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Pebble Production: February Update

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Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#41

Post by ssl-3 »

cubefox wrote: post #29
akagr wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t e-paper the general category of low power displays? I understand that “e-ink” are a trademarked subset of the broader e-paper category, which also includes memory-in-pixel LCD displays which other watches like Garmin (and probably pebble) have. E-ink displays are only manufactured by eink corp, and are popularly found on e-readers, shelf price tags in some stores etc. I may be mixing terms in my brain, though.…

> Isn’t e-paper the general category of low power displays? Yes, or more precisely: reflective displays without backlight. There were many such display technologies a while ago (when the Kindle took off and various companies tried to compete with E Ink), but most have since been abandoned. Pretty much all colored e-paper screens have much lower contrast than color printing on paper, since they mix colors by using can…

> Pretty much all colored e-paper screens have much lower contrast than color printing on paper, since they mix colors by using can conventional RGB sub-pixels and darkening them individually, just like regular lit screens, which reduces the amount of reflected light.

Isn't that how color images printed paper works, too? We use inks (often in CMYK coloration, but a galaxy of other options exist) to subtract light from what would otherwise be reflected by a plain white paper.

What makes e-paper screens worse in this way?

Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#42

Post by drum55 »

ssl-3 wrote: post #41
cubefox wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Isn’t e-paper the general category of low power displays? Yes, or more precisely: reflective displays without backlight. There were many such display technologies a while ago (when the Kindle took off and various companies tried to compete with E Ink), but most have since been abandoned. Pretty much all colored e-paper screens have much lower contrast than color printing on paper, since they mix colors by using can…

> Pretty much all colored e-paper screens have much lower contrast than color printing on paper, since they mix colors by using can conventional RGB sub-pixels and darkening them individually, just like regular lit screens, which reduces the amount of reflected light. Isn't that how color images printed paper works, too? We use inks (often in CMYK coloration, but a galaxy of other options exist) to subtract light fro…

They more or less have colored particles hanging around in goop and those get pushed around within a small sealed cell by electrostatic charges, there’s presumably some fundamental limit on the total quantity of the colored particles within the cell that’s quite low. I think modern displays have 4 different colored particles in each cell implying only a small portion of the contents is viewable most of the time. On paper you can have basically 100% saturation of whatever color you want in one area.

Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#43

Post by that_lurker »

usrnm wrote: post #40
saidinesh5 wrote: post #26

> Also, don’t expose it to hot water (this could weaken the waterproof seals), or high pressure water. It’s not invincible. Aahhh. Finally the mystery of how my old pebble died is solved. Hopefully . One fine morning, the display came off. It was supposed to be waterproof and there was no puffed up battery either.

How hot is hot, though? Boiling hot or taking it to a hot shower?

How hot is a hot shower?

Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#44

Post by drum55 »

elaus wrote: post #30
jsheard wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Pebble display isn't e-ink, or unique amongst watches, it's an off-the-shelf MIP LCD from Sharp. You can get the same thing in watches from Garmin, Coros, Polar, Suunto, Casio and probably more.

I think you're confusing Pebble with something else. All current models on the website as well as the OG pebble (according to Wikipedia) use eink displays.

They’re Sharp memory displays, functionally LCDs but with memory for retention under each pixel. They are not and have never been eink.

Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#45

Post by tmikaeld »

usrnm wrote: post #40
saidinesh5 wrote: post #26

> Also, don’t expose it to hot water (this could weaken the waterproof seals), or high pressure water. It’s not invincible. Aahhh. Finally the mystery of how my old pebble died is solved. Hopefully . One fine morning, the display came off. It was supposed to be waterproof and there was no puffed up battery either.

How hot is hot, though? Boiling hot or taking it to a hot shower?

Glue seal can easily loosen at 50 degrees C and a hot shower is 40-45C.. so it must have been very hot shower (or bad glue).

Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#47

Post by [deleted] »

drum55 wrote: post #16
akagr wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pebble was my first smartwatch, all the way back in 2015. It was fun and quirky back when it was first released. Then it stopped production for many years while smartwatch category grew. Now they're coming back with same/similar models as before. For me, its value lies more in nostalgia than anything else. I don't expect it to ever compete with the likes of my Apple watch for smart features, or a Garmin for activity…

It's a very minor distinction, but they aren't a epaper display (low refresh rate, zero power to maintain an image), rather the technology is a sharp memory LCD (ludicrously low power, but high refresh rate). They're extremely neat and don't suffer from the washed out color and ghosting that epaper does, at the cost of needing ever so slightly above no power to keep an image displayed. I much, much prefer them even t…

[deleted]

Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#48

Post by wan23 »

I pre-ordered a round one which is going to be my third Pebble and I'm excited for it, but there is some really good competition nowadays. Casio makes a watch with similar display technology, solar power so the battery life is basically infinite (it doesn't even have a way to charge with a wire) and bluetooth time sync to your phone. It's not a smart watch so it doesn't have apps or notifications or customizable watch faces - the things that make the Pebble really fun - but as a watch it's hard to beat a GW-BX5600 if all you need is time-related functions like stop watch, timer, multiple time zones etc.

Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#49

Post by enragedcacti »

beratbozkurt0 wrote: post #7

I'm curious, what sets it apart from other watches? The design look nice

On top of what others have said, the Watchface/App dev experience is pretty great. The OS provides a lot of compositing and animation features that encourage really lively and cute designs, and the Pebble app has a JS runtime that allows apps to do whatever phone-side stuff you need without having to build separate Android and iOS apps (or, as a user, install a ton of companion apps). Spin-up and iteration is really easy because pebble-tool manages building, deploying to QEMU, and running the phone-side code in Node.js so that you can launch and test your app end-to-end with one command.

Having to write C on the watch-side isn't everyone's cup of tea but they are actively working on a replacement for rocky.js so that you can write everything in JS.

Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#50

Post by simlevesque »

wan23 wrote: post #48

I pre-ordered a round one which is going to be my third Pebble and I'm excited for it, but there is some really good competition nowadays. Casio makes a watch with similar display technology, solar power so the battery life is basically infinite (it doesn't even have a way to charge with a wire) and bluetooth time sync to your phone. It's not a smart watch so it doesn't have apps or notifications or customizable watc…

> if all you need is time-related functions like stop watch, timer, multiple time zones etc.

But if you just need that, almost any watch will do. The Pebble is clearly not made for those people.

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