It doesn't have bluetooth so this watch has an upper hand, but the chronos has a data transceiver for firmware upgrade, communication with health monitors and interfacing to the PC through an included RF dongle, along with xyz accelerometers , pressure for altimeter and temperature sensor. It's completely programmable with a provided IDE or msp430-gcc if you feel so inclined.
One of the models has 433MHz frequency which can, for instance, allow you to interface with many remote controlled devices (garage door).
On the link above and on youtube you can find a ton of videos with demonstrations.
I managed to scoop one for me and posted the daily deal on HN a few days ago, but it didn't gather much interest :)
The display on this watch is much higher quality, in my opinion, than the eZ430.
I've looked at the TI, and it isn't really what i want. The previous version of this watch, the inPulse, was pretty good, but battery life was a concern for me.
This, however, is a much more attractive device, solely because of the very sexy display.
The costs aren't in the same ballpark, but neither is the functionality.
I want it, in a way that I'd never want to actually use a Chronos.
I've met some of the inPulse guys in Waterloo, and interviewed for an internship in the past, that I didn't do. I have faith in their ability to execute a pretty great product.
I'm currently working with these for a senior design project...I must say, I'm not a huge fan. You can do some neat things with the accelerometers, but the RF range is severely limited. Having worn one for extended periods of time, I must say that it's not something I'd enjoy wearing around. It's bulky and a bit unsightly.
Still, it's fun to hack with, and you can do some cool things with accelerometer data. Definitely worth the $25.
I've backed the project. The main reason for me is that it's a whole, integrated platform with the smartphone. It's meant to be an extension of your phone, not only a watch with wireless/accel capabilities. I love it.
Wearing my Chronos now, the main drawback in developing for it is everything is seven-segment displays so info has to be pretty basic, still it was a nice watch for $50
We've made a lot of improvements over our first version. Added iPhone support (finally) and a framework that allows multiple apps and watchfaces to run simultaneously.
Does it work natively with iOS, or does it require hacks like jailbreaking?
I bought one of the other programmable watches (forget the company name, I think it's a YC company?) that initially claimed iOS support, but the caveat was you had to jailbreak your phone and install some random stuff. Wasn't really feasible for my application.
Did you watch the video? This is inPulse (see 0:23)
Also, for skimmers, it's under PROJECT BY:
> Eric and his team have been designing smartwatches for 3 years. Their first product was the inPulse smartwatch for Blackberry (www.getinpulse.com). inPulse has been covered by Engadget, The Verge, Gizmodo, NYTimes and more.
I prefer to skim a page to get the relevant info, most video demos go way too slow for my preference and waste a lot of time on bits I'm not directly interested in.
If this is from the inPulse group I would have honestly expected that to be more prevalent on the page instead of a casual mention in the video.
This was presented, IMO, as if the "Pebble" was an all new thing... No mention of inPulse, Kickstarter campaign usually implies "new stuff", etc.
Maybe they added it after you skimmed the kickstarter page, but they mention InPulse in text.
"Eric and his team have been designing smartwatches for 3 years. Their first product was the inPulse smartwatch for Blackberry (www.getinpulse.com). inPulse has been covered by Engadget, The Verge, Gizmodo, NYTimes and more."
Slightly off topic but I wanted to repeat this sentiment. Do not ever include information in video or video-demo only. I simply do not watch them. I watched this one because it's gorgeous and I knew I had to pledge, but I almost never ever watch videos online unless I'm on YouTube/Vimeo/Netflix.
No, you're thinking about ssd drives.
The issue with e-ink is that pixel refreshes use power, so eink devices are optimized to try to minimize the number of refreshes used. For example some of the newer kindles try to do a screen full refresh every 6 pages so that the battery life is longer.
If the epaper display involves white and black pigments travelling physically through an oil droplet, then I doubt that the lifetime of a pixel is infinite.
Can't find lifetime specs on eink.com, though, only a claim that 90% of the displays will live 10y at typical usage, whatever that means (one page-flip per minute?).
Still a valid concern... a year has over 500k minutes to display.
I don't know enough about eInk to know if they have a certain "life expectancy", any clarifications by someone with knowledge on the topic would be great!
I don't have an iphone or android and don't really plan on it. Obviously I can talk to it via bluetooth with my laptop or whatever, but does this thing need to be in constant proximity to a device; ie is it basically just a dumb terminal?
According to their blog, it runs C programs (written with an SDK they'll release) on a built-in ARM Cortex-M3, so it seems to be more than a dumb terminal: http://www.getpebble.com/blog/2012/04/10/pebble-sdk/
What is the process like for using it on iPhone? Do you need to always be running a companion app in the foreground? Have you considered adding support for Google Voice, if you can't access native text messages?
