
Introducing Pebble Time - kenny_r
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-time-awesome-smartwatch-no-compromises
======
DenisM
As I look at the total pledge amount climbing higher and higher, at $5.5m
presently, I can't help but think that VCs and bankers got completely cut out
of the "deal". It used to be that you had to please a whole bunch of finance
guys to get anything done, but this time they weren't even invited to the
table. It's a big change.

I also keep thinking about other ways in which the financial sector can get
disintermediated. Bootstrapping is always an option, if a very long and
arduous one. To speed things up there is Kickstarter in b2c, but what about
b2b? Are there ways to get the future beneficiaries of a new b2b product to
fund its development, and that don't involve spending 6 month to raise
funding? It always bothered me that funding decisions are usually made by
people who know a lot about finance and, as a rule, very little about the
target market. Surely there is a lot of potential there for the insiders of
the target industry?

~~~
fragmede
That's a cute viewpoint, but the mere mortals get screwed, same as always.

Let's say a VC invests $2.4 million dollars in a company. Let's assume the
company does well and sells out to Facebook for $2.3 billion. The VC, being
wise in the ways of finance, profits handsomely from that $2.3 billion.

What if, instead of a VC investing $2.4 million dollars, it was a large
collection of mortals each investing a small sum, say $300.

The collection of mortals would simply _give_ the company $2.4 million, and
after selling out to Facebook, the company... screws over the puny mortals and
simply pockets it all.

Sure, the company gets to keep out the eeeeevil VC and bankers, but the little
guy sees no return on their $300.

Yay?

Wait, no, we all got a shiny Oculus Rift out of the deal to play with.

~~~
cthulha
You forget the 'mere mortals' working at the company. They keep their equity
rather than the VC.

On the Oculus example: I got what I paid for. Did they ever say equity? Did
they ever say that backers got decision making rights for a company on the
financial high-wire (both IP and hardware capital expenses).

Really, I thought the outcry against Oculus just exposed how little people
think through the hard choices of running a business and how entitled they
feel for so little expenditure.

------
joosters
What happened to 'Kickstarter is not a store' \-
[https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarter-is-not-a-
store](https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarter-is-not-a-store) ?

 _Offering multiple quantities of a reward is prohibited. Hardware and Product
Design projects can only offer rewards in single quantities or a sensible set
(some items only make sense as a pair or as a kit of several items, for
instance). The development of new products can be especially complex for
creators and offering multiple quantities feels premature, and can imply that
products are shrink-wrapped and ready to ship._

~~~
TillE
Honestly, that seems like a completely arbitrary policy which serves no real
purpose.

In general I'd stay the hell away from hardware projects on Kickstarter, but
in this case Pebble has a proven track record of delivering a quality product
in a reasonable time frame. I assume that gives them a little more leeway when
Kickstarter is approving their campaign.

~~~
joosters
That Kickstarter policy update was in response to the rising levels of failed
projects on the site. It was an attempt to fight off bad press. Of course, it
turned out to be pretty toothless (Just take a look at the joke of a 'risks'
section of almost any kickstarter project. That section was also introduced by
this udpate).

I'd agree with you that Pebble probably have a better chance than most at
delivering on their promises, but as people have commented elsewhere, Pebble
are only really back on KS as a promotional exercise. This is not really
comparable to most other KS projects.

Still, it's one rule for them, another for everyone else. KS are doing well
out of this promo too.

Perhaps someone should go and report Pebble for their other rule-breaking?
Those watch pictures at the top of the page are clearly computer renderings. "
_If a simulation or photorealistic rendering is discovered after a project
launches, that project will be canceled._ " :)

~~~
Dylan16807
The risks section is great because you can tell very quickly if they've put
some thought into logistics or not. No need to enforce that it's properly
filled out.

------
mikestew
I was waiting to see what Apple had in store but...oh, what the hell, I'll
pull the trigger. Fact is, I'm pretty satisfied with my original KS-backer
edition Pebble. Apple is going to have to have a pretty convincing story for
me to charge a watch every single day. I spend enough time away from 5VDC
power sources that such short battery life could become occasionally annoying.

The original Pebble does what I want it to do. In fact, it does more than it
promised pre-shipping (counts steps, as one example). I'm hardly one to be
brand-loyal to a watch, but ignoring late shipping to KS backers, Pebble has
exceeded expectations, so I'll give them another whirl. Apple, OTOH, is going
to have to do a hell of a job to convince me to spend almost twice as much on
a new platform that needs daily charging. And I say this as one with a house
full of Apple gear, much of it pre-ordered on the day of announcement.

~~~
eitally
I really just want a "normal" watch that has some "smart" features. I already
have a sports tracker (Garmin Forerunner), and I have given up wearing my
Moto360 because it's almost never useful in compelling enough ways that I
don't just pull my phone out after seeing a notification ... and I have to
charge it nightly.

~~~
baldeagle
If you want a normal watch combined with a fitbit, check out:
[http://www.withings.com/us/withings-
activite.html](http://www.withings.com/us/withings-activite.html)

~~~
balls187
Very sexy.

