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

Five days with Pebble

danilocampos.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 63 posts

Re: Five days with Pebble

#41

Post by geoffpado »

danilocampos wrote: post #24
cpenner461 wrote: post #23

Thanks for the overview of your experience. I'm eagerly waiting for mine to ship. How did the shipping process work? I.e. did it just show up on your doorstep one day or did the Pebble account site tell you when it shipped? I keep checking my account every few days but there's no sign other than I've done all I can do for now. Trying to figure out what the rest of my wait will be like. :-)

I checked my mailbox and BOOM, there it was. I got a shipping notification the next day, which was cute. But in SF, I'm less than an hour's drive from their fulfillment center, so others will probably be better prepared.

I had the same experience in central Missouri, so… probably not. I'm totally okay with them being able to ship faster than sending e-mails, though.

Re: Five days with Pebble

#42

Post by danilocampos »

thechut wrote: post #38

WHERE IS THE SDK? Why will nobody answer this question? I received my Pebble 10 days ago. I was an early back of a black Pebble. So far I have really loved my Pebble, but it is begging for apps. The Pebble team said during the Kickstarter for their 2m stretch goal that they would release the SDK before the watch. Still no SDK, and not even so much as a mention since they started shipping. Obviously, as with almost al…

Maybe I'm biased given my background as an iOS guy, but...

I'm just happy they got the hardware out and it's working pretty damn well. I want to write code for this new platform more than anyone.

But they're a hardware startup! And they're shipping their hardware! That shit is impossible, and frankly, worth prioritizing over any other goal. Getting an SDK right takes time. It took Apple a year for the iPhone, and they had enormous resources and a comparatively luxuriously-appointed platform.

How much RAM do you think a little guy like the Pebble is working with?

So I can imagine there be dragons in Pebble SDK town. They're going to get there. But be realistic and cut some slack here. As a fellow backer, I'm looking at all of this as having gone infinitely better than expected. Maybe you want a bit more communication on this subject, and that's fair, but keep some perspective.

Creating the future takes time.

All their incentives are aligned with yours. The better the dev ecosystem for this platform, the more money they get to make over time. It's gonna be fine.

Re: Five days with Pebble

#43

Post by whatnottt »

danilocampos wrote: post #42
thechut wrote: post #38

WHERE IS THE SDK? Why will nobody answer this question? I received my Pebble 10 days ago. I was an early back of a black Pebble. So far I have really loved my Pebble, but it is begging for apps. The Pebble team said during the Kickstarter for their 2m stretch goal that they would release the SDK before the watch. Still no SDK, and not even so much as a mention since they started shipping. Obviously, as with almost al…

Maybe I'm biased given my background as an iOS guy, but... I'm just happy they got the hardware out and it's working pretty damn well. I want to write code for this new platform more than anyone. But they're a hardware startup! And they're shipping their hardware! That shit is impossible, and frankly, worth prioritizing over any other goal. Getting an SDK right takes time. It took Apple a year for the iPhone, and the…

Good communication 101 in my books says they should write a statement about it, especially since they've indicated that it should be out before the watch. Or atleast comment on the questions.

I think people want pebble to succeed and there is lot of love for the product. And telling about the dragons and delays creating the SDK would just improve the image of fair and open culture they have.

I can imagine they've had a crazy year but an hour spent on commenting this would be time well spent in my oppinion.

Re: Five days with Pebble

#44

Post by Tyrannosaurs »

"Sometimes I want to give the people I’m with my undivided attention. That means the phone stays firmly in my pocket. And as long as no calls or notifications come in, that’s fine. But once my pocket starts buzzing, my mind can start to run wild with curiosity. Is someone in trouble, or did a dumb tweet get faved by someone? That game can erode attention after awhile. With the Pebble, I can discreetly glance at my wrist without breaking the flow of conversation."

In what way is this giving someone your undivided attention? You're just slightly modifying the division of your attention and making it easier to hide that you're thinking about something else.

Personally I find a better solution is to either be honest and put your phone on the desk and explain to people that you might be getting a call you need to take, or put it somewhere you can't see, hear or feel it and genuinely disengage.

Not saying I don't like the Pebble, I do, just that I don't think this is a great use case for it.

Re: Five days with Pebble

#45

Post by laumars »

dublinben wrote: post #39
jaysonelliot wrote: post #22

I, too, love my Pebble, if only for the convenience of getting text and call notifications on my wrist. I'm surprised at how poorly thought-out the UI is, and particularly surprised at how little control I have over it, at least out of the box. For the moment, there's no way to invert the screen color, no way to view text or call history (even to the point of seeing a notification if you accidentally press the wrong…

If smart watches take off, it will be when Apple releases theirs.

Technology has taken off in the past without Apples influences (netbooks, IPTV, I'd even argue that smartphones and MP3 players too - though Apple did lead the charge in their re-invention which further popularised them).

