Can someone clarify something for me: in order to use an app on the Pebble that would use GPS, the Pebble device must communicate with a smart phone in order to use the phone's GPS? If this is so, any time you want to use one of those apps your Pebble must be in proximity to your phone?
Pebble Smart Watch now shipping, first reviews in
- Thread starter Blackhead
- Start date
- Status
If the Pebble isn't in proximity to your phone, then it's just a watch. It can't do anything beyond tell time without a phone.
Okay. I'm not sure I understand the purpose of this device, then, if you already own a watch and a smartphone. It seems to just be a limited meeting point between the two. Then again, I'm not really a tech geek to begin with. Thought I think the ability to customize the interface is neat.
Tornado Condor
Member
The watch is pretty much just for convenience.
The purpose is admittedly niche, IMO. It's an accessory for the phone that receives and displays notifications and calls, allowing you to keep the phone in your pocket. It will be updated to do more as time goes on, but the core use case is always going to be notifications.
Ingueferroque
Banned
Is it supposed to look like 90's tech? That bezel is huge.
shira
Member
Maybe nice swag in a tech/modern city with other people who might have one or know the makers.
But if you live in a regular town don't bother.
Can't just post that, and walk away, man! Impressions?
XANDER CAGE
Member
These looked much nicer in renders, eurgh.
Auron_Kale
Member
Huh, the packing reminds me of a kindle...
And definitely looks better than the renders, though I thought the renders were decent anyways.
345triangle
Member
for what it's worth i thought the pebble looked terrible in both photos and renders until i saw it in person, where it looks a lot better.
Damn it looked much much better in the renders. I'm getting a cheap looking vibe from this pic, I'm assuming it looks much better in person?
Some impressions so far. the watch is very light then again I wear big watches that tend to be heavy and the pebble interface is very simple to use. The UI is very basic but that is to be expected as this is the company's first product. The screen is easy on the eyes and yes the bezel is thick but not as bad as I thought it would be. I tried the watch with the iphone music player, spotify and amazon cloud player and it worked on all three. One of the issues with the music playback is not being able to switch playlists or albums.
iPhone music player:
Spotify:
Amazon Cloud Player:
iPhone music player:
Spotify:
Amazon Cloud Player:
It looks ok. I cannot help but think if Apple or even Samsung made the pebble watch it would be fully featured i.e. color and touch screen etc.
I wish I can check all my text messages or even show a number of messages or calls I received.
The rubber strap feels and looks flimsy. I might change it soon. The watch itself isn't that stylish. My fossil watch is much better looking.
BrownChickenBrownCow
Banned
IIRC there were really nice wristbands for the old ipod nano. Im pretty sure we could have reduced the size of that a little more and added the additional tech by now.
Put a color touchscreen in there and the battery life goes to shit. You really want to charge your watch every day?
LyleLanley
Banned
Finally got my watch, after a little while I got it to work with my email and message notifications on my iPhone. My one complaint so far is that the plastic, especially around where the top and bottom meet, feels a bit cheap.
Fuck yeah! the usability leap of a color touchscreen compared to the pebble is very much worth the greatly reduced battery life**. To put it in 'Apple analogy' terms: the first generation iPhones had battery life measured in hours while the Blackberry counterparts were measured in days yet we all know which one was better to use. I prefer the WIMM watch to the Pebble even though I have to turn off most of the extra features just to make sure it lasts until nightfall.
**It has to at least last a whole day though. I'm fine charging my watch overnight, every night, but if I have to worry about the battery life during the day, like I do with most smartphones, then that's a no go. Can't juggle all that.
Edit: Almost forgot — Android phone owners should get Pebble Notifier (no root needed) and iPhone owners should get BTNotificationEnabler (jailbreak required)
Man, I think the Pebble is ugly as hell. The screen looks like an old phone screen, the bezel is huge, and the strap looks cheap and boring (I know it can be replaced).
The functionality looks limited too. So I can read some of a text without pulling out my phone and fumble around with music on it? I guess the email thing is nice since you can tell if something is spam or worthwhile, but meh. Thing just looks cheap and nearly useless. You can get a better looking watch for a fifth the price, obviously without the (limited) app usage.
The functionality looks limited too. So I can read some of a text without pulling out my phone and fumble around with music on it? I guess the email thing is nice since you can tell if something is spam or worthwhile, but meh. Thing just looks cheap and nearly useless. You can get a better looking watch for a fifth the price, obviously without the (limited) app usage.
Dynamite Shikoku
Congratulations, you really deserve it!
Yep, these are damn ugly
They do.
