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bearda

macrumors 6502a
Dec 2, 2005
502
175
Roanoke, VA
I have a hard time believing they'd put it on retail sale given it's current state. I've used a Pebble daily for a few months and although it's a nice hobbyist item there's a lot needed to get it to prime time.

- On iOS you can reliably receive text/iMessage and control music. That's it. Calendar notifications, email, etc require changing settings every time the connection drops (which will happen randomly) and even then are kind of random. Canceling notifications from the watch (shown on the Kickstarter video) is a pipe dream. I'm told things improve dramatically if you jailbreak, but I can't imagine the average consumer taking that as a requirement.
- Using a Nexus 4 it seems like Android support is better than iOS, but still a mess. This may be a factor of the phone (the Nexus 4's Bluetooth support is surprisingly unreliable) but I get frequent connection drops. Calender, email, gmail, and Google Hangouts notifications work well when the connection to the phone is up, though.
- Bluetooth 4.0 is completely unused. I understand part of that is due to the Android stack situation, but it's been pushed as a feature that's not a feature.
- Replacement power cords are not readily available.

I like my Pebble, and bought it with the expectation that the software would improve. Still, I would think that offering it up in it's current form would result in a LOT of returns. It just doesn't deliver on it's promise at the moment.
 

rdlink

macrumors 68040
Nov 10, 2007
3,226
2,435
Out of the Reach of the FBI
Someone can buy mine. It's pretty useless, frankly. I expected it to run with many apps by now, including MapMyRide. They took waaay too long to get the SDK out, and by the time developers start coming out with useful apps for it Apple will have a competing product that works better, I'm sure.

Basically, I have a $115 sport watch that runs down in 7 days.
 

craigab1

macrumors newbie
Sep 15, 2011
13
8
This Sucks

I've been waiting for my pre-order through Kickstarter since they launched. I understand they want to sell through the big box stores, but they couldn't do that without our early support. Shame on you Pebble.
 

hofer

macrumors member
Aug 29, 2006
98
38
Someone can buy mine. It's pretty useless, frankly. I expected it to run with many apps by now, including MapMyRide. They took waaay too long to get the SDK out, and by the time developers start coming out with useful apps for it Apple will have a competing product that works better, I'm sure.

Basically, I have a $115 sport watch that runs down in 7 days.

A sport watch that doesn't even have a stop watch!

I have had one for a few months, and the only thing about it that I find truly useful is the SMS and call notification.

Mine have had so many problems that I am now getting a replacement. The problems include, among many others, fuzzy text, flickering screen and Siri getting disabled.
The photo that accompanied the article shows a pebble supposedly showing the current temperature or weather forecast - something the current version of Pebble is not able to do.

Good idea - poor execution!
 

Earendil

macrumors 68000
Oct 27, 2003
1,567
24
Washington
To those lamenting that fact that they don't have their pre-order yet and can't believe they'd sign up with bestbuy before filling them, I have just one question:
Do you know that they aren't about to receive a shipment of 10 million watches? Because if you aren't, I don't see a problem here.

If they are finally seeing the production ramp up, then it's only natural to start signing up new avenues for sales. And of course, you'd start those negotiations way earlier, and just stipulate that new partners will only see the excess inventory. Unless of course someone knows otherwise, I'd suggest no one panic just yet.
 

SockRolid

macrumors 68000
Jan 5, 2010
1,560
118
Almost Rock Solid
Have fun while it lasts, Pebble.

LOL. A year from now it will be funny to look back at Pebble.
We'll dissect all the marketing, technology, and design mistakes they made.
Then, eventually, Apple will step in and show the world how to do it right.
BOOM.

The smart watch concept isn't a new thing.
A successful smart watch will be a new thing.
Here are some unsuccessful smart watches.

1994 Timex DataLink (co-developed with Microsoft)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Datalink

Starfish total-fail at Macworld 2013 ("Did you hear me? I’m done talking to you.")
http://www.macworld.com/article/2027044/starfish-smartwatch-saga-illustrates-entrepreneurial-stumbling-blocks.html

800px-Datalink_models_50%2C_Ironman_Triathlon_and_Ironman_USB.JPG


starfish-100024186-large.png
 
Last edited:

hafr

macrumors 68030
Sep 21, 2011
2,743
9
To those lamenting that fact that they don't have their pre-order yet and can't believe they'd sign up with bestbuy before filling them, I have just one question:
Do you know that they aren't about to receive a shipment of 10 million watches? Because if you aren't, I don't see a problem here.

If they are finally seeing the production ramp up, then it's only natural to start signing up new avenues for sales. And of course, you'd start those negotiations way earlier, and just stipulate that new partners will only see the excess inventory. Unless of course someone knows otherwise, I'd suggest no one panic just yet.