Though the band ruins it for me, as I wear my fitness tracker while doing
actual fitness. The rubberized Garmin Vivofit can handle the beatings.

~~~
Brakenshire
They do a cheaper version called Activite Pop which ships with a silicone
band.

------
untog
I'll admit to being disappointed. After the Pebble Steel I thought they were
going to take appearances seriously, but the Pebble Time barely even looks
better than the original Pebble. Maybe if they make a Pebble Time Steel it'll
be the one for me (and the sales figures suggest plenty do not agree with me).

That said, kudos to them for getting it out and being independent competition
to Android Wear and the Apple Watch. We need that.

~~~
mahyarm
Yeah it is too bad. I know many people who will not wear a smart watch if it
doesn't look good. And these are people who have / wear many fashion watches
of various sizes. The apple watch is the first watch that they actually like
appearance wise.

At least come out with a shiny gold, brass and rose gold colored versions. Not
actual gold mind you, just gold colored. There are certain market segments
that love those colors.

~~~
riyadparvez
I don't need fashionable watch. But this thing looks so childish.

~~~
notatoad
I don't need a fashionable watch, but I really don't need an ugly watch. My
phone tells time, shows notification, and does everything this does perfectly
fine.

If it were fashionable, I'd be tempted. But it has to be at least one of
useful and fashionable.

------
georgeecollins
What I think is good about this is that they are thinking of a new paradigm
for UI on a wearable. For Android Wear devices it feels like Google just
decided that voice was going to take care of UI, and no decisions about
physical controls needed to be made. But there are two problems: voice isn't
that reliable, and more importantly, there are a lot of situations where you
want to use your watch but not talk to it.

~~~
myth_buster
I disagree with you in parts. I've a pebble while my wife has an android
watch. The killer feature on the android phone is voice commands. I agree that
when in public it's a privacy concern to use voice commands hence an
alternative is necessary. But its incredibly convenient and useful to control
your phone and watch say when you are driving or at home. It's incredibly
useful to set reminders just by saying "Ok Google, Set reminder for..." etc.
Btw, our native language is not english and have bit of accent although that
hasn't caused any issues. The second great feature on android watch is
gestures. Just swiping and tapping to control is useful than having to fiddle
with 4 buttons.

However the best thing I find on the pebble is \- Battery Life, \- Readability
in daylight, \- Slim and light weight.

Smart Watches are quite nascent tech and if we get to where we get ones that
are amalgamation of all these features, I'll be a content man.

~~~
freehunter
Basically the only things I use voice commands for is "set a timer for..."
while cooking or "remind me at noon to..." when I need a time alert.

Oh, and saying "What's my name" and having Siri respond "Your name is <name>,
but since we're friends I get to call you Captain James T Kirk". But that's
just personal amusement.

~~~
jorjordandan
Huh. When I ask my name, it says "Your name is <name>. That's what you told
me, anyway."

Seems a lot more suspicious of me for some reason..

~~~
GuiA
It's like a tamagotchi- you have to take care of it everyday for a bond to
develop.

------
lumisota
It's interesting that they've chosen to launch the product on Kickstarter.
They don't appear to need the funding structure; they're simply using it as a
shop.

~~~
ggamecrazy
I'm guessing they have a understanding with Kickstarter. Pebble is guaranteed
to break some records with Kickstarter and it will get great press. With
competitors like GoFundMe and Indiegogo I'm sure that Kickstarter welcomed
Pebble back with open arms. Good for them!

~~~
ics
That and the 5% they get for funded projects.

~~~
ggamecrazy
I highly doubt they didn't negotiate that way down.

~~~
ics
Does it matter? That's just how Kickstarter makes money. The idea that they
wouldn't welcome Pebble because it's low-risk and somehow makes them appear
more "store-like" is unrealistic.

------
samsnelling
The killer feature here is something that no one is talking about!

>We've included a soft silicone band with each Pebble Time, but all standard
22mm watch bands will fit. All new Pebble watch bands include a quick-release
pin, letting you swap bands in under 10 seconds.

Standard watch bands is something that most other wearables aren't embracing.
This makes the Pebble significantly more enticing.

~~~
ntkachov
This is false. The Asus ZenWatch, moto360, LG G Watch, LG G watch R all use
standard 22mm bands.

~~~
Cub3
But not 'quick release'?

~~~
13
That's a feature of the band not the watch.

------
arrrg
It's a bland gadget. I'm really not sure about that approach. It's so cheap
and uninspired. Whatever you think about the overall shape of the Apple Watch,
at least it's not a bland gadget. It seems to pay meticulous attention to all
the micro details that make jewelry jewlery and not a bland tech toy. (Seems
to because obviously no one has looked at it in detail. But first indications
are good.) This one does not.

I'm really not sure why more smart watches don't try to be actual worthy
jewlery. Pebble has this really cool and really functional tech, why not pack
it into something worthy of being called a watch?

