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[Deadly Cyclone]

My white one has yet to be made/shipped but a friend has the black one and I messed around with it. It's very cool. It certainly is the first go around, and it's not a 100% elegant device like Apple might make, but it gets the job done. For the first generation of these it's pretty awesome.

Even for something as simple as seeing you have an email and being able to see it's spam before getting your phone out, or see who is calling before pulling out your phone is awesome.

 

[Sen²]

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.

Keep in mind though that your Pebble will not be shipping before March/April if you preorder now.

 

[JoeFu]

WOOOO! MINE FINALLY CAME!!

 

[neojubei]

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.

how did you get email to work with the watch?

 

[Somnid]

Got mine it's pretty nice though not everything is there.

I won't comment on build quality since I think it's generally retarded practice without a benchmark. I can simply attest that it works just fine and has no visible defects from a day of use.

The plastic is glossy and overall I like the look of it. Very minimalist. The wrist strap is soft rubber which makes it easier to wear especially at a desk job. To charge there is a magnetic cable. It's not the strongest magnet so it could fall off but it's effortless to put on. Otherwise I don't really have much more to say that pictures don't.

I set it up with my iPod Touch 5th Gen. Setup from Pebble's side is great. Setup from the iOS side is a confusing clusterfuck. You need to pair the watch and then go in and enable a bunch of notification setting manually. It's system wide, so any notification iOS sends you is also forwarded to the watch, there's no granular control. I imagine this is where the iWatch steps in, Apple builds it into iOS so it's streamlined and let's wolves eat the competitors. Anyway, the Pebble app gives you a bunch of instructions on how to make iOS do what you want since the app can't, but it's easy to follow and gives you a list of what things need to be done for each feature.

The watch OS itself is early. You can switch faces, control music and set an alarm and that's about it for now. Clearly, they need 3rd party apps to really make a difference but the SDK isn't ready yet. The watch faces they have are mostly text-base or analog. Strangely they didn't include a digital face on Pebble or as one of the official ones to load. The text watch default is my favorite, and "just a bit" is my least. I wanted a good binary watchface but this is a vertical BCD unreadable mess. It took me a while to figure out what it was even doing. I'd like to see more digital faces. I'd also like to see a stopwatch, countdown, pedometer and compass by default.

When you get a notification Pebble buzzes your wrist and lights up with the text. Very nice. I've heard that it only displays the latest when multiple come in which could be problematic due to how long it takes iOS to poll for messages. You can shake your wrist to dismiss. You can also shake your wrist to activate the backlight. While this is a nice feature it can sometimes take more effort than one would like. I'd have liked to see a capacitive button or something also handle this.

Overall everything seems solid. Without apps it's hard to gauge its real potential. As a watch you can spend a lot more for a lot less though. If you don't own an Android or iOS smartphone then I wouldn't recommend this watch as it's more or less useless. From what I read it does not officially support tablets so YMMV.

 

[LyleLanley]

how did you get email to work with the watch?

It worked automatically. It stopped working for a while but I just turned the bluetooth off and on to fix it.

 

[Tobor]

Got mine it's pretty nice though not everything is there.

I won't comment on build quality since I think it's generally retarded practice without a benchmark. I can simply attest that it works just fine and has no visible defects from a day of use.

The plastic is glossy and overall I like the look of it. Very minimalist. The wrist strap is soft rubber which makes it easier to wear especially at a desk job. To charge there is a magnetic cable. It's not the strongest magnet so it could fall off but it's effortless to put on. Otherwise I don't really have much more to say that pictures don't.

I set it up with my iPod Touch 5th Gen. Setup from Pebble's side is great. Setup from the iOS side is a confusing clusterfuck. You need to pair the watch and then go in and enable a bunch of notification setting manually. It's system wide, so any notification iOS sends you is also forwarded to the watch, there's no granular control. I imagine this is where the iWatch steps in, Apple builds it into iOS so it's streamlined and let's wolves eat the competitors. Anyway, the Pebble app gives you a bunch of instructions on how to make iOS do what you want since the app can't, but it's easy to follow and gives you a list of what things need to be done for each feature.

The watch OS itself is early. You can switch faces, control music and set an alarm and that's about it for now. Clearly, they need 3rd party apps to really make a difference but the SDK isn't ready yet. The watch faces they have are mostly text-base or analog. Strangely they didn't include a digital face on Pebble or as one of the official ones to load. The text watch default is my favorite, and "just a bit" is my least. I wanted a good binary watchface but this is a vertical BCD unreadable mess. It took me a while to figure out what it was even doing. I'd like to see more digital faces. I'd also like to see a stopwatch, countdown, pedometer and compass by default.

