Pebble Time 2 Design Reveal [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: Pebble Time 2 Design Reveal [video]

#111

Post by Wowfunhappy » Wed, Aug 13, 2025, 7:49 PM UTC

com2kid wrote: post #103

user_7832 wrote: post #80

(My personal perspective or views below.) To misquote Bernie, I am once again ~~asking~~ requesting for a single watch to have both heart rate/health tracking, as well as compass and barometer in a single watch. I had an Amazfit Bip which, just like a Pebble, also had a transflective screen and between 1 to 2.5 months of battery life. However, it did have a compass along with a barometer, alongside HR/activity/sleep…

I'm sad that no product since the Microsoft Band has put a UV sensor on a watch. I'm biased because I largely designed the UV experience, but damn I miss having sunscreen reminders.

Is having a sensor on the watch substantially better than just retrieving the UV index for your location and time of day?

Re: Pebble Time 2 Design Reveal [video]

#112

Post by daemonologist » Wed, Aug 13, 2025, 7:53 PM UTC

jmcphers wrote: post #110

I'm surprised more hasn't been made of the difference in screen resolution between this device and other Pebbles (and even the "new" Pebble 2 Duo). Old watchfaces and apps are not going to render without black borders, and given the niche market and limited run of this new model, it doesn't seem likely to attract much in the way of developer attention, so a healthy marketplace of new faces/apps may not surface. If I…

I think they're working with a very limited selection of off-the-shelf MIP displays. (The 2 Duo itself is using new old stock of a custom display manufactured for the Pebble 2.)

There is one bright spot, which is that I believe the new Time 2's higher resolution display matches the original Time 2 specification and therefore has been supported by the SDK for years already. There were only a handful of physical prototypes, so no users of course, but some developers probably did build support for it.

Re: Pebble Time 2 Design Reveal [video]

#113

Post by leokennis » Wed, Aug 13, 2025, 7:53 PM UTC

deanc wrote: post #61

What is the use-case now in 2025 for an e-ink watch? I have a Garmin Epix pro gen 2 which gets about a month of battery life and has a gorgeous AMOLED, has profiles for pretty much every sport ever invented, incredibly accurate GPS tracking, all day HR-tracking, ECG etc. I understand it's about 4x the price, but there's also lower-end Garmin's that are about 2x the price with the same screen, slightly less features a…

Wait an AMOLED with 30 days of battery life?

Why/how can my Apple Watch barely make it through 24 hours?

What’s the fundamental difference between these two smartwatches that accounts for a 30× decrease in battery life?

Re: Pebble Time 2 Design Reveal [video]

#114

Post by telesilla » Wed, Aug 13, 2025, 8:02 PM UTC

neom wrote: post #99

Looks great! The very first Pebble was actually instrumental in building digitalocean - I met them at MLH hackathon at CalTech and forced one of the founders to sell me a demo unit- all I used it for was notifications on the digitalocean twitter and outages pushed from slack, I tried to reply to every single tweet at us immediately. A little memento of when I hired Mikeal Rogers: https://s.h4x.club/4guEJN95 Funny, no…

Agreed. I'd kill for a watch that you could hold all notifications until you decided to receive them all, ideally at a slow pace over a period of time. For now, I disable notifications but it's a shame I can't access them when I'm ready to do so. I have hopes for this pebble!

Re: Pebble Time 2 Design Reveal [video]

#115

Post by nixosbestos » Wed, Aug 13, 2025, 8:07 PM UTC

numpad0 wrote: post #49

For those confused like I was: - Pebble 2 Duo: $149, B&W, original Pebble look - Pebble Time 2: $225, color, new round square look * both with intended IPX8, 30-day battery, "e-paper" aka gameboy style LCD, suite of sensors, Pebble app compatibility

Clicked 6 links, googled stuff, couldn't figure this out. Makes me so, so, so irrationally upset. I do not get it. It's just basics? Thanks for sharing this.

