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Pebble Round 2

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Re: Pebble Round 2

#241

Post by bdavbdav »

jolmg wrote: post #195
majesticmerc wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a runner, so obviously biased, but I implore everyone (to the point of annoyance) to check out some of the cheaper Garmin smart watches. They use MIP displays so the battery life runs about 2 weeks, you get phone notifications, the ability to find your phone, sleep scoring, step counting, heart rate monitoring. Then there's the obvious GPS run recording which you don't have to use. There's more stuff as well but…

> check out some of the cheaper Garmin smart watches. They use MIP displays so the battery life runs about 2 weeks Same deal with the watch of the article. It uses the same display: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46471292 The difference between such Garmin watches and Pebble Round 2 seems to be trading off hardware like built-in GPS and NFC for open source software and thinness. 100% worthwhile trade IMO.

Not a worthwhile trade if you want to run / exercise with metrics.

Re: Pebble Round 2

#242

Post by SSLy »

novoreorx wrote: post #181

Just pre ordered one. It reminds me of my first and favorite smartwatch - Withings Activité. Sadly, that one broke after 2 or 3 years, and since then I haven't found a smartwatch I'm willing to wear daily. My Apple Watch is now strictly used for workouts only. They share a lot of similarities: - Round dial - Analog hands (though Round 2 simulates this with e-ink) - Long battery life (Round 2 is ~2 weeks. I remember W…

I assume Withings' ScanWatches are not fine for you?

Re: Pebble Round 2

#243

Post by keraf »

RestartKernel wrote: post #66

Looks great, but a mere 30 day warranty for manufacturing defects is kind of insane. I'm glad they're planning to fully support notifications on iOS in the EU due to the DMA, but that warranty wouldn't even be legal if they sell directly within the EU.

Eric's answer is just don't buy it if you're not happy with the warranty [0].

I'm still willing to take the risk because Pebble smartwatches are the only ones I like and wear. I managed to give my OG Steel another life by replacing the battery. Unfortunately that seems to be harder with the Round 2 as there won't be any screws. I'm still a bit split on whether to change my Time 2 pre-order for a Round 2.

[0] https://bsky.app/profile/ericmigi.com/post/3maubss6mqc25

Re: Pebble Round 2

#244

Post by Larrikin »

Someone wrote: post #237
mrinterweb wrote: post #84

Pebble seems to be the only watch company that I feel understands what a smartwatch should be. It feels like everyone else is trying to make a phone replacement. Pebbles are more of an extension to your phone. Sure it can do some things without the phone, but it isn't trying to make calls, access mobile data with its own sim, use GPS. Those kinds of watches feel like they are designed for athletes who want to leave t…

> Pebble seems to be the only watch company that I feel understands what a smartwatch should be. So, why do you think Pebble didn’t succeed? I think that’s because you’re a minority, and demand for a Pebble-like product is too low at the price point where it would be a viable business.

Google bought them and killed them. The same thing is happening to Fitbit

Re: Pebble Round 2

#245

Post by ramses0 »

tw04 wrote: post #180
ramses0 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, some are touch screen only or with only 1-2 buttons. The Garmin's with 5 buttons (eg: Forerunner 55 at ~$170) are decent once you get used to the button-mechanisms, but pebble's UX for "productivity notifications" has always been top-tier.

> Nope, some are touch screen only Which ones are touch screen only?

Garmin Lily 2 Classic (shazam!). Certain Venu and VivoActive seem like 1-button or 2-button.

And also by "touch screen only", I mean like: "can you set an alarm with the buttons like a CASIO from 1982?" ...if you have to use the touch-screen for swiping like a monkey in a one square inch area to set (or turn on) an alarm, then the watch "doesn't have buttons" IMHO.

Pebble had Up/Ok/Down on the right side, and "Android-Back" on the lower-left. So you just generally navigated tree-like menus, and you could set shortcuts to long-presses of up/ok/down (ie: start/request Uber, next train from nearest station, music controls).

I can't wait to have it again, as while Apple says "you don't need to be tied to your phone!" with their watches, Pebble actually delivered on it. You still needed your phone nearby or in bluetooth range, but you could comfortably "leave it" on the table, or in the bedroom or whatever and not worry about missing an important phone call, and still get "just enough" connectivity to drip out of the internet that you didn't need your phone unless you were transitioning into "using your phone for a task".

Re: Pebble Round 2

#246

Post by 4ggr0 »

ramses0 wrote: post #62
apparent wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have any fancy watches in reach, but was just talking about watches in general. I think it makes sense to compare $200 Pebbles to similarly-priced watches (smart and otherwise) in this regard. I can imagine that diamond-encrusted or otherwise dearly-priced watches differ in terms of use case and design tradeoffs.

I'm very minorly into watches and $200 is very "mid/base" for watches. My most expensive watch is a Fenix7 (used) @ $300. Then ~$150 for a "Svalbard" single hand automatic (winding) watch, and a smattering of "$50-80, used off eBay" watches. I had two (used) pebble watches back in the day, pre-ordered the PT2 before they went bankrupt, and have preordered the "new" PT2 (at ~$200 price range). Freaking Timex Expeditio…

> a "Svalbard" single hand automatic

nice, so i'm not the only one with a single hand Svalbard watch :D one day i thought "i wonder if there's a watch with one hand and 24h", pretty soon landed on the Svalbard website and ordered one. i must say that i rarely wear it as it's pretty hard to get an accurate time reading from it, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of a watch.

but i did get lots of comments when wearing it...

Re: Pebble Round 2

#247

Post by Someone »

Larrikin wrote: post #244
Someone wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Pebble seems to be the only watch company that I feel understands what a smartwatch should be. So, why do you think Pebble didn’t succeed? I think that’s because you’re a minority, and demand for a Pebble-like product is too low at the price point where it would be a viable business.

Google bought them and killed them. The same thing is happening to Fitbit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_(watch)#Closing_of_Pebb...:

“On December 7, 2016, Pebble Technology filed for insolvency[82] with Fitbit acquiring much of the company's assets and some employees.”

Re: Pebble Round 2

#248

Post by erohead »

utopcell wrote: post #170
erohead wrote: post #3

Proud of this one! Feel free to ask any questions you might have. (Pebble founder)

@erohead: do the new Pebbles still support the strap interface? With the screen now being 1.5" and the resolution being much higher than the original ones, they would make great little retro gaming consoles with the control buttons on the strap. Similar to a funkey-s console.

Unfortunately no - it basically had zero usage

Re: Pebble Round 2

#249

Post by walletdrainer »

aidenn0 wrote: post #90
walletdrainer wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW the same is true of the Rolex Daytona and Patek Philippe Nautilus. There’s probably an actual reason for why this is done. On a mechanical watch I’d often prefer for the crystal to be damaged rather than the case, though I’m not sure that the same logic works for Apple Watches.

Does one ever polish a crystal? Having it raised would make that much easier (also if one does, tell me who can do it to mine, my crystal is scratched to the point where I can't read my watch if the main lighting is behind me).

It might be possible, but I’m quite sure nobody does it with newer crystals. The replacement costs just aren’t high enough to justify the effort

Also, they just don’t really scratch.

Re: Pebble Round 2

#250

Post by apparent »

Larrikin wrote: post #244
Someone wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Pebble seems to be the only watch company that I feel understands what a smartwatch should be. So, why do you think Pebble didn’t succeed? I think that’s because you’re a minority, and demand for a Pebble-like product is too low at the price point where it would be a viable business.

Google bought them and killed them. The same thing is happening to Fitbit

Google did not buy and kill them. They died (for financial reasons) before they were sold for parts to Fitbit, who were later bought by Google.
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