The thing is that as a backer and a pre-order customer, you expect being able to get a product BEFORE it's available for anyone else. If they're getting a shipment of ten million watches and start selling them in BB on Monday - the ones that made the sale via BB possible will be getting their watches AFTER your average Joe can get one.

Say you book a table at a restaurant for four people. You're there on time with your three friends and the head waiter apologises, but you'll have to wait in the bar for a little while. A few minutes later, four people drop in and asks if they have a table for four. The head waiter says "yes, of course, right this way".

Now, even if the head waiter looks at you and says "your table is ready, I'm just going to seat these people, I'll be right with you", wouldn't you expect that as a person that called in advance to book a table and are waiting, the head waiter should take care of you before he takes care of people who just dropped in?
 

sulpfiction

macrumors 68040
Aug 16, 2011
3,075
603
Philadelphia Area
LOL. A year from now it will be funny to look back at Pebble.
We'll dissect all the marketing, technology, and design mistakes they made.
Then, eventually, Apple will step in and show the world how to do it right.
BOOM.

The smart watch concept isn't a new thing.
A successful smart watch will be a new thing.
Here are some unsuccessful smart watches.

1994 Timex DataLink (co-developed with Microsoft)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Datalink

Starfish total-fail at Macworld 2013 ("Did you hear me? I’m done talking to you.")
http://www.macworld.com/article/2027044/starfish-smartwatch-saga-illustrates-entrepreneurial-stumbling-blocks.html

Image

Image

U could tell that starfish was doomed for failure just by looking at the horrid, generic clipart used on the banner.
 

SockRolid

macrumors 68000
Jan 5, 2010
1,560
118
Almost Rock Solid
U could tell that starfish was doomed for failure just by looking at the horrid, generic clipart used on the banner.

Sad, really. I suspect they paid too little attention to software development and put too much trust in their overseas hardware partners. It's tough developing an all-new software platform on existing hardware. And tough developing all-new hardware for an existing software platform. But developing both simultaneously is N-squared tough.

If they had only brought posters and flyers to Macworld, just as a teaser, and said "We'll be shipping the product some time in the near-to-medium future, and we're here now to gauge interest" then it might have been OK. That way, if they give up and quit later, they do it in private. No public aggro meltdown.
 

MNealBarrett

macrumors member
Feb 25, 2006
60
0
Why do you say that? There seems to be really good battery life on other apple products.

https://www.macrumors.com/2013/03/04/apples-iwatch-said-to-run-full-ios-but-battery-life-an-issue-in-prototypes/

Also, knowing Apple, they will insist on a color LCD display. Have you ever tried to use your cell phone in bright sunlight? I don't know about you, but I have to take my sunglasses off to use it, even with the display set at the brightest setting. This would be damn inconvenient for a watch. A fringe benefit of the Pebble's B&W display is not having to do this.
 

Anonymous Freak

macrumors 603
Dec 12, 2002
5,559
1,245
Cascadia
Sad, really. I suspect they paid too little attention to software development and put too much trust in their overseas hardware partners. It's tough developing an all-new software platform on existing hardware. And tough developing all-new hardware for an existing software platform. But developing both simultaneously is N-squared tough.

If they had only brought posters and flyers to Macworld, just as a teaser, and said "We'll be shipping the product some time in the near-to-medium future, and we're here now to gauge interest" then it might have been OK. That way, if they give up and quit later, they do it in private. No public aggro meltdown.

I see their Facebook page still exists, and they post to it every few months with "coming soon!"
 

walkamongus

macrumors newbie
May 26, 2011
2
0
Really?

I am not optimistic that Apple will be able to match the Pebble's nearly 1-week battery life.
You don't think one of the largest and most successful companies in the world can't top Pebble? That is too funny. I'm sure Cupertino is in a frenzy trying to figure out how Pebble did it, as they don't have much experience in battery technology...c'mon.
 

Anonymous Freak

macrumors 603
Dec 12, 2002
5,559
1,245
Cascadia
You don't think one of the largest and most successful companies in the world can't top Pebble? That is too funny. I'm sure Cupertino is in a frenzy trying to figure out how Pebble did it, as they don't have much experience in battery technology...c'mon.

With the rumors of Apple's watch being a color LCD, it will be extremely difficult. If they managed to wow us with a not-before-seen high quality full-color e-ink screen with never-before-seen low redraw rate, maybe...
 

blitzer09x87

macrumors 6502
May 19, 2013
408
0
cool, but i'm waiting for the sony smartwatch 2 or if the iWatch hits the market by this year i'll definitely go for it.
 
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