When you get a notification Pebble buzzes your wrist and lights up with the text. Very nice. I've heard that it only displays the latest when multiple come in which could be problematic due to how long it takes iOS to poll for messages. You can shake your wrist to dismiss. You can also shake your wrist to activate the backlight. While this is a nice feature it can sometimes take more effort than one would like. I'd have liked to see a capacitive button or something also handle this.

Overall everything seems solid. Without apps it's hard to gauge its real potential. As a watch you can spend a lot more for a lot less though. If you don't own an Android or iOS smartphone then I wouldn't recommend this watch as it's more or less useless. From what I read it does not officially support tablets so YMMV.

Try tapping the screen, that's supposed to be enough to trigger the accelerometer.

 

[NomarTyme]

Definitely gonna get the 2nd gen version.

 

[JoeFu]

Liking the watch. Just wish the sdk was out. Have had some problems though. Twice the watch has lost connection with my phone and the only way to get it to get it to connect again was to unpair the watch and phone, turn off the watch, turn it back on and connect them again. Anything else wouldn't work.

 

[Sen²]

Liking the watch. Just wish the sdk was out. Have had some problems though. Twice the watch has lost connection with my phone and the only way to get it to get it to connect again was to unpair the watch and phone, turn off the watch, turn it back on and connect them again. Anything else wouldn't work.

To someone else who experienced the same problem as you Eric replied:

delete Pebble from the paired devices on your phone

restart your phone -then reset your Pebble to factory reset (http://help.getpebble.com/customer/portal/articles/957567-troubleshooting#FactoryReset)

Then go through the instructions at go.getpebble.com

 

[Blackhead]

I got a Pebble (they finally started showing up on the local craigslist). Here's a few (crappy) pictures comparing it with the WIMM, an old Metawatch and an ancient Sony Liveview:

Now my problem is deciding which phone to pair it with. Ordinarily I'd prefer the notification system of a jailbroken iPhone but the Pebble is far from feature complete yet and Augmented SmartWatch Pro on Android is doing an amazing job making the Pebble very functional**. The app has created workarounds for the Pebble's inability to properly handle multiple simultaneous messages and the Pebble's lack of a history — not to mention the Fitbit, Withings, Weather/Rain forecast integration etc. Also Google Now and Google Transit Navigation integration with the Pebble is practically a killer feature... The Pebble team are taking too long with the updates for watch OS :/

**Augmented SmartWatch Pro 3.8 and the Pebble Smart Watch - YouTube
Augmented SmartWatch Pro 4.0 and the Pebble Smart Watch - YouTube

 

[Tobor]

Mine is preparing for shipment, so I only have a few days left to wait now.

 

[Blackhead]

Mine is preparing for shipment, so I only have a few days left to wait now.

would you consider jailbreaking your iPhone?

 

[Tobor]

would you consider jailbreaking your iPhone?

No. I'm not sure I want more than basic notifications on the watch anyway. I'll need to wear it and see how I like it first.

 

[Blackhead]

No. I'm not sure I want more than basic notifications on the watch anyway. I'll need to wear it and see how I like it first.

dang, thought we had finally found something to entice you with

 

[secretanchitman]

still havent gotten mine and i had backed pebble through kickstarter.

 

[Tobor]

dang, thought we had finally found something to entice you with

Lol. I actually backed this project when text messages weren't going to work on iOS, so this has more features than I paid for!

 

[LCfiner]

I got mine today. it's a bit bigger than I thought it would be. I don't think I'll wear it regularly and it's due to size. if it were about 20% smaller in all dimensions, I might make it my daily watch as opposed to the nicer looking analog watches I typically wear. the size makes it seems a bit more "techy" than I would like.

Anyway, it works as advertised. I tested some messages and an email. notifications work as expected. music control is fast and convenient. This might be a reason I keep it around and, in the future, use a smartwatch at all on a regular basis.

with the backlight off, the screen looks pretty nice in ambient light and seems sharp. but the pixels become easily noticeable with the backlight turned on. any watch faces with rounded edges look kinda poor. ditto for serif fonts. the basic sans serif text looks ok

I could see myself buying a retail pebble v2 or v3 once they miniaturize it, make the screen sharper, make the bezels smaller and reduce the thickness. I don't regret supporting the kickstarter at all. I pledged as a bit of a lark and, at $100, it wasn't too expensive an experiment.

 

[Tobor]

Mine has been stuck in "Processing Shipment" since Monday.

