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Pebble officially shuts down, cancels all Pebble Time 2/Core/Time Round orders

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Kurdel

Banned
You must have abysmally low standards if your defense is "you're lazy if you don't want another thing to plug in each night". It is an issue, especially now that the competition that showed how archaic and stupid it was has been shut down a week after being bought by a competitor.

I can only speak from my experience, but I already charge like 4 things each night, adding one more wasn't a big deal.

People had the exact same arguments for smartphones vs dumbphones in 2009. We will come to a point where price and features will suddenly be more appealing to a broader audience, as long as the battery isn't problematic (36 hour charge like it is now is fine by me).

Charging anything every day kind of sucks. My phone can get through a few days with the way I use it. It would drive me nuts always being close to empty on a charge.

Yeah I get that, I have a charging station on my night table so it's as easy as putting it down every night and it is 100% the next morning.
 

Kurdel

Banned
What all do you charge?

I charge my phone and occasionally my paper white.

My daily nightmare: iPhone, iPad Pro, iPad mini, Watch.

That is most nights, otherwise my laptop and ps4 controller can join the mix. I also keep my 3DS and Vita charged.

To keep this at least tangentially related to the thread, I didn't keep the Pebble cable on my USB multiplug because charging was so infrequent, so I tended to forget to get the cable out to charge it for days.
 

Shaneus

Member
So, where'd be the best place to pick something up via firesale now? I assume that seeing as the Time 2 was KS-only this year, that'd be impossible. So it'd only be the Time, Steel and... ?

Have no idea what retailers to suss out. Even harder being in Australia.
 

Kurdel

Banned
I have no idea how it's possible to drain all 4 of those enough in a single day to warrant charging each of them every day...

I have a Pro and its battery is insane

I usually have the speaker at like 80% volume and more than 75% brightness mainly for video, so that is quite an assault on the battery. I try to keep it plugged in as much as possible, but even then, the battery barely charges while I use it.
 
No it isn't.

It can always be better, but it is more than serviceable as it is right now, and isn't a real issue.

Unless you are too lazy to plug in more thing every night.

I personally don't like the Apple watch approach to this category at all. Even if I was going to use an Apple device again.

Tiny little app buttons on the face and tiny little individual apps. And nightly charging.


Battery was the reason I went for a Note 5 to replace my Nexus 5 (I also dabbled with the 6plus and a month with a Nexus 6). I actually had the iPhone 6+ for a couple of weeks, my wife got me one. Because I saw her run on battery almost 2 days (at least, to like 5pm on day 2). My Nexus 4/5/6 could barely make it to 7pm on the first day.

Also, some of us aren't sleeping a solid hunk at night when we should. I'm on a late afternoon shift right now (and was doing nightshift over the summer). Sometimes I was napping for a couple of hours in a random place and didn't have my charger handy.

Pebble has the right approach to me - it's first a watch, with some notifications. My Pebble Time Round is just like my Note 5 - good for almost 2 days. Good for those days that I forget to charge. I don't need a week, but being able to miss a day is important, or to juice up substantially in 15 min while I'm making coffee in the morning or whatever.

I also liked the lack of touchscreen. I accidentally hit my Android Wear watch all of the time.

Unfortunately a real replacement for Pebble folks is hard. There's plenty of fitness trackers and full blown touchscreen, power hungry smartwatches, but a lot less in the watch with notifications category.
 
I just bought one last week, because they were the best smart watch on the market. It sucks that this happened to them.



The Pebble is one of the reasons Kickstarter was such a great thing. This announcement is a good thing for you too because they will refund backers.

Honestly if I were you I would return it, Unless you got a VERY good deal on it.

There's no guarantee how long the cloud stuff (voice features, watchfaces, app store) will work. Pebble said they would try to detach it from the cloud ASAP but who knows if that will happen.

They will be firesaled soon enough, most likely.

I love mine but I'm crossing my fingers on the support front.
 