Re: Pebble Time 2 Design Reveal [video]

#116

Post by MOARDONGZPLZ » Wed, Aug 13, 2025, 8:08 PM UTC

leokennis wrote: post #113

deanc wrote: post #61

What is the use-case now in 2025 for an e-ink watch? I have a Garmin Epix pro gen 2 which gets about a month of battery life and has a gorgeous AMOLED, has profiles for pretty much every sport ever invented, incredibly accurate GPS tracking, all day HR-tracking, ECG etc. I understand it's about 4x the price, but there's also lower-end Garmin's that are about 2x the price with the same screen, slightly less features a…

Wait an AMOLED with 30 days of battery life? Why/how can my Apple Watch barely make it through 24 hours? What’s the fundamental difference between these two smartwatches that accounts for a 30× decrease in battery life?

My Garmin doesn’t get 30 days but does routinely get 2 weeks, which is fine with me. The battery life is probably the only reason I have never tried the Apple Watch, and I check every generation to see if there has been an improvement. Even the large sport / epic one only gets pathetic 36 hours. It’s mind boggling how Garmin can be so good at this and Apple cannot.

Re: Pebble Time 2 Design Reveal [video]

#117

Post by micromacrofoot » Wed, Aug 13, 2025, 8:08 PM UTC

deanc wrote: post #61

What is the use-case now in 2025 for an e-ink watch? I have a Garmin Epix pro gen 2 which gets about a month of battery life and has a gorgeous AMOLED, has profiles for pretty much every sport ever invented, incredibly accurate GPS tracking, all day HR-tracking, ECG etc. I understand it's about 4x the price, but there's also lower-end Garmin's that are about 2x the price with the same screen, slightly less features a…

> has profiles for pretty much every sport ever invented, incredibly accurate GPS tracking

I don't need any of this

Re: Pebble Time 2 Design Reveal [video]

#118

Post by ezst » Wed, Aug 13, 2025, 8:09 PM UTC

leokennis wrote: post #113

deanc wrote: post #61

What is the use-case now in 2025 for an e-ink watch? I have a Garmin Epix pro gen 2 which gets about a month of battery life and has a gorgeous AMOLED, has profiles for pretty much every sport ever invented, incredibly accurate GPS tracking, all day HR-tracking, ECG etc. I understand it's about 4x the price, but there's also lower-end Garmin's that are about 2x the price with the same screen, slightly less features a…

Wait an AMOLED with 30 days of battery life? Why/how can my Apple Watch barely make it through 24 hours? What’s the fundamental difference between these two smartwatches that accounts for a 30× decrease in battery life?

Just guessing, maybe Apple doesn't want that, so to not compete in a niche of demanding users with excessively utilitarian needs?

Re: Pebble Time 2 Design Reveal [video]

#119

Post by gazpachotron » Wed, Aug 13, 2025, 8:16 PM UTC

This is terrific to see. I was an original Pebble kickstarter backer and had a tremendous amount of fun developing apps for my Pebble. Also, I saw you present at a Meetup at Evernote's HQ, and the story you told about Pebble's inception was fascinating. Keep up the great work.

Re: Pebble Time 2 Design Reveal [video]

#120

Post by JeremyNT » Wed, Aug 13, 2025, 8:21 PM UTC

zevon wrote: post #66

deanc wrote: post #61

What is the use-case now in 2025 for an e-ink watch? I have a Garmin Epix pro gen 2 which gets about a month of battery life and has a gorgeous AMOLED, has profiles for pretty much every sport ever invented, incredibly accurate GPS tracking, all day HR-tracking, ECG etc. I understand it's about 4x the price, but there's also lower-end Garmin's that are about 2x the price with the same screen, slightly less features a…

It's not e-ink but a transreflective LCD. As to "why": I'm not interested at all in Garmin's sports and health features and their cloud stuff. Pebbles work well, get out of the way and have a nice, friendly and slightly quirky interface. There are many apps and watchfaces out there. As of the new ones, the OS is open source. Reasons enough for me. ;)

Absolutely.

I likely will continue to use my Garmin watch because I rely heavily on the fitness stuff that they do so well, but outside of that the Garmin is "just OK."

If you want a fitness tracker that is also a smartwatch the Garmin is a great choice. If you want a smartwatch and don't care about fitness tracking then you're wasting a lot of money on stuff you don't care about with Garmin, for just an OK and extremely locked down device.