iPhone Compatible 'Pebble' Wristwatch Tallies Nearly $4 Million in Kickstarter Presales

[captmatt]

Originally Posted by Michael Scrip

So do you open Settings... General... Bluetooth... Bluetooth ON...... and then put on your headset to take a call?

Unless you have Android, then it's a swipe and a press.

[ZipZap]

Originally Posted by faroZ06

$115? It's cool, but there's no way I'm going to pay that much for something like that. I mean, I can just feel the iPhone vibrate in my pocket.

Sure you will once there is an apple logo on it.

----------

Originally Posted by vartanarsen

Guys, this is not a new concept....check out im watch...its color and touch-capacative...oh yeah and text capable too

http://www.imwatch.it/us-en/

And 6 to 20 times the price.

[Ciclismo]

Originally Posted by MacRumorUser

...
Seriously what am I missing?

...

In the video he demonstrates the supposed 'usefulness' of this phone whilst washing the dishes. So he's putting an electronic gadget pretty much in a disaster zone, how long in a 'real world scenario' would it be before the phone gets accidentally dipped / dunked into the dishwater and breaks.

You are missing a few things, such as that it can be used as a bike computer via the GPS data from your phone, or that it can be updated with further functions as they are also releasing a free SDK and a "marketplace" of sorts.

Also, a) the watch is waterproof (so safe for doing the dishes) and b) you can keep the phone up to 10 meters away, which should be sufficient to avoid dropping it in the sink.

[Scooz]

Watch? Didn't we get BT 4 so we could do implants?

[ZipZap]

If it ends up being good, and delivered on time then you should be able to pick this up at X-Mas at Bestbuy for less.

[aoifeee]

I love how well kickstarter works.

[Sol]

Really, who cares about Kickstarter projects? Most of what ends up on it is the kind of stuff you see on inventor shows, like New Inventors on Australia's ABC.
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/

I am not saying that these products are necessarily bad ideas, but that most of the time they don't find a market for whatever reason. Getting some money on Kickstarter is little more than a glorified variation on Facebook "likes."

[Chundles]

Originally Posted by Sol

Really, who cares about Kickstarter projects? Most of what ends up on it is the kind of stuff you see on inventor shows, like New Inventors on Australia's ABC.
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/

I am not saying that these products are necessarily bad ideas, but that most of the time they don't find a market for whatever reason. Getting some money on Kickstarter is little more than a glorified variation on Facebook "likes."

Some money?

It's over 4 million US dollars.

That's nearly 4 million of our dollars.

Either way it's a big fat pile of cash. I think it's a great way for people to get their products to market.

[Sensation]

Sony have done things like this for a while. They are not very good and kind of suck.

[Abazigal]

I suppose one use could be if you often put your phone to silent mode, and don't feel the vibrations that well. I know I have often missed them for some reason, then when I check my phone (which was in my pocket all this time), there are several missed calls and messages.

Maybe someone will come up with a fairly creative use for it, I dunno, but I am just not seeing it practical use at the moment.

[Sol]

Originally Posted by Chundles

Some money?

It's over 4 million US dollars.

That's nearly 4 million of our dollars.

Either way it's a big fat pile of cash. I think it's a great way for people to get their products to market.

It's all relative. 4 million dollars may be a lot to most individuals but for a business venture, it may not be enough. I am not from a business background but I think for a new product like this to be manufactured, distributed, sold and marketed, a lot more than 4 million dollars would be needed to find a market and last in it.

[mrklaw]

Originally Posted by ericinboston

So....

1)It's always using Bluetooth and communicating with my iPhone 10+ hours a day so I'm thrilled to be getting all that exposure 1mm away from my skin.

2)This thing is really just a 24hour vibrating device....sheeez...all it's going to do is just vibrate forever given all the "alerts" it can handle.

3)And what's the range on Bluetooth anyway? 30 feet on a good day with the wind blowing? I hear my iPhone vibrating on the counter much farther away than 30 feet....or I just leave it on a chime mode...or gosh golly I leave it in my pocket so I feel the vibration.


