We're bringing Pebble back • Hacker News Board

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#341

Post by rzazueta » Tue, Jan 28, 2025, 2:23 AM UTC

I LOVE My Pebble and even got Rebble working on it not long ago to revive it.

However...

If you want to make it TRULY HACKABLE as you claim, you will not encumber it with cloud dependencies like you did last time. Let ME self host my own Pebble server if I choose. Go ahead and default to your servers and sell services and whatever, but let me host my own and switch the base URL to my own domain, preferably with open source software and simple APIs, without requiring me to go through your servers.

That way, even if this attempt also doesn't pan out, those of us willing to do the work will at least still have the functionality we want. I get the whole VC "lock them into required cloud services for life so we can make endless subscription revenue" model, but it's absolutely corrupt.

And, Eric, I know you know that - you have a hacker's heart. Please listen to it.

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#342

Post by nradov » Tue, Jan 28, 2025, 2:23 AM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #248

Avamander wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Alas, maybe the whole thing was over once Apple, and Samsung got their marketing wheels spinning. Totally possible, like Nokia vs the iPhone. Difficult to say for sure though, seeing vendors like Fitbit and Garmin still operate in the same space.

Not as ergonomic, no e-paper, and not hackable . They're fitness gadgets, not tools.

Garmin devices are hackable to an extent. There is an SDK so you can write custom apps, although some of the hardware functionality isn't accessible.

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#343

Post by modeless » Tue, Jan 28, 2025, 2:24 AM UTC

MortyWaves wrote: post #223

I haven't used a Pebble, but I wanted to mention something I have seen praised a lot on HN and elsewhere. Apparently, the Bluetooth stack on a Pebble is absolutely legendary: reliable, dependable, robust, you name it. It still works reliably today seemingly thanks to their very diligent software design. I hope that element of it will continue to exist as-is on these new ones? I mention this because Bluetooth is still…

I am convinced that there must be Pebble fans on the Android team that keep a Pebble in CI and ensure it keeps working with each new release. Otherwise its continued extended working lifespan is inexplicable given the amount of churn in Android in general and the Bluetooth stack in particular.

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#344

Post by djur » Tue, Jan 28, 2025, 2:25 AM UTC

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 Fitbit watches are the closest thing I've gotten to a Pebble (and I'd be wearing a fitness tracker anyway), but they're way more locked down.

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#345

Post by aaronarduino » Tue, Jan 28, 2025, 2:26 AM UTC

This is amazing news!I’m glad I’ve kept my all my pebbles. The pebbles were my first smartwatches and still my favorite. Thanks for bringing them back. I wish you all the best!

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#346

Post by nhumrich » Tue, Jan 28, 2025, 2:27 AM UTC

Was an OG backer of Pebble. I then doubled down and backed time 2, which never shipped. :(

I still have yet to find anything quite as good as the pebble. Fossil hybrid came close, but now fossil shut that down.

I am beyond excited to get a pebble back. Please let this happen.

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#347

Post by paulm7242 » Tue, Jan 28, 2025, 2:30 AM UTC

well, now everyone will know about the `show dog` command :)

...good memories working with the pebble team back in 2013 as a coop student <3

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#348

Post by InitialLastName » Tue, Jan 28, 2025, 2:30 AM UTC

grogenaut wrote: post #216

jorvi wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest, that is not a problem unique to.. well.. any domain-specific company's tech stack. Raymarine their marine GPS navigation units are supposed to be very intuitive, but they lack so many "that would have been nice" features, and their UX has stuff where various buttons have click / double-click / hold / hold 2s / hold 10s, all to access different functions. Some of it isn't even written down in the manual.

I mean honestly I have this issue with every level of compute device. Smart phones are much more limited than computers and so much stuff is buried. But then think about the absolutes gigantic amount of undocumented buried stuff that exists on Windows and Linux and macOS. You have a keyboard and internets and a mouse and it's still literally millions of people's jobs to deal with UI issues on these devices profession…

It's hard to decide if I prefer Android not having a setting I want or Windows having 9 settings panels where that setting might live.

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#349

Post by filoleg » Tue, Jan 28, 2025, 2:35 AM UTC

lopis wrote: post #147

insane_dreamer wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 don't like analog watches. I wish there was a watch like the basic casio I use but smart, but not huge and rugged like a G-Shock. If pebble releases a modern version of their watch, I might finally buy a smartwatch.

What are you looking for in a smartwatch?

Casio has smaller G-Shock smartwatches (not just the giant circular ones) that track your activity, heartrate, etc. But if you want smartphone notifications, then yeah, sadly you are out of luck.

I am totally with you overall, though. I feel that if someone were to nail it, it would be Casio.

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#350

Post by jakecopp » Tue, Jan 28, 2025, 2:35 AM UTC

tomaskafka wrote: post #194

Awesome! The first Pebble absolutely fascinated me by having a hackable, C-running watch on my wrist. I vividly remember spending days fine tuning the heuristics of a simple step detection algorithm in the first watchface where I thought “seeing your daily step count next to time sure is awesome”. And later, tens of thousands of people thought so as well - this was one of the signs what the health-tracking wrist devi…

> Weathergraph was then ported to Garmin (as Pebble shut down), and then to Apple Watch widget

I don't think I was a particularly early user of Weathergraph - but when I finally had to retire my Pebble Time I only considered platforms that had your watchface.

Thanks very much for the attention to detail!