Pebble presumably gets about a week with the screen always on, on an LCD you get hours with aggressive sleeping. When you want to check the watch having to constantly unsleep it like a phone would hinder it's usability greatly, in fact that's kinda the point of getting notifications on the watch itself. Also consider outdoor lighting, you can't read LCDs easily outside. I also helps the watch itself become cheap and mass market. I think the people who harp on the screen being black and white miss the point as much as people who recommend a tablet for people who want to read books. There are very good reasons why you want to use a different display tech. Color might be good for a few things but really what's going to be the limiting factor on Pebble is resolution.
POWERSPHERE
Member
Kick starters. All dream no reality.
zephervack
Member
So when you connect this to your iPhone's music player, do you still plug in your phones in the iPhone or the watch???
If its in the watch, it would be awesome for working out!
If its in the watch, it would be awesome for working out!
perryfarrell
Member
Looks very underwhelming.
I just don't get the appeal of smart watches, it seems to me whatever Apple's workin on will flop or not even see the light of day.
I just don't get the appeal of smart watches, it seems to me whatever Apple's workin on will flop or not even see the light of day.
- The Sony Smartwatch with an OLED display is cheaper than the Pebble (and previous generations of the ePaper devices). You can find LCD android tablets cheaper than a Kindle 3G. The main factors affecting the price I'm guessing are the components, fitting them all inside the case and the scale of production
- The Pebble actually uses an 'ePaper' LCD display. It's possible to combine that with the color displays — the PixelQi corp has been doing that for years. The WIMM watch has transflective bi-modal screen i.e. in low power mode it has a greyscale screen and in high power mode it does full color. The screen is always on when using the watch and it is readable in sunlight. You don't need to unsleep it to check the time or notifications like a phone. So does the Motoactv.
- The limiting factor of the Pebble is usability — it's still looks and feels a bit geeky. A color touchscreen interface would help loads in that regard.
LyleLanley
Banned
It just controls the music player, you still have to plug your headphones into the phone.
Oppo
Member
Ah I was curious as to how these would turn out.
I got a fancy band for my (now) older nano, like a bunch of those hipster kids did, but I gotta say I still like the way it looks. If it had bluetooth / wifi, it would be awesome, for checking texts/notifications and controlling AirPlay around the house.
I hope Apple really is working on a dedicated watch because even without networking, it's been pretty cool. I've blown a few minds when I was able to just unstrap the watch and drop it on a nearby iPhone dock on the spur of the moment. I don't usually wear it though.
Trading the necessity of pressing a button to check the time is worth the colour screen IMO. Battery is fine like this. Ideally it would be able to do e-ink time and full colour everything else.
I got a fancy band for my (now) older nano, like a bunch of those hipster kids did, but I gotta say I still like the way it looks. If it had bluetooth / wifi, it would be awesome, for checking texts/notifications and controlling AirPlay around the house.
I hope Apple really is working on a dedicated watch because even without networking, it's been pretty cool. I've blown a few minds when I was able to just unstrap the watch and drop it on a nearby iPhone dock on the spur of the moment. I don't usually wear it though.
Trading the necessity of pressing a button to check the time is worth the colour screen IMO. Battery is fine like this. Ideally it would be able to do e-ink time and full colour everything else.
LyleLanley
Banned
The standard watch faces are like that so I assume the rest of the menus could be updated to look like that as well.
Oppo
Member
The quick answer is: you know how you can just flick your wrist and check the time?
Imagine doing that for texts, or any notification. You would still respond on a phone of course but at least you could glance at the new info and be aware.
That and stuff like audio playback/AirPlay remote control are the main purposes IMO. The rest (weather etc) is just window dressing.
Do you have Bluetooth in the car? My big concern is whether or not this will work while I'm driving and still allow the audio to route through the car stereo.
LyleLanley
Banned
I don't have a car but I imagine you can pick where the audio goes.
Right, but if I have to pull out the phone every morning and switch the audio manually, then this watch is a bust. Currently, the caller id info displays on the car stereo. Once I have the Pebble, will it display on the watch, or the stereo, or both?
I should try asking on their forums.
The definition of no taste.
If you have an Android phone you should be able to set up which BT device handles media audio and which one handles "call audio". You only have to set that up once.
Thanks for this bro.
I dont like how the watch looks, but i guess that is a pretty good list of things to do with it.
SloaneRisette
Member
Kind of considering getting one once I order all the parts for my new computer and have money saved up. The idea definitely interests me. But I'll also make sure to keep an eye on reviews too.
- Status