 

[Blackhead]

Anyway, it works as advertised. I tested some messages and an email. notifications work as expected. music control is fast and convenient.

If you use it a bit more can you post a follow up on how often you receuve messages and/or the pebble disconnects? I'm finding it to be not so reliable with iOS so far

 

[e_i]

Does the Pebble still function as a watch when out of range of a phone?

 

[T.M. MacReady]

holy giant bezel. dolan y?!

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Does the Pebble still function as a watch when out of range of a phone?

Yes.

 

[GK86]

Waiting on tax refunds to order one.

 

[e_i]

Yes.

Thanks! I was hoping it would at least function like a regular watch.

 

[Somnid]

So Pebble right now has serious issues with email notifications on iOS. I haven't gotten anything in days and I've reset, re-paired and everything else multiple times. It's only worked a couple times and once my Pebble goes out of range it stops again. I also had got one charge that lasted about 3 days which is also a known issue.

They really need the SDK up before this thing ships for real, I can't recommend it in the state it's in now (though I'm happy to beta test). In the mean time a basic activity tracker and what-not would be nice to just make it do a bit more.

Try tapping the screen, that's supposed to be enough to trigger the accelerometer.

It takes more effort than that.

 

[Tobor]

It takes more effort than that.

Gotcha.

My watch shipped, should be here tomorrow. I'll post my own impressions then. I also ordered the large strap for my big wrist, in case anyone is curious about that.

 

[TimeKillr]

Gotcha.

My watch shipped, should be here tomorrow. I'll post my own impressions then. I also ordered the large strap for my big wrist, in case anyone is curious about that.

Yeah mine shipped last night too. Hopefully I'll have it tomorrow or monday by the latest. I can't wait... I've been waiting for it for so god damn long.

 

[e_i]

Can't wait for mine. I'm a preorderer, not a Kickstarter.

I have a question, does the vibration of the watch get annoying after a while? Can you turn on/off specific notifications (on Android). I know the watch vibrating everytime I get a email message will annoy me after a while.

 

[Tobor]

The Pebble arrived today!

First thoughts:

The strap sucks, and they didn't include the large strap I ordered. No idea when I'll get that, but it's so bland I doubt I'll use it anyway.

The overall size isn't a problem for me, as I have big wrists. It looks ok.

I replaced the strap for now with a Nato strap I already had. Looks sportier, and gets bonus hipster points.

As far as functionality, I got a text and it worked. Neat. Transferred a watch face over. Neat. They definitely need more watch faces to choose from, hopefully that SDK opens up soon. The charger is very well done.

Like Somnid said, it does feel like a beta test, but that's cool. I got a nice discount to be a beta tester.

 

[GK86]

Anyone with the pebble watch care to comment on your phones battery life, while using the pebble?

 

[Emarv]

Ya. I'm curious about battery life, also.

 

[Tobor]

More impressions:

It works with my car! I was really worried that being connected to the watch would somehow screw up the bluetooth in my car, but it works fine. Huzzah!

Declining a voice call on the watch while the phone is still in your pocket is very cool.

So far, I'm sticking with the text face. It's clean and simple, and looks good on the screen.

I tried the stock strap again, it's really uncomfortable. Back to the Nato strap.

I like text and voice, but I'm not sure I want my email on this thing, it's a little much. I'm leaving it on for now.

I demoed it for some people at work who asked about it. Everyone liked it. No one seemed off put by the idea of a smart watch. Two different people mentioned they were waiting to see what Apple was coming out with. The Apple watch rumors are definitely the elephant in the room. I keep thinking that this watch with Siri integration would be way more useful.

Anyone with the pebble watch care to comment on your phones battery life, while using the pebble?

They say you take a 5-10% hit on the phone's battery life. I need a few more days to be sure, but it seems accurate. My iPhone definitely didn't take a huge hit.

 

[Blackhead]

I already had bluetooth on for use with headphones so I actually didn't experience a battery life hit when the Pebble piggybacked on that connection. On Android I've observed longer battery life because I don't turn on the screen as often when I check the Pebble instead. On iOS that advantage is somewhat lost because the phone flashes on the screen for lockscreen notifications (for some obscure Apple reasoning you can't turn that off and still keep the Pebble notifications).

My biggest problem is the unreliability. Sometimes apps just stop sending notifications. It's not always Pebble's fault (Twitter has broken their push notifications I reckon) but the main reason I got this was for rock solid alerts and not having to worry about missing something important. :/

edit: Tobor, what do you want to use Siri for with the watch?