~~~
kbd
You say bland, I say functional. Since my Casio data bank watch in the 90s I
didn't wear a watch until I got my Pebble.

To me a watch is a tool, not a fashion accessory. I understand not everyone
looks at it that way, but really I don't think there's any smartwatch that
looks like an elegant timepiece anyway.

~~~
bluthru
It's not a choice between bland and functional. Metal and sapphire crystal is
much more robust and functional than these cheap materials.

~~~
kbd
> Metal and sapphire crystal is much more robust and functional than these
> cheap materials.

The screen is Gorilla Glass and the bezel is stainless steel!

~~~
bluthru
What's with the exclamation point?

Anyway, Apple is using sapphire for everything except the low end:
[https://www.apple.com/watch/gallery/](https://www.apple.com/watch/gallery/)

------
gergles
Pretty sneaky to advertise $159 and not mention the $10 shipping which makes
it $169, and KS doesn't even advertise that until you've already clicked
through to the 'pledge' (aka purchase, what happened to "Kickstarter is not a
store"?) page.

And now that the 'early tier' is gone (great UX on that, they took me to the
credit card page, I entered my info, then they reloaded it and went "oops,
that tier's full now tee-hee!"), why would you save $10 to pay them for a
product that might ship 2 months later if they get around to releasing it? So,
no Kickstarter for me, it's actually plus because I'll get to see real reviews
and not hype.

~~~
izolate
Unless you can lock in the early bird, I don't believe there's any point in
pledging. I just about scraped through and pledged $179 + $10, which puts me
about $20 ahead of the final cost (assuming shipping will stay the same).

~~~
mikestew
(If I downvoted you, sorry. Stupid tiny arrows on mobile, and no undo or even
a way to see which way I voted.)

Meh, you get it a few months early, and they're not shipping retail until the
Kickstarters are released. That, and as an original KS backer I get a special
engraving I'll never, ever see. :-)

~~~
what_ever
(Off topic) Is there any reason we can't undo voting on HN (like we can do on
Reddit)?

~~~
cheepin
Especially since post editing is allowed, though maybe post editing could just
drop the votes or something.

------
Rudism
I've owned an original pebble for a couple weeks now, but I'm still skeptical
on their usefulness. I save maybe 5-10 minutes of time per week by being able
to check the weather forecast or dismiss non-urgent emails and texts using my
watch instead of having to pull my phone out of my pocket, but that's about
the only benefit I'm seeing so far.

Maybe a smartwatch would be more useful to me if I was more popular and had
calendar events to keep track of or more friends who contacted me regularly,
but as your typical socially-isolated introvert software engineer, this thing
seems to have limited utility.

~~~
hammerandtongs
For me its not necessarily a raw measure of just time saved.

I realized that the physical habit that we've all developed of pulling our
phones, unlocking , checking time or messages etc is a really really annoying
physical habit.

It's disruptive and awkward to do, interrupts conversations or basic
interactions with things in your environment.

A two handed fumbling time check/message check becomes a no handed operation
with a smart watch.

I don't actually check my messages any more often, in fact less, since the
notification is actually much more obvious then phones chirping in a pocket
and my decision about whether to handle the information now or later is just
much more quick and fluent.

------
simplyluke
The main value prop over the Apple Watch and current Android wear appears to
be the battery life. They're advertising over 7 days on a charge, which is
certainly better than whatever the Apple Watch will be in terms of battery
life. I just worry about the market for apps after the introduction of apple's
watch around the same time.

~~~
wmeredith
Actually, they're saying "up to" 7 days which is obnoxious because that could
mean anything.

~~~
nsxwolf
But probably more than the almost-a-day the Apple Watch is likely going to
get.

Being able to sleep with your watch on most nights of the week is a bigger
deal than a lot of people realize.

~~~
djim
personally, i don't like wearing my watch when i sleep.

~~~
nsxwolf
There's still the drag of having to remember to recharge it every night, even
if you're taking it off.

I experience this now that I've gone from the XBox 360 to the PS4. The XBox
360 battery lasted what seemed like forever. I would go a week or two without
even thinking of plugging it in to charge. The PS4 controller battery life is
so bad you have to plug it back in every time you're done playing.

I've had many people say "what's the big deal, just plug it in, are you lazy
or what", but it is noticeably irritating.

~~~
Dylan16807
PS3 controller also lasts forever. It's weird how much they regressed on that
front.

But it glows!

------
evaness
I agree that Kickstarter isn't a store. It's an informercial platform
optimized for hype and maximally dumping risks onto your customers.

I am a fan of Pebble, but I find this campaign on Kickstarter (after an
already successful Kickstarter and three years of continued success), to be
both excellent marketing and an utter disgrace to the goals that Kickstarter
once stood for.

------
O____________O
I think animated transitions are the skeuomorphism of 2015.

Mind you, I'm technically impressed that an E-Ink display can now be animated,
but I can't wait for the end of the animated UI boom.

