
Pebble Reveals Pebble Time Steel and a Smartstrap System - yatoomy
http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/03/pebble-time-steel-and-smartstraps/
======
AlexMuir
I've been continually impressed with Pebble since their very first
Kickstarter. They've done a lot on a few levels:

\- For smartwatches (and possibly even wearables) they produced and shipped
what I'd consider to be the first mainstream phone-connected wearable. I'm
sure it was on the big players' radar but Pebble produced a decent product
relatively on time and I'm sure people learned quite a bit from them. At the
least they showed their was a market.

\- For crowdfunding: Pebble got a MASSIVE stack of money. Way beyond what
anyone expected. They managed the sudden increase in scale well, and I think
showed that startups could be funded to the tune of $millions rather than
$tens-of-thousands.

\- For hardware startups: Pebble showed that an independent startup can
compete (and continue to compete) with giants who have a vast existing
customer base. And that funding is available for that endeavour. I also think
they set the standard for communicating with customers. I still remember their
updates from factories in China. I think they blazed something of a trail for
companies that followed (Amp, Navdy, Ouya, off the top of my head).

Smartwatches aren't for me - I've lost every watch I've ever owned - but I'm
in awe of this team.

~~~
lettergram
I would add that Pebble gave away a ton of free Pebbles to universities[1].
This boosted their app production, and made them super popular. Everyone on my
campus was like, "awesome, you got a pebble!" it made something to be desired,
and makes you stand out as a CS or ECE major.

I know I am purchasing a Pebble because I was so impressed by the free one
they gave me.

[1] [https://blog.getpebble.com/2013/12/16/pebbling-schools-in-
th...](https://blog.getpebble.com/2013/12/16/pebbling-schools-in-the-name-of-
awesome/)

------
unwind
So, Pebble calls it "Smartstrap", but the TC article for some reason uses the
names "Smartband" _and_ "Smartstrap".

The Kickstarter page doesn't mention it by either, but the Pebble blog post
([http://developer.getpebble.com/blog](http://developer.getpebble.com/blog))
that the TC article references still links back to the Kickstarter page as a
source. The blog post shows an image of connectors, but doesn't specify what
the four lines do (I'm guessing two are for power and two are for data).

So confused right now.

~~~
FLGMwt
This page
([https://developer.getpebble.com/smartstraps/](https://developer.getpebble.com/smartstraps/),
linked in the blog post) has a little bit more detail.

There's not much details yet on the API, which is likely only for "is
connected" or "start this app", but my guess is that most of the work is left
up to the hardware developer, a la most hardware dev. Not so much API calls
but straight reading IO pins. I'd pick up an Arduino for an idea of what you'd
be getting into.

~~~
michaelmior
I'd be surprised if they didn't realize some SDKs to make working with
whatever protocol they come up with easier.

~~~
cbhl
Judging from the first time around, they give people just enough SDK to get
started, and then develop the SDK in parallel with the community releasing
products.

About two years ago they were telling people to unzip a file in their home
directory and put arm-none-eabi-gcc in $PATH:

[http://web.archive.org/web/20130416000246/http://developer.g...](http://web.archive.org/web/20130416000246/http://developer.getpebble.com/1/01_GetStarted/01_Step_2)

------
bsurmanski
I like the idea of smart watches, but I don't see why there would be a demand
for them. Specifically, I can't think of a single "killer app" that would make
a smart watch better than the phone that everyone is currently carrying
around.

Can someone enlighten me? Whats going to be the killer app for smart watches?

~~~
sliverstorm
I can't label a "killer app", but smart watches have opportunities a
smartphone doesn't. The most obvious is the opportunity for biometrics, as
they rest on your skin.

~~~
bsdpython
Specifically which biometrics? Perhaps the sensors still need to be invented
but what would you like to track regardless of technical feasibility?

~~~
sliverstorm
I'm not close enough to biometrics to know what is truly feasible, but I would
think you might be able to get SPO2, bpm, EKG, body temperature, maybe even
hydration... Then from there you can start building second-order measurements,
like how much time you spend at your resting HR, how quickly you return to
resting HR, how well your lungs are working, sleep activity. From there maybe
you could even extrapolate that data to give feedback. _" Dave, your
temperature has been gradually increasing the last 36 hours and your skin is
unusually clammy, you might be on the verge of a cold"_ Or maybe _" Dave, your
SPO2 is falling and your bpm is rising rapidly, you are going into shock, seek
medical attention immediately"_. History is useful for these measurements-
what is "normal" is different from person to person, so a running history
could let you discover these things earlier.

------
mladenkovacevic
Pebble is unique in this early smartwatch space because they just became a
hardware platform in addition to being a software platform. If the smartbands
are easy enough to change and provide a significant variety of meaningful
functionality it might be the advantage that wins out over the other two major
platforms.

~~~
aet
The win here would be to get acquired by... Amazon?

------
bryanlarsen
I think I prefer the regular Pebble Time. It already includes a stainless
steel bezel, although the rest of the case is plastic. I'd use a custom strap
no matter which watch I got. And 7 days is a long enough battery life for me
-- I'd rather have the thinner watch than the longer battery life.

~~~
knd775
Where is the thickness mentioned? I looked but couldn't find anything about
it.

