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Pebble Announces Next-Generation $249 'Pebble Steel' Smart Watch

Meanwhile, Apple are still struggling to figure out how to do an iWatch :p

I have the original Pebble and love it. >1 day battery life is key (something going flat while you're still going about your day is the worst thing) and this wee fella has 5-7.

This is a great improvement visually, though I'm not worried about upgrading or anything - honestly in the kind of situation where you need a more dressy watch, it's also socially unacceptable to be looking at it, so it seems reasonable to switch it out for a traditional watch for {formal dinners etc} anyway.
 
Struggling to "figure out" how to do this isn't a bad thing. I am sure they could knock off the pebble in a heartbeat. They are trying to excel, and sometimes that can be a struggle.

Cloudane said:
Meanwhile, Apple are still struggling to figure out how to do an iWatch :p

I have the original Pebble and love it. This is a great improvement visually, though I'm not too worried - honestly in the kind of situation where you need a more dressy watch, it's also socially unacceptable to be looking at it, so it seems reasonable to switch it out for a traditional watch for {formal dinners etc} anyway.
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hafr said:
I use a MetaWatch. It vibrates and shows notifications as they drop in. A quick glance on my wrist tells me whether I need to reach for my phone. I can keep the phone on silent, even turn off vibrations, and still not miss anything important.

"But you might as well simply look at your phone".

I could, but that increases the risk of dropping it, losing it, it's far less convenient, it requires much less - and it's so much less impolite to those around you.
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I too have a meta and my favorite part is the game I have to play every time I want to look at the screen. What is the only angle I can hold my wrist at to see the screen in the available light? I usually lose :(

But I think the meta is a better looking watch then the original pebble. I don't think either are great at being a smart watch. Both have some good points, but overall the flaws in the design or OS or implementation outweigh the negatives. Thus both are sitting in my draw hoping they fix the flaws.
 
soundr said:
As a Pebble owner, I hope they focus more energy on software development, and less on fancy new hardware.
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I've seen a few interviews with the CEO and that is exactly their focus. There are many other features in hardware that haven't been fully implemented in software yet.
 
Stewie said:
I too have a meta and my favorite part is the game I have to play every time I want to look at the screen. What is the only angle I can hold my wrist at to see the screen in the available light? I usually lose :(

But I think the meta is a better looking watch then the original pebble. I don't think either are great at being a smart watch. Both have some good points, but overall the flaws in the design or OS or implementation outweigh the negatives. Thus both are sitting in my draw hoping they fix the flaws.
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Have you tried inverting the colours? In the beginning I couldn't see anything either, then I found the invert colours option and it was like turning it on :)

Or you could just use the light button :)
 
hafr said:
Have you tried inverting the colours? In the beginning I couldn't see anything either, then I found the invert colours option and it was like turning it on :)

Or you could just use the light button :)
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Yes. In sunlight inverting works best. In the overhead lighting of my office the regular works best. But for me it is still a crap shoot as to if I will be able to see the screen without trying to find a good angle. It isn't always an issue, but it happens more often then not.

And the light button does nothing for me in bright sunlight.
 
As for size...

I hate large watches. Despise them.

My watch of choice is a Skagen ultra-thin Titanium watch.
images


Weighs almost nothing, only as large as it needs to be.

That was, until I got my Pebble. It's a little larger than I would like (mostly in thickness,) but it is light. I replaced the band with a leather band, though, because the plastic one hurt.

But... I'd love to have the metal-and-glass model. My primary complaint with the Pebble is that the face scratches easily. Mine already has lots of 'hairline' scratches. Nothing that makes it unusable, but it is annoying. The fact that the metal one is physical smaller is a nice bonus. (Although at $250, that's more than I'm willing to spend on a watch.)
 
Anonymous Freak said:
My watch of choice is a Skagen ultra-thin Titanium watch.
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Ha! I have the exact same perspective on watches, and I have essentially the same watch - just a different face.

I was very very close to ordering a pebble last week and held off. Now I've ordered a steel and am very excited. Sure, it'll definitely be heavier, thicker, longer and wider than the Skagen (most are), but the Skagen can't save me from having to get my phone out of my pocket either. The metal band will almost undoubtedly suck too, but they're throwing a leather strap in with each watch.

Like others have said here: pebble are doing it right by focussing on the software, and the fact that they have actually shipped a few working units to customers practically makes them the elder statesman of the industry, so $250 is not a huge gamble on this product IMHO.

Speaking of scratches, I'm curious just how tough gorilla glass is. I've got tonnes of scratches on the Skagen anyway.
 
I'm hoping for an iWatch announcement soon, or I just might jump on a Pebble Steel. I have a 'dressier' Fossil stainless watch that has been around the block too many times, and is starting to show its wear.

The main feature I'm interested in is the ability to skip Spotify/Pandora/etc songs by using a button on my watch instead of having to go to my phone.

My car does not have a USB hub and has regular Bluetooth (not A2DP), so my streaming solution right now is a Bluetooth A2DP adapter connected via Aux in my car. When I receive a phonecall, I answer it using the car's steering wheel buttons and it kicks over to car bluetooth and back to the A2DP stream once I'm done.

While I'm sure my next car will have a USB Hub (I think that most of the Subaru fleet has been upgraded to have this standard by now) I'm not interested in changing out either my head unit or other major overhauls there, so this is why a watch with skip function would be important to me.
 
InfiniteDeath said:
My current "Smartwatch" is a Citizen Proximity. Does everything I would like a smartwatch to do, looks like a normal watch and I never have to charge it or replace the battery. I'm looking forward to replacing it soon with something more fancy.
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A search indicates that Citizen is no longer making that watch. Which is a shame, I really love the Citizen eco-drive watches.

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laurim said:
I don't understand people's obsession with old-fashioned round clock faces. Round spaces are bad for text information display, too much wasted space. There's a reason most informational displays are rectangular. I would rather have a watch band that simply wraps around my wrist like it's natural to be there, as transparent as possible. Men wear cuffed shirts and women wear cuff bracelets so I don't know why this would be a stretch. This pic isn't perfect but something like this:

Image

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If you're going to have anything other than a 4 digit time on it, there's a limit to how small it could be and still be useful.
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Watches have been made with both round and square faces since they started making watches. Of the dozen or so watches I have close to half of them have square faces.
 
iLoveLetteri said:
"I'm going out for dinner, I'm wearing a suit, I've got a position that doesn't allow me to wear a plastic watch on my wrist."

Discarding Pebble, then praising the new Pebble.

Love it. :cool:
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I agree. I like my original black Pebble, but even with the leather band I put on it, it just never looked quite professional enough.

Just ordered a brushed silver Pebble Steel. Can't wait until it arrives.
 
For early buyers - have you received your Steel yet?

I've been thinking about getting a Steel, but I just saw this on the Pebble forum re. Steel shipment delays:

http://forums.getpebble.com/discuss...pping-statistics-shipping-delay-vs-order-date

Peter05 on the forum put together this cool chart of shipping delays vs. order date, which shows the problem is improving but not fixed:

pebble_stats_2014-03-08.JPG


If you purchased one already (mid-Jan or earlier), have you received yours yet? if not, what is total delay expected?
 
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