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I'm not arguing that it sucked, but Fitbit's not a villain, here. A lot of people think that Fitbit "killed" Pebble, and that's not so. They aren't a white knight, either; they're keeping the Pebble servers still running for the their own reasons, but they shouldn't be blamed for what they didn't.

Consider away

No, as opposed to a $99 watch: https://getpebble.com/shop

Dude, the Pebble sucks. Get yourself a real smartwatch.

Would the Pebble fit your needs?

"apps compatible with iOS and Android",
  Nice.

Would the Pebble fit your needs?

Gotta love the honesty on that web page, it got a smile from me.

With the right watchface, the Pebble Steel might meet your listed criteria. I just have the original Pebble, but think it's great at $150 (with the Steel version going for $249).

Pebble Steel might meet your requirements. It's still a bit squarish but most people seem to think it looks nice enough.

https://getpebble.com/steel

-adric (still wearing my plastic KS pebble, thanks)

Whats pebble?

It's a smartwatch, and a woefully underpowered one at that.

https://getpebble.com/

For $250 I'll pass.

They are getting better. The Pebble is waterproof (5ATM) and runs for almost a week on a charge.

My dad (65yo) has a Pebble, and is pleased as punch with it. He uses it with an iPhone, but they supposedly work with Android, which would include all the (2) devices Samsung's Gear watch works with. So perhaps that's a better alternative for folks looking for a smartwatch.

And for those making the "look like a dork" cracks, he's a very succesfful lawyer and takes great care with his professional appearance. He did change the band out for a decortive one that looks much better in the circles he hangs out in. You can do that with a Pebble because it uses a standard watch band. The Gear?...nope.

Why do some people seem to bummed that the screen isn't flexible? Considering it was just a few tech demos and a patent filing it's not like it's a major let-down or anything.

Because it's vaporware and only diminishes what shipping products today [1] have beat Samsung to doing. I hated the vapor-filled promises put forth by Microsoft in previous years and this year's vapor by Samsung isn't any different.

[1] http://getpebble.com/

The Pebble (seems / claims) to do most of what you're describing. From what I understand, though, it doesn't have a speaker.

This feels a lot like history might be repeating itself here.

Anyone remember the ill-fated CrunchPad? Public announcement preceded that of the ipad, but for a bunch of reasons it never amounted to much while the Ipad took off and even Apple's competitors did better than how the crunchpad ended up.

Now we have the Pebble Watch which actually did make it to market (despite many unforseen delays) before the iwatch and other competitors (I think sony has a crappy smartwatch, but it is crappy). Even so it is immature with only modest software functionality at the moment.

Meanwhile all the chatter gives the impression Apple and others have got their own versions coming real soon now. Maybe its just FUD to scare people into wait-and-see on Pebble instead of going out and buying one right now. Or maybe there really is something good right around the corner that will clobber Pebble.

Shazam.

As in others will "copy" Apple's lead by following from the front?

Pebble

Sony MN2SW

Metawatch

From what I have seen, I would say Apple is more of a Johnny-come-lately than any sort of "market leader".
But you can keep on believing what you want...

Assumedly something like the I'm Smart or the Sony Smart Watch, or the Pebble.

I'm personally keen on the latter because it sounds more hackable, but I'd be assuming that's not where Apple would be coming from...

Assumedly something like the I'm Smart or the Sony Smart Watch, or the Pebble.

I'm personally keen on the latter because it sounds more hackable, but I'd be assuming that's not where Apple would be coming from...

The smart phone has retreated from shrinking for good reason - all things, no matter how advanced, reach a limit to their usefulness as input and display devices.

Ideally, a watch-like "smart phone" would be better as a peripheral, ala the Pebble, acting with a smart phone for additional freedom (and to replace an actual watch with something more flexible in function).

I can see a future where people throw their hand up to the side of their face with a "phone handset" gesture, speaking into their pinky, listening into their thumb, with a watch-style interface on their wrist to handle it (and some implants in the hand), while a smart phone stays in your pocket or on your belt, ready for more "heavy duty" functions.

This is the same reason why optical discs have not shrunk... and why sellable media will probably remain no smaller than a typical DS cart or SD card. Too small, and it's easy to lose, even if it handles the volume of data it needs to carry out its function.

Now the Pebble has definitely caught my eye as a way to put your phone on your wrist like this: http://getpebble.com/

A remote screen for your phone, so you don't have to go all the way over to your pocket? That's pretty gay.

the finer print: the above comment is owned by slashdot. slashdot is entirely responsible for it.

Looks awfully like this here thing http://getpebble.com/ but I was only going off the look from the photo in the first link. Still, it's a poor showing on their part to not have anything to ...show. I hope Pebble goes better, or at least something decent in both price and and function.

Also, if they were rude, you should have just gone away - don't give them the time or exposure; just let them be dicks and lose everyone's respect.

Now the Pebble has definitely caught my eye as a way to put your phone on your wrist like this: http://getpebble.com/

I don't understand this. Why would you take your inconvenient, expensive to upgrade, battery-sucking tablet and put your SIM card inside it? Then bring a smaller device in case it's too inconvenient to take out your smartphone?

Why not have a small phone with great battery life and core features, then just use it as a hotspot for a tablet? I was looking at wristwatch phones and none of them seem to do this. There's even the new Pebble http://getpebble.com/... which is a wristwatch UI for your fat phone.

This whole trend is backwards. Put the phone on our wrists and let us carry an optional tablet, handset or earpiece.

This watch looks pretty cool, and for $150.00, I'm thinking about getting one. I actually thought that's what this article was going to be about.

This watch is getting also getting a lot of talk on Hacker News.

What's amazing to me though, is that they make such a big sell of being able to hack and reprogram it, but the actual connectivity that gets the code and configuration to the watch isn't described in great detail, and it actually takes some digging to figure out that the technology used is BlueTooth only, and there's no MicroUSB jack or anything else available.

Also, they seem to be rebranding?

For whatever reason, (in particular, when you click on "BUY") http://www.getinpulse.com/ seems to redirect to: http://getpebble.com/

Just so you know. The Pebble is *not* e-ink. It is LCD with a polariser and they are calling it e-paper.

http://forums.getpebble.com/topics/227

Here's their main site: Get Pebble

The Pebble E-Paper watch looks pretty cool. Just have to wait till the end of the year most likely to actually get one. http://www.getpebble.com/