The benefit of the Pebble was that you could get basic information (notifications, notes, time, alarms, etc) without having to reach for your phone. I found it perfect for meetings where I didn't want the client to feel like I was tight on time or rushing things, even if I had to.
It seems silly, but the multiple timers were especially useful for cooking large dinners.
Overall, the Pebble was great because it had fantastic battery life and provided information silently without you having to interrupt a conversation by reaching for a larger device.
>I found it perfect for meetings where I didn't want the client to feel like I was tight on time or rushing things, even if I had to.
Ah, this seems good. Socially acceptable information-checking. I'll keep this in mind as a use for smartwatches, even though I don't need it (yet?).
>It seems silly, but the multiple timers were especially useful for cooking large dinners.
You could also set the phone on a surface somewhere and have multiple timers on it, but I see how carrying them on your wrist makes them more convenient.
I first got the Pebble because I wanted to know who was calling or texting me while I was on my bike around town. Over the next few years the other features became part of my daily habits. Simple things like responding to texts with canned messages (e.g. 'Ten minutes away' or 'I'll call you in five') allowed me to take a relaxing ride without stressing about missing an important call or message.
My experience is similar to the days before I got a smartphone -- that 'pfft... I don't need that. I can do that when I get back to my desk.'
A subtle point here for me was that I found the vibration of the Pebble v.1 to still be rather loud and to draw the attention of anyone near me to my wrist. It's rarely mentioned, but I think the biggest feature upgrade when I moved on to the Apple Watch was how subtle the "tap" vibration was. It means that I am unfailingly aware of a notification, timer, or alarm firing, and a person I am in conversation with is never aware that it happened. The ability for it to deliver different patterns of taps is also nice, for instance, turn left or turn right are recognizably different tap patterns when using the watch for navigation.
> I found it perfect for meetings where I didn't want the client to feel like I was tight on time or rushing things, even if I had to.
It's funny to read that, because in my culture looking at your watch is a sign of "let's finish" or "I'm in a hurry", while briefly looking at the phone is perfectly acceptable.
But I admit, that people with smartwatches confuse me from time to time, when they look at their watch frequently and are not in a hurry :)
that's the beauty of the vibration. You don't need to look at your watch to get a fifteen minute warning (or whatever you've set it to). The buzz is silent to others, but enough that you'll recognize it.
In my experience, the only silent 'buzz' is from my apple watch - and that's probably because it's not a buzz. My pebble and martian watches both had loud, obnoxious vibrations that were no better in many quiet situations than a beep would have been.
Apple's decision to put so much work in to the 'taptic engine' was a smart one IMHO - wearing any other smart watch now feels like having a moto razr strapped to my wrist when it vibrates.
It seems silly, but the multiple timers were especially useful for cooking large dinners.
Overall, the Pebble was great because it had fantastic battery life and provided information silently without you having to interrupt a conversation by reaching for a larger device.