~~~
fudgie
Isn't the Pebble using E-Paper and not E-Ink? Wikipedia says the original
Pebble used an 144×168 pixel Sharp Memory LCD
([http://www.sharpmemorylcd.com/1-26-inch-memory-
lcd.html](http://www.sharpmemorylcd.com/1-26-inch-memory-lcd.html))

~~~
chrisfosterelli
Correct. E-ink screens don't have a FPS anywhere near what is displayed in the
video, and there wasn't any screen refreshing. The Pebble is using a LCD with
no backlight, the terminology is slightly confusing.

------
m4rsm4n
Looks like this will finally get me to jump on the smartwatch bandwagon; the
original Pebble didn't really do it for me. The new interface is looking great
and the week worth of battery is nice, especially since most LCD smart watches
need to be charged every night.

~~~
yoda_sl
I have to admit they did a good job with the new watch, adding color is great
and still having the week of battery is huge. I was one of the early supporter
for the first Pebble and have zero regret. It did convinced me of how useful a
smart watch can be. I will be a little bit sad when replacing it with the
Apple Watch when it comes out: I decided to change ship, but the Pebble will
always have a special spot.

It's great to see they have a strong supporter base, and that will force Apple
and others to stay active and compete.

I will for sure miss the long lasting battery of my Pebble!

~~~
madez
You talk good about the Pebble Watch but still you want to replace it with an
Apple Watch. Are there any interesting reasons for this decision you might
want to share?

------
M4v3R
Aaand they're already funded ($775k out of $500k at this moment). That was
quick.

Edit: To clarify, it was already at $775k at 16:27 CET.

~~~
dangerlibrary
going up at ~ $1000/second, as I've watched.

~~~
q7
It's currently trending towards a cool 68 million dollars:

[http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/597507018/pebble-time-
aweso...](http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/597507018/pebble-time-awesome-
smartwatch-no-compromises/)

~~~
BinaryIdiot
Hmm are there even enough levels for them to reach that goal?

~~~
lt
Nope.. Adding up all the tiers up totals a maximum of $9,550,000, for a total
of 56k watches.

Interesting that they didn't design this to break their 10.2M record of the
first campaign. I'd bet they are going to increase the slots or or announce
addons for the pledges to go for it. At this rate they are going to be sold
out in a couple hours, if that.

~~~
swamp40
I'm sure someone at Kickstarter would be happy to _immediately_ add a new tier
for them if they max out.

~~~
lt
They should be able to do that themselves (I've seen a lot of projects adding
tiers in the middle of campaigns, you can't remove/change existing tiers).

Kickstarter shouldn't be able to add new tiers by themselves, as they have no
say what the price/rewards should be. The current tiers are likely (hopefully)
carefully planned based on their manufacturing plans and how many watches they
can fulfill in the schedule given.

------
smiddereens
Anybody know which display technology they're using? It kind of looks like
Qualcomm's Mirasol from the videos.

~~~
smackfu
Here's my guess: [http://www.pcworld.com/article/2842092/sharp-smartband-
lcd-u...](http://www.pcworld.com/article/2842092/sharp-smartband-lcd-
uses-1000-times-less-power.html)

* Original Pebble used greyscale version of same tech from Sharp.

* Available in 1 inch size.

* In production spring 2015.

------
mladenkovacevic
I'll get one if the $159 pledge becomes available again, but I'm really
looking forward to the "Steel" version of this watch. This is one aspect of
the watch that Apple is getting right from the very first iteration. It needs
to look sexy and make you want to wear even when the battery is dead.

------
mikkom
How did they get the e-ink display so fast? Or is the video only an
explanation of how it works (and therefore not real)?

~~~
TeMPOraL
It's not e-ink, it's "e-paper". A power-efficient display, but not the stuff
you get on Kindles. I wish they wouldn't mislead people _again_ with this.

------
davidjgraph
"We will ship Pebble Time worldwide, with the exception of Cuba,
Myanmar/Burma, Iran, Sudan, Syria, and Russia."

Russia?

~~~
freehunter
Doesn't the US still have an embargo on Russia for the whole Ukraine thing?

