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Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

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Re: Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

#251

Post by cxr »

wkat4242 wrote: post #190
mikestew wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cellphone that’s buried in my handbag? I think you missed the expressed use case (admittedly, a few paragraphs into TFA): ”Before, I would take my phone out of my pocket to jot these down, but I couldn’t always do that (eg, while bicycling). I also wanted to start using my phone less, especially in front of my kids. ”

I'm sure it won't be able to handle wind noise well (it doesn't look big enough to have multiple microphones) so you'd have to stop the bicycle to make a good recording. Might as well grab the phone then.

Yet another retort addressed directly in the post:

> Raw audio playback: Very helpful if STT doesn’t work perfectly due to wind or loud background noises

Re: Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

#252

Post by modeless »

jrm4 wrote: post #92

For what it's worth, I 100% perfectly solved this problem for myself MANY years ago and still use it just about every day. On Android, it's called "Blitzmail," I'm pretty sure there's an Apple equivalent. Beautifully simple app; on one touch it pops open a text box (which you can type, dictate to, also do "shares/attachments") And emails to one and only one pre-specified address, usually "yourself." From there, pick…

I do exactly the same, except via a button in the quick settings panel, using Tasker, so I don't have to go to the home screen. It's incredibly useful. I hope this can be configured to make the notes emails to yourself.

Re: Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

#253

Post by modeless »

h14h wrote: post #123

I'm sold enough on this form factor to take a flyer on a pre-order. I've been hunting for ways to minimize friction when quickly capturing random thoughts and this is a novel idea that seems to go further than anything else I've tried. The lack of battery charging/replacement is a bummer, but slimness is far more critical for a ring than just about any other device so I understand the tradeoff. I've also seen stories…

I don't understand why people who are probably OK with ordering Doordash once in a while are up in arms about a disposable device that weighs a couple of grams, lasts for years, and is recycled. You can easily spend more on a single Doordash meal for two people and I guarantee a few Doordash meals have more impact on the environment than this minuscule device ever could.

Re: Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

#254

Post by cxr »

Fnoord wrote: post #210
mikestew wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cellphone that’s buried in my handbag? I think you missed the expressed use case (admittedly, a few paragraphs into TFA): ”Before, I would take my phone out of my pocket to jot these down, but I couldn’t always do that (eg, while bicycling). I also wanted to start using my phone less, especially in front of my kids. ”

Stop using your phone less in front of your kids. Start using your ring/watch/whatever_else more in front of your kids. Honestly, it isn't about what you use (that is just hype). You can read the paper all day if you want. I grew up with a father who was listening to radio and watching TV all the time (to be fair: he was disabled, including legally blind). It isn't about using your phone less in front of your kids. I…

The remarks in this comment can only come from a gross misunderstanding of what many people mean when they talk about avoiding use of their phones around their kids. Almost every sentence reveals a very me-focused outlook.

> It isn't about using your phone less in front of your kids. It is about being there for your kids when they need you

That's a very narrow conception if the problem—it isn't solely about being "there" for them or trying to get control over (and maintain control over) one's own addictions. The main thing that people have an issue with when they talk about kids and phone use (and TV for that matter) is addiction observed in the kids themselves. It's absolutely about using one's own phone less while they're around as a means of quashing overexposure.

You can show as much genuine interest in them as you want, and it doesn't change anything, because whether the kids feel like the parent is "there for them" not the problem that a parent is is already genuinely interested in them is concerned about and trying to address.

> As for cycling, with a ring you'd have to move your hand towards you or not, but it isn't much different compared to a watch, except perhaps when you'd wear a sweater over your watch.

"Not much" except that the fingers that are attached to the hand that's attached to the wrist where you're wearing your watch certainly aren't capable of reaching back to press a button on said watch.

> Apart from the yet another device with microphone (24/7 on, I suppose)

The folks in this thread are really committed to just plucking things out of thin air and acting on foregone conclusions, huh?

