Pebble Time Smartwatch Receives Overwhelming Support On Kickstarter

DJAdapt writes: Pebble Time, the successor to the Pebble & Pebble Steel smartwatches, has gone up on crowdfunding site Kickstarter, hitting its $500,000 goal in 17 minutes and hitting the $2M mark in less than an hour. The new wearable is touting a color e-paper display and microphone for responding to notifications. It also has features Pebble users are already familiar with, such as seven days of battery life, water resistance, and an extensive library of watch faces and apps. Will any of you be jumping on this? Holding out for the Apple Watch? Waiting for wearables to get more capable?

Comments

Watches

[Anonymous Coward]

I freed myself from wearing a watch about 10 years ago. No longer having the familiar restraint around my wrist has made me feel free. I much prefer a phone in the pocket to a phone on my wrist.

Why we ever moved from pocket watches to wrist watches is a mystery to me.

Re:Watches

[arth1]

Why we ever moved from pocket watches to wrist watches is a mystery to me.

Primarily because you can glance at a wristwatch without having a free hand or any specific clothing.

And you can also wear a wristwatch to bed. I like being able to see whether I can sleep for an hour more without fumbling around.

Re:Watches

[Anonymous Coward]

I freed myself from wearing a watch about 10 years ago. No longer having the familiar restraint around my wrist has made me feel free. I much prefer a phone in the pocket to a phone on my wrist.

Why we ever moved from pocket watches to wrist watches is a mystery to me.

The chances of my wristwatch battery dying (they last years between "charges"), or it automatically syncing to a new time zone (when I don't want it to), or contracting a virus (when I never want it to) are pretty much zero, and yet I've just described struggles people go through daily with their "watch". Why the hell would I subject myself to that when a wristwatch will pretty much just work non-stop.

You "freed" yourself, as if the burden of a wristwatch was akin to the struggle of enslaved African Americans. Try not to be so dramatic about a fashion choice next time. It's a wristwatch, not a 50-pound boat anchor.

Re:Watches

[Barny]

Your phone doesn't already have alarm features? Couldn't you use that as your alarm clock and, when turning it off check to see if you need to get up or can sleep in? I mean, you are already reaching out of bed for your alarm anyway.

Re:Watches

[LordNightwalker]

Same here. I stopped wearing watches because I had allergic reactions to the metal, and for the past 15-20 years I used my cellphone as my watch instead. I don't often need to check the time, and when I do, odds are I'm behind a computer anyway. When I ordered my Pebble, I was a bit concerned because I didn't know how my skin would react to the plastic, but fortunately, the Pebble didn't provoke any reactions.

For me, the main benefits my Pebble brings to the table are moving the notifications out of my pocket and onto my wrist. Incoming phone call? I can glance at my wrist to see who's calling, and with one button press reject the call to voicemail if I'm occupied. The phone is constantly on silent, doesn't even vibrate. All emails, text messages, hangouts conversations arrive on my wrist, very discreet. A simple glance tells me whether to dig the phone out of my pocket to reply, or if it can wait. Having your wristwatch vibrate and casting it a quick glance at it is also a lot less disruptive during conversations/meetings, as opposed having your phone make noises or vibrate in your pocket or on the desk. Especially once people realise you're wearing a smartwatch, and are not constantly checking the time because the conversation bores you. ;)

With the new firmware version, it even allows you to respond right from the watch. I currently have the following templates defined: Driving, Meeting, Just call, Yup and Nope. I may need to finetune them (thinking of replacing the Yup with the more widely applicable OK), but I find them immensely useful for quick responses when I'm otherwise occupied and can't write a long reply. E.g. in the car, when someone starts a hangouts message, I can simply inform them that I'm driving so they know not to expect an immediate reply. Without creating dangerous situations by using an on-screen keyboard while driving. Sometimes people message me and I need to respond before arriving at my destination. Being able to tell them to just call me (have handsfree in the car for a reason), with just a few button presses is immensely useful. Of course, if I didn't have the Pebble, responses while driving would just have to wait. But it's convenient being able to respond right away without creating a dangerous situation.

Re:Battery life

[arth1]

I assume you are joking? A "dumb" watch battery life can't be compared to a smart watch.

Why not?
The smart watches just need to be far more frugal and, dare I say it, smart? Passive NFC powered devices already exist, for example.

A pacemaker can run 5-10 years on a battery. A wristwatch that mechanically moves hands and dials runs for years on a single battery.
Saying it can't be done is copping out. It's like saying we could never have an electric car that could go for 300 miles on a charge.
We can, and we should.

Re:Watches - Jewelry, Not Functionality

[SlashdotOgre]

There are some functional benefits to a wrist watch over a pocket watch such as the ability to tell the time even with your hands full, but really, watches (particularly at the higher end) are more about being a piece of jewelry than funcitonality. Consider the fact that a $10,000 Rolex or Omega automatic is typically substantially less accurate than a $100 Seiko with a quartz yet people still pay the substantial premium. Heck, I've found myself guilty of wearing an automatic watch set to the wrong time because I was in a rush in the morning and wanted to wear the watch for the look.

There's tons of better, more accurate sources to tell time, but people wear watches anyway. When you start viewing watches as just a piece of socially acceptable (typically male) jewelry, they tend to make much more sense.