Our companion app runs in the background on iPhone (thanks to a new exemption for Bluetooth accessories in iOS 5). We will try to get Google Voice SMS messages working on iOS.
I was under the impression that iOS apps can only talk directly to Bluetooth Low Energy devices, not Bluetooth 2.1. Your Kickstarter page only mentions Bluetooth 2.1 support. What am I missing?
No, I'm referring to "external-accessory". This works with both dock connector and Bluetooth iAP accessories. You're right that the other one is only for BT LE (4.0). It's understandable that many people are confused about the CoreBluetooth vs MFi Bluetooth.
Does it work properly with Android yet? I bought the inPulse, but it didn't actually work with my Android. The website said it would only work with Cyanogen Mod, which is stupid to begin with, but even running Cyanogen Mod it never actually recognized the watch.
Unfortunately it was a gift out of the return period, so I couldn't get a refund.
I love the technology but aesthetically the unit itself looks pretty horrible to my eyes. Watches are one of the few accessories men can wear and it always saddens me that these types of wearable electronics are always so ugly.
Awesome product! Great to see another startup using Kickstarter to get going.
I started mine two days ago, I'm trying to raise the money to pay Twilio fees for giving my intelligent journal to 10,000 people in developing countries. Can't wait to see the success you guys have, Kickstarter is a great platform!
That being said, I think a Kickstarter is much more appropriate for physical products than it is software products. People like being able to get physical things, and being a part of the process.
This looks really cool but I'm so very confused about it being a kickstarter. Is this basically operating as a store front or are you still in the fund raising stage?
If you go down on the kick starter page, they say that they have a prototype, and the funding is for:
"- Production tooling
- Large component order
- Global Bluetooth certification"
so it looks like the funding is to take it from a working prototype to the finished product.
It's an always on display with ultra low power consumption for static displays, so I think that is what they basis of the e-paper name. Seems a little dubious to me, but the watch still is very neat.
Why'd you choose to raise money via Kickstarter instead of going the traditional funding route? I have my theories, but I'd love to hear what specific benefits you have using this model.
(I am not an expert, this is just what I think) The problem is: you need tens of thousands of dollars for a single manufacturing run. You can either raise capital by selling equity (traditional investment), or raise capital by preselling your device using Kickstarter. (Obviously there are more options).
This is basically the best of both worlds approach. The getting your cake and get to eat it too: you get the capital AND keep all of your equity, with a healthy dose of knowing the demand of your product before beginning your first run.
This is a pretty important observation. In one sense, it's no surprise that YC backed companies are at the front of the wave experimenting here - I suspect the smart VC people are fully aware of the paradigm shift that Kickstarter is making possible. I'd be astounded if pg doesn't already have strong ideas about how he and YC can bring value (and hence earn a cut of the profits) to smart startups who've got a non traditional-equity-sharing option to raise funds.
There are clearly some people attracting angel or a-round sized capital via Kickstarter without giving up _any_ equity or control. This, the ZPM espresso machine guys, Wasteland2 - surely at least some VCs and angels are viewing those as "lost opportunities"?
I wonder if we'll start seeing "zero cash, very small equity" deals from firms like YC, for people using _other_ means of fund raising?
Seems to me that the Kickstarter use case here has less to do with funding than gathering serious commitments to buy so that there's not a warehouse full of unsold inventory.
I wonder how PayPal allows preselling for this but if you or I were to try the same thing PayPal would put a 6 month freeze on the funds once they figured out that orders aren't immediately shipped.
Ok. The fact that you're doing a Kickstarter project confused me a bit, but the explanations in other comments make sense in your context. By doing this, you get validation of your product, plus the money and a much better position when you do raise money.
I already have an inPulse but this is so cool I just backed Pebble on Kickstarter too. I really hope the battery life is as good as you are claiming, because the 20ish hour bat life on my inPulse is currently the biggest pain point. Great work guys, I'm glad to see you progressing so quickly.
Any Kickstarter bonuses for the early inPulse adopters?
I like it a lot. I thought I would wear it more when I was out and about but due to the short battery life my primary use of the inPulse is at home. Usually when my phone is plugged in and charging in the other room. My inPulse allows me to see anything important on my phone without having my phone in my pocket.
I think the reduced profile of the Pebble along with the increased battery life will be an absolute game changer. I hope to wear my pebble all the time.
Sorry I didn't see this earlier, but thanks for the review! I also have the same problem where I'd leave my phone on a desk at home and won't notice if I get any messages when I'm in the other room, so this makes the Pebble more tempting.