Lame and pointless.

glance at your wrist. Go on. See, took just a moment and felt completely natural.

you get a notification, quick glance and you can see whether you need to respond to it or not. No need to go and get your phone (or fish it out of your pocket) and unlock it. Maybe not a big deal, but it could add up over the day.

Or check caller ID before answering on your BT headset.

Oh, and it tells the time.

if it also had an alarm clock function that worked with the iphone off, that'd be even better.

[davidjearly]

Originally Posted by Pigumon

I voted you down for writing for shoving an apostrophe in "days" for no reason.

Just kidding, I voted you up, but you do suck at apostrophes.

I voted you down for your clumsy sentence structure.

Not kidding.

[MacRumorUser]

Originally Posted by Ciclismo

You are missing a few things, such as that it can be used as a bike computer via the GPS data from your phone, or that it can be updated with further functions as they are also releasing a free SDK and a "marketplace" of sorts.

Also, a) the watch is waterproof (so safe for doing the dishes) and b) you can keep the phone up to 10 meters away, which should be sufficient to avoid dropping it in the sink.

Well I would do B anyway


So ok I have seen that they are saying it's waterproof so you can go swimming with it on in the FAQ.
But just as long as the pool isn't 10 meters long in any direction I guess ;-)


I'm not adverse to the idea, I have an iPod Nano with a Lunatik strap - so it's not all alien concept. Heck I'd even go as far as to say normally i'd be the prime audience for gadgets like this, but it's just not doing it for me or offering me enough of a reason as to why / what benefit it actually serves ?


With this device I now have to actually look at 2 devices (watch and phone) rather than just the 1 (the phone). so I'm not sure what it's solving.



Take the cycling demonstration. The display is so limited in regards to the cycling information (distance / speed being all you can really display) how is this better than 1, a cheap $10 cycling computer which tells me the exact same data or 2, if your having to carry your phone with you anyway, buy a waterproof cycle bracket / mount and have the full cycle info in your viewpoint rather than a gimped version.

And again in regards to dish washing demonstration, so ok it's waterproof so the dishwater won't destroy the watch part, but I still have to one, look at my watch - then walk over to my phone to respond / reply or answer the call. So why didn't I just do this anyway and skip the looking at a watch to tell me I need to go and answer my phone ??? What time has it saved, what benefit did have the watch serve ???

That's what I'm not understanding. How is an 'extra' process of benefit, when you skip the middleman and just answer your phone / text etc.. which you would have to do anyway...

[angrynstupid]

This will become obsolete by the iChip - an implanted chip at the base of the skull, which will do essentially the same thing - and more.

[Rafterman]

I have to disagree with the BT on = bad for battery comments.

I have BT on my iPhone 4S on 24/7, and run audio books through my car's BT for an hour to an hour and a half a day, Combined with other normal usage and no battery charges in between, I get to around 40 percent battery by bedtime. But of course, phone usage can affect that. If you are the type that spends hours a day on your phone, or doesn't want to charge every night, then it may not work so well for you.

[kdarling]

Originally Posted by Drunken Master

Yep, I can't wait to read the news, view pictures or play games on a one inch screen.

Not.

From my smartwatch experience:

I was very surprised at how easy it is to read news feeds on the RSS reader app on my WIMM One (also see ABC news) smartwatch's one inch touchscreen.

I swipe left-right to go between BGR, Engadget, etc... and up-down to scroll an article or image.

The Pebble uses buttons instead of touch, but the idea would be the same.

-- watch apps

On my WIMM, it's handy to have the weather for various cities, world map with times, easy to use alarms and timers, etc, even if I don't have my smartphone with me. Tiny games like the classic tilt ball and hole help kill time as well.

No color or touch on the Pebble, and it has an e-ink screen that will limit animations, but it'll still be handy to have onboard apps.