 

[Tobor]

Siri integration would allow you to reply to a text or email through the watch. In fact, almost everything Siri does now would be able to work through the watch. Stuff that get's handed to a specific phone app would open on the phone.

If Apple does a watch, it's an absolute lock they'll do Siri integration.

 

[Blackhead]

Siri integration would allow you to reply to a text or email through the watch. In fact, almost everything Siri does now would be able to work through the watch. Stuff that get's handed to a specific phone app would open on the phone.

If Apple does a watch, it's an absolute lock they'll do Siri integration.

What's the advantage of using Siri on the watch as opposed to using Siri directly on the phone?

 

[Somnid]

What's the advantage of using Siri on the watch as opposed to using Siri directly on the phone?

The reason why you have a watch to check messages and not the phone itself. It's less much effort because it's always there and visible, not in your pocket.

 

[Tobor]

What's the advantage of using Siri on the watch as opposed to using Siri directly on the phone?

What's the advantage of reading a text on the watch as opposed to directly on the phone?

The answers are the same.

They're putting Siri buttons into new cars for this very reason. Why not extend it to the watch?

 

[Blackhead]

Siri integration would allow you to reply to a text or email through the watch. In fact, almost everything Siri does now would be able to work through the watch. Stuff that get's handed to a specific phone app would open on the phone.

If Apple does a watch, it's an absolute lock they'll do Siri integration.

The reason why you have a watch to check messages and not the phone itself. It's less much effort because it's always there and visible, not in your pocket.

What's the advantage of reading a text on the watch as opposed to directly on the phone?

The answers are the same.

They're putting Siri buttons into new cars for this very reason. Why not extend it to the watch?

But you can already use Siri to respond to text messages and emails (well you certainly can if you jailbreak ~_^ ). If you have headphones then the phone can remain in your pocket while using Siri. How does the watch improve on that? Visual confirmation before Siri sends off the message? Perhaps, but that can be done with an optional notification and, besides, a large part of the Siri appeal was 'hands free'

 

[Tobor]

But you can already use Siri to respond to text messages and emails (well you certainly can if you jailbreak ~_^ ). If you have headphones then the phone can remain in your pocket while using Siri. How does the watch improve on that? Visual confirmation before Siri sends off the message? Perhaps, but that can be done with an optional notification and besides a large part of the Siri appeal was 'hands free'

Yes, I can use Siri now to respond to texts and emails, by fishing the phone out of my pocket, or by using headphones. I'd like an optional watch interface.

The watch improves on that because I'm wearing the watch all the time. I don't always have headphones on. As you said, it would also give me visual confirmation before sending.

Honestly, I'm not sure why this is eluding you. It's a no brainer. Look at this thread:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1266733

This is exactly what the guy wants.

 

[Blackhead]

Yes, I can use Siri now to respond to texts and emails, by fishing the phone out of my pocket, or by using headphones. I'd like an optional watch interface.

The watch improves on that because I'm wearing the watch all the time. I don't always have headphones on. As you said, it would also give me visual confirmation before sending.

Honestly, I'm not sure why this is eluding you. It's a no brainer. Look at this thread:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1266733

This is exactly what the guy wants.

You weren't wearing a watch all the time before you got the pebble, were you? Why not wear a headphone most of the time instead? You can get nice discreet headsets too; you're not limited to Beats by Dre or giant telemarketer headsets. Moreover, the likelihood is that if Siri were available you'd still want to use a headset with the iWatch else you'd appear like this:

It's not just that the character looks nerdy or spookish but any real life person is going to get 'gorilla arm' holding up their watch like that for any length of time just to interact with it via voice.

Then you have to take into account the battery life concerns, both on the phone and the watch (unless Apple does some magical kinetic energy thing with the watch so you never have to recharge it), which would increase greatly once you move from transferring simple character messages over the bluetooth connection to streaming audio. Because the iWatch would still have to rely on the phone to enable the Siri feature -- unless the watch itself has a direct connection to the internet which would be another battery hog... it all doesn't sound feasible.

 

[Tobor]

You weren't wearing a watch all the time before you got the pebble, were you? Why not wear a headphone most of the time instead? You can get nice discreet headsets too; you're not limited to Beats by Dre or giant telemarketer headsets. Moreover, the likelihood is that if Siri were available you'd still want to use a headset with the iWatch else you'd appear like this:
IMG]http://i.imgur.com/BtVNQx7.jpg[/IMG]
IMG]http://i.imgur.com/f7cwHjK.jpg[/IMG]
It's not just that the character looks nerdy or spookish but any real life person is going to get 'gorilla arm' holding up their watch like that for any length of time just to interact with it via voice.

