New Pebble watch uses e-paper...in colour!

[wodin]

Originally Posted by ballfresno

The Pebble is, in many ways, a dumb smartwatch...

Best I can tell it makes way too many sacrifices in the name of battery life. I've owned both a Pebble (original) and an Android Wear watch (Samsung), and I'll grant that having to charge the watch every night is a small PITA, but I have to charge my phone every night anyway so it's not that much of a burden.

Not having a touch screen, however is a major PITA. Those four buttons on the Pebble are not only hard to press as opposed to just a simple screen swipe, but are a good deal less than intuitive. The new "Timeline" interface is supposed to help with that, but what it really is is Pebble admitting that it wasn't well though out in the beginning.

The only thing that the Pebble (any version) has that I miss is the ability to see the screen in bright sunlight. I kind of wish that Qualcomm TOQ had been more than a prototype and had used Android Wear. The Mirasol screen would be a very welcome addition to Google's excellent and improving watch OS.

Oh yeah, did I mention; it doesn't support Google Now, which is really what makes a smartwatch smart.

[Dylrob]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Two new additions -- Pebble Time Steel and Smartstraps.

For the Steel, they've added new pricing levels of various combinations.

Smartstraps

I guess they were holding these things back depending on how well funded the Time was.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

I guess they were holding these things back depending on how well funded the Time was.

For sure. The discounts aren't that great to begin with, but even worse are the shipping charges. $10 for PT and $15 for PTS. That's outrageous! Shipping should be free in the US.

[ballfresno]

Originally Posted by wodin

Best I can tell it makes way too many sacrifices in the name of battery life. [...] The only thing that the Pebble (any version) has that I miss is the ability to see the screen in bright sunlight.

It all comes down to one's own use case! As always.

For me, battery life, always on display and readable easily in sunlight are the key features. I wanted something that would act as a bike computer for 4+ hour rides and my Pebble with my smartphone (in my back jersey pocket or backpack, with display off) do the job. The advantage of the Pebble over a dedicated cycling computer (e.g. a Garmin or equivalent) is that I can see phone calls and txt messages while cycling without stopping as well.

The Pebble can be the wrong watch for other use cases, of course, and yours is one such. If you want Google Now and swiping, the Pebble is not at all useful, as you know already! And the Pebble Time is unlikely to change this, I would guess.

[Skydog]

Originally Posted by ballfresno

It all comes down to one's own use case! As always.

For me, battery life, always on display and readable easily in sunlight are the key features. I wanted something that would act as a bike computer for 4+ hour rides and my Pebble with my smartphone (in my back jersey pocket or backpack, with display off) do the job. The advantage of the Pebble over a dedicated cycling computer (e.g. a Garmin or equivalent) is that I can see phone calls and txt messages while cycling without stopping as well.

The Garmin 1000, which I use for cycling, does indeed display/retain incoming texts and phone calls. The Pebble, which I also use, allows for one-button push custom canned replies (5) to texts.

[ballfresno]

Originally Posted by Skydog

The Garmin 1000, which I use for cycling, does indeed display/retain incoming texts and phone calls.

Indeed. Thanks for this. Mind you, it's slightly more expensive...

[tubemonkey]

10 days in and it's up to $16.5 million. Lots of backers upgraded to the Steel.

[Skydog]

Originally Posted by ballfresno

Indeed. Thanks for this. Mind you, it's slightly more expensive...

Apples and oranges. :-)

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Antartica

I agree there are lot of problems with that theory, but they are the displays with specifications that more closely match the announced specs of the pebble time (epaper display, 64 colors).

AFAICT, the problems are
(1) the resolution: "By the way, the resolution has not changed (144x168)"; the displays of JDI have more resolution (205x140 or 180x180). This means that they would have to order them custom-made, or would not expose/use all the pixels.

(2) the dpi: 182 in the JDI displays versus 175ppi in the original pebble. They don't match, though they are quite similar.

OTOH, it seems that garmin has some watches using those displays: garmin fenix3 (the round display) and garmin epix (the rectangular display). The only interesting tidbit is that the garmin epix (pdf) is using a 205x148 display, that is different that the one that JDI announced, so maybe they are able to manufacture at multiple resolutions.



I know, there are a lot of reasons that technology used on small displays may not be that great on big displays: pricey, hard to manufacture without bad pixels, maybe on bigger sizes the power consumption is not that great.. but at least on paper they seem a better match than regular lcd displays for reading, so one can wish.

The Pebble Time passed through the FCC. Reddit was right; that is a JDI screen.

[ilovegadgets]

I have the original Pebble that I use with my Galaxy Note 3 phone. I like it quite well for the little bit of money I spent on it. Did any of you back the Pebble Time Kickstarter? If so, which Pebble did you choose, Pebble Time or Pebble Time Steel?

[simond]

I went for the Time, not good enough pictures of the steel to make me want to spend more.

[kocoman]

Are the batteries replaceable?

[simond]

If it's similar to the Pebble then you won't be able to

[voracious71]

I have many Apple products that I love but I will not be getting the Apple watch. I have a regular Pebble that I like and I backed the Pebble Time.