Shaneus

Member
Unfortunately a real replacement for Pebble folks is hard. There's plenty of fitness trackers and full blown touchscreen, power hungry smartwatches, but a lot less in the watch with notifications category.
I made the analogy that Pebble watches are not unlike the Kindle in their respective categories, perhaps there's a chance Amazon might develop a watch with the ethos of portability/longevity of battery over flashiness.
 

jiggles

Banned
Fitpay, who were making the Pagaré smartstrap (NFC payment) for gen 1 Pebble Time, have also cancelled their project, but won't be returning any of the $200k they raised to their backers.

They cite sunk costs of $650k, and I've heard people speculate that's because, after the Time 2 was announced (with no expansion port), they were trying to turn it into a marketable product that could work with non-Pebble devices.

Which would effectively mean they burned all their Kickstarter money on another project, which would be fucking garbage.
 

Somnid

Member
Fitpay, who were making the Pagaré smartstrap (NFC payment) for gen 1 Pebble Time, have also cancelled their project, but won't be returning any of the $200k they raised to their backers.

They cite sunk costs of $650k, and I've heard that's because, after the Time 2 was announced (with no expansion port), they were trying to turn it into a marketable product that could work with non-Pebble devices.

Which would effectively mean they burned all their Kickstarter money on another project. It's fucking garbage.

Heard from where? That's a pretty serious accusation to not source.
 

n0razi

Member
These things are all bullshit. Either you get a serious running/hiking watch like Fenix, or just use your phone.

Your phone can do 90% of it.

I work with my hands and can't grab my phone from my pocket a lot of times when Im wearing dirty gloves etc... My pebble has been invaluable for me to glance at texts to see if its something urgent or if I can ignore for the time being. I don't need a $300 apple/google watch for that. The pebble did everything I needed with a 7 day battery life and lower cost.
 

Somnid

Member
Sorry, that sounded more authoritative than I intended. "Heard people speculate" is more accurate.

That's not worth very much. It would make sense that they would share tech, software, designs with other similar products they are making, I'd fully expect that in fact. But nothing I've seen seems to indicate they misappropriated their funds, the rug was swept out from under them, twice and all smartstraps are DOA so I can't blame them for calling it. It really sucks you can't get a refund but that is a risk. I almost backed them, but decided to go in on Tilt Vu instead. That might also get canceled or it might ironically still be the HR sensor I wanted for my PT before PT2 was announced.
 

WillyFive

Member
Honestly if I were you I would return it, Unless you got a VERY good deal on it.

There's no guarantee how long the cloud stuff (voice features, watchfaces, app store) will work. Pebble said they would try to detach it from the cloud ASAP but who knows if that will happen.

They will be firesaled soon enough, most likely.

I love mine but I'm crossing my fingers on the support front.

Ordered it from Amazon and it has already been opened, I don't think a return is possible.
 

jiggles

Banned
the rug was swept out from under them, twice

Once. PT2 getting announced shouln't have made a difference as to whether they could deliver the Pagaré on time and within budget.

Maybe if they were refunding backers that were upgrading to the new model, that would have been a setback, but they refused to do that.

For a project from such an experienced fintech team to get hit with so many delays and run so far over budget in such a short time suggests there was a change in scope.
 

Somnid

Member
Once. PT2 getting announced shouln't have made a difference as to whether they could deliver the Pagaré on time and within budget.

Maybe if they were refunding backers that were upgrading to the new model, that would have been a setback, but they refused to do that.

For a project from such an experienced fintech team to get hit with so many delays and run so far over budget in such a short time suggests there was a change in scope.

Commercial viability significantly dropped when it was announced because of the same sort of hardcore Pebble fans who back those projects and would buy smartstraps many were intending to upgrade. They did mull a change when that happened but decided to forge through. They also detailed a couple setbacks with design failures and certification. Their original date I think was September and it got delayed to January. That all costs money.
 
Just got the email about this and had to post.

I am so fucking sad. Pebble was one of those companies I actually liked from all different aspects.

I have an OG pebble that has seen me through almost two years' time come January, and I was ready to buy the second-gen Time and Core next year. The mindset they had for their watches--that a smart watch should primarily be a watch and that it shouldn't try to be a phone--was important to me. The e-ink display kicked ass. So much better than a glossy mess that's hard to read in sunlight. And I could use it with whatever Android or Apple phone I wanted.