I find Cuba to be interesting. I thought we ended that embargo in December.

~~~
mikestew
The embargo might have ended, but perhaps all of the details are not yet in
place to make it practical. Customs forms need to be reprinted (whether paper
or electronic). Are UPS and other carriers ready to go? And so on. An entire
generation of US businesses and people have never done business with Cuba,
that isn't going to change overnight...or even in a few months.

Or maybe the Pebble founders just don't like Fidel.

------
joshstrange
I'm extremely torn. On one hand (or rather, on one wrist) I have the pebble
steel and I LOVE it, couldn't imagine going back. But on the other wrist I
have an iPhone and the pebble works better with Android ATM so the Apple Watch
looks attractive. Back to the first wrist, the pebble has much better battery
life and is cheaper than the even the lowest priced Apple Watch...

Edit: Ok, I pulled the trigger, I can always get a refund or just resell it if
the Apple Watch blows it away or something like that.

~~~
melling
The Apple Watch will be better with strong competition. It's great that
there's a company that spends all day thinking about making a better watch.

Anyway, you'll need to wear something while your Apple Watch is charging. :-)

~~~
joshstrange
Agreed and if the rumors on iPhone battery life are true [0] (which they
probably are) then you're right, I'll need something for when my Apple Watch
is charging lol.

[0] [http://9to5mac.com/2015/01/22/apple-targets-for-apple-
watch-...](http://9to5mac.com/2015/01/22/apple-targets-for-apple-watch-
battery-life-revealed-a5-caliber-cpu-inside/)

------
jscheel
I'm still rocking my original Pebble. I really wanted to upgrade to the Steel,
but I figured I would just wait for the 2nd (3rd?) gen. to come out. Now it
looks like I'll be waiting even longer, until they come out with the
TimeSteel, or whatever they will call it. Kudos on the awesome updates, but
the watch body just looks terrible to me. BTW, they raised a cool $100k in the
time it took me to watch the video. That's just crazysauce.

------
pfooti
FWIW, I have a regular pebble, and was a KS backer from the first campaign.
I'm considering a second backing, mainly because the delivery date is may
2015, which is probably late enough that I'd be in the market for a new one
anyway, and the promise to have a special something for double backers is a
nice touch.

Personally, I use my pebble for just about whatever you'd think. It's nice to
control my music (don't laugh- the nexus 6 is a pain to take out of my pocket
just to change tracks), to have a quiet and personal alert of important
emails, (the notification is a lot less noticeable by other people than the
buzz of a vibrating phone) and to have ridiculous watchfaces.

QR code of the current time in a watchface. My favorite!
[https://github.com/TrueJournals/pebble-
qrwatch](https://github.com/TrueJournals/pebble-qrwatch)

Finally, Android L has this nice new trusted-bluetooth-device notion, so when
I'm wearing the pebble, I don't have to unlock the phone. I know it's a bit of
a security risk, but it is one I'm willing to take.

------
pconner
The refresh rate on the e-paper is impressive. I remember some first-
generation ereaders that required a whole second to refresh a page.

~~~
higherpurpose
Pebble has never used E-ink, despite all the confusion in the media (not that
Pebble was in a hurry to rectify it, since it played to its advantage). The
color one doesn't look like E-ink now either. They used some transflective
PixelQi-like displays in the past, but not sure if they're using an upgraded
version of that now (with color!) or something like Mirasol, and they are just
naming it the same.

~~~
mintplant
Ahh, and I was most excited about the new E-Ink tech I thought they were
showing off in those GIFs. Hopefully something like it can come to the Kindle
eventually. Would be great for comic reading (and the animations are so
smooth!).

------
josephjrobison
I got the Pebble for Christmas and wondered if I needed it, but it does a
really good job on a few simple things. It tells you whether that buzz you
just felt on your phone was a text or important email or just a Snapchat. A
few other features, but that simple thing is by far the best part about it.

------
msrini
We are developing a smart sensor strap for Pebble time: check it out:
[http://www.gethbeats.com/](http://www.gethbeats.com/)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWqbaX94_lA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWqbaX94_lA)

~~~
delecti
Your site is fairly low on information, mind if I ask a few questions?

So this would be a replacement 'watch band' for the Pebble Time, which
provides biometric data to it? Your website seems to suggest it'll work with
any device, will it still interface with the "smart accessory port" on the
Time? Do you have advance information about the protocol/form-factor that the
sensors, or are you going to finalize that part of the design once it's
available? Also, I'm not sure I understand why it's called "contactless".

Seems very interesting though. It seems most wearables lean either towards
"interface for your phone" or "fitness device", so something that boosts the
Pebble's biometric tracking could be pretty cool.

~~~
murali8051
Yep,replacement strap. We were devloping it to work with any device, but now
with "accessory port" on Time, we will be able to leverage the battery and
data connection to watch, which simplify the design.

@Contactless: we are developing a new sensor technology for measuring HR which
will not be in contact with the skin(like optical sensors/bio-impedance metal
stubs). This means that the sensor is embedded inside the silicone strap as
you can see in the demo video.

Any suggestions ? pls mail me : ms@gethbeats.com

------
r0naa
I am studying at Waterloo, I love Pebble and while this is exciting news, I
wish they had made the screen's margins thiner. The watch looks like a toy and
is certainly not on par (design-wise) with other watches on the market. I hope
it will work well for them though!

------
pimlottc
Is it just me, or does it look like he's squeezing the buttons fairly hard in
the timeline demo images? I suppose you have to make the buttons firm enough
to prevent accidental presses but I would hope that you could use the buttons
with one figure comfortably.

