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Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

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Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#91

Post by paulgerhardt »

irjustin wrote: post #55
bArray wrote: post #53

Was just checking out the Index 01 [1]: > Why can't it be recharged? > We considered this but decided not to for several reasons: > You'd probably lose the charger before the battery runs out! > Adding charge circuitry and including a charger would make the product larger and more expensive. > You send it back to us to recycle. I don't think this is true. The charging circuit could have been in the charger itself. To…

Yeah I agree if it was 10 yrs then I would say no need to charge, but apparently it's 2 yrs? In that time frame you could totally recharge it. I agree losing the charger is actually pretty likely but THAT'S ON ME. For a $75 product, I don't want to consider it a consumable. So 100% agreed, +$10 add terminals and a special charger.

Seeing the index in action next to an oura I appreciate how much smaller/thinner the index is (or at least how much less it seems to “spread” my fingers apart with of a width of 6.5mm vs 8mm).

It’s effectively a regular ring with a button on it that’s smaller than a typical 1ct engagement ring. The oura by contrast (even the 4) is a chonker compared to “regular” wedding bands. I’ve tried in the past but personally a very thick ring is a non-starter for me. Might just be a personal sensitivity thing. Clearly the oura sells.

From a V1/MVP/founder lens I am sensitive to the value in shipping a product that just works rather than doubling the complexity with a bms, custom charger, wrap around flex pcb, and associated engineering effort to mitigate ignition hazards. Especially when there’s platform risk in seeing if this thing even gets used. There’s no platform risk on the watch side which has comes miles from my first pebble/Alerta that was one day charge and blackberry phone compatible only.

As for the ewaste argument? If the market demands a rechargeable product then that’s the right move. But from a weight perspective? This feels performative. Even pessimistically three-four 5g device that are 0% recyclable will generate less ewaste than a 200g phone with 55% recovery and a 5% recapture rate of obsolete devices thats turn over every 3.5 years. It’s like 10x less and probably in the ballpark of what a hypothetical “rechargeable” index would look like.

Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#92

Post by Shalomboy »

I disagree with the super limited warranty terms and the lack of charger for the Index 01, but I am happy to give Eric and the Pebble Team a pass this time while their company is in this stage. I really hope they adopt stronger pro-consumer practices as the company finds its footing, but if they don't the good thing about their watches is how durable they are. I kept my Pebble Time on wrist through 2023, and by then I only stopped because I got sick of trying to repair the adhesive connecting the front bezel(?) to the back case. The PT2 is already a marked improvement over that watch's build quality so I figure I'll be good for at least eight years of daily use.

Its so good having Pebble back in action though.

Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#94

Post by Tade0 »

svl7 wrote: post #56
bArray wrote: post #53

Was just checking out the Index 01 [1]: > Why can't it be recharged? > We considered this but decided not to for several reasons: > You'd probably lose the charger before the battery runs out! > Adding charge circuitry and including a charger would make the product larger and more expensive. > You send it back to us to recycle. I don't think this is true. The charging circuit could have been in the charger itself. To…

A piezo button would be neat, might be able to generate enough electricity for each use without having to rely on a battery at all. Not sure about the form factor here though.

Or even a thin-film amorphous silicon solar panel + capacitor.

Assuming most of the weight of that ring is the battery, it appears to be storing around 0.5Wh, so two years of operation should amount to approximately 30uW of power.

It should be possible to squeeze this much from a 0.5mm2 amorphous cell in direct sunlight. Considering the ring is 6.6mm wide at the widest point, they could get orders of magnitude more power even in poor lighting conditions, by just wrapping a thin-film solar panel around the ring.

EDIT:

Or just slap on four of these photodiodes:

https://www.sparkfun.com/miniature-solar-cell-bpw34.html

They're tiny, they're light and even though woefully inefficient, they should do the trick.

Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#95

Post by baby_souffle »

bArray wrote: post #53

Was just checking out the Index 01 [1]: > Why can't it be recharged? > We considered this but decided not to for several reasons: > You'd probably lose the charger before the battery runs out! > Adding charge circuitry and including a charger would make the product larger and more expensive. > You send it back to us to recycle. I don't think this is true. The charging circuit could have been in the charger itself. To…

> To provide access to the battery, one of the terminals could be behind a transistor enabled by the micro

So it’s a brick as soon as the battery goes flat?

Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#96

Post by mcsniff »

donohoe wrote: post #61
raffael_de wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

maybe. i don't see the appeal of 30 days battery at the expense of such relevant features. 3 days would be more than enough for me. also, considering that the watch is practically useless without a connected phone, advertising its excessive battery life is questionable.

> considering that the watch is practically useless without a connected phone It can still tell you the time. Its primary function is a watch.

It will drift, significantly, without being connected to a device to set the time.

Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#97

Post by TehCorwiz »

NuclearPM wrote: post #80
benrutter wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that's really not great at all! From their website: > Wait, it's single use? Yes. We know this sounds a bit odd, but in this particular circumstance we believe it's the best solution to the given set of constraints I don't want to be too harsh, since it seems like the pebble team are working hard at producing some exciting tech. But intentionally making a single use device is phenomenally irresponsible in today…

What do you mean by “today’s climate”?

The EU just mandated cell phones must have user replaceable batteries by 2027: https://www.cereport.eu/news/european-union/91054

So making this single use is kinda flying into the wind in that regard.

Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#98

Post by happymellon »

rusk wrote: post #50
happymellon wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went through 3 pebbles with the screen corrupting, and sending it back for a refurb. I'm jealous that yours is still working, and I'm looking forward to getting back in the fold. My Fitbit Versa that I finally got after the acquisition is definitely spiritually related, but after Google bought Fitbit and got involved it became terrible with bugs.

They did the decent thing with the Versa and refunded everybody.

How did i miss this?

Unfortunately it isn't quite everyone, it appears to only be folks affected by the overheating issue and you need to have all the original accessories. I replaced the strap because the one it came with tore.

Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#99

Post by kspacewalk2 »

dymk wrote: post #68
tpm wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this case the seller is American and shipping from Asia, so while the warranty should be 2 years in the EU, there is no way to force them as they have no presence in the EU.

The pressure is “you can’t sell this here”

What's the mechanism for stopping them?

Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#100

Post by baby_souffle »

Zababa wrote: post #76
wlesieutre wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it lasts 15 hours of recording and you record on average 5 seconds at a time, that’s about 11000 activations. I think 5 seconds is a pretty conservative estimate, most things I imagine this being useful for would be more looks 2. Easy to see it lasting years in those conditions, but yes you could drain it faster if you used it very heavily.

This is true, but there's a big difference between saying "15-20 hours battery life, which is 11000 5-seconds activations, which last you a few years with 10 5-seconds activation a day" and "years of battery (btw in small text the real number is given). Especially since they mention that this project is hackable/you can do other things with it, knowing in advance you have something like ~100k button presses means som…

> This is true, but there's a big difference between saying "15-20 hours battery life, which is 11000 5-seconds activations, which last you a few years with 10 5-seconds activation a day" and "years of battery

Same issue Apple had when the iPod was new. How big is 20 gigs? Better put 150,000 songs instead…

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