Then you have to take into account the battery life concerns, both on the phone and the watch (unless Apple does some magical kinetic energy thing with the watch so you never have to recharge it), which would increase greatly once you move from transferring simple character messages over the bluetooth connection to streaming audio. Because the iWatch would still have to rely on the phone to enable the Siri feature -- unless the watch itself has a direct connection to the internet which would be another battery hog... it all doesn't sound feasible.

Yes, I wore a watch before the Pebble.

No, I definitely don't want to wear a bluetooth headset. Nothing on my head, please.

I'm not interested in having phone conversations with it, just checking a sports score, setting an alarm, or a quick text reply. The stuff I use Siri for now. I'm ok with looking like Dick Tracy, rather than a cyborg.

As for the feasibility of the tech, that's for Apple to figure out.

 

[Blackhead]

Yes, I wore a watch before the Pebble.

No, I definitely don't want to wear a bluetooth headset. Nothing on my head, please.

I'm not interested in having phone conversations with it, just checking a sports score, setting an alarm, or a quick text reply. The stuff I use Siri for now. I'm ok with looking like Dick Tracy, rather than a cyborg.

As for the feasibility of the tech, that's for Apple to figure out.

For shame Tobor, if you care about looks so much you could always hunt down one of those Apple bluetooth headsets that was made for the original iPhone*. Like I said there are discreet headsets available... Besides you won't be looking like Dick Tracy when fiddling with your watch; there is a reason calculator and computer watches so far never spread beyond geeks and nerds. Speaking to your watch would probably place you on the social totem below the 'douches' who speak into headsets. Personally, I don't care too much about looks** I'm more concerned about the 'gorilla arm'. I just don't see a way around it.

*Apple discontinued their bluetooth headset after the first iPhone much in the same they discontinued their keyboard dock after the first iPad. Waiting for an Apple pundit to make the connection...

**I wear a bluetooth headset -- not for Siri but to listen to notifications and other audio. It's soo useful moreso than my Pebble in a way. I'm listening to podcasts all the time even in situations where headphones would be in appropriate. During this winter season nobody even knows it's there when I'm wearing a cap or beanie.

 

[Tobor]

You are completely overestimating the amount of time someone would be holding up their arm. I'm not worried about "gorilla arm".

No headsets, I don't care who makes it. I purposefully didn't buy the Apple headset when they made it. There is nothing douchier than a bluetooth headset out in public*. In the car, do what you got to do, but walking around or at work. Ugh.

*Google Glass will take that crown with ease.

 

[VGChampion]

I didn't think the iPhone would hit mainstream as quickly as it did but look at that. Lots of people still wear watches daily. I don't think I'd take offence to someone wearing a slightly bigger watch than someone wearing a bluetooth headset.

 

[Blackhead]

You are completely overestimating the amount of time someone would be holding up their arm. I'm not worried about "gorilla arm".

No headsets, I don't care who makes it. I purposefully didn't buy the Apple headset when they made it. There is nothing douchier than a bluetooth headset out in public*. In the car, do what you got to do, but walking around or at work. Ugh.

*Google Glass will take that crown with ease.

Try holding up your arm like that for up to 30 seconds (which is a conservative estimate for how long it usually takes to make a query with Siri on a phone). Anyway, I played around with using more advanced features and interactions on the WIMM and found it a bit tiring.

I very much disagree that a headset is 'douchy' or any douchier that using wired headphones. Yes, talking on your cellphone in public is douchy but that goes for wired headsets and holding up the device to your ear, same as bluetooth headsets. It's true that lots more douchy people used bluetooth headsets when they were first available, thus giving it an unfortunate stigma, but if you think that's douchy then the iWatch would be even worse watching people speak to their arm then make everyone listen to the Siri response through the speakers.

 

[TimeKillr]

Does anybody here from Canada got their Pebble?

Mine shipped last thursday, and when I check the tracking on CanadaPost it still says "Left origin country and is en route to Canada". How long is that supposed to take? Is it possible it got lost at this point?

 

[Nexus Zero]

I don't understand why you'd need to hold your arm up to talk into your watch? I've spoken to people with my phone just lying around on the bed no worries.

 

[GK86]

It says the watch would ship until April-May, does it really take that long?

 

[e_i]

It says the watch would ship until April-May, does it really take that long?

Mine still says next week. When I talked to a cs rep last week, they said preorders would start shipping next week.