~~~
songgao
The Pebble Time is 9.5 mm [0], and Pebble Time Steel 1mm thicker, making it
10.5mm [1]. 10.5mm is actually as thick as the current Pebble Steel so it's
actually not bad.

[0] [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-
time-a...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-time-awesome-
smartwatch-no-compromises)

[1] [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-
time-a...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-time-awesome-
smartwatch-no-compromises/posts/1151421)

~~~
mladenkovacevic
That's pretty amazing when you consider that Apple Watch will be about 12.4mm
thick with the heart sensor included and high end traditional watches can be
anywhere between 11 and 13mm.

------
Gigablah
Apparently kickstarter didn't get the memo. Site buckling under pressure.

~~~
smackfu
Weird, since it worked pretty well on the original Pebble Time launch.

~~~
13
They might have bumped up the capacity for that, and then spun down afterwards
not realizing they would get swamped today.

------
smackfu
That gold one with a red band is a bit reminiscent of another smart watch
coming out soon. (And plenty of existing non smart watches, of course.)

------
thomasfl
Finnally I am convinced. I loved the color e-paper display and one week
battery life. Now I don't feel geeky to wear one either.

~~~
hopfog
And the battery life is even better on the Pebble Time Steel (10 days).

------
addicted44
It may not be successful, but I really think Pebble has the right idea with
smartwatches.

I really hope that the smartwatch industry doesn't devolve into the
monoculture that is the smartphone industry (well, technically a 2 platform
culture, but Android and iOS are basically 2 sides of the same coin now.
Neither one offers anything the other doesn't).

~~~
stcredzero
Funny how Android got more iOS like while iOS was getting more Android like.
(Talking both functionality and degree of openness.)

------
feld
I don't want to wait an extra 2 months, so I think I'll stick with the regular
Time and hand it down to my wife when the Steel is in stock, retail. She
doesn't want the Steel version anyway and would be happy with an upgrade to
her Pebble.

The smartstraps are going to be really cool -- a lot of potential there.

~~~
FLGMwt
FYI, they mention that if you back the Time + Time Steel (@$400), they ship
them separately "so you don't have to wait". I might end up doing that >:D

~~~
feld
And now you have me pondering this...

------
smackfu
Very smart of them to release a gold version. If watches are all about
fashion, and people want a gold-colored watch because they like how it looks,
they probably can't afford it from Apple.

It may be seen as a copy by some, but a $5000 product is not competing with a
$300 one.

------
delecti
Revealing it this way leaves a bad taste in my mouth. At the very least, I'm
glad that they revealed it during the main campaign rather than shortly after,
but it's a pretty significant shift in the campaign. It's like an even bigger
"fuck you" to the Kickstarter model, because clearly they knew they'd be doing
this.

Plus, it resulted in a big shuffling around of orders, which means a bunch of
people were able to "cut in line" and get the extra discounted Early Bird
level.

Though all of that is only in regards to the Steel model, I'm actually
extremely interested in the Smartstrap system, and I'll definitely be
interested in tinkering around with it once I receive my only slightly
discounted non-steel Pebble Time.

------
maxpert
I wonder why didn't Pebble user Mirasol instead of e-ink.

~~~
FreakyT
They're still calling the color display "e-paper", which in the case of the
original Pebble meant a Sharp Memory LCD display (which, while a high-contrast
LCD, looked nothing like the e-ink displays in e-readers.)

Based on the appearance of the display, it looks a lot like the color
transflective displays found on older portable Nintendo game systems, so I'm
guessing it's relative of those.

~~~
yincrash
That's what it looked like to me as well. Here's an example[1]. These displays
can be either back lit or front lit and don't get washed out in sunlight.

[1]
[http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/a5cc0b92eb2febb051740c...](http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/a5cc0b92eb2febb051740c129ddf77b8/200533628/file.jpg)

------
joshstrange
I get that Pebble is trying to milk this (marketing-wise) for all it's worth
but this leaves a bad taste in my mouth... Should I also expect that next week
they will announce the "Pebble Time Steel +" ??

Now I have to decide if I want to pay $70 more and wait 2 more months (best
case).... If you thought Pebble was abusing KS before....

~~~
joshstrange
So don't get me wrong I love my Pebble Steel and I'm a backer for the new
Pebble Time I just don't like how they are handling this.

~~~
gareim
Would you have preferred if they delayed the Pebble Steel Time a few more
months so you could feel better about your order? You could switch your order
to the Pebble Steel Time right now. I don't see how this adversely affects you
at all.

~~~
joshstrange
I would have liked it if they would have dropped it all at the same time, this
is obviously a marketing move to keep their KS relevant. I was on the fence on
"Should Pebble be allowed to use KS are their e-commerce platform" and this
pushed me over the edge. They didn't add a tier b/c they it some goal, they
added it because it was planned from the start. I like to have all my options
available to me when I make a decision and with Pebble it's not clear if we
have more surprises in store. This means that I have to re-evaluate my options
and I've got better things to do then re-decide what I want every week when
they add/change KS reward tiers. Just my opinion and obviously not a popular
one here on HN...

