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From Pebble to Apple Watch -- thoughts??

DDustiNN

DDustiNN

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jan 27, 2011
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I'm curious if any Pebble users have made the switch to Apple Watch, and what your impressions are. What do you like and dislike about each one, when compared to each other? Is there anything drastically different that is taking some getting used to? Stuff like that.

I've been wearing a Pebble Steel since release, and my SS watch is set to arrive tomorrow. Just curious what to expect :D
 
I loved my pebble. But I love my apple watch more.

The notifications are a lot more subtle, but other than that the watch is a HUGE leap forward.

It does everything your pebble did and more. The integration with the phone is solid and once you ignore the fact that you need to charge it every day, you will throw your pebble in a draw and leave it there. I did
 
I like the battery life of the pebble and that the screen was always on, but that was it. I got it months ago and all it did was make me want an Apple Watch more, I returned it. It was very glitchy in every other way, doesn't come close to the Apple Watch whatsoever. I do really miss the always on display though, Apple really needs to improve that part of the Apple Watch
 
Did the latest software release remedy the activation issue and raising your wrist. I'm really surprised they didn't use some kind of a transparent paper for always on or small strip on the bottom something to provide always on
 
I came from a black Pebble watch. I did like it and it worked well for what was available then. But now that the Apple Watch is out there's no comparison. My Pebble frequently disconnected whenever the app would update. I would have to pull it up and reconnect the Bluetooth.

Interestingly enough, I eventually found the 5-6 day battery life became a pain to keep up with. There is simply no way to keep track of that kind of charging schedule. Sometimes my watch would die on Thursday, sometimes Friday, sometimes Sunday. Battery life was random and ultimately annoying.

The apple Watch battery life is predictable and reliable. I've found the drain to be consistent throughout my day. And I know that I have to charge it each night. There is no ambiguity and it fits into a regular schedule.
 
I tossed my pebble to the side once I got my watch. Haven't looked back. I got the Pebble on Black Friday of 2013. The only thing I miss is the always on and battery life. The dedicated buttons for music is on Pebble was nice. Either way, I love my watch.

I did pre order the Pebble Time 2 months ago, I might just turn around and sell it...
 
Have the kickstarter edition and the Steel.

What I liked with the Pebble. Like everyone else has said the shake to turn on is nice. Dedicated music controls. The large selection of watch faces. Always on screen (sometimes i want to know the time without having to lift my arm up). Most of all I miss the water resistance. Washing the car, cleaning the pool, bathing kids all with the watch on.

What I like with the apple watch. Much smoother integration when compared to Pebble. Color touch screen. Built in speaker. Taking calls. Wifi. It looks better. Heart monitor.

The pebble is nice for the price if you're not looking for too much. But since I got my watch like 3 weeks ago the Pebble has just been collecting dust. I'm not really sure when I will use it again. Maybe when I go to the beach or go snorkeling.
 
YakAttack said:
I came from a black Pebble watch. I did like it and it worked well for what was available then. But now that the Apple Watch is out there's no comparison. My Pebble frequently disconnected whenever the app would update. I would have to pull it up and reconnect the Bluetooth.

Interestingly enough, I eventually found the 5-6 day battery life became a pain to keep up with. There is simply no way to keep track of that kind of charging schedule. Sometimes my watch would die on Thursday, sometimes Friday, sometimes Sunday. Battery life was random and ultimately annoying.

The apple Watch battery life is predictable and reliable. I've found the drain to be consistent throughout my day. And I know that I have to charge it each night. There is no ambiguity and it fits into a regular schedule.
Click to expand...

I had the same battery life deal with my Fitbit Flex. It has about five-day battery life. One of the great uses for was to track sleeping habits, but its main thing is to count steps. Well, when you have to charge it every five days, it's kind of awkward and something has to give. You also had to pop the little sensor out of the band and plug it into an adapter that plugged into a USB port.

After I had issues with the Fitbit band and found out I could track sleep with my iPhone, I started using it. The app also has an alarm that can be annoying in a good way. I thought placing a phone on your bed at night next to where you sleep was ridiculous, but now I do it all the time. I haven't knocked it to the floor at all.

That's the problem with any sleep-tracking sensor that doubles as something you use during the day. If your phone can do it, you just plug it up every night and no problem. But if you have to disassemble a device or it's a worn device like a watch that needs charging, that's an issue.