~~~
feld
I can't recall ever wearing a watch with buttons on the side that I could
press without "squeezing" the watch

~~~
pimlottc
You may be right, I never got into the habit of wearing a watch myself.

------
chocks
Awesome! The first thing I noticed was the battery life - 7 days (like the
original). I'm buying it :).

In the video, Eric makes a very good point - most smart-watches are trying to
replace the phone, but instead should focus on what's critical to a watch -
Time.

------
aareet
I'm glad they went with ePaper, but I think I'll hold off until the battery
life has developed to be quite a bit better (lasts a few months on a single
charge?). The biggest value prop to having information on a watch to me is
that I never have to think about charging my watch so I can always rely on it
having the information I need. I don't recall ever replacing a watch battery
and I'm looking forward to when smartwatches reach that kind of longevity.

Considering my Kindle lasts over a month on a single charge, I'd be thrilled
to have an e-ink watch that showed me a listing of notifications and the time
that lasts just as long.

~~~
kbd
> I think I'll hold off until the battery life ... (lasts a few months on a
> single charge?)

You'll be waiting a very long time.

> Considering my Kindle lasts over a month on a single charge

Your Kindle isn't maintaining a bluetooth connection to your phone or updating
the screen frequently, and has a much larger battery than a watch.

> I never have to think about charging my watch so I can always rely on it
> having the information I need.

With the Pebble you don't have to worry about it either. It notifies you when
it's getting low (has a day or two of battery life remaining) and you charge
it when you get the chance. And if you don't have time to give it a full
charge, in my experience with just 10-15 minutes charging time you'll get a
few more days of use.

I agree with your sentiment about battery life though. It's why I don't
understand why anyone would even consider any smartwatch besides Pebble. Fall
asleep without charging your _watch_ one night and you can't wear it the next
day? That's crazy. It also means you can't really use your watch as an alarm
if you need to charge it each night.

~~~
aareet
Oh I don't know if it will be all that long.

[http://www.withings.com/us/withings-
activite.html](http://www.withings.com/us/withings-activite.html) seems to be
able to track and synchronize physical activity with my phone, runs on CR-2025
for 8 months. Don't know how they pull it off, but an inventive UI/watch
interface to show me notification information like this one might be the
ticket.

~~~
kbd
That is pretty impressive if it can really get 8 months on a battery while
maintaining a bluetooth connection! Of course, this is quite a different
category of product as it doesn't have a screen and just has normal watch
hands.

Still, you're asking for an order of magnitude improvement in battery life, so
I'll assert again that you'll be waiting a while :) I think you should relax
your position, since imo there's really not much difference in having to
charge a battery for 30 mins to an hour once a week vs once a month. You still
rarely need to worry about your battery, which is qualitatively different than
Apple or Android watches that you need to charge once a day or they die on
you.

------
taylorwc
It's 2PM CST on launch day and they already have preorders for nearly 30,000
units. It's really a cool thing to see considering that 5 years ago this
situation wouldn't exist.

------
higherpurpose
What's that "e-paper" screen technology they are using?

~~~
freehunter
It's an LCD without a backlight.

~~~
rtpg
pretty sure it's not that. color e-paper tech has been in the works for years
now

~~~
frevd
Nope, the refresh rate is clearly too high. Compare with amazon's newest
Kindle e-ink, quick animations are not possible with ink yet, and there is
ghosting. Also, deducing from the battery life of 7 days ONLY, this doesn't
look like eInk, which would last for weeks or longer, since it does not
require power at all to keep contents on the screen. However, I have to admit
that their display is the most interesting part of the watch.

~~~
rtpg
well the thing is this thing has to stay connected to bluetooth the entire
time, so that's part of the battery. The animations are also 3 frames or so...
so maybe it's fine.

I think the ghosting comes from not explicitly setting bits. with the color
e-ink screen you're probably resetting a lot of things, so even if ghosting is
present, it's not very visible (especially after a lot of changes)

Looking at this closely though this _does_ remind me of something like the GBC
screen. This might just be LCD.

------
downandout
I have to think that Pebble, and most other smart watches, are going to get
crushed by the Apple Watch. iOS has an amazing ecosystem of developers that
enhance the value proposition of owning iOS-based products to the point where
literally no one can compete. People argue over the size of the smart watch
market, but whatever it is, Apple will take a huge chunk of it. I see Pebble
faltering before the end of the year, so I wouldn't want to buy one at this
point.

