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Pebble Round 2

repebble.com

261–270 of 303 posts

Re: Pebble Round 2

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Hard to say this is true when Garmin watches are far more successful than Pebble This may not be true for long, honestly. Pebble hasn't made watches in years, and I wouldn't be surprised if within 2-4 years they were selling more units than Garmin. The Pebble UI is a dream, especially compared to Garmin. I could never get my parents to get a Garmin, but a Pebble could totally work for them. Super intuitive, hardly…

Very unlikely. The reason Garmin watches are successful is because they've carved out an audience (athletes, health and exercise focused). Pebble might have a nice UI but most people would be better off with an Apple Watch or whatever the current flavour of the week is on Android

I think a lot of people bought AWs because they seemed like the right thing to get, integrated easily, and were more or less easy to use.

But most people I know who have AWs don't use most of the functionalities they provide. If you went up to 20 random AW wearers and ask them if they would give up a bunch of features they don't use (like the awful Siri assistant) in exchange for 15-30x the battery life, I think a lot of them would say yes.

Add onto that the fact that Pebbles are cheaper than AWs, and I think we're going to see a non-trivial number of people "upgrading" from AWs to Pebbles when the batteries start to degrade.

Re: Pebble Round 2

#262
post #246
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 wea…

I call it my "weekend watch". Specifically taking off the "notifications" watch, a few quick turns to "take the approximate time" with me and it's perfect! I have the 12hr (not 24hr) which effectively gives you "metric" minute markings (10 min increments instead of 15/5). https://svalbard.watch/pages/Svalbard_Gauge_FK21.html

My next "grail" watch is something pilot-y, with inverted hour/minute markings (ie: 55m on the outer rim of the face/dial, 12h on the inner), eg: search "Laco Men's Pilot Aachen Automatic Watch", but obviously not that expensive. I just can't justify "yet another watch" and since getting the garmin (w/ sleep tracking, heart-rate, and notifications) it's even less justifiable.

When this one went on sale during prime for $15, I couldn't resist it though! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JCPX9L1

Strap is trash, whole thing is very much lightweight/flimsy, but it has a similar semi-minimalist vibe.

Re: Pebble Round 2

#263
post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say Amazfit are great, I don't need an app store and a programmable watch to do cool stuff in whatever programming language on weekends. The set of pre-installed apps, integration with watch messages, call notifications and media controls are enough. However maybe I am old fashioned, the oldie Timex and Casio smartwatches were also good enough for me.

I like Amazfit well enough but I found the UI to be English-second and therefore a bit confusing. Also, I don't trust a company like Amazfit to have my GPS location at all times.

It works alright for me.

I would rather not trust non-European companies with my data, given current geopolitics, but here we are.

Re: Pebble Round 2

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ANCS lets bluetooth devices trigger basic positive/negative actions on notifications. Stop alarm is presumably one of those basic actions. But it doesn’t support custom actions that the app developer might have registered.

It's been always kinda weird to me that BT spans four layers, from antennas to volume controls. You'd think all the vertical integration should make it reliable and interoperable, yet in practice it's the exact opposite.

BT is one of my least favorite techs that took over. Every damn little thing now has a BT antenna that constantly wants to advertise and connect to something. I'd be willing to use corded headphones again to be rid of it. Might even plug my phone directly into my car... Life would be really hard, but at least we would be free from BT.

Re: Pebble Round 2

#265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very unlikely. The reason Garmin watches are successful is because they've carved out an audience (athletes, health and exercise focused). Pebble might have a nice UI but most people would be better off with an Apple Watch or whatever the current flavour of the week is on Android

I think a lot of people bought AWs because they seemed like the right thing to get, integrated easily, and were more or less easy to use. But most people I know who have AWs don't use most of the functionalities they provide. If you went up to 20 random AW wearers and ask them if they would give up a bunch of features they don't use (like the awful Siri assistant) in exchange for 15-30x the battery life, I think a lo…

> like the awful Siri assistant

Ironically, I just talked to all my mates about our Apple Watches, and universally Siri on your wrist for setting timers and replying to messages with voice, completely hands free, was the killer app that everyone agreed on.

Setting a timer is as simple as bringing your wrist to your face and saying the amount of time.

Re: Pebble Round 2

#266
post #42
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem isn't the form factor, it's that it's guaranteed e-waste. Once it runs out of battery, that's it. I think the pebble guy said that it should last a few months with regular usage but like... What a waste of materials.

Yeah, it's the principle that gets me. "By the time it run out of power, there will be a new version" does nothing to make it better, either. That's like Planned Obsolescence 2.0. I just don't think we should make stuff like this, and I definitely don't want to signal support for it on my wrist.

The older I get the more my mind shifts toward consume less, away from consume differently. The commenter above you is right that the math is complex and not a straightforward assessment. So the simple fix is to abstain.

Re: Pebble Round 2

#267
post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 wea…

I call it my "weekend watch". Specifically taking off the "notifications" watch, a few quick turns to "take the approximate time" with me and it's perfect! I have the 12hr (not 24hr) which effectively gives you "metric" minute markings (10 min increments instead of 15/5). https://svalbard.watch/pages/Svalbard_Gauge_FK21.html My next "grail" watch is something pilot-y, with inverted hour/minute markings (ie: 55m on th…

Ah I see, your model gives more details in a simple way. The one I bought is veeery barebones[0], I basically have to stop what I'm doing and look at the watch for a couple of seconds to figure out approximately what time it is...

> I just can't justify "yet another watch"

Same, there's a watch I find absolutely beautiful[1] since years, but it costs around 3.5k, could never justify spending that much for a watch.

The other two watches you posted are interesting, fun to meet another person who likes cheap and/but quirky watches. Took longer than I'd like to admit to understand how the SHENGKE works :D

Since getting my RePebble a couple weeks ago I haven't worn another watch.

[0]https://svalbard.watch/pages/Svalbard_Singly_AA29.html

[1]https://www.longines.com/de-ch/p/watch-longines-master-colle...

Re: Pebble Round 2

#268
post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

also probably depends on the building you live in. not trying to start a flame-war, but i can imagine that you get quite some range in the US, if you live in one of those cardboard-inner-walls houses. in the 30cm thick solid wall apartment i live in my pebble looses connection the next room over, i almost need line-of-sight for it to work. working at my desk, get up, walk 5 meters to the bathroom, watch looses connec…

Is this an old Pebble or a new one?

One of the new ones. Or I guess old ones? I mean I bought it new from Core Devices / RePebble, but it's the OG model. Pebble 2 Duo.

Re: Pebble Round 2

#269
post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this an old Pebble or a new one?

One of the new ones. Or I guess old ones? I mean I bought it new from Core Devices / RePebble, but it's the OG model. Pebble 2 Duo.

Huh interesting, those have new BT guts, so should have as good of performance as any. I guess 30cm thick solid walls are not common enough for BT to be designed to go through them?

Re: Pebble Round 2

#270
post #243

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://…

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

lol, wouldn't that go for any product?

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