-- lost phone alarm

Someone mentioned the short range of Bluetooth. That can actually be useful. The WIMM One has an optional alarm if the watch loses connection with your smartphone... like if you accidentally start to leave it behind in a California bar. *cough iPhone prototype cough*

-- the Pebble smartwatch

These guys hit on the secret recipe: low price point, and the mention of the word "iPhone".

A lot of us would like more details on how they plan to implement notifications on the iPhone. They say they'll have a background app:

Probably their app will look at the local calendar for appointments, and they've said they'll use ifttt.com for other types of notifications (mail, twitter, etc).

[MacRumorUser]

Originally Posted by Rafterman

I have to disagree with the BT on = bad for battery comments.

I have BT on my iPhone 4S on 24/7, and run audio books through my car's BT for an hour to an hour and a half a day, Combined with other normal usage and no battery charges in between, I get to around 40 percent battery by bedtime. But of course, phone usage can affect that. If you are the type that spends hours a day on your phone, or doesn't want to charge every night, then it may not work so well for you.

Yes but your BT isn't technically 'ON' 24/7

It's turned on to be 'available' which is different. You are not having another device permanently connected to it / always on and receiving/sending data to it.

So in these instances although you have bluetooth enabled - its not on - it's sleeping majority of the time and only using small amount of power.

[irishgrizzly]

I'd be interested but will wait for a revised version when kinks are ironed out and it's less ugly.

[Macman45]

This is actually a great idea, I don't wear a watch much, this one would be useful when out and about though...If the battery stats. are right, it's not surprising that it's selling so well.

[ericinboston]

Originally Posted by mrklaw

glance at your wrist. Go on. See, took just a moment and felt completely natural.

you get a notification, quick glance and you can see whether you need to respond to it or not. No need to go and get your phone (or fish it out of your pocket) and unlock it. Maybe not a big deal, but it could add up over the day.

Or check caller ID before answering on your BT headset.

Oh, and it tells the time.

if it also had an alarm clock function that worked with the iphone off, that'd be even better.

My point is, as others have noted here, the iPhone already does 100% of what this thing does. If I buy this, I now look at the watch for it's tiny alert (how big can "call your dad at 4:30" appear on this 1" screen?!)...then I decide to act on this alert and grab my iPhone (which has to be within 25 feet anyway for it to communicate with this watch) and hey, the alert is already on the iPhone too! Better yet, I can just swipe the alert on the iPhone and be taken right to the notification.

This watch is simply a 2nd step. I don't like 2nd steps when doing things in 1 step works just fine.

Sure, there may be very particular examples of this being used AND BEING USEFUL...but I can't think of any.

My iPhone alerts are easily audible...and the vibration of the iPhone is easily heard from across a room. This watch is simply another step in the process of me acting on notifications.

I also believe my other points in my original post are valid...not to mention the battery life of the watch and/or the iPhone with all the BT communication going on.

This watch will be like all the other gadget-watches that have come along since the 70s...tv watches...radio watches...computer syncing watches of the mid 90s...now the iPhone alert watch. And $150 ain't cheap for a watch that SIMPLY DISPLAYS ALERTS from some other device that does all the real work of creating and managing the alert. The iPhone is $199 (or cheaper) with all it's power and magic, yet this dumb (literally, dumb) watch is $50 cheaper than a hand-held computer. Feel overpriced yet?

Lastly, you'll surely be dumped by your significant other within 24 hours of using this watch.

[Freyqq]

I wouldn't pay more than $70 for this lol

[baryon]

Freaking awesome! I love the display and how you can customize it. The smartphone companion idea is great, and finally adds something new to watches, bringing them to a new level. I'd love one of these!

[techsmith]

Originally Posted by torroa

The 21st century answer to the 80´s calculator watch...just as nerdy ,)
Image

I was thinking the exact same thing when I read the article!

[Bubba Satori]

Originally Posted by d4rkc4sm

atrocious writing

Atrocious capitalization and punctuation.