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Introducing Pebble Time

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Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#171

Post by baldeagle »

eitally wrote: post #151
mikestew wrote: post #130

I was waiting to see what Apple had in store but...oh, what the hell, I'll pull the trigger. Fact is, I'm pretty satisfied with my original KS-backer edition Pebble. Apple is going to have to have a pretty convincing story for me to charge a watch every single day. I spend enough time away from 5VDC power sources that such short battery life could become occasionally annoying. The original Pebble does what I want it…

I really just want a "normal" watch that has some "smart" features. I already have a sports tracker (Garmin Forerunner), and I have given up wearing my Moto360 because it's almost never useful in compelling enough ways that I don't just pull my phone out after seeing a notification ... and I have to charge it nightly.

If you want a normal watch combined with a fitbit, check out: http://www.withings.com/us/withings-activite.html

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#172

Post by freehunter »

nols wrote: post #162
freehunter wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever seen a normal watch? Like a Wal-Mart, off-the-shelf Timex? They're hideous. Absolutely atrocious. If people want a nice looking watch, they buy a Rolex or a Tag. What people get from a Timex is a functional watch that is easy to read, relatively oops-resistant (can take some damage and go under water without breaking), and has some features they really need. A $500 Rolex probably doesn't have a stopwatc…

A $10 watch and a several hundred dollar smart watch are two very different animals. When Pebble first came out it was new and innovative so first adopters bought it regardless of appearance. Now they're competing in a field that's getting more competitive every day. The poster isn't saying they should trade functionality for appearance, they're saying Pebble should at least put some effort towards design to appeal t…

I guess that goes to show what I know about the watch market. One of the other guys who responded with a bunch of watch manufacturers had the gall to accuse me of blabbering, when I barely understood half the words he said.

At any rate, I don't think the smartwatch market is getting more competitive. All we're seeing is the same watch being released over and over again by Samsung, Motorola, LG, and Apple. Exact same watch. Touchscreen (for no reason), all glass and metal (when we have that on phones, we wrap it in plastic and rubber), and a 12 hour battery life. They're putting a smartphone on your wrist, but worse. There's no one competing with Pebble, who is developing actual smart watches.

They had the Pebble Steel, and there's nothing saying they won't make a Steel version of this one, too.

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#173

Post by VLM »

VikingCoder wrote: post #76
georgeecollins wrote: post #49

What I think is good about this is that they are thinking of a new paradigm for UI on a wearable. For Android Wear devices it feels like Google just decided that voice was going to take care of UI, and no decisions about physical controls needed to be made. But there are two problems: voice isn't that reliable, and more importantly, there are a lot of situations where you want to use your watch but not talk to it.

> voice isn't that reliable Maybe it's because I'm from Minnesota and sound like Don LaFontaine, but Google's voice recognition is easily 95% or better for me. Probably closer to 98%, even on spoken sentences for sending emails or texts. When I'm navigating, or trying to call someone, it's closer to 99%.

Your post has 47 words. A 95% success rate means 1 in 20 failure, so you're going to have to stop, swear, fix it, and restart dictation about two or three times in your post. Even the somewhat optimistic 99% still gives only a systemic fifty fity odds of your post being error free.

Its just too annoying for most people to use.

What voice recognition reminds me of, is a disobedient / distracted little kid, the kind you have to tell everything twice.

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#174

Post by hammerandtongs »

samsnelling wrote: post #95

The killer feature here is something that no one is talking about! >We've included a soft silicone band with each Pebble Time, but all standard 22mm watch bands will fit. All new Pebble watch bands include a quick-release pin, letting you swap bands in under 10 seconds. Standard watch bands is something that most other wearables aren't embracing. This makes the Pebble significantly more enticing.

The fact that standard bands can be used is great.

The fact that most watch bands are painfully incompatible with wristrests is laughable in this day and age.

Watchbands need to be reengineered if these companies want people to wear them for more then the first few weeks.

Source -- love my pebble but only after suffering with that stupid buckle for months, stopped wearing it and then finally found a buckle free band.

