Pebble Reveals Pebble Time Steel and a Smartstrap System

http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/03/pebble-time-steel-and-smartstraps/

by yatoomy • 11 years ago

67 62 11 years ago

thomasfl• 11 years ago

Finnally I am convinced. I loved the color e-paper display and one week battery life. Now I don't feel geeky to wear one either.

hopfog• 11 years ago

And the battery life is even better on the Pebble Time Steel (10 days).

Gigablah• 11 years ago

Apparently kickstarter didn't get the memo. Site buckling under pressure.

132• 11 years ago

It's completely down right now, showing varnish errors.

smackfu4• 11 years ago

Weird, since it worked pretty well on the original Pebble Time launch.

132• 11 years ago

They might have bumped up the capacity for that, and then spun down afterwards not realizing they would get swamped today.

knd7752• 11 years ago

Kickstarter is crawling right now. I'm trying to change my pledge and it's pretty awful.

mikestew2• 11 years ago

I keep getting errors when trying to switch to the plastic/steel combo. And when I retry, the number of displayed pledges keeps going down. Despite errors on the page, I got an email saying my pledge had been changed.

feld2• 11 years ago

I don't want to wait an extra 2 months, so I think I'll stick with the regular Time and hand it down to my wife when the Steel is in stock, retail. She doesn't want the Steel version anyway and would be happy with an upgrade to her Pebble.

The smartstraps are going to be really cool -- a lot of potential there.

FLGMwt2• 11 years ago

FYI, they mention that if you back the Time + Time Steel (@$400), they ship them separately "so you don't have to wait". I might end up doing that >:D

feld2• 11 years ago

And now you have me pondering this...

mladenkovacevic5• 11 years ago

Hm that's also a $10 discount off of one of them (at their lowest pledge tiers)

smackfu4• 11 years ago

That gold one with a red band is a bit reminiscent of another smart watch coming out soon. (And plenty of existing non smart watches, of course.)

bryanlarsen• 11 years ago

I think I prefer the regular Pebble Time. It already includes a stainless steel bezel, although the rest of the case is plastic. I'd use a custom strap no matter which watch I got. And 7 days is a long enough battery life for me -- I'd rather have the thinner watch than the longer battery life.

knd7752• 11 years ago

Where is the thickness mentioned? I looked but couldn't find anything about it.

mladenkovacevic5• 11 years ago

The Steel is 1mm thicker than the regular Time

songgao• 11 years ago

The Pebble Time is 9.5 mm [0], and Pebble Time Steel 1mm thicker, making it 10.5mm [1]. 10.5mm is actually as thick as the current Pebble Steel so it's actually not bad.

[0] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-time-a...

[1] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-time-a...

maxpert• 11 years ago

I wonder why didn't Pebble user Mirasol instead of e-ink.

FreakyT• 11 years ago

They're still calling the color display "e-paper", which in the case of the original Pebble meant a Sharp Memory LCD display (which, while a high-contrast LCD, looked nothing like the e-ink displays in e-readers.)

Based on the appearance of the display, it looks a lot like the color transflective displays found on older portable Nintendo game systems, so I'm guessing it's relative of those.

yincrash• 11 years ago

That's what it looked like to me as well. Here's an example[1]. These displays can be either back lit or front lit and don't get washed out in sunlight.

[1] http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/a5cc0b92eb2febb051740c...

smackfu4• 11 years ago

Mirasol doesn't seem to have been adopted very much, outside of the Qualcomm Toq watch. I wonder if it's not very impressive in person, or pricey.

bdcs2• 11 years ago

I believe the latter. FWIW, Qualcomm's marketing demo/presentation was very impressive.

unwind• 11 years ago

So, Pebble calls it "Smartstrap", but the TC article for some reason uses the names "Smartband" and "Smartstrap".

The Kickstarter page doesn't mention it by either, but the Pebble blog post (http://developer.getpebble.com/blog) that the TC article references still links back to the Kickstarter page as a source. The blog post shows an image of connectors, but doesn't specify what the four lines do (I'm guessing two are for power and two are for data).

So confused right now.

jamestanderson2• 11 years ago

I'm a backer of the Pebble Time and received this announcement as a Kickstarter project update. In pebble's own words, they call it a smartstrap.

  Introducing Pebble smartstraps

  We believe your smartwatch should help you accomplish more every day.

  When we started Pebble, we opened up the platform and invited the software   
  developer community to build remarkable experiences for Pebblers everywhere.

  Looking at all the amazing things our developers have created over the last 2 years,   
  we decided to open the platform once more...only this time, for hardware developers.

