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By that logic we would only need a cave, a club and some matches to survive and everything else is just luxury.

Not saying that anyone needs a smartwatch, but these arguments about "no-one needs this or needs that" are senseless. If anyone has the money to buy anything than they should buy it, regardless of the opinion or perceived necessity of it by others.

you left out air, food and water.

But that aside - the original point is that it's silly to tell one person that they don't need something when overall - the item itself isn't needed.

Saying someone doesn't need 7 days of battery life on a device that's not needed to begin with is silly. And the OP didn't just say it - they mocked people for wanting longer battery life or appreciating devices that had them.

That, to me, is silly. I remember people telling me I was crazy/stupid/etc for suggesting that the original iPad would have been great to include a camera. Oh the uproar. "You don't need a camera on the iPad."

I can't imagine anyone really complaining about too much battery life.
 
They have absolutely zero need to crowdfund this. Asking for consumers to pay for R&D for this watch is pure greed by pebble. it means they'd rather keep the profits of their company in their own hands, than re-invest in their own company. This is a huge red-flag for me.

I'm not sure this is their goal. The kickstarter packages are all just bundles of watches with increasing discounts. I would expect more premium options with less payback to the customer if they were looking for capital. It seems to me more like they are using Kickstarter as a marketing platform and to pump up sales. Frankly I wouldn't know where to get a Pebble watch anyway even if I would want to buy one (I don't). I have never seen one in the wild (Europe-Amsterdam).

So, it doesn't seem to me they are attracting finance, rather than using Kickstarter as a sales and marketing platform. Still not why Kickstarter was created and I think that Pebble should be banned from the platform for this.
 
That, to me, is silly. I remember people telling me I was crazy/stupid/etc for suggesting that the original iPad would have been great to include a camera. Oh the uproar. "You don't need a camera on the iPad."

I can't imagine anyone really complaining about too much battery life.

After recent trip to euroland, where I have many photos of peoples iPads blocking my view and camera view of something I wanted to see is sad.

I went to buckingham palace to watch the changing of the guards. it was jam packed. I got there 3 hours early and was actually right on the street edge, very few people in front of me...

but sure enough. the thronging masses around. as soon as it started, thousands of iPads and tablets came up. people holding their tablets high in the air to get better view, blocking the views of anyone standing behind them, (I feel bad for the kids who were standing around me!).

THIS IS WHY WE MOCK PEOPLE USING THEIR TABLETS AS THEIR GO TO CAMERAS! not because you look stupid doing it, because you're a nuisance and are imposing on everyone else around you!

ok ok ok

back on topic...
 
No, he's correct... nobody NEEDS a smart watch. It's a luxury item. Does anyone NEED a Lamborghini? No, if they need a car they could easily just get a Toyota. Your phone does everything a smart watch does. All the smart watch does is allows you to access a few features on your phone.


It must be nice having omniscient knowledge of everyone's needs.
 
you left out air, food and water.

haha, well I thought that was available just outside the cave I was mentioning :)

But that aside - the original point is that it's silly to tell one person that they don't need something when overall - the item itself isn't needed.

Saying someone doesn't need 7 days of battery life on a device that's not needed to begin with is silly. And the OP didn't just say it - they mocked people for wanting longer battery life or appreciating devices that had them.

That, to me, is silly. I remember people telling me I was crazy/stupid/etc for suggesting that the original iPad would have been great to include a camera. Oh the uproar. "You don't need a camera on the iPad."

I can't imagine anyone really complaining about too much battery life.

I agree with what you are saying here.
 
I'm not sure this is their goal. The kickstarter packages are all just bundles of watches with increasing discounts. I would expect more premium options with less payback to the customer if they were looking for capital. It seems to me more like they are using Kickstarter as a marketing platform and to pump up sales. Frankly I wouldn't know where to get a Pebble watch anyway even if I would want to buy one (I don't). I have never seen one in the wild (Europe-Amsterdam).

So, it doesn't seem to me they are attracting finance, rather than using Kickstarter as a sales and marketing platform. Still not why Kickstarter was created and I think that Pebble should be banned from the platform for this.

then why use kickstarter?

KS takes a fairly large chunk of the money. There's NO reprocussions for failure to deliver through KS. there's no consumer protection in place if you use it, and its very easy to not provide things like warranties. Remember, by using kickstarter you're not officially buying anything (even if thats how they're using it), you're funding a project.

it is entirely unnecessary risk and cost to use Kickstarter when Pebble already has their own existing webstore front on their homepage.

https://getpebble.com/shop

something about them using KickStarter in this fashion just irks me the wrong way. Something smells fishy
 
Never got the pebble craze. They look like the cheap toy watches I had as a kid, and provide a similar user experience.

