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

Introducing Pebble Time

kickstarter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

311–320 of 403 posts

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#311

Post by bluthru »

untog wrote: post #96

I'll admit to being disappointed. After the Pebble Steel I thought they were going to take appearances seriously, but the Pebble Time barely even looks better than the original Pebble. Maybe if they make a Pebble Time Steel it'll be the one for me (and the sales figures suggest plenty do not agree with me). That said, kudos to them for getting it out and being independent competition to Android Wear and the Apple Wat…

It's like the started with a target price ("N under Apple Watch") and worked backwards. I don't care if it costs more, the industrial design of this pebble is too cheap for me to wear.

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#312

Post by TeMPOraL »

tomhenderson wrote: post #281
VLM wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 yo…

> A 95% success rate means 1 in 20 failure I'm not sure my success rate is any better than that typing on my iPhone.

But the correction is simpler and less distracting. I can backspace the word I misspelled and fix it without breaking my thought flow, whereas when I try that with dictation... well, it doesn't work that way. Especially that the whole point of dictation should be that you're not actually looking at the screen and double-checking if what's recognized is what you said.

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#313

Post by bluthru »

kbd wrote: post #12
arrrg wrote: post #6

It's a bland gadget. I'm really not sure about that approach. It's so cheap and uninspired. Whatever you think about the overall shape of the Apple Watch, at least it's not a bland gadget. It seems to pay meticulous attention to all the micro details that make jewelry jewlery and not a bland tech toy. (Seems to because obviously no one has looked at it in detail. But first indications are good.) This one does not. I'…

You say bland, I say functional. Since my Casio data bank watch in the 90s I didn't wear a watch until I got my Pebble. To me a watch is a tool, not a fashion accessory. I understand not everyone looks at it that way, but really I don't think there's any smartwatch that looks like an elegant timepiece anyway.

It's not a choice between bland and functional. Metal and sapphire crystal is much more robust and functional than these cheap materials.

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#314

Post by TeMPOraL »

O____________O wrote: post #227

I think animated transitions are the skeuomorphism of 2015. Mind you, I'm technically impressed that an E-Ink display can now be animated, but I can't wait for the end of the animated UI boom.

Well, thank marketing for you being impressed.

It's actually the only issue I have with Pebble. They are all amazing and unicorns, but why on Earth intentionally confuse people to think they're buying an e-ink display? It's not e-ink, it's e-paper, a fancy name for something that is not the thing that uses zero energy when not updating.

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#315

Post by TeMPOraL »

mikkom wrote: post #245

How did they get the e-ink display so fast? Or is the video only an explanation of how it works (and therefore not real)?

It's not e-ink, it's "e-paper". A power-efficient display, but not the stuff you get on Kindles. I wish they wouldn't mislead people again with this.

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#316

Post by feld »

pimlottc wrote: post #272

Is it just me, or does it look like he's squeezing the buttons fairly hard in the timeline demo images? I suppose you have to make the buttons firm enough to prevent accidental presses but I would hope that you could use the buttons with one figure comfortably.

I can't recall ever wearing a watch with buttons on the side that I could press without "squeezing" the watch

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#318

Post by kbd »

bluthru wrote: post #313
kbd wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say bland, I say functional. Since my Casio data bank watch in the 90s I didn't wear a watch until I got my Pebble. To me a watch is a tool, not a fashion accessory. I understand not everyone looks at it that way, but really I don't think there's any smartwatch that looks like an elegant timepiece anyway.

It's not a choice between bland and functional. Metal and sapphire crystal is much more robust and functional than these cheap materials.

> Metal and sapphire crystal is much more robust and functional than these cheap materials.

The screen is Gorilla Glass and the bezel is stainless steel!

Re: Introducing Pebble Time

#320

Post by VLM »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #312
tomhenderson wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A 95% success rate means 1 in 20 failure I'm not sure my success rate is any better than that typing on my iPhone.

But the correction is simpler and less distracting. I can backspace the word I misspelled and fix it without breaking my thought flow, whereas when I try that with dictation... well, it doesn't work that way. Especially that the whole point of dictation should be that you're not actually looking at the screen and double-checking if what's recognized is what you said.

"Especially that the whole point of dictation should be that you're not actually looking at the screen"

I've noticed UIs always get "needier" over time. Call it VLM's Law. In the old days a dumbphone could be operated tactile in total darkness without looking at it at all. Then smartphones came along which needed occasional glances at the screen to verify the screen and touch screen position/orientation (portrait vs auto-rotated landscape). Now you need to stare continuously at the screen to watch mistakes in the speech to text dictation system as you slowly, tediously, agonizingly argue with a machine.

How clumsy of a UI, like going thru life wearing oven mitts. And VLMs Law is it always gets worse over time. It'll take a lot of work, but we'll find a way to make UIs even more painful.

Post reply on HN