------
BinaryIdiot
I'm glad they're continuing to iterate on their product. This is certainly a
nice improvement. Though I don't really understand the insistence of putting
buttons on a watch that are used to interact with the thing. Pressing buttons,
on the side of a watch and on your wrist while doing anything but standing
still is always really awkward.

I was really hoping their v2 would have axed the buttons. I would be very
tempted to pick one up if they did but oh well.

~~~
dubbel
I actually love the buttons.

I can change the current song or take a call while on the bike without taking
the of the road, just because I know where the press. This would not be
possible with a touch screen. If I want to do stuff where a touch screen would
come in handy I take out my phone anyway.

~~~
BinaryIdiot
Whenever I went for a walk or run and tried to use the buttons it always felt
awkward and cumbersome. I'd rather have buttons on my headphones or something
that's really easy and obvious to hit (such at tapping the screen or
something).

I mean the Android Wear watches can do this (so it's possible) but it's not
always the most intuitive either.

------
halosghost
Mmm, this looks awesome. Now, I'm just hoping for an update to Pebble Steel so
that I can have a metal pebble with a color display and timeline. Would be
awesome!

All the best,

------
lnanek2
3 million dollars and they can't hire an industrial designer to make it look
like something other than a preschool toy? They feel like a bunch of
developers competing against Apple. No offense intended, I'm a developer
myself. I think they'll have more and better features, since that is how
developers think, but you need to look good to really capture all the
consumers.

~~~
freehunter
Have you ever seen a normal watch? Like a Wal-Mart, off-the-shelf Timex?
They're hideous. Absolutely atrocious. If people want a nice looking watch,
they buy a Rolex or a Tag. What people get from a Timex is a functional watch
that is easy to read, relatively oops-resistant (can take some damage and go
under water without breaking), and has some features they really need. A $500
Rolex probably doesn't have a stopwatch with a lap counter, but that $10 Timex
sure does.

There's precedent in the watch-world to not care what the watch looks like.
Watches are not always fashion items, which is why the watch section exists in
Wal Mart. I keep hearing people say "it doesn't look as nice as the Apple
Watch or Android Wear" (personally, the Apple Watch looks awful), but if
you're looking for features over fashion, this is the device for you.

~~~
nols
A $10 watch and a several hundred dollar smart watch are two very different
animals. When Pebble first came out it was new and innovative so first
adopters bought it regardless of appearance. Now they're competing in a field
that's getting more competitive every day. The poster isn't saying they should
trade functionality for appearance, they're saying Pebble should at least put
some effort towards design to appeal to the non-first adopters who care at
least a little about appearance.

PS used low end Rolex watches start at several thousand

~~~
freehunter
I guess that goes to show what I know about the watch market. One of the other
guys who responded with a bunch of watch manufacturers had the gall to accuse
_me_ of blabbering, when I barely understood half the words he said.

At any rate, I don't think the smartwatch market _is_ getting more
competitive. All we're seeing is the same watch being released over and over
again by Samsung, Motorola, LG, and Apple. Exact same watch. Touchscreen (for
no reason), all glass and metal (when we have that on phones, we wrap it in
plastic and rubber), and a 12 hour battery life. They're putting a smartphone
on your wrist, but worse. There's no one competing with Pebble, who is
developing _actual_ smart watches.

They had the Pebble Steel, and there's nothing saying they won't make a Steel
version of this one, too.

------
lettergram
I've been using my Pebble I got from UIUC when they gave hundreds away:

[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/)

It was some good marketing, because I just bought a new one because I loved it
so much.

------
mobiplayer
> Works with iPhone, Samsung and Android.

So I guess I won't be buying this one either, doesn't work with my 1520!

------
blackdogie
Whatever about the product, their timing is spot on. Not that it will really
make much of a dent in the Apple Watch sales, I'm sure there are a lot of
people who'll get this now instead. Major differences, battery life & price do
make this a tempting product.

~~~
jkestner
The demographics feel very different. Is it meant to compete with Apple Watch,
or with Android Wear?

------
buster
Now if it wouldn't be THAT ugly.. It even looks cheap on the movie :(

I guess i'll stick to a real watch.

------
msrini
New Smart Sensor Strap for Pebble Time:
[http://www.gethbeats.com/](http://www.gethbeats.com/)

POC:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWqbaX94_lA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWqbaX94_lA)

------
willtheperson
I don't understand how this many people are supporting a new version. Anyone
I've talked to who bought one was extremely disappointed with the product.

I had one to work on some prototypes about a year ago and it was nothing but
frustration. Bad documentation, scattered, outdated already.. Getting code
running on it was painful and most ideas were very limited by the watch
abilities.

To top it off, the ios application to sync notifications was a complete joke.
Bluetooth is pretty typically bad about staying connected, but the Pebble
should win an award for how frustratingly often it would drop. To get it back,
you must open the app or repair.