So the daily charging routine doesn't sound like it'll be a big deal. I'll probably get an extra watch charger for my car in case I for some reason use the crap out of it one day and can't make it last until nighttime. But otherwise I'll use it during the day and put it on a cradle at night, basically like "normal" watches.
 
I loved my original kickstarter Pebble but the Apple Watch is what I've always wanted my smartwatch to be. Pebble was more of a stop gap measure for me. I did pledge for an early bird Pebble Time but had just been refunded for it. Doubt I'll ever use the Pebble Time now that I have the Apple Watch.
 
Pebble was a nice 'first to market' effort, but they failed to build momentum with a great follow up product. Like so many other products, apple learned from the early product's mistakes and had a great first effort. After 2 years with a pebble kickstarter, the Apple watch is vastly superior.
 
dacreativeguy said:
Pebble was a nice 'first to market' effort, but they failed to build momentum with a great follow up product. Like so many other products, apple learned from the early product's mistakes and had a great first effort. After 2 years with a pebble kickstarter, the Apple watch is vastly superior.
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I have to agree

I dont have a clue where my Pebble is now. :eek:
 
The Pebble was the only smart watch available for iOS for a long time, so I got one. Two, actually. The original and then the Steel. It was okay as long as it was the only option, but it was buggy. Mine would randomly stop receiving notifications and I would have to restart it.

After living with the AW since 4/24, I haven't worn the Pebble since. In fact, I just sold both of them to a colleague. She bought them for her and her husband.
 
An owner of the pebble and the steel here and ordered a AWS to replace it ... Just waiting for mine and will report on pebble status.
 
twisted-pixel said:
I loved my pebble. But I love my apple watch more.

The notifications are a lot more subtle, but other than that the watch is a HUGE leap forward.

It does everything your pebble did and more. The integration with the phone is solid and once you ignore the fact that you need to charge it every day, you will throw your pebble in a draw and leave it there. I did
Click to expand...

exactly this. I also do not mind the reduced battery life since I have to charge my phone every night too.

----------
cwosigns said:
The Pebble was the only smart watch available for iOS for a long time, so I got one. Two, actually. The original and then the Steel. It was okay as long as it was the only option, but it was buggy. Mine would randomly stop receiving notifications and I would have to restart it.

After living with the AW since 4/24, I haven't worn the Pebble since. In fact, I just sold both of them to a colleague. She bought them for her and her husband.
Click to expand...

That was my biggest gripe. If you left BT range it sometimes needed a restart to get notifications back or you even would have to unpair/re-pair.
 
Since I got my  Watch , I've be trying to give my Pebble(Original) away to my husband , son in law , daughter ..they don't want it !

I only wore it when I had to , in situations where I knew I wouldn't hear my phone ring and/or expected important notifications . I would have probably worn it more if it hadn't been so ugly .

The  Watch looks nice and works great. If the the haptics were stronger and same battery life as Pebble it would be perfect !
 
There are lots of great things about both watches, but I would agree with everyone that the Apple Watch is the real gem here. I bought the Pebble back in September in anticipation for the Apple Watch. Once it arrived I said goodbye and will probably not wear the Pebble again.

Apps:
However I do miss how some of the apps worked much better for the Pebble, because developers had the benefit of the device being out for awhile before I bought one. Some apps like Evernote and ESPN are great. However ESPN for the Apple Watch kind of sucks. It looks really pretty but you cannot browse all game scores, you can only view the teams you favorite. Also updating in game scores on your wrist just is awful right now for the Apple Watch.

Vibrations/Notifications:
The Pebble also vibrated so much that it wasn't subtle. It also made my wrist numb to the point where I have to use prominent haptic in order to get messages on my wrist with the Apple Watch. And I even miss those sometimes. Also, occasionally the Pebble would not give me any notice of messages, and sometimes would just go silent for several hours, and when I check my phone I have a lot of notices. So that kind of sucked too.

Watch faces:
I wish the Apple Watch had more faces. I am already bored with the selections we have for the Apple Watch. If Apple doesn't allow third party makers yet for the watch, I just hope they release more with future updates. I bet they will. However the Pebble ruled with watch faces. There were so many I never even got a chance to look through them all.

