Pebble Smart Watch to Begin Shipping January 23

[Estes]

I'm an original backer and have been looking forward to this for awhile. My car uses bluetooth to play songs on my iTunes over the radio; I wonder how having my iPhone linked to two devices at one time will work. Does anyone know if that drains the battery even quicker?

[drummingcraig]

Originally Posted by dinggus

I think this one beats it.

Image

Not for $400 it doesn't.

[carlgo]

I was just playing with an inherited watch, over 100 years old, with lots of nifty gears and moving things. What a work of industrial art! It is a Waltham and there are photos of the factory with hundreds of skilled Americans sitting at workstations, no cubicles, making these not an assembly line either, each one made pridefully by one person.

It still works and keeps good time despite not being wound in at least 50 years.

A electronic watch, made in China, worthless electronic debris in a couple of years...looks like it cost $12 at WallofChinaMart...just not the same thing.

And would any good watch be called a "Pebble"? Sound like a cartoon or sugary breakfast food for unparented children. Well, maybe it is.

What watch would the Most Interesting Man in the World wear? I don't know, but it would have gears and be made of blingy metal.

[dinggus]

Originally Posted by drummingcraig

Not for $400 it doesn't.

If you seen the watch thread in the photo section, people spend around $400 on a watch. Why not spend $400 on something like this? I think the Pebble looks ugly. But to each his own, it's not my money. I just want to read the reviews.

[snoozy355]

It's been a long wait.

I'm hoping it's not like the MetaWatch launch, which was another Bluetooth-capable watch launched on KS (I backed both).

Great watch and the hardware was delivered on time, but sadly the software has been beta quality and we're still waiting for an upgrade to unlock promised functionality.

[Cougarcat]

Originally Posted by dinggus

I think this one beats it.

Image

It's been getting really abysmal reviews.

[TLewis]

Originally Posted by Cougarcat

It's been getting really abysmal reviews.

(Note: above, "It" refers to the $400 "I'm watch", and not the pebble.)

On the other hand, Engadget seems to really like the pebble: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/09/p...ands-on-video/

[rdlink]

Originally Posted by d-klumpp

Not only am I puzzled by the concept of a cheesy electronic watch, what's the point of having a remote screen for my phone –– a phone that's rarely more than an arm's length away??

Real watches are usually Swiss and are always mechanical. Unless one is training for a marathon, to be caught with something else is an embarrassment.

Dave

One use: On a 35 mile bike ride. My iPhone is in my Camelbak. I want to see my speed, distance and heart rate. I can just glance at the watch. Later in the ride, I get a text. I can look at it to see whether it's worth stopping to reply. Or a phone call. I can see who's calling to see if I want to stop and answer, or even call back right away. That's why I backed it. Will it replace my Movado on work days? No. But it has its uses.

[drummingcraig]

Originally Posted by dinggus

If you seen the watch thread in the photo section, people spend around $400 on a watch. Why not spend $400 on something like this? I think the Pebble looks ugly. But to each his own, it's not my money. I just want to read the reviews.

I understand spending $400 on a designer wristwatch. However does this look $200 nicer/different than the Pebble? I know...to each his own.

[TLewis]

Originally Posted by GekkePrutser

Also, they said they'll be making 15000 per day, and there were only 86000 ordered or so as far as I remember, so they should be able to make them all within a week.

Uh, it's 15000 per week, not per day:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...d/posts/346111

It's going to take them several weeks to ship all of the watches to the backers, and they say as much.

----------

Originally Posted by dinggus

If you seen the watch thread in the photo section, people spend around $400 on a watch. Why not spend $400 on something like this? I think the Pebble looks ugly. But to each his own, it's not my money. I just want to read the reviews.

While the pebble isn't exactly the best-looking watch, I think it's OK.

(Besides, you really need to read the reviews of that "$400 watch". )

[harlex]

I suppose as it is partly the demise of Jessops going into administration that people are using their phones to take pictures, look out Rolex, Cartier etc they now have a watch that acts as a computer as well.

What the hell would one want from this idea after all most have a phone that can do the job.

looking forward to working with my spreadsheet on it and WATCHing my 3 hour HD film, oh I forgot great for field editing a video or what about editing photographs in CS6

[Popeye206]

I'll wait for the next round of watches to see if they're worth it. The benefits are minimal and the style for most are ugly. This is probably the nicest one I've seen... came close last summer to "investing" to get one early, but decided to wait and see.

