Pebble Announces New 'Pebble Time Round' Smart Watch

I like both round and rectangular watches, but after wearing an Apple Watch for a few months I can't see how a round watch face would ever be as useful for a smartwatch. Apple uses every millimeter of that rectangular display in many instances (from displaying text to complications on corners of watch faces) and it's all genuinely useful.

Unless a company comes out with a brilliant UI for a round display, a round smartwatch is an automatic downgrade in functionality and usefulness IMO, all else being equal.
 
peterdevries said:
I wonder whether the others see this as serious competition. Besides battery life (that is based on a smaller and inferior screen) Pebble does not bring anything to the table that current watches cannot match.
Click to expand...

As he said in the video though, a million people have already bought one. That shows it's competition and with a colour screen and a design like this with that battery life it's definitely a contender.
 
These are really nice. These fit a casual use form much better than their clunky originals. I like the functionality of the square face much more, but I have to admit these are cute. Best smart watches design-wise out there that are not Apple. Android Wear is tacky, this is nice.
 
While not for me, it does look like a nice addition to the Pebble family. A fun alternative for some out there, no doubt.

That said, those icons and UI... Wow. It's like Palm invented a time machine in 2006, grabbed their partners from the Epson Clip Art CD-ROM team, set their sites for 2015, landed and hopped out to debut their new Palm Treo Watch - Powered by EpsonOS™.
 
I have a round face "normal" watch - a lovely cheapish Rotary that Benedict Cumberbatch wears in Sherlock. Elegant and simply stylish. That said, I also have an Apple Watch. I love the look of the Rotary and I thought I liked it because it is round. It is not that. The Pebble is round and I think it looks terrible (IMHO and design is subjective). As a smart watch I prefer the Apple Watch design and shape. It just works given the gestures and display (again IMHO). That all said competition is a great thing. So I welcome the Pebble (I just won't be buying one).

SJC
 
Funny, I still wear original pebble. Daily people in coffee shops or at cash register ask me if its the new Apple watch. Ha.

I'm waiting for Apple to design something that average folks don't think is a Pebble. :)

I love and wish Pebble all the best, but sadly, they served as a "proof of concept" for the major players. I love the waterproof aspect. Love not charging often. Love always on display. Working out outside I like the display is easier to read. But, I'm not going to be surprised if they don't survive as a company unless bought out or pull a rabbit out of the hat. Round was definitely a surprise.
 
Gareth Jones said:
For a round watch done right - look at the Garmin Fenix 3 - always on display and battery life of a week or more.
Click to expand...

Perhaps not to everyone's taste...

81EuSmC70VL._SL1500_.jpg
 
This is a bit of a slap to the face for those of us who waited for the steel and have accepted the fact that they didn't even ship the band that was promised. This is where Apple shines (at least to me personally). I never got an iPhone shipped to me missing pieces that would be delivered 'later'. While I sit here...having not received my band yet or what I ordered, they have the 'hutzpah' to ask me for more money.

This has been a somewhat awkward experience.
 
Gareth Jones said:
For a round watch done right - look at the Garmin Fenix 3 - always on display and battery life of a week or more.
Click to expand...

Wow, that is actually a really nice watch, albeit a bit large for smaller wrists. I also did not see any possibility to connect to en iPhone or Android device for notifications etc.

The battery life is on the site as 50 hours (GPS off, otherwise 16 hours), which in my book is 2 days though and not nearly a week.
 
Dagless said:
Huh! Well that came out of nowhere.
Must say I'm tempted to get one. I tried an Apple Watch for a week but it didn't cut it for me. I really like my old Pebble as a music remote when I'm using headphones.
Click to expand...

And we’re, like, just supposed to believe you?
 
thekeyring said:
Wow, we all thought the Apple Watch might stand out for being the only round watch in a market filled with squares. Now it looks to be the other way around. Every new competing smartwatch seems to be round!
Click to expand...
Competition is good. Nice round watch, with a different perspective. While they will not even be close to Apple's volume, they keep the price below $300, they will do fine. Have some designer bands at $100 each, nice aftermarket.