  Have you ever wanted to go for a run without your phone and still track your speed  
 and distance? How about a Pebble watch with a battery life of more than a week?   
  What about a NFC chip for payments, keyless car remote, or a pollution sensor?

  Rather than trying to shove every sensor and doohickey into the Pebble Time, we decided   
  to keep the watch simple and functional and give our incredible maker and developer community the opportunity to build from there.  
 Up until now, if you wanted it all you had to compromise…on battery life, size, design or feature set. Not anymore.

  That’s why we created Pebble smartstraps. It’s simple: straps can now contain  
 electronics and sensors to interface directly with apps running on Pebble Time.

mladenkovacevic5• 11 years ago

Are you by any chance finding it impossible to upgrade your pledge to the Pebble Time Steel? Kickstarter is really crapping out on me today.

FLGMwt2• 11 years ago

This page (https://developer.getpebble.com/smartstraps/, linked in the blog post) has a little bit more detail.

There's not much details yet on the API, which is likely only for "is connected" or "start this app", but my guess is that most of the work is left up to the hardware developer, a la most hardware dev. Not so much API calls but straight reading IO pins. I'd pick up an Arduino for an idea of what you'd be getting into.

michaelmior• 11 years ago

I'd be surprised if they didn't realize some SDKs to make working with whatever protocol they come up with easier.

swamp40• 11 years ago

Two for ground, one for (bidirectional) power and a one-wire serial bus.

AlexMuir• 11 years ago

I've been continually impressed with Pebble since their very first Kickstarter. They've done a lot on a few levels:

- For smartwatches (and possibly even wearables) they produced and shipped what I'd consider to be the first mainstream phone-connected wearable. I'm sure it was on the big players' radar but Pebble produced a decent product relatively on time and I'm sure people learned quite a bit from them. At the least they showed their was a market.

- For crowdfunding: Pebble got a MASSIVE stack of money. Way beyond what anyone expected. They managed the sudden increase in scale well, and I think showed that startups could be funded to the tune of $millions rather than $tens-of-thousands.

- For hardware startups: Pebble showed that an independent startup can compete (and continue to compete) with giants who have a vast existing customer base. And that funding is available for that endeavour. I also think they set the standard for communicating with customers. I still remember their updates from factories in China. I think they blazed something of a trail for companies that followed (Amp, Navdy, Ouya, off the top of my head).

Smartwatches aren't for me - I've lost every watch I've ever owned - but I'm in awe of this team.

yellow• 11 years ago

Pebble produced a decent product relatively on time

Their branding is great. Now whenever i see "time", it reminds me of the watch...

lettergram• 11 years ago

I would add that Pebble gave away a ton of free Pebbles to universities[1]. This boosted their app production, and made them super popular. Everyone on my campus was like, "awesome, you got a pebble!" it made something to be desired, and makes you stand out as a CS or ECE major.

I know I am purchasing a Pebble because I was so impressed by the free one they gave me.

[1] https://blog.getpebble.com/2013/12/16/pebbling-schools-in-th...

stcredzero3• 11 years ago

I've lost every watch I've ever owned

I've lost every watch I've ever owned, except for the irreplaceable vintage Rolex my Dad gave me. I keep that in a case in a drawer!

addicted44• 11 years ago

It may not be successful, but I really think Pebble has the right idea with smartwatches.

I really hope that the smartwatch industry doesn't devolve into the monoculture that is the smartphone industry (well, technically a 2 platform culture, but Android and iOS are basically 2 sides of the same coin now. Neither one offers anything the other doesn't).

stcredzero3• 11 years ago

Funny how Android got more iOS like while iOS was getting more Android like. (Talking both functionality and degree of openness.)

mladenkovacevic5• 11 years ago

Pebble is unique in this early smartwatch space because they just became a hardware platform in addition to being a software platform. If the smartbands are easy enough to change and provide a significant variety of meaningful functionality it might be the advantage that wins out over the other two major platforms.

aet• 11 years ago

The win here would be to get acquired by... Amazon?

joshstrange3• 11 years ago

I get that Pebble is trying to milk this (marketing-wise) for all it's worth but this leaves a bad taste in my mouth... Should I also expect that next week they will announce the "Pebble Time Steel +" ??

Now I have to decide if I want to pay $70 more and wait 2 more months (best case).... If you thought Pebble was abusing KS before....

joshstrange3• 11 years ago

So don't get me wrong I love my Pebble Steel and I'm a backer for the new Pebble Time I just don't like how they are handling this.

gareim• 11 years ago

Would you have preferred if they delayed the Pebble Steel Time a few more months so you could feel better about your order? You could switch your order to the Pebble Steel Time right now. I don't see how this adversely affects you at all.

bsurmanski• 11 years ago

I like the idea of smart watches, but I don't see why there would be a demand for them. Specifically, I can't think of a single "killer app" that would make a smart watch better than the phone that everyone is currently carrying around.