So sad to see it end abruptly like this. I'm not sure we'll see another smart watch with an easy-to-read display, water-proof design, week-long battery life, multi-platform connectivity, and simple OS.
 

mokeyjoe

Member
Yeah, I agree. The Pebble approach is what I wanted from a smartwatch. I even still prefer the b&w display in my Steel. Why do I need colour to read texts?

How hard can it be for someone else to make a cheap smartwatch with a week's battery life? All I really need is notifications and calendar sync.
 
Love my Pebble 2 but also put money down on the Time 2 as well.

Seeing as that ain't happening, I'm now looking at the TickWatch 2. Not sure if I'm looking at some sort of cheap product disguised as a good one. Plus I don't want to charge it everynight too. I like being told how much sleep I got.
 
Was thinking about grabbing a Pebble sometime soon. Still worth it or is this Cloud issue going to be a problem?

Unknown yet. They promised on their blog / kickstarter page to try to detach services from the cloud with an update but "try" is the keyword.

I think the OG pebble is a lot less cloud-based than the newer ones.

I'd wait to see how things shake out. If they get the Timeline / weather etc working it would be nice. Not sure how they would deal with the Pebble Store though.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
thx fitbit?

That Fitbit deal must've gone through.

Sure. And they did that, with the original Pebble. Then they became a real company that was producing hardware and getting on actual retail shelves.

The fact they then went BACK to Kickstarter for new models shows how exceedingly desperate or exceedingly shameless they were.

They had manufacturing partners, support structure, office space, hardware designers, etc. They should not be going back to Kickstarter unless (a) they are so bad at business (or their product so terrible) they cannot self-fund/get normal investment for new models, or (b) they are shameless scumbags going back to the teat of Kickstarter for free money.
They were reckless with their money. That's what all the buzz in the smart hardware space is saying. There's investing in company growth, and then there's throwing cash around without a sound business strategy. A guy I know (yes "a guy I know") says there was also some real dodginess with their books. Not like legal dodginess, not money laundering or anything, but they were concealing or downplaying how bad their operating expenses were by shuffling how things were listed around among different departments to look like they were in better financial shape than they were
 

mokeyjoe

Member
Love my Pebble 2 but also put money down on the Time 2 as well.

Seeing as that ain't happening, I'm now looking at the TickWatch 2. Not sure if I'm looking at some sort of cheap product disguised as a good one. Plus I don't want to charge it everynight too. I like being told how much sleep I got.

I don't really see any advantage over a regular Android Wear watch.

The closest seem to be Vector with the monochrome display and 30 day battery life. It's just a pity they're fairly pricey.
 

GSG Flash

Nobody ruins my family vacation but me...and maybe the boy!
I don't really see any advantage over a regular Android Wear watch.

The closest seem to be Vector with the monochrome display and 30 day battery life. It's just a pity they're fairly pricey.

Vector is an intriguing option but I find the screen is too low res.

Pebble's colour screen is very nice IMO and right now there's no viable low power alternative to it.
 

mokeyjoe

Member
Vector is an intriguing option but I find the screen is too low res.

Pebble's colour screen is very nice IMO and right now there's no viable low power alternative to it.

Looking at pictures it seems the same as my pebble steel. I don't mind the resolution of the screen, visibility is the most important part.

The build quality looks way better than the Pebble, but it's just too much for what it is. I've also been looking at hybrid watches like the Martian range. It seems like the right compromise but the cheap ones are kinda ugly and the nice ones are way too much.

Always on + long battery life is a must. I'm hoping someone else sees there's a niche for this sort of device and steps in. Until then my Pebble Steel is still functioning. I could be tempted by a Pebble Round if they start flogging them off cheap.

Edit - Well seeing as my Pebble Steel's buttons were getting unreliable, I pulled the trigger on the Vector Meridian. It seems like a straight swap, just better looking and with much better battery life.

I wouldn't have done because of the price of the Vector, but I found it for $119 on US Amazon. Even with shipping and taxes (and the crappy exchange rate) it still only came to £120. If I buy one here it's £200-£300! Might post some reactions when I get it if anyone is curious about the Vector as a Pebble replacement.
 
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