Eric looks like he gained a few pounds and the long nights of fighting market gravity earned him few face lines. Nice executive maturation. If he's smart, he's still playing the field and not getting married.

One get together last summer, a gold digger parade showed up and was constantly asking "Where's Eric?" to anyone that looked like a developer. It was pathetic. We were having fun misdirecting them. A few ended up just sitting at a nearby Starbucks after we told them to go there.
 
"Tell them about Pebble Time Round...maybe they'll get one..."

That was a strange thing for the CEO to say. Perhaps, "we hope they'll get one" would've been a better choice.
 
b166er said:
I almost feel bad for Pebble. Their original watch was really cool when it came out, and mine still works well. The whole issue was it didn't work half as well with iOS as it did with Android. So a good chunk of their market was denied its full capabilities for a long time. Then Moto, Samsung and Apple entered the market and now I don't think they stand much of a chance.
Click to expand...

Yea, I didn't mind so much about the look. However, I'd really wish they would have perfected the bluetooth connection issue, waking up having it disconnected or disconnected during the day. Had it for a week, but eventually returned it.
 
I have the original Pebble and it was nice. However, I can't see spending $250 on these new ones when the Apple Watch does so much more at just another $100.
 
b166er said:
... Then Moto, Samsung and Apple entered the market and now I don't think they stand much of a chance.
Click to expand...

Apple and Pebble knows what they are doing. Moto and Samsung (with its Android Wear) is a comedy of errors that is giving Apple and Pebble examples of what not to do.

My take is Pebble has the lowest overhead of them all, is in an excellent position to own the bottom giving the biggest bang per buck and has a counter-culture undertone of the (ironically) original Apple culture.

Just a matter of time before Pebble is bought out and Eric moves on to something else. As long as he doesn't finance a Broadway play!
 
Mac Fly (film) said:
Guy is a millionaire from selling smart watches, and bunch of keyboard-mashers on Macrumors ridicule him. Personally I admire what he achieved via the most seccussful and second most successful Kitchstater campaigns ever. He's going to have a hard time competing in this market long term given the competition, but he can always lay claim to helping get smartwatches as a category off the ground. Let's see any one of you who ridicule him achieve half as much in your lifetime.
Click to expand...

Wow so much defense for a guy you don't even know and doesn't give a rat's behind that you're alive. Why do you care if anybody ridicules him? He's too rich to worry or care about who insults him. Apple gets ridiculed here daily and this is a site that's suppose to be Apple-enthusiasts site. Make sure you stay close to the millionaire as much as possible because he can't feel your pucker from long distance. ;)
 
Mikey44 said:
I think my favorite line in the video was when he was talking about sharing Pebble Time Round:

'Maybe they'll get one'

That sounds to me like marketing in its purest form.

'Give us your money, but if you have already given us your money, give us your friends money.'

Just my 2¢.
Click to expand...
He also sounds super desperate. "Do you have friends? Can you tell them we're selling a watch? Please?"
 
Quu said:
As he said in the video though, a million people have already bought one. That shows it's competition and with a colour screen and a design like this with that battery life it's definitely a contender.
Click to expand...

For that statement by him to hold any weight I would like to know how many of each model has been bought and what the revenue trend is. I know this is not statistically relevant but I see the original Pebble quite a lot, while I still have to encounter one of the new models. A lot of that million is likely to be that first model.

So, I'm quite sceptic whether Pebble actually can demonstrate an increase in sales, even though the market for smartwatches is increasing in size.

Nevertheless, 1 million of sold watches is not anything to ignore, but I wonder if there is anything in that watch in terms of technology, design or business model that Apple (or any of the others for that matter) considers worthy of investigation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Back
Top