Beginning to end, a very poor experience. I get the design being pretty poor
on the first version, but it seems like they didn't work very hard to fix that
for v2.

Maybe I just happen to meet the only people who had these problems too, and
every other person who bought one was very happy, but I'm honestly baffled.

------
fit2rule
This is my next smart watch:

[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/920064946/oscilloscope-...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/920064946/oscilloscope-
watch)

As soon as it ships, of course ..

------
Nashie
They are clearly trying to differenciate from Apple by using more sporty
apperearance. I would have prefered more business-like layout but ended up
ordering anyways. It looks very promising!

------
inverba
Does anyone have insight into how this fits into the market? I don't
understand how this isn't a strictly worse phone (given that people carry
phones with them all the time).

~~~
mbrubeck
It's a phone accessory. It lets you see and respond to things like SMS
messages, caller ID, calendar reminders, etc. without taking your phone out of
your pocket.

Kind of a small thing, but actually pretty handy when you're walking around or
in a meeting or other places where glancing at your wrist is easier or less
intrusive than using your phone.

(Plus, it tells time.)

This review goes into more detail: [http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-
smartwatch/](http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-smartwatch/)

------
iblaine
"At anytime up until your watch has shipped, you may request a full refund"

Nice. I own a pebble and pebble steel. Hardly use them but the full refund
policy won me over.

------
devindotcom
I hope they've managed to improve the color and sharpness on color e-paper
displays. The ones I've seen over the years have been rather less than vivid.

~~~
freehunter
If it's anything like the old Pebble display, it's not e-ink like we would see
in a Kindle. They call it e-paper, but it's really a low-power LCD with no
backlight. There's no problem making an LCD full color.

------
AndrewDucker
$2million in an hour.

Is that a record?

(What else has sold anywhere near this fast?)

~~~
nrmitchi
I don't think it's fair to consider this campaign as any sort of 'record'.
Pebble is an already successful company with a history of success using
Kickstarter as a store. If Apple decided to release the iPhone 7 on
Kickstarter it would also break a ridiculous amount of records, but it's still
not really 'fair'.

------
t27
The amount is increasing by around $2-3k every second!! This ones going to
beat every kickstarter record out there!

------
aftbit
Man, I wish they'd just release their firmware as open source. And get rid of
the 8 app limit.

------
caio1982
To see in realtime the figures increasing like that in the page is sort of
scaring.

~~~
dEnigma
Definitely. During the time it took me to watch the video, the counter went up
100,000$

------
NDizzle
Does anyone know how you are going to go about charing this device? MicroUSB?

~~~
andars
I'd go with the four metal dots visible on the back (some connectir unique to
the watch)

------
sparaker
$6.2 M and 31 days to go. Wow. This is definitely a successful campaign.

------
binoyxj
What I like about Pebble- Display + Battery + Cross-platform support.

------
allanjenn
How much money do you think they are going to raise? I think $25M.

------
dragontamer
7-Day Battery life. Why does no other smartwatch offer this?

~~~
callumjones
Possibly because the others aren't using e-paper.

------
melicerte
Kickstarter, the pre-order website for the rest of us...

------
dbalan
I hope they reduce the price of orginal pebble. ;-)

------
orenbarzilai
Honestly I find it real hard to believe that they sold over 13K pebbles in
less than an hour. imho it doesn't make sense.

They have a great product, but not 13K / 60 min great

~~~
untog
The evidence suggests otherwise.

~~~
orenbarzilai
1\. We don't know of 13K different ppl bought it or if just 1K different ppl.
2\. Don't you think that it's great marketing both for pebble and KS?

I still find it hard to believe this numbers, but I might be wrong...

------
hauget
new interface is probably the basis for touch screen interaction in 3rd gen

------
q2
Scrolling among items (up/down) as demonstrated needs to be changed.

------
nikolajhoborg
Black ops 2

------
bambax
It seems everyone and their brother wants this, but

> _up to 7 days of battery_

is a deal breaker for me; when/how do you recharge a watch? Isn't the point of
a watch to never go off your wrist?

I'm old enough to wear a watch (and to not remember a time when I didn't) and
having to thing about recharging it would kill the whole watch experience for
me...

~~~
walshemj
Is the idea that you have a second battery and swap them out or are they going
to have a charging stand you put it on the charge at night time?

------
Swizec
Innovation! A watch that tells time!

I sure hope the previous model told time as well ... but they seem to really
be pushing the angle this time 'round. What with literally calling it Time.

The future is now.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Oh come on Swizec ;). You have to give them credit, they're apparently the
only smartwatch brand that doesn't suck. I like that there is at least one
company that, as opposed to Apple, seems to care about providing a useful tool
instead of a fashion piece.

------
chrxss
God why is this thing so fugly. I thought with the advent of the Moto 360,
smartwatches would become at least what watches were before: jewelry, sadly
the pebble time even lags behind the pebble steel