Wish this would have come out about 6 months ago. Spent about $350 on the Motorola MotoActiv. It's a great GPS fitness device with bluetooth, and right now is definitely more functional that this watch, but it's still fairly clunky. The fact that it isn't open source means that you have to rely solely on updates from Motorola themselves. The bike computer function is lacking and the bluetooth linking isn't great, especially when you're already using a heart monitor. Although obvious downside is having to carry your phone with you when working out but that's already something my wife does anyway. It will depends on how robust the apps become, but this could be a major win for these guys.
I don't think it's real e-paper, it looks to be a Sharp Memory LCD (http://www.sharpmemorylcd.com/1-26-inch-memory-lcd.html -- the specs are identical). In fairness, Sharp are positioning those LCDs as a kind of e-paper work-alike, and they do work very well. The Nike+ watch for example uses that exact screen.
Very cool! I've long since wanted to do this with an iPod nano and wristwatch accessory..... Except no connectivity.
My wishes for a product like this:
1) built in apps should be as polished and optimized and biotin apps so its truly ready to go for the majority.
2) app functionality I've long wanted:
- I hope it comes standard with caller id app
- weather feed
- email notification as id like
Basically a subset of my smartphone features on my wrist.
Customizability wise, id love to be able to have an interface to build a dashboard.maybe someone will create a Web app that I can create my own data feeds and publish into an app on my watch.
Good luck, look forward to seeing it when it comes out!
Looks like a cool little product, I would buy one if I wore watches. My only suggestion would be to stop designing your dial as if you had a round face to work with, your display is square so you should design accordingly. All of the analog versions you show are made for a round dial and they end up looking cramped and awkward.
I didn't have to think twice about backing this project. I can't wait to be able to view some statistics (like daily page views) from a website on my wrist. This will help satisfy my information addiction!
So I'm wondering, does it support running as a companion for a BT enabled Laptop or desktop with BT? That would be great but I didn't see mention of regular linux/windows/mac support.
The SDK sounds very promising, ripe for hacking. I guess you could do some bluetooth triangulation (plus accelerometer fine-tuning) to "localize" it for different rooms of your house.
I would gladly pay the Hacker Special price if we could get a prototype and SDK this month or early May. Any chance of this happening instead of having to wait until August?
Basis is $199 and comes (will come) and adds (will add) a lot of value. $99+ is a little too pricey, I think. Those are two are different products, of course, but still.
You do if you want to transfer custom data. Some controllers get away with using the keyboard Bluetooth profile. You apply to MFi here: https://developer.apple.com/programs/mfi/
But pretty much everything else is under NDA, unfortunately.
After seeing so many alternatives, I was really dying to see an e-paper incarnation. This would be awesome and it would give me a reason to get back into embedded C-types.
I would loooove to see a watch like this integrate NFC as well that could be used in applications. Think PKI in NFC on your wrist. Want to get in your office, dorm room, car? Just hold your watch up to the handle and it unlocks.
* It requires regular charging -- at least once a week, according to the kickstart page. Who wants more cables dangling from the desk or night table? Who wants to keep remembering to charge one more device?
* Apps for this watch are necessarily inferior to those already available for smartphones. (Indeed, the whole point of modern smartphones is that they 'appify' specialized devices like this watch.) Who wants to carry an extra device?
Instead of simplifying my life, this watch would make it more complex!
Sorry but the OP stated valid points, which I fully agree with, yet did not take time to post because they were not very constructive and would not add to the discussion. I guess there are more than 2 of us.
The charging part is the #1 problem for me. I would buy a device which could be extracted from the wristband (ala ipod mini) and would not require cables (ie with a charging mat). I would even pay a premium for a device which would not have me remove it from my wrist for charging (don't know how it can be done, but it should!)
Having to care about battery life is just adding complexity for minor advantages compared to a standard dumb watch, therefore I'm not buying it, but please do not discard such arguments just because of some "negativity at work" theory.
I guess this doesn't faze me since I use a Garmin GPS watch for running, and it obviously needs to be charged regularly.
Complex electronic devices need energy, most cheaply obtained from your wall. Radios specifically use a lot of energy, making regular watch batteries a poor value proposition.
I guess I've accepted that Kickstarter projects aren't going to change the fundamental laws of physics or invent something like a battery-size nuclear reactor for their project, so I don't get upset when an electronic gadget needs to be powered. That's all.
I also purchased a Garmin forerunner - now catching dust.
Without changing the law of physics, an eink device whose main function is to display time should be designed to work between 6 to 12 months on a single charge or battery (CR2025 and the likes) to get my money.
If it can't do that and have a fancy CPU and a fancy radio, remove the radio, use an AVR, whatever it takes.