I'm not interested in the apple watch or 360 either, but at least those try to have a UI that beats fischer price.
 
Having a similar reaction to the 1st generation: skip the ugly plastic model and wait for the higher end option at a later date.

The Steel version of this might be a nice buy. But I don't think it will do enough head-to-head with the Apple Watch.
 
then why use kickstarter?

KS takes a fairly large chunk of the money. There's NO reprocussions for failure to deliver through KS. there's no consumer protection in place if you use it, and its very easy to not provide things like warranties. Remember, by using kickstarter you're not officially buying anything (even if thats how they're using it), you're funding a project.

it is entirely unnecessary risk and cost to use Kickstarter when Pebble already has their own existing webstore front on their homepage.

https://getpebble.com/shop

something about them using KickStarter in this fashion just irks me the wrong way. Something smells fishy

I agree with all of this, but if Pebble has indeed revenues of about 100 Million a year, then they don't need to attract capital through Kickstarter to fund the R&D for this watch. There are investment companies specialized in that sort of thing.

If they do have enough capital, then it seems to me that they are using this as a marketing and sales platform. Get the device in as many hands as possible as quick as possible. They will be obsolete soon.

If they don't have enough capital, then it is a cheap play to avoid giving part of your company away to an investor that would supply the capital to R&D the new watch. This would be a reprehensible way to use regular consumers. It would be more ethical to offer Kickstarter backers a percentage of the proceeds of the new watch.
 
I do know the difference. I also know you can't possibly know the needs of every single person.

Give me a use case where someone needs one.

After recent trip to euroland, where I have many photos of peoples iPads blocking my view and camera view of something I wanted to see is sad.

I went to buckingham palace to watch the changing of the guards. it was jam packed. I got there 3 hours early and was actually right on the street edge, very few people in front of me...

but sure enough. the thronging masses around. as soon as it started, thousands of iPads and tablets came up. people holding their tablets high in the air to get better view, blocking the views of anyone standing behind them, (I feel bad for the kids who were standing around me!).

THIS IS WHY WE MOCK PEOPLE USING THEIR TABLETS AS THEIR GO TO CAMERAS! not because you look stupid doing it, because you're a nuisance and are imposing on everyone else around you!

ok ok ok

back on topic...

On the flip side - having the front facing for facetime is nice. I would never use a tablet as a camera.

It must be nice having omniscient knowledge of everyone's needs.

It must be nice calling people names and never really illustrating how one needs a smart watch. For anyone that "needs" a smart watch - what hav they been doing this whole time without one?
 
I agree with all of this, but if Pebble has indeed revenues of about 100 Million a year, then they don't need to attract capital through Kickstarter to fund the R&D for this watch. There are investment companies specialized in that sort of thing.

If they do have enough capital, then it seems to me that they are using this as a marketing and sales platform. Get the device in as many hands as possible as quick as possible. They will be obsolete soon.

If they don't have enough capital, then it is a cheap play to avoid giving part of your company away to an investor that would supply the capital to R&D the new watch. This would be a reprehensible way to use regular consumers. It would be more ethical to offer Kickstarter backers a percentage of the proceeds of the new watch.

thats how I feel about it. The device itself is going to be subjective if you like the look / feel or not, or if it checks off peoples wants/needs.

But the use of Kickstarter is a big red flag by them. They should NOT be in the position to need to use it.

(and that 100 mil over 2 years I am estimating, they claimed 45m in rev for 2013 with about 500k units sold, in 2014, they claim they hit 1 million units sold, and a lot of those would be the Steel version released in 2014. So I'm ballparking the 100 mil revenue. They haven't released their financials, but in an interview mid 2014, Pebble execs claimed to have lots of profit.)

So if they had Lots of profit on lots of revenue... Where is it all? Why kickstarter?!

to me, an established company using Kickstarter is like a millioniare asking for donations to fund his next movie. if you're financially capable of doing something on your own, or with private funding, STAY THE **** OFF KICKSTARTER!

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On the flip side - having the front facing for facetime is nice. I would never use a tablet as a camera.

i see the case for the front facing camera. I see the use for even back facing cameras on tablets. you know, around your house, the odd photo of your kids.

but standing out in a tourist spot that is shoulder to shoulder with people... that is NOT the place to be using a tablet as a camera

simply put, it's inconsiderate to those around you.
 
to me, an established company using Kickstarter is like a millioniare asking for donations to fund his next movie. if you're financially capable of doing something on your own, or with private funding, STAY THE **** OFF KICKSTARTER!

Quoted for truth.

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How does that explain that there are MORE negative comments about the Apple Watch than positive comments on this site?

Did you count them? I honestly would not be able to tell. It seems pretty well mixed to me here. Not saying that that is a good thing though.
 
How does that explain that there are MORE negative comments about the Apple Watch than positive comments on this site?