Can someone enlighten me? Whats going to be the killer app for smart watches?

yatoomy5• 11 years ago

I can speak of the one I'm developing.

We're using the Pebble to track seizures through the accelerometer (neutun.com).

With these new bands, and the amazing battery life, we could have multiple device and signal support, allowing us to branch out to other types of seizures and conditions.

jkestner2• 11 years ago

Cool. That's sort of the opposite of a killer app.

sliverstorm2• 11 years ago

I can't label a "killer app", but smart watches have opportunities a smartphone doesn't. The most obvious is the opportunity for biometrics, as they rest on your skin.

yatoomy5• 11 years ago

Thats a truth few wearable companies understand. Many just shove the same functionality of the phone onto your wrist, which is the worst of both worlds. They miss out on the unique opportunities wearables have and focus on smartphone features that are sub-optimal (at best) for a wearable.

Pebble is the leader in this way of thinking. They are showing more innovation than Apple with the announcement of the smartbands. Opening up a world of possibilities for software and hardware engineers/ideas

bsdpython• 11 years ago

Specifically which biometrics? Perhaps the sensors still need to be invented but what would you like to track regardless of technical feasibility?

dntrkv• 11 years ago

Killer app? I don't know about killer, but here are some super useful things I can imagine smartwatches doing:

1. Use as a navigation device (walking, driving, biking, etc), so you don't have to constantly pull your phone our and check which way to go.

2. Control music / tv / computer from across the room without needing a remote (always on your hand, always paired)

3. Homekit control (lighting, locks, appliances, etc) e.g. set your oven to preheat, go in the backyard and do whatever, watch notifies you when over is ready

4. Healthkit (many people wear health trackers already, this will just bring more features to a device they already wear). Also biometrics.

5. Someone texts / calls / emails you as you sit in a meeting / walking with your hands full / etc you can glance at your wrist and see how important the notification is before you excuse yourself to take the call or whatever.

Basically, most of the potential with this device is doing things which phones can already do but in a less intrusive manner. These features alone interest me in smartwatches; I can't imagine what other people will come up with.

stcredzero3• 11 years ago

Killer app? I don't know about killer, but here are some super useful things I can imagine smartwatches doing:...Basically, most of the potential with this device is doing things which phones can already do but in a less intrusive manner.

We shouldn't ever dismiss this avenue for product/business development: Duplicating an existing functionality/service but with greater convenience. One of the charges raised against both the iPhone and iPad, was that they merely duplicated functionality that was already in other devices. However, making that functionality more convenient and mobile turned out to be of incredible value to the market.

bdcs2• 11 years ago

There are three things for me (this is just my subjective account):

1) Ease of receiving texts. Reading a text went from 7 seconds to 1.7 seconds for me. Really nice while driving (I can keep my eyes near the road and not be mentally distracted) or when I'm in lab with latex gloves on ("Oh yes, I do want to get lunch in 5 mins, good thing I saw this"). BTW, if my time is worth $50/hr and I get 100 texts a day, saving 5.3 seconds per text, the $250 watch pays for it self in 33 days.

2) Social implications of checking your phone vs checking your watch. The latter is impatient, but the former is outright rude in many contexts.

3) By filtering the important things through my watch rather than my phone, if my phone buzzes but my watch doesn't, I can safely ignore it, because it is of lower-tier importance. This benefit surprised me, but it is actually rather nice to have an automatic hierarchy of notification importance.

eric_h• 11 years ago

re #2, I would argue that both, done repeatedly, are considered to be outright rude in many contexts.

delecti• 11 years ago

Revealing it this way leaves a bad taste in my mouth. At the very least, I'm glad that they revealed it during the main campaign rather than shortly after, but it's a pretty significant shift in the campaign. It's like an even bigger "fuck you" to the Kickstarter model, because clearly they knew they'd be doing this.

Plus, it resulted in a big shuffling around of orders, which means a bunch of people were able to "cut in line" and get the extra discounted Early Bird level.

Though all of that is only in regards to the Steel model, I'm actually extremely interested in the Smartstrap system, and I'll definitely be interested in tinkering around with it once I receive my only slightly discounted non-steel Pebble Time.

smackfu4• 11 years ago

Very smart of them to release a gold version. If watches are all about fashion, and people want a gold-colored watch because they like how it looks, they probably can't afford it from Apple.

It may be seen as a copy by some, but a $5000 product is not competing with a $300 one.

Pebble Reveals Pebble Time Steel and a Smartstrap System

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