Plus it seems a little presumptuous to make such a definitive statement when given Apple's watch is only a rumour and how unreliable Apple rumours are at the best of times.

Re: Five days with Pebble

#46

Post by laumars »

Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #44

"Sometimes I want to give the people I’m with my undivided attention. That means the phone stays firmly in my pocket. And as long as no calls or notifications come in, that’s fine. But once my pocket starts buzzing, my mind can start to run wild with curiosity. Is someone in trouble, or did a dumb tweet get faved by someone? That game can erode attention after awhile. With the Pebble, I can discreetly glance at my wr…

This is also where the argument for different notification tones comes into its own.

Re: Five days with Pebble

#47

Post by risratorn »

Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #44

"Sometimes I want to give the people I’m with my undivided attention. That means the phone stays firmly in my pocket. And as long as no calls or notifications come in, that’s fine. But once my pocket starts buzzing, my mind can start to run wild with curiosity. Is someone in trouble, or did a dumb tweet get faved by someone? That game can erode attention after awhile. With the Pebble, I can discreetly glance at my wr…

It gets your mind off of the thing without getting your phone out of your pocket ... one glare at your watch and you know if it's worth interrupting your conversation or not. If not, it's just a 2 second interruption at max which should not interfere with your "undivided attention" to the person you are speaking with.

This is at least how my "attention" works :)

Re: Five days with Pebble

#48

Post by laumars »

dguaraglia wrote: post #29
Apreche wrote: post #26

I have one, and this is accurate. The only benefit is being able to see notifications on the wrist without having to take the phone out of my pocket. That being said, it is a huge and amazing benefit. I hate watches, and feel they have no purpose, but now it does. The thing is I think this article understated the horribleness of the notification bug that is supposedly Apple's fault. It's a huge pain in the ass. The o…

As the guys from The Bugle (a satirical podcast) said while describing this product: "we've definitely come a long way when there's a need to develop a complete new piece of expensive hardware just to avoid having to take your phone from your pocket . Meanwhile, no solution to the global hunger problem." As much as I nerdgasm at how cool this device is, I have to wonder if, as a species, we haven't 'jumped the shark'…

Where do you draw the line between necessity and greed?

Do I need a 40" TV? Not really, 14" is big enough to watch, it's just less enjoyable. But then TV is purely there for enjoyment anyway, so perhaps just owning one is jumping the shark when one could equally read the news online.

This watch might be excessive, but then so are the phones that this connects to (how many people actually need a smart phone? Even for corporate use, 'dumb' feature phones can send and receive e-mails). And it's greatest use is to check notifications when driving (I don't need to drive, I could get the train) or chatting to friends down the pub (I don't need to drink).

Plus lets not forget that progress and technology is generally invented for 1 of 3 reasons:

1) to kill each other

2) to cut costs in companies (usually resulting in job losses as technology replaces human beings)

3) to make our lives more luxurious.

Personally I'd rather see more 'pointless' smart watches than job losses and smart bombs.

Re: Five days with Pebble

#49

Post by deltasquared »

thechut wrote: post #38

WHERE IS THE SDK? Why will nobody answer this question? I received my Pebble 10 days ago. I was an early back of a black Pebble. So far I have really loved my Pebble, but it is begging for apps. The Pebble team said during the Kickstarter for their 2m stretch goal that they would release the SDK before the watch. Still no SDK, and not even so much as a mention since they started shipping. Obviously, as with almost al…

Well if you want to start with the previous product, the inPulse, they have an SDK here: http://getinpulse.com/pulsesdk/

They have a simulator and some nice code samples. It is a fun C api and simulator. I am not sure when they will release the SDK for the Pebble.

Re: Five days with Pebble

#50

Post by mmcnickle »

dguaraglia wrote: post #29
Apreche wrote: post #26

I have one, and this is accurate. The only benefit is being able to see notifications on the wrist without having to take the phone out of my pocket. That being said, it is a huge and amazing benefit. I hate watches, and feel they have no purpose, but now it does. The thing is I think this article understated the horribleness of the notification bug that is supposedly Apple's fault. It's a huge pain in the ass. The o…

As the guys from The Bugle (a satirical podcast) said while describing this product: "we've definitely come a long way when there's a need to develop a complete new piece of expensive hardware just to avoid having to take your phone from your pocket . Meanwhile, no solution to the global hunger problem." As much as I nerdgasm at how cool this device is, I have to wonder if, as a species, we haven't 'jumped the shark'…

Wristwatches were adopted by the military to avoid having to take out a pocketwatch which was clumsy and time-consuming. The military decided that being able to tell the time quickly was important enough to develop a new piece of expensive hardware. And that's just a single piece of information. Why is having knowing how many emails you have at a glance any less valid than having to know the time at a glance?
Post reply on HN