Setting a record for the most successful Kickstarter campaign ever, the Pebble Time smart watch raised over $1,000,000 in the first hour of its campaign. By the time the campaign ended 30 days later, Pebble raised over $20 million for Pebble Time.
The excitement over Pebble Time which promised improvements over its ancestor the Pebble Watch was dampened somewhat by a slight delay in its delivery. But now Pebble Time has now arrived for Kickstarter backers and is available for ordering at Best Buy. Has Pebble Time lived up to its record-breaking Kickstarter fervor?
Pebble Time is the second generation smartwatch to come from Pebble. Compared to its predecessor, the Pebble watch, this version has upgraded hardware, graphics and software as well as a higher price at $199. So, does the newer version have enough updates to make it appealing to you?
Design
Pebble Time works with both iPhone and Android, making it one of the only smart phone-agnostic smart watches. You pair the watch with Bluetooth to your phone, so your phone needs to be in range for many of the features and apps to work.
Pebble Time comes in one size with a 1.25 inch glass screen, framed by a stainless steel bezel. The watch is plastic, other than the bezel, and curved to fit on the wrist. The Time is water-
Strap
The strap that comes with the watch is a smooth rubber with a traditional buckle and plenty of holes to fit any wrist. You can easily change the strap for others by pressing tiny levers and popping it off.
The back of the watch has a port both for charging and for data. The connector connects via a magnet to the back of the watch. Pebble is counting on third-party developers to take advantage of this port for accessories that can do things like measure your heart rate, XXX
Display
A major update to this watch is the addition of color to its screen. Like its predecessor, the Watch has an e-ink display that has the advantage of 1) using minimal battery life and 2) being displayed constantly.
But the colors of the screen are limited to 64 and are somewhat faded, making displays more difficult to read at time. Think of a Game Boy Color screen and you get the idea.
Pebble Time has a backlight which you can activate by shaking your wrist or pressing a button. That helps your ability to read what’s on the screen but you may be choosing apps and watch faces based on how well you can see them if your vision isn’t 20/20.
Another update to Time is the addition of animation. You can see objects move on the screen, such as a waving flag or a moving second hand. When you dismiss apps and information, they disappear off the screen in a puff of smoke, like the Road Runner escaping Wyle E. Coyote.
Navigation
Pebble Time, like the first Pebble watch, comes with four buttons for navigation. You press the buttons to activate and control apps, get to settings, dismiss notifications and more. There’s no touch screen, so scrolling through multiple apps cumbersome. This gives you an incentive to keep only the apps on your Time that you’ll actually use.
Apps and Watch Faces
Pebble Time launched with over 8000 thousand of apps and watch faces, mostly because it’s compatible with ones that worked on the original Pebble watch. You need to download the Pebble Time app to your smart phone. If you had the Pebble watch app from the earlier version of the watch, Pebble suggests that you delete that app.
The Pebble Time app imported all of my apps and watch faces from my original Pebble watch, which was very convenient. Unlike the first Pebble watch you’re able to store up to hundreds of watch faces on the Time. The original Pebble watch only let you store eight watch faces, but you probably won’t want to store hundreds on your Time then have to navigate through them to find your favorite one.
You can shop for new apps and watch faces on the Pebble Time app by tapping the three stacked lines in the upper left corner of the app.
Most of the apps and watch faces are free, some require an accompanying smart phone app (usually if they pull data such as weather, sports scores, etc.) and some are paid. With Time you can choose from watch faces and apps with color and animation.
You can get watch faces and apps to match your mood, deliver data or celebrate holidays. This weekend the Pebble blog suggested apps and watch faces you could get for Independence Day. Many of these apps are useful in general, such as Yelp! and Uber, so the blog post is worth checking out: Pebble Up Your Independence Day
What You Can Do with Your Pebble Time
Your use of the Pebble Time will be based on two factors: what Pebble Time does on its own and what apps you download to the watch.
Native Pebble Time Functions
Without any apps, Pebble Time can tell you the time, set an alarm and advise you of notifications. Your wrist will buzz when Time notifies you of an event such as a phone call, text message or app notification. You can’t answer or reply to emails or text messages but you’ll be aware of them and avoid missing a call or text.
With Android you can set which events you get notifications for, with iPhone you get all notifications you have on your phone. You can set a Do Not Disturb time for notifications every day on your watch by going to Settings => Notifications => Do Not Disturb and setting the time.
You can link Pebble Time to your calendar and see upcoming and past events by pressing the top and bottom buttons on the right side of the watch. You can control your music playing on your smart phone using the buttons on Pebble Time.
Pebble Time Apps
As with a smart phone, Pebble Time is more powerful with apps. You can shop for apps in the Pebble Time app on your phone and add them and delete them as you like. The more you use your Time the more you’ll figure out which apps are the most useful for you.
You can get apps such as:
Pandora
Evernote ESPN
MisFit (an activity tracker)
This Button (lets you activate an IFTTT recipe with the push of a button)
TripAdvisor
PayPal
Leaf (to control your Nest thermostat)
Directv remote
Find My iPhone
and more.
You’ll have fun exploring and trying apps to make your Time work best for you.
Battery Life
Pebble Time boasts a battery life of 7 days which means you don’t have to worry about charging it nightly. You can even go away for a weekend and leave the charge cord behind which is a very good thing because the cord is designed especially for Time. Don’t be fooled by thinking the very similar cord for the Pebble watch will fit. It won’t. Boo.
Your Time’s battery life will be affected by how many notifications you get, how often you use the backlight, how many apps update data, apps with animation, and other ways you use the watch.
If all you use the Time for is checking the time, you’ll maximize your battery life. But then again, if that’s all you do, then you don’t need a smart watch.
Availability
The Pebble Time comes in white, black and red for $199, available for pre-order at Best Buy in the US with shipping this week. Check on availability in other countries at the Pebble website.
Your Thoughts
Are you excited about the new Pebble Time? What would you use the Pebble Time for? What would you like to see on the Pebble Time? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
* Pebble image (edited) courtesy of Andrew Urquhart via Flickr and Creative Commons
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