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#175

Post by georgeecollins »

myth_buster wrote: post #101
georgeecollins wrote: post #49

What I think is good about this is that they are thinking of a new paradigm for UI on a wearable. For Android Wear devices it feels like Google just decided that voice was going to take care of UI, and no decisions about physical controls needed to be made. But there are two problems: voice isn't that reliable, and more importantly, there are a lot of situations where you want to use your watch but not talk to it.

I disagree with you in parts. I've a pebble while my wife has an android watch. The killer feature on the android phone is voice commands. I agree that when in public it's a privacy concern to use voice commands hence an alternative is necessary. But its incredibly convenient and useful to control your phone and watch say when you are driving or at home. It's incredibly useful to set reminders just by saying "Ok Goog…

I agree that voice commands are sometimes useful, but they also sometimes aren't. One problem is that voice is more reliable when it has context, like a complete sentence. That doesn't always fit the use case of openign an oddly named app.

Another problem is typified by a commmon Android Wear app which allows you to request a fake phone call on your phone. This example shows one of the use cases for a wearable: its a device you can look at when its socially or physically awkward to pull out a phone. You don't want to say, "Google, this meeting is boring!" But you might want a button that lets you do something about it.

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#176

Post by what_ever »

mikestew wrote: post #102
izolate wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you can lock in the early bird, I don't believe there's any point in pledging. I just about scraped through and pledged $179 + $10, which puts me about $20 ahead of the final cost (assuming shipping will stay the same).

(If I downvoted you, sorry. Stupid tiny arrows on mobile, and no undo or even a way to see which way I voted.) Meh, you get it a few months early, and they're not shipping retail until the Kickstarters are released. That, and as an original KS backer I get a special engraving I'll never, ever see. :-)

(Off topic) Is there any reason we can't undo voting on HN (like we can do on Reddit)?

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#177

Post by smackfu »

joosters wrote: post #163

What happened to 'Kickstarter is not a store' - https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarter-is-not-a-store ? Offering multiple quantities of a reward is prohibited. Hardware and Product Design projects can only offer rewards in single quantities or a sensible set (some items only make sense as a pair or as a kit of several items, for instance). The development of new products can be especially complex for creators a…

If it quacks like a preorder...

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#178

Post by smackfu »

baldeagle wrote: post #171
eitally wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really just want a "normal" watch that has some "smart" features. I already have a sports tracker (Garmin Forerunner), and I have given up wearing my Moto360 because it's almost never useful in compelling enough ways that I don't just pull my phone out after seeing a notification ... and I have to charge it nightly.

If you want a normal watch combined with a fitbit, check out: http://www.withings.com/us/withings-activite.html

They have a lower-end version of that now too: http://www.withings.com/us/withings-activite-pop.html

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#179

Post by darkstar999 »

joosters wrote: post #163

What happened to 'Kickstarter is not a store' - https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarter-is-not-a-store ? Offering multiple quantities of a reward is prohibited. Hardware and Product Design projects can only offer rewards in single quantities or a sensible set (some items only make sense as a pair or as a kit of several items, for instance). The development of new products can be especially complex for creators a…

$3,956,662 (as of this post) happened.

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#180

Post by georgeecollins »

VikingCoder wrote: post #76
georgeecollins wrote: post #49

What I think is good about this is that they are thinking of a new paradigm for UI on a wearable. For Android Wear devices it feels like Google just decided that voice was going to take care of UI, and no decisions about physical controls needed to be made. But there are two problems: voice isn't that reliable, and more importantly, there are a lot of situations where you want to use your watch but not talk to it.

> voice isn't that reliable Maybe it's because I'm from Minnesota and sound like Don LaFontaine, but Google's voice recognition is easily 95% or better for me. Probably closer to 98%, even on spoken sentences for sending emails or texts. When I'm navigating, or trying to call someone, it's closer to 99%.

That is near the success rate I have as well. And when I dictate a text on my phone voice works great because I can retype the one in twenty words it gets wrong. There's no keyboard on a watch. Worse, when you are misunderstood Wear is likely to launch the wrong app or pull up the wrong information. So you have the problem of canceling one thing and trying, awkardly, to get to what voice didn't understand.

If you look on the wear store, apps that create rows of icons on your watch face are very popular. I think that shows that this is a common concern.

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