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Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

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Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#111

Post by benj111 »

stinkytaco wrote: post #97
benj111 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And it had an insanely long battery life. Is there a term for complementing something that is objectively much worse than what came before only because it's better than what we have now. Stockholm syndrome? Watch batteries used to last month's/ years / didn't need batteries at all. It's the same with phones, they used to last a week easily, now we get excited when they last 2 days.

I don't think these are apples to apples comparisons. Yes, watches had much longer batteries, but they didn't have smart features. So you're really comparing the Pebble to something with a comparable feature set, like another smart watch. Phones used to be powered directly from the wire and work even during a power outage and now they have batteries and die, but I'm still willing to trade that feature to have a GPS a…

Well it's less featured than a modern smart watch so it's not an apples to apples comparison there, but the comparison was still made.

Further Casio made a range of smartish watches back in the day. I don't know battery life's but they weren't measured in days.

Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#112

Post by pmlamotte »

solarkraft wrote: post #27

That few? I wasn't a huge fan of Pebble, the company - they didn't sell replacement parts, for instance (the watch for geeks? yeah, sure). For some crazy reason, though, to this day, this watch is still almost the only one that gets such a basic thing right: Telling the damn time. The formula is as simple as it is unreplicated: - Always telling the time - Good battery life - Buttons Why nobody else makes such a watch…

Garmin Fenix/Forerunner/Instinct meets all of these, though at a significantly higher cost than the pebble. It's worth it for me because I'm into the fitness tracking but hard to justify otherwise.

Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#113

Post by jabroni_salad »

dcormier wrote: post #41
keraf wrote: post #26

As a big Pebble fan, I was really sad to see the company go without any similar alternatives in the market (at the time). My watches ended up having various hardware issues over the years, so I switched to something else. The efforts Rebble has put in to keep these devices alive is amazing. If they grow bigger, I'd love to see them do hardware. In the meantime, I'm wearing a Withings ScanWatch [0]. Not as extendable…

Are there any comparable alternatives to Pebble even now? I’ve yet to see one, but I haven’t followed the market very closely since I stopped using one.

Fossil Neutra, I think. They have an eink display and 2 week battery life. I don't use one though, been enjoying my citizen ecodrive for the past few years.

Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#114

Post by Wildgoose »

ryukafalz wrote: post #82
solarkraft wrote: post #27

That few? I wasn't a huge fan of Pebble, the company - they didn't sell replacement parts, for instance (the watch for geeks? yeah, sure). For some crazy reason, though, to this day, this watch is still almost the only one that gets such a basic thing right: Telling the damn time. The formula is as simple as it is unreplicated: - Always telling the time - Good battery life - Buttons Why nobody else makes such a watch…

> Buttons This is the killer feature for me and why I still use mine daily. I don't know why nobody else is doing this. With media controls on a shortcut slot I can pause whatever media I'm playing, switch songs, etc without even looking at the screen. No other smartwatch I've used comes close to that convenience.

I have a Fossil Hybrid HR Collider that allows this.

Real watch hands, buttons and an e-ink display. 7-10 days battery life.

It's a really nice watch.

Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#115

Post by tekchip »

dcormier wrote: post #41
keraf wrote: post #26

As a big Pebble fan, I was really sad to see the company go without any similar alternatives in the market (at the time). My watches ended up having various hardware issues over the years, so I switched to something else. The efforts Rebble has put in to keep these devices alive is amazing. If they grow bigger, I'd love to see them do hardware. In the meantime, I'm wearing a Withings ScanWatch [0]. Not as extendable…

Are there any comparable alternatives to Pebble even now? I’ve yet to see one, but I haven’t followed the market very closely since I stopped using one.

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned on this thread yet. Hardware wise the closest is probably the Pine Time from Pine64. Software and services wise this isn't on pebbles level though. https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/

As others mention hybrid watches are probably the closest alternative.

Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#116

Post by fsflover »

dpcx wrote: post #21
SentientAtom wrote: post #3

If it works for you, why would you migrate to a different product with features or performance outside of your needs? We are so deep into a disposable society that we eagerly await the NEXT BIG THING (TM) without ever evaluating what our need consists of or whether we have any need for an upgrade to begin with.

Well, the threat of the service going away is a pretty big one. Until we have devices that can work from our own hosted systems, this will always be a concern.

> Until we have devices that can work from our own hosted systems

We already do: https://pine64.org/pinetime.

Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#117

Post by 627467 »

I have a pebble time and a og pebble steel in the drawer. Recently wanted to start using the steel but unfortunately it suffers from the dead button syndrome... I can even accept the onboarding pairing.

Apparently I may be able to fix this if I try some soldering, but I'm an inexperienced solderer...

Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#118

Post by ZaoLahma »

SentientAtom wrote: post #3

If it works for you, why would you migrate to a different product with features or performance outside of your needs? We are so deep into a disposable society that we eagerly await the NEXT BIG THING (TM) without ever evaluating what our need consists of or whether we have any need for an upgrade to begin with.

I bought a Big Brand Flagship Phone (tm), the Samsung Galaxy S9, in 2018. They stopped upgrading the OS with new functionality in 2020 only two years after its release, and this year they stopped providing security updates!

Considering how much functionality and information is on that phone that could affect my life in absolutely fantastically negative ways if it was hacked (online accounts including owned licenses for software, banking), I have little choice but to buy a new phone now, even though the hardware is more than adequate for my needs and even though new phones don't really do much more much better.

Planned obsolescence, or whatever you prefer to call it, really drives this behaviour.

Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#119

Post by nosecreek »

Seeing as several folks have recommended the Amazfit Bip as an alternative, and I’m considering getting one, I’m wondering if anyone who owns one can comment on: 1. How well it plays with iPhone and 2. Do you have any privacy concerns? I don’t know much about Amazfit as a company.

Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#120

Post by rekoil »

Every time Pebble is brought up it brings a tear to my eye, and I wonder what would have happened to the brand if they had accepted the offer from Citizen, who were obviously interested in continuing the line.

The Pebble Time 2 was so far ahead of its time, I promise you I would still be rocking it (or whatever came after it from Pebble) if they had shipped it to me.

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