Re: Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

#255

Post by MarkusWandel »

cxr wrote: post #242
Aurornis wrote: post #163

> How long does the battery last? > Roughly 12 to 15 hours of recording. On average, I use it 10-20 times per day to record 3-6 second thoughts. That’s up to 2 years of usage. I feel like I’m usually good about being able to imagine a market for different devices even when I’m not the target audience, but I’m having a hard time with this one. Having 20 different 3-second thoughts transcribed to notes that I have to p…

Different people have different lives. I myself can't imagine the type of life where at any given moment during the day I'm in a position to "immediately pull out my phone" when I want to create a record of something. I'm not a Pebble customer, past or present, and I have owned exactly zero smartwatches. Excluding portrayals of futuristic wrist-mounted computers I saw during childhood that seemed cool just because th…

I'm not a watch person, and the only reason I occasionally wear one is because it's a Garmin and I'm recording an outdoor activity with it. But while cycling, when the phone in my backpack makes a notification noise, it is kind of handy to just be able to look at the watch to see what kind of notification it is - the kind hardly worth looking at or the kind worth stopping and pulling out the phone to reply to. This particular gadget doesn't have a microphone and any app interaction on it involves a multi-button dance. But if there was a single button audio recording app, I can totally see myself using it. Especially as you get older (I'm guessing - can't interview younger me) fleeting thoughts can be awfully fleeting.

Re: Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

#256

Post by ncr100 »

ramses0 wrote: post #206
user_7832 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any chance of diy, at-home battery replacements? That would definitely let me consider it. I don't mind if it's a 10 hour process to replace the battery. Just the option to have a device that lasts is great.

Waterproofing, tiny batteries, yadda yadda... it's either "charge it weekly", or "recycle" every year or two (eg: $9.99/mo) Thinking through: many people in the pebble-verse (back in the day) were super-hot about wanting the voice-control stuff/microphone responses to text messages. Instead of thinking about this as a standalone "ring", think of this as a "remote button + mic" for the pebble watch. As a (former) avid…

"Ready to beam up" ... Smartwatch plays transporter sounds.

Re: Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

#258

Post by kirtakat »

smiley1437 wrote: post #239
skeledrew wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you need to use your other hand to press that button, instead of the adjacent finger.

> Because you need to use your other hand to press that button, instead of the adjacent finger. Funnily enough, I've used my nose to tap my watch when my hands are full Yes, I've gotten some strange looks

I do this all the time in the winter as well when I'm wearing gloves that aren't really "touch screen" friendly

Re: Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

#259

Post by ncr100 »

eloisant wrote: post #195
alternatex wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pixel watch is an order of magnitude more powerful and expensive than a Pebble though. Raise to wake is not as simple as it may seem considering most big brand smart watches didn't have a decently working implementation of it until only recently. It seems like the author wanted to keep it within the Pebble realm.

Add $75 (the price of this ring) to the Pebble time and you're almost at the price of a Pixel Watch 4. And you can get a PW3 for cheaper.

The pixel watch can be a nightmare. I've had the version 1 and the version 2 for years and I gave up because of the bugs. Random crashing, randomly dialing 911, just weird stuff that should not happen.

And then there's the support which is zero support. Completely frustrating to post a message and then get some volunteer support Tech, hahaha, saying expect improvements! And it's a volunteer saying that. And they have no authority. And There is no support, it all falls through. Random crashing on both versions of the watch. The first version screen was flickering like an old school television trying to tune in a distant UHF broadcast. Display drivers anyone?

So, pixel watches are in the drawer and I've got a Garmin watch on right now. Garmin is clunky but at least it's reliably clunky.

So it feels like a mis comparison, to me who's had the pixel watches.

I used to own the pebble, a couple versions of it, when they were first announced for several years again. And I found them to be very reliable and lightweight and usable.

I wanted a smartwatch that could talk to Google's home ecosystem and so I traded out of Pebble. And it's just been kind of mediocre misery.

Plus I don't know what Google is doing but recharging the pixel watch every 18 hours, or 36 if you're super lucky and your apps on the pixel watch behave themselves correctly, makes me feel like a slave to Google's naive product manager aspirations.

Like, "it can do everything, and we make money off of you because you are the product!" While at the same time making me miserable.

:-P

Re: Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

#260

Post by [deleted] »

adammarples wrote: post #183
lopis wrote: post #96

Instead of a stand-alone piece of e-waste, how about this: a device with the same format (a ring and an button) but the only thing it does is trigger the pebble watch to start recording a message. This way the microphone isn't needed, just the radio (and much weaker radio at that), and the battery will last exponentially longer. Then just expose the charging terminals so that we can at least hack the device with cust…

Then just put the button on the watch? In fact, why isn't this just a button on the watch?

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