Alternatively, an inductive charging mat were you can lay your wrist while typing or a device that can be removed from the wristband (like an ipod mini) doesn't seem impossible with todays tech.
Why would anyone get particularly excited about a 6-12 month per charge e-ink watch with no "fancy CPU and fancy radio"?
That's just a watch. The e-ink adds no real value if you can't do interesting things with it. If this were "just" an e-ink display mimicking a mechanical watch, I'd personally rather an actual mechanical watch.
I'm hoping that much like how I don't for a second resent having to charge my smartphone every night in return for all the "extra stuff" it does over my perhaps once a week recharge requirements from my last non-smart phone, that this thing will do "new stuff" that makes it worth charging every night, and also happen to be a perfectly functional watch as well. (Much like my phone isn't so much a "phone" these days, its a "pocket web browser / email client / twitter client / gps mapper / casual game device" which also happens to make phone calls.)
Now that the smartphones are doing the smart things other devices will either be absorbed (palmpilot, mp3 player...) or will be slowly killed.
IMHO, a smart watch can have a place, if only as a fashion accessory, as long as it doesn't add too much burden to the daily routine.
Look at how many people are still wearing watches around you and ask them why they do that when they have a smartphone - [and that's just without the charging burden]. You may be surprised: around me it either to look good or to still have time when the smartphone has been fully discharged.
For Saint-Exupery, perfection is not reached when every feature has been added but when any unnecessary feature has been removed.
IMHO daily charging and advanced features should both be removed or made as easy as possible for a true smartwatch success.
Then I would get very excited at a eink watch similar to the seiko SGDA003 but selling at a fraction of the price - especially if it was made of a good quality titanium alloy.
Added value is in the eyes of the purchaser : IIRC the Seiko sells for $1000 and doesn't do anything fancy : they just looks great (the display is gorgeous) and are rumored to be tough to damage.
Apparently such basic features justify enough value for the pricetag. Removing the radio and the power-hungry cpu, then aiming at a $200 pricetag with a device looking as good as the seiko should be possible - and I'd buy one!
But it seems like the company went into another direction, aiming at geeks who wants many additional toy functions (untested market) compared to the actual buyers of eink watches (tested market) who want something lees expansive, better looking and maybe also more open.
You charge your phone and your bluetooth handsfree. But would you also charge your watch? And your glasses? And other gizmos?
I think many people will be quickly fed up and just stil to charging the device that helps them the most (here: the smartphone) and replace the others by dumber and power-efficient devices.
jrockway -- I'm the poster of the comment you criticize as intentionally negative.
FWIW, I meant my comment to be constructive: this watch would be a more compelling proposition for me if (1) it had much longer (say, one-year) battery life, and (2) it offered functionality (other than its smaller form factor) not available or difficult to implement on a smartphone.
Judging by your and others' reactions, I should have written my comment differently. Thank you for the feedback.
My grandparents would have thought the idea of a telephone that needed "charging" was stupid.
To me, this thing _isn't_ a watch, in the same way a smartphone isn't a phone - they occupy the same space as a cellphone/watch and they replicate all the functionality of what they're displacing, but they do _so_ much more as well. Would I give up my "whole internet in my pocket" that i get with my smartphone in return for going back to only charging my dumb-phone once a week instead of every night? _Hell no!_
Having said that, I do wonder whether I need _another_ smart" device to add at the bottom of the colo/cloudaccounts/homeserver/desktop/laptop/tablet/smartphone device chain. I didn't _think_ I "needed" my iPad when I bought it, I thought it would just be a cute tech-toy, but it's become an indispensable enough part of my life that I'd replace it the same day I lost/damaged it. It _may_ be that this "watch" carves out and fills some new niche in my life that nobody is really sure what shape it is (or even if it exists).
It _might_ end up being another gadget gathering dust in the drawer, it might like my Apple Newton be an idea a decade ahead of it's time, but it might also be a game changing new device category. For ~$100 I'll accept those odds. (I've certainly "wasted" that sort of money on far less worthwhile stuff in the past…)
It doesn't have bluetooth so this watch has an upper hand, but the chronos has a data transceiver for firmware upgrade, communication with health monitors and interfacing to the PC through an included RF dongle, along with xyz accelerometers , pressure for altimeter and temperature sensor. It's completely programmable with a provided IDE or msp430-gcc if you feel so inclined.
One of the models has 433MHz frequency which can, for instance, allow you to interface with many remote controlled devices (garage door).
On the link above and on youtube you can find a ton of videos with demonstrations.
I managed to scoop one for me and posted the daily deal on HN a few days ago, but it didn't gather much interest :)