Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

repebble.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 205 posts

Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#181

Post by ornornor »

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”?

It’s a tad hot in some places lately, and getting hotter.

Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#182

Post by ornornor »

Aurornis wrote: post #112
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…

Exposed terminals would need a lot more than a single transistor. It would need ESD protection and it would change the outer case from being a complete sealed over mold into something that had to seal against two exposed terminals. That’s a big change. They would also need to ship a separate charger device to go with it, which approaches the complexity of the simple ring product. These are solvable problems, but it w…

We’ve figured out how to make reusable rockets and computers that can talk you into committing suicide.

I’m sure we can figure this one out too.

Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#183

Post by benrutter »

Dayshine wrote: post #168
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…

A phone has 10-20x if not more weight of electronics. I assume you will use your phone for 20-40 years?

Of course!

Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#184

Post by nmstoker »

My Time 2 was ordered early and still took an age to arrive (well beyond the estimate) but they were good enough to announce updated timing when I queried it and it came a few weeks after.

I must say it's a fantastic piece of kit. Not worrying about charging it for 18 days is great and it gave me a little reminder the morning of the day it was expecting to need a recharge (in the evening) so it was nicely thought through.

In terms of usage, it's just right - all vrry intuitive (although weirdly they didn't seem to list anywhere what each of the buttons did, so you need to explore but that's not difficult and you quickly get the hang of it). I used to find with my Google watches it wasn't clear when you were in Google Play looking at watch apps or for phone apps and the whole mental model was surprisingly frustrating but the Pebble nails it with a much more intuitive way.

Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#185

Post by roryirvine »

raffael_de wrote: post #171
roryirvine wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...by, at most, a minute or so each year. At least, that's what quartz watches could manage in the early 90s, as does the clock in my microwave oven from the early 2000s. Why would a modern disconnected device would be any worse?

I'd suspect that a watch like the Pebble isn't syncing time with a Quartz crystal but by counting processor ticks - that would be a lot less precise in the long run.

Oh, yes, I hadn't considered that. You're probably right - it is, after all, being sold as a tech toy rather than a timepiece.

Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#186

Post by conorcleary »

wolpoli wrote: post #129
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…

Constraints include needing to keep component cost low and ensuring that they could sell more hardware in 2 years.

Both true; could just the very top of the receiving end components of a wireless charge system be added to the watch with the rest on a dock?

Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#187

Post by raffael_de »

apparent wrote: post #149
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.

If he had built the feature set you're suggesting, and with the battery life it would require, he'd be competing directly with Apple, Google, and Samsung. And he'd have no key differentiator. The reason Pebble has a chance at success is because they carved out a niche years ago, and for some reason no one decided to occupy it in their absence.

the key differentiator is it's driven by open source software and leaves you in control over your data. i shouldn't have to tell you this. given the price point nobody would buy this watch for its technological aspects.

Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#188

Post by Schwolop »

benrutter wrote: post #63
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, 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…

They weigh 5g. A tonne of them is two hundred million of them. I very much doubt that many will be e-waste.

Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#189

Post by wolvoleo »

card_zero wrote: post #87
moritonal wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is there to mock? Making ten smart rings because each one is consumable sounds worse for the environment than making one that has a simple charging circuit?

Well, it would have gone something like this, what I would have said: smart rings everywhere, littering the streets! Landfill sites, crammed full with smart rings! Towering trash heaps of smart rings, unmanageably vast, on fire, falling on us in an avalanche of smart ring pollution, what will we do! This might sound ridiculous, but it all adds up. We have to be concerned about every little bit of waste, because our c…

ewaste in general is a problem. And the issue is exactly that. "It's only tiny bits so who cares". All these tiny bits add up.

Re: Pebble Mega Update – July 2026

#190

Post by apparent »

raffael_de wrote: post #187
apparent wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If he had built the feature set you're suggesting, and with the battery life it would require, he'd be competing directly with Apple, Google, and Samsung. And he'd have no key differentiator. The reason Pebble has a chance at success is because they carved out a niche years ago, and for some reason no one decided to occupy it in their absence.

the key differentiator is it's driven by open source software and leaves you in control over your data. i shouldn't have to tell you this. given the price point nobody would buy this watch for its technological aspects.

> nobody would buy this watch for its technological aspects

I can vouch for the falsity of this statement. I am more than happy to pay hundreds of dollars for a watch that has weeks of battery life and a great UI. Although there are other watches with long battery life (Garmin, and to a lesser extent Amazfit), their UIs are not good.

Apple and others make watches with nice UIs, but of course the battery life is measured in days, not weeks.

Post reply on HN