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From Pebble to Apple Watch - What do you think?

A

AppleFan360

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jan 26, 2008
2,217
735
I've been using a Pebble Steel for quite a while now and just switched to the 42mm Apple Watch Sport. A few things I like so far.

First, I really like how it feels on my wrist. It's very light and doesn't move around a lot.

Second, the Apple Watch does just about everything the Pebble did but the screen is much prettier and pleasing to the eye. Notifications look great and the screen is easier to read.

Third, I never thought I would ever use or care about the activity monitor but it really is fun and a challenge to try to reach my goals every day.

If you have a Pebble and hesitating to switch to the Apple Watch, it really is a no-brainer. It does so much more. Just the Apple Pay functionality alone is worth the price of admission.

I just wish there were more watch faces available but that will come in time.

Anyone else here make the switch?
 
I bought a Pebble on Kickstarter and was excited about its potential. Once I received it was a huge disappointment and sold it immediately. Ugly and clunky. I'd be embarrassed to wear it in public.

AW is more refined (as one would expect from Apple) in every way. It's far from perfect, but as a 1.0 product a good start IMHO. I think Pebble's future is to cater to Android. I don't see how they compete with the AW unless they substantially step it up -- their new version is not that, but rather lipstick on the pig. I feel bad for them b/c they were the pioneers in this space but they had to know how this story was going to end because whispers about an AW were already circulating by the time Pebble first shipped.
 
I had the original pebble, and then the pebble steel. For a while, it has been the best smart watch available for iPhones. However, the dealbreaker for me was the constant Bluetooth disconnections and then notifications would just stop working. I would have to turn the watch off and then on again in order to make it work. This would happen a few times a week.

The Apple Watch is finally everything I had been looking for in a smart watch, but the pebble was unable to deliver reliably.
 
I'm looking forward to seeing the difference after my AW is delivered tomorrow. :)

I've loved my Steel, though. For the most part it's been dependable and useful.
 
I had an original pebble for a year and then a pebble steel for 8 months after that. I think it was the best smartwatch for iOS in it's time. I loved both watches and don't regret their purchase at all, but I still switched to apple watch on 4/24 and I haven't looked back yet.

The pebble still has the advantage of an always on screen and a 5-7 day battery life and I'm sure those are critical to some people, but for me it was a pretty small trade off.
 
I was an original Pebble kickstarter backer. Back when the Pebble came out it was a whole new idea, and it was pretty cool. However like others said, it was just ugly, it "looked" like a smart watch. I hated wearing it to anything even remotely formal, so I lost the concept of it always being on me, and eventually early last year just stopped wearing it.

The difference it night and day, Pebble gave it a good shot, but even the new Pebble time stuff is not all that great looking. The only thing they have over the Apple Watch is battery life.
 
I wore a Pebble from launch to when I received my Apple Watch. Like others have said, it definitely had more of a gen 1 feel than AW does. It wasn't terribly attractive and the vibrations were very loud. It would also disconnect and miss notifications. Still, I thought when it worked, it worked very well. I think their new watch will be a huge improvement. It's a different product than AW for a different audience and has its own pros and cons at a much lower price point. I won't be buying one, but I hope they succeed.
 
Kickstarted the Pebble, loved the concept. I knew that it was early innovation and the capabilities were limited, very ugly design. I knew it would hold me over for the time for wearable smart watches. The pebble doesn't really complement anything when it comes to dress attire.

It was a pain in the arse recharging it, having to fumble with charger before bed and such.
 
I too was an original Pebble Kickstarter backer. I enjoyed my Pebble when it gave me my notifications (which didn't occur when it was supposed to at times) (I had to reboot numerous times) and the e-paper display. My AW gives me everything every time from Facebook to my Calengoo alerts! My only gripe with the AW compared to my Pebble is not getting a time display with a shake of the wrist. The Pebble was on point in that regard while the AW is displayed with a raise of the wrist. Other than that, I haven't looked back. Very satisfied customer here!!
 
jrd5639 said:
I too was an original Pebble Kickstarter backer. I enjoyed my Pebble when it gave me my notifications (which didn't occur when it was supposed to at times) (I had to reboot numerous times) and the e-paper display. My AW gives me everything every time from Facebook to my Calengoo alerts! My only gripe with the AW compared to my Pebble is not getting a time display with a shake of the wrist. The Pebble was on point in that regard while the AW is displayed with a raise of the wrist. Other than that, I haven't looked back. Very satisfied customer here!!
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This! I find myself shaking my wrist to activate the screen with my Apple Watch, I just got so used to that on the Pebble, though to be fair, I no longer look like I have Tourette's like I did with my Pebble. ;)

Actually, the Apple Watch is pretty much everything I wished my Pebble was minus the battery life difference, which I can live with.
 
I had an original KS pebble and a Pebble steel. They were both great, though it took them forever to get the software to a decent state - really only in the last year.

They finally got step tracking with Misfit and Jawbone, but syncing with misfit is (or was) quite terrible. Apps on the pebble were decent (And actually much faster than Apple Watch right now) but the issue is controls - having only up/down/select/back really limit what you can do with it.

I honestly thought I would miss the always on display, but I don't, the wrist raise detection is more than good enough. And I don't miss the "activate backlight" dance that you have to do on the pebble.

And then the killer feature of AW over Pebble - notifications. Even without quick replies, voice replies and app specific actions (Like archive in mailbox) they are so much better. I'm talking about discreteness. If I got a text on my pebble everyone you are with hears the brzzzt from your watch, and the screen performs its animation and displays it right in front of everyone. And if it is anything private/personal you have to physically dismiss it with the button. With Apple Watch I get a text and nobody knows except for me, and I am free to check it at my own convenience.
 