Wrap-Up:
There's a lot more I could discuss about differences, but those are the big three that stand out for me, other than the things everyone else brings up, like battery life. The Pebble is a good smart watch, and I'm sure they will keep a following of dedicated users into the future. But it just doesn't hold a candle to the Apple Watch. Plus I'd be interested to see how many iOS users switch to Android watches once they begin to integrate iOS with Android Wear.
 
I still catch myself flicking my wrist out of habit. I actually liked that feature on the Pebble. It worked every time! The 'raise your wrist' function on the AW works great when standing but doesn't seem to work as well when laying down....so not as consistent or I'm doing something wrong. This is with 1.0.1 too. Strange thing about the battery life, my Pebble watch would always end up dying since I didn't have to charge it everyday. I go to wear it and it would be dead on occassion. Not sure if that makes sense but compared to the AW which I put on the charger every night, it hasn't been without a charge since owning it. And on a side note, the AW is always turning on while driving which I hope isn't impacting my battery life.

I always thought the Pebble wasn't very nice looking where the the AW is beautiful IMO.

Other than that, I love my AW tremendously and all the features. The Pebble has been sitting in a drawer since 4/24.
 
Like some others, I loved my Pebble, but the Apple Watch does nearly everything better, is more comfortable, and looks nicer. The only thing I miss is the always on screen (and I do still miss this). The battery life is a non-issue.
 
Pebble? Oh you mean that black thing I use as a subtle alarm to wake me up in the morning so I don't wake up my daughter....yeah I haven't worn that since my Apple Watch that does everything and then some and lasts me all day arrived on April 24th...did I mention some people don't even know I am wearing an Apple Watch and they just think it is some elegant high end regular watch, not some quirky looking digital sport watch?

It is awesome. You will love it waaaaay more.
 
StophMac24 said:
Pebble? Oh you mean that black thing I use as a subtle alarm to wake me up in the morning so I don't wake up my daughter....yeah I haven't worn that since my Apple Watch that does everything and then some and lasts me all day arrived on April 24th...did I mention some people don't even know I am wearing an Apple Watch and they just think it is some elegant high end regular watch, not some quirky looking digital sport watch?

It is awesome. You will love it waaaaay more.
Click to expand...

Thats what I did too, but for my wife. I sold it for an apple watch. waiting for mine to come in. How is the apple watch and waking you up?
 
I've been wearing my Pebble black since they first hit the retail stores and haven't ordered my Apple Watch yet (money). I don't live anywhere near an Apple Store to actually try one on to make a final decision on 38mm or 42mm. I've read everything I can find on MR and other places on the subject. Can someone who's had both a Pebble and an :apple: Watch tell me how the Pebble compares with the :apple: Watch? I'm fine with the size of my Pebble so I'm leaning towards the 42mm. Does that sound reasonable ?
 
I had an Apple Watch Sport. I sold it (price I couldn't refuse), and went back to my Pebble Steel.

I'm now eagerly awaiting a Stainless Apple Watch. They're different, and I did miss the always-on screen, but the AW is so much nicer for an iOS device.
 
I miss when I'm driving in the sunshine or out walking I could see the Pebble face so clearly. In fact, Pebble is at its best in direct sunlight. OLEDs not so much.
 
Had the Pebble and wore it religiously at first. After a while, I found myself wearing it less since it was sometimes more of an interruption than helpful.

I know I'm only on day 3 with my Apple Watch, but it's day & night difference. Aside from the look/style differences and the screen difference [and no, I'm not ignoring battery difference, I just charge every night like my iPhone], the ability to actually DO something with a notification is the game changer.

My assistant will send me messages throughout the day - the ability to respond quickly and subtly is awesome. She's even shifted her messaging to frame as many as possible into simple yes/no if possible, knowing it'll make it easier & faster to get a reply. I'm still waiting for the native mail app to allow you to reply, but using CloudMagic works for now.

If all you're looking for is a notification device, knowing that you're going to pull out your phone for everything, then don't spend the money on an Apple watch - pick up a Pebble or some other notification band. But if you want to be able to interact/integrate the watch into your workflow, go with the Apple Watch. It's already changed how I get through my work day - for the better.

Then the bonus stuff - controlling music over the Bose at home while my phone charges; quick Siri questions & answers, setting alarms and timers hands free...
 
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