than most smartwatches by being the extension of the phone, a focus on battery life and always on displays.

The Withings ScanWatch was the right fit for me. Unfortunately the HR sensor stopped working recently and the water resistant seal broke, and it's out of warranty, so it's in a drawer. But IMO that was the right idea: analog time, discrete notifications, ppg/ekg sensors, 2-week battery life.

I have one, I use it nearly every day, battery can last upward of a whole month. They stopped updating the original model though which is frustrating because newer models have more features, but im almost certain the hardware is virtually identical.

I would like more transparency on how long each device gets updates for, similar to how Apple handles their products.

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#275

Post by ryukafalz »

ZeWaka wrote: post #220
eloisant wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The feature I use the most on my smartwatch is paying. So if they can bring contactless payments to their new Pebble they have my attention, otherwise it's useless to me.

There exists 'smart bands', which can be applied to any (generally non-smart, obviously) watch that uses normal pin-style watchbands. They have a contactless chip in them that can store one card. My traditional watches use them, though I had to custom-make one of the bands to be in a style I wanted.

From what I've seen these aren't available in the US, unless I've missed one. (I would be very interested if so!)

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#276

Post by red369 »

Just my Pebble lament:

I caught onto Pebble too late, and bought a used Pebble Time Round after Pebble had already been shutdown. The app was still in the App Store, and Rebble.io worked perfectly to replicate the missing services. Everything was perfect (1), and I was so happy every time I looked at my wrist. It was thinner than anyone else's ugly smart watches, and longer battery life, and more soul in the OS. Nothing else was close, and it was old when I got it! There was a looming fear of the battery dying, but with such a long battery life, I could do my best to balance it as close to 50-60% as I could, and still have longer battery life than most smart watches.

But then I bought a newer phone (another iPhone) and everything clouded over. I couldn't install the Pebble app again, or even restore it from backup. After much messing around with side-loading, I bought a Nokia Steel HR (same as Withings, but with Nokia branding), and got by for a year or two. But with it occasionally missed notifying me of calls, the whole point for me was really defeated, and I recently finally give in to buying an Apple Watch. LTE is nice, but this whole time, I still miss my Pebble! I dream of a newer, slightly updated Pebble Time Round!

1) To be honest, with the possible exception of the dated, large bezel.

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#277

Post by mrtransient »

The features I need on a smartwatch:

- eink or lcd display, for always-on and long battery life.

- brightness adjustable LED, for night usage of the watch and as flashlight at night.

- physical buttons, for controls including music volume, skip to next or previous song.

- bluetooth calls and notifications.

- nfc payments.

- functionality allowing to COMPLETELY DISABLE all those fitness functions, such as step counting or heart rate measuring. FU Garmin, I hate you.

- app for plotting tides and moon phases.

- app for voice memos, then transfer to Android/iOS for converting voice-to-text and further editing.

- if the display is touch-enabled, make sure to make it LOCKABLE, otherwise it does self-activates in the shower if the message is received. FU Amazfit, I hate u2.

- solar panel on the sides or even maybe behind eink/lcd display.

At the moment I am using Tissot T-Touch Solar Connect: No nfc payments, no bluetooth calling, no flashlight at night, no tides/moons, no music control But, I never need to charge it!!!!! And I dont need to use my second hand to press the led button to check the time at night, because its a hybrid watch with luminescent arrows.

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#278

Post by abraxas »

tomaskafka wrote: post #270
abraxas wrote: post #98

Please for the love of all that's holy pay attention to us, swimmers. We may not be nearly as large a group as runners but we are very underserved by the tracker watch market. The world needs only so many glorified pedometers. I know that tracking strokes, laps and swim distance is much harder than steps. But it's doable because Apple mostly gets it right. Yet nobody beside Apple seems to have nailed the simple pool…

In my experience, Garmin counts pool lengths just fine, with maybe 1 out of 20 being miscounted?

I tried it on 100m, 400m and 1km swims. In each case it miscounted my turns and distance which I kept in my head to verify its accuracy. In one 100m it missed two turns claiming I did 50m and not 100m. That's patently wrong since I know the pool I go to is 25m and I can count to 4. All my turns were flip turns under water with relatively good technique (think advanced amateur who almost made it to swim team in college)

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#279

Post by abraxas »

grogenaut wrote: post #212
abraxas wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting into the swim app itself takes a couple of different buttons presses. But then it tries to be both too smart and too stupid at the same time. All I wanted to begin with was lap counting with a big number on the centre of the display. Can't configure it and can't even start to get it to count laps without some ceremony of setting up interval training and it only gets more convoluted from there. It's useless fo…

My vivoactive 5 swimming is top right button short press (activities) scroll tap swim. Top right to start. Screen shows only interval time and distance or laps (configurable). Bottom goes to interval rest. Lots more data and a rest timer. Bottom starts swimming again. Top stops the activity. Long press top to save, bottom to discard. All operations are buttons because the touch doesn't work well with water on basical…

> scroll tap swim

this watch has no touch interface. any scrolling and selecting has to be done via the five buttons which I ALWAYS somehow get wrong. Who on this beautiful earth thought it was sane to make the bottom right button be the "Back" button in a L2R (English) locale?

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#280

Post by miki123211 »

ZeWaka wrote: post #220
eloisant wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The feature I use the most on my smartwatch is paying. So if they can bring contactless payments to their new Pebble they have my attention, otherwise it's useless to me.

There exists 'smart bands', which can be applied to any (generally non-smart, obviously) watch that uses normal pin-style watchbands. They have a contactless chip in them that can store one card. My traditional watches use them, though I had to custom-make one of the bands to be in a style I wanted.

How do those handle user authentication and card installation?

I assume you need support from your bank for the former and PINs for the latter?

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