'Pebble Time' Debuts on Kickstarter With Slimmer Design and Color Display

[GizmoDVD]

TechRadar article

Interesting read. Not sure why KS even allows Pebble Time as it's a finished product (aside from the commissions, but it hurts the KS brand).

BTW, nice to see the early birds have sold out. I'll be selling my early spot in no time (get it!??).

 

[APlotdevice]

Voice input likely won't function very well between the new Pebble and iPhone (wasn't that a disclaimer in their KS ad?).

Pebble is junk, but it's the best of the junk available to me as an iPhone user. I wish the LG Watch was iPhone compatible as that actually looks nice. The constant reboots to get notifications working is annoying.

I'm sorry you've had a bad experience with your Pebble, but personally the only thing I have to restart my iPhone for is to get Apple's own home sharing / wireless syncing to work. My Pebble has had a remarkably stable connection with my phone. (Have you tried resyncing the BT connection?)

 

[bobob]

The new Pebble Time Steel just launched - - and it looks like a shot right over the bow of the Apple Watch!

The Pebble Time Steel -- from the bezel to the buttons -- is made out of stainless steel and is available in silver, black and gold finishes. It has the same dimensions as the Time but is about 1mm thicker. That isn't so bad, especially since the Time Steel apparently has a longer battery life of up to 10 days instead of 7. As if that wasn't luxurious enough, when you buy a Pebble Time Steel, you'll get two straps: a stainless steel band plus a leather one.

The special Kickstarter price for the Time Steel is $250 (and yes, you get both the leather and steel bands for that price), while the final retail cost is $299. The Pebble Time Steel will, however, ship in July rather than May.

They're selling like hotcakes on Kickstarter, with the initial batch 20% sold in the first hour.

 

[Smileyboy]

I wonder how many cancelations they'll have after March 9th?

 

[LordVic]

interesting note that I dont't hink i saw before till today on this announcement.


there's an additional port on the device that allows for 3rd party watch bands to include electronics to communicate with the watch.

This has some far reaching potential for extendibility options.

Add a GPS? Want memory for mp3 playback? its really a cool idea.


still, I think it's ugly

 

[bobob]

interesting note that I dont't hink i saw before till today on this announcement.


there's an additional port on the device that allows for 3rd party watch bands to include electronics to communicate with the watch.

This has some far reaching potential for extendibility options.

Add a GPS? Want memory for mp3 playback? its really a cool idea.


still, I think it's ugly

That is interesting...

The smartstrap power contact is bi-directional, which means developers will be able to create accessories that either provide power to the Pebble, or receive power from the watch.

 

[APlotdevice]

I wonder how many cancelations they'll have after March 9th?

I don't think that many actually. We already know pretty much everything about the Apple Watch other than release date and pricing tiers. Unless Apple announces that they were just kidding about the battery life, and it will actually last almost a week, I think Pebble's market is pretty secure right now.

 

[APlotdevice]

That is interesting...

Image
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I wonder if it would be possible for someone to put a speaker in the strap and turn the Pebble into a full-fledged speakerphone?

(though any strap I get must have a quick clasp feature)

 

[LordVic]

I wonder if it would be possible for someone to put a speaker in the strap and turn the Pebble into a full-fledged speakerphone?

(though any strap I get must have a quick clasp feature)

I dont see why not. if the communication protocols and pins are there for it and the API's allowed, it makes sense.

My mind is on batteries. There's been a lot of research lately for thin, flexible batteries. Maybe have a watch strap Also act as a 2ndary battery, helping bring the pebble battery life up to 2-3 weeks of time.

That would be a pretty impressive feat

 

[Knowimagination]

Wow that pebble steel is hideous. What is with those enormous bezels?!

 

[bobob]

My mind is on batteries. There's been a lot of research lately for thin, flexible batteries. Maybe have a watch strap Also act as a 2ndary battery, helping bring the pebble battery life up to 2-3 weeks of time.

That would be a pretty impressive feat

Ladies and gentleman, let me introduce to you the new Pebble 3-year battery smartstrap!

 

[garylapointe]

My problem is aren't they an established company now? Why do kick starter? I'd prefer kickstarter to be more for the little guys, and while pebble isn't big, they are definitely an established company. take some of your previous profits and put it to work.

Multiple reasons:

If they sell in retail they're giving a chunk of the profits to someone else so they're getting more of the profit this way (all of it!).

You don't need to take out a loan to make 10,000 watches if everyone has already pre-paid.

If you know you need at least 70,000 of these, you can get production costs down even more per unit.

You've got a better idea how many to make, without the Kickstarter, you wonder if you need to make 10,000 or 50,000. With the Kickstarter, you know you need at least 73,193 (the count as of the time I'm writing).

You get lots of free PR from having items for sale in Kickstarter (especially when you way exceed the goal).

Gary