That despite technical excellence (I don't think anyone doubts that Apple will produce a high quality part),

Apple has done nothing to show WHY anyone would want one of these. its been said many times in many threads, They did a terrible job at showcasing why you or I would have our lives changed forever by this watch.

Previously, with the iPods, iphones, and iPads, they were able to demonstrate, legitimate real world usage scenarios in which the devices would make a demonstratable impact in your life.

This is not something they've managed to do yet. It's apple fashion for fashion sake. From a functionality standpoint, they haven't delivered anything really above and beyond what elseis out there. They've just done it with the typical apple Fit and finish.

They still haven't explained HOW this will benefit us. Just repeating "it will change your life!" won't actually change our lives
 
I will never understand people's obsession with design. I buy electronics to use, not to make a fashion statement. I buy iPhones and Macs because I like the operating systems. However for now I choose Pebble over Apple's watch. I deal with a dead battery enough with my iPhone; I don't want to have to deal with it with my watch. I also like that the screen on the Pebble is persistent, and easy to see in daylight (the jury is still out on how usable the :apple:Watch will be outdoors, but in my experience OLEDs are severely flawed in this area). And I like the presence of physical buttons on my watch, as it means I can use it to control the music on my phone without having to look at either screen. The only thing that was really missing from the first gen that I truly desired was a microphone, and they fixed that with this version.

Anyway, software wise, I am glad that the up and down buttons have more use in watch mode now. Frankly I never found much point in scrolling between watch faces. (I don't change my watch face THAT OFTEN)
 
It must be nice calling people names and never really illustrating how one needs a smart watch. For anyone that "needs" a smart watch - what hav they been doing this whole time without one?

Many people 'need' a girlfriend, but don't have one either.

So a 'need' isn't exactly something you have already.

----------

Apple has done nothing to show WHY anyone would want one of these. its been said many times in many threads, They did a terrible job at showcasing why you or I would have our lives changed forever by this watch.

True.

However more companies than just Apple make watches. Why are these questions leveled at Apple, instead of generalizing at the whole industry?
 
Many people 'need' a girlfriend, but don't have one either.

So a 'need' isn't exactly something you have already.

----------



True.

However more companies than just Apple make watches. Why are these questions leveled at Apple, instead of generalizing at the whole industry?

No - it's not necc something you have already. I'm not sure equating a living being with an inanimate object is the best example of defining what someone needs vs what someone wants.

People aren't objects.
 
However more companies than just Apple make watches. Why are these questions leveled at Apple, instead of generalizing at the whole industry?

Right now these are questions that should be levelled at the whole industry. Google wear hasn't really done much to distinguish themselves either.

So far for the most part both the Apple watch and Google wear watches are in the realm of technobabble gadgets. they're geeky and they give some cool added functionality, but they don't replace or add anything yet.

The fitness side of things is different, but from the watch perspective, without the health and fitness side, IMHO, none of the watches currently available are coming anywhere close to reproducing the "jewellery" of current watches. Even the Apple watch to me looks like a geeky square screen on a strap. closer to dick tracy watches or those I wore as a geeky pimply faced tech nerd in highschool. Not the fashion accessories that they're trying to tell us they are.

----------

Many people 'need' a girlfriend, but don't have one either.

So a 'need' isn't exactly something you have already.


No - it's not necc something you have already. I'm not sure equating a living being with an inanimate object is the best example of defining what someone needs vs what someone wants.

People aren't objects.

I think we need a lesson on Maslow's heirarchy of needs :p
 
I will never understand people's obsession with design. I buy electronics to use, not to make a fashion statement. I buy iPhones and Macs because I like the operating systems. However for now I choose Pebble over Apple's watch. I deal with a dead battery enough with my iPhone; I don't want to have to deal with it with my watch. I also like that the screen on the Pebble is persistent, and easy to see in daylight (the jury is still out on how usable the :apple:Watch will be outdoors, but in my experience OLEDs are severely flawed in this area). And I like the presence of physical buttons on my watch, as it means I can use it to control the music on my phone without having to look at either screen. The only thing that was really missing from the first gen that I truly desired was a microphone, and they fixed that with this version.

Anyway, software wise, I am glad that the up and down buttons have more use in watch mode now. Frankly I never found much point in scrolling between watch faces. (I don't change my watch face THAT OFTEN)

A watch is actually more about design than about function. Apple got that right. The other contenders went too far the other way.
 
Because it's not precioussssssssssssssssssssssssss Apple... :rolleyes:

No, more like it's a decidedly un-fancy watch with very limited functionality, soon to be surpassed by something much more upscale like Apple Watch. I'm not even going to buy an Apple Watch but even I have to say it blows Pebble away. Who's buying this stuff?
 
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