Sadly, it's becoming almost impossible for startups to compete with established companies when it comes to hardware. Pebble needs to "pivot" soon or they'll find themselves irrelevant.
 
I miss the always on and battery life obviously. Hopefully Apple will open up a watch face store. I miss that from the pebble also.
 
I'm still rocking my OG Red Pebble face. I have my AW on it's way and I can't wait! Sometimes my Pebble will disconnect and I got used to just re-pairing the watch often. It is handy for me at work when I need notifications and can't have my phone on me. I also just bring my watch and bluetooth speaker into the shower and end up dancing longer than expected haha. I wonder how charging everyday will feel...I charge my pebble about every 4-5 days.
 
I mainly run with my Pebble, actually I don't use it for anything else.

I tried the Strava Apple Watch app this weekend it sucked. I think it might be the platform, not the app. most times when I launched the app it asked me to login to Strava on my phone, but I was already logged in. The app also won't stay on, like, after a while the clock came back when I looked at my watch and I had to switch back to the Strava app. And it showed the spinner and basically couldn't maintain states with Strava app on the phone (this might be problem with Strava watch app). I just changed the arm raise to resume activity instead of show watch face, hopefully that fixes one problem.

I'm waiting for iSmoothRun to drop their Watch app, but if it works anything like Strava, I will probably continue to run with my Pebble instead of my Apple Watch. The lag for 3rd party apps is just horrible right now on the Apple Watch.

I know the activities watch app probably works great, but I need something more sophisticated than that for running.
 
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at least pebble can communicate to its customers, and successfully roll out new products with preorders....even as a start up.
 
jrd5639 said:
I too was an original Pebble Kickstarter backer. I enjoyed my Pebble when it gave me my notifications (which didn't occur when it was supposed to at times) (I had to reboot numerous times) and the e-paper display. My AW gives me everything every time from Facebook to my Calengoo alerts! My only gripe with the AW compared to my Pebble is not getting a time display with a shake of the wrist. The Pebble was on point in that regard while the AW is displayed with a raise of the wrist. Other than that, I haven't looked back. Very satisfied customer here!!
Click to expand...

I dont understand this at all. The Pebble Watch does not shut off the screen so you would never do a wrist flick to see the time. Are you sure you owned a Pebble. Wrist flicks were used to interact with other functionality.


Having said that. Owned Pebble Kickstarter and Steel. Was completely unreliable. Love my AW.
 
Had both the Pebble then the Pebble Steel. The main attraction of the smart watch for me is the notifications at a glance. So in that sense they are a lot alike. However, the ability to respond quickly to texts or read/delete/clear emails is great and something that couldn't be done from the Pebble (admittedly due to Apple's limitations since actionable Pebble notifications can be done on Android).

The workmanship is way beyond what the Pebble offered, that's for sure. Non-techies I know are even impressed by the look & feel of the Apple Watch.
 
The only thing Pebble has going for them is their e-ink screens. If you ignore that, Pebble's are inferior to almost every other smartwatch, especially the AW
 
tgwaste said:
I dont understand this at all. The Pebble Watch does not shut off the screen so you would never do a wrist flick to see the time. Are you sure you owned a Pebble. Wrist flicks were used to interact with other functionality.
Click to expand...

Wrist flicks were used to turn on the backlight of the pebble to see it in a dark room. I definitely tried flicking the apple watch a few times before I got used to it.
 
tgwaste said:
I dont understand this at all. The Pebble Watch does not shut off the screen so you would never do a wrist flick to see the time. Are you sure you owned a Pebble. Wrist flicks were used to interact with other functionality.


Having said that. Owned Pebble Kickstarter and Steel. Was completely unreliable. Love my AW.
Click to expand...

You're right and the other person is right too. The flick the wrist turns on the light. I turned it off as its of times while sleeping or getting to sleep certain movements turned on the light. Usually arm was right near my eyes.
 
tgwaste said:
I dont understand this at all. The Pebble Watch does not shut off the screen so you would never do a wrist flick to see the time. Are you sure you owned a Pebble. Wrist flicks were used to interact with other functionality.


Having said that. Owned Pebble Kickstarter and Steel. Was completely unreliable. Love my AW.
Click to expand...

Yikes! I DID own a Pebble so relax (take deep breaths). I haven't worn it since I got my AW so forgive me if I've forgotten some of the intricacies of the Pebble. You would do a wrist flick to see the time in the dark as this action turns on the backlight. Do you need a hug? Mayweather has one for you if you need one. Yeesh!
 
jrd5639 said:
Yikes! I DID own a Pebble so relax (take deep breaths). I haven't worn it since I got my AW so forgive me if I've forgotten some of the intricacies of the Pebble. You would do a wrist flick to see the time in the dark as this action turns on the backlight. Do you need a hug? Mayweather has one for you if you need one. Yeesh!
Click to expand...

Yep, I've been shaking my wrist to try and get the AW to turn on for the same reason.
 
jrd5639 said:
Yikes! I DID own a Pebble so relax (take deep breaths). I haven't worn it since I got my AW so forgive me if I've forgotten some of the intricacies of the Pebble. You would do a wrist flick to see the time in the dark as this action turns on the backlight. Do you need a hug? Mayweather has one for you if you need one. Yeesh!
Click to expand...

I think he already hugged and kissed you.
 
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