[notjustjay]

Originally Posted by carlgo

And would any good watch be called a "Pebble"? Sound like a cartoon or sugary breakfast food for unparented children. Well, maybe it is.

Yeah, and "Apple" sounds like a fruit company. Doesn't stop any of us...

[Blomkvist]

Originally Posted by carlgo

I was just playing with an inherited watch, over 100 years old, with lots of nifty gears and moving things. What a work of industrial art! It is a Waltham and there are photos of the factory with hundreds of skilled Americans sitting at workstations, no cubicles, making these not an assembly line either, each one made pridefully by one person.

It still works and keeps good time despite not being wound in at least 50 years.

A electronic watch, made in China, worthless electronic debris in a couple of years...looks like it cost $12 at WallofChinaMart...just not the same thing.

And would any good watch be called a "Pebble"? Sound like a cartoon or sugary breakfast food for unparented children. Well, maybe it is.

What watch would the Most Interesting Man in the World wear? I don't know, but it would have gears and be made of blingy metal.

Thank you for your perspective on the digital watch. I backed the Pebble and obviously I am unworthy to own a "true" timepiece. Troll much?

[GekkePrutser]

Originally Posted by TLewis

Uh, it's 15000 per week, not per day:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...d/posts/346111

It's going to take them several weeks to ship all of the watches to the backers, and they say as much.[COLOR="#808080"]

You're right! I didn't realize this. I wasn't able to watch the press conference myself, just watched some live blogs about it so I must have misunderstood.

[psac]

This looks SOOOOO much better (in both looks and functionality) than the Coocoo watch from the other day.

[RemE]

I was onboard early and am looking forward to getting mine. I really like the idea of getting info without having to dig out the phone. I watched the press conf and was pleased with all of the future potential built into the hardware. They initially are using BT 2.1 protocol but have a BT 4 radio in it so hopefully the 1 week run time will get even better as they optimize the setup.

I saw the audio controls and hope that they will also work when a BT headset is also in use? Otherwise wired headset would be needed, hopefully not.

The Italian Im watch looks cool but the price and 24hour runtime plus headphone type jack all don't do much for me in a wrist worn device.

[Dagless]

I'm really excited for this, especially after reading about the final features (the charge system, magnetometer etc). I just hope it works as well as it should - it should be a great partner device for an iPhone.

[coolspot18]

Originally Posted by d-klumpp

Real watches are usually Swiss and are always mechanical. Unless one is training for a marathon, to be caught with something else is an embarrassment.

If only the swiss incorporated some new technologies into their mechanical watches... like radio control. A fully synchronized and accurate watch is an amazing thing (at least to me).

I really hate ensuring a watch is wound up (kinetic or otherwise) or the fact mechanical watches drift quite a bit.





As for the Pebble, they should have incorporated an induction charger instead. Plugging in a cable every couple of days seems to be such a hassle.

[cfs112]

Early reviews look good, I like the concept of an i-Watch, Apple will have this next year after the Apple television

[ultra7k]

Guess since I'm an original backer I should be getting it fairly soon after they start shipping.

Over time i've had doubts about this, and at times wanted to cancel my order (but it was too late) so i'll give it a shot and see what it's about since i've already committed my money to this.

[dagger01]

I just caught this article here and on the place where they got the image from. The thing that struck me was this:

Has one of these "smart watches" ever had enough market to even recoup R&D costs?

I'm going to go do some research on that myself, but every single one of these things has flopped. Sure, they have their fans, but their the target market anyway. The problem is it's never a large enough market to perpetuate a device!

[jdusoccer12]

I personally am a backer and I am pretty excited about this device. I am a college student so I am excited to use this while sitting in class to see if it is worth it to dig my phone out to reply to a text I just got.

[4mat]

Originally Posted by d-klumpp

Not only am I puzzled by the concept of a cheesy electronic watch, what's the point of having a remote screen for my phone –– a phone that's rarely more than an arm's length away??

Real watches are usually Swiss and are always mechanical. Unless one is training for a marathon, to be caught with something else is an embarrassment.

Dave

I am a little confused by your point. I wasn't aware that all mechanical watch makers were going out of business and the Pebble would be the only kind of watch for sale anywhere. Oh wait, the Pebble is just another option for consumers and those who don't want one can show this by simply not buying one. Sure glad we worked that out.

[ItsWelshy]

Does this run on Android software?

I dont want any of that ***** in my house...