What is Kickstarter? You will hear the
answer, even though it’s wordy, related to Pebble. Otherwise, you will
definitely want to ask others with more than 10 million dollars guaranteed,
everyone’s Smartwatch has broken the record of a website donated and sponsored
by the crowd and the company’s expectation. It reached the goal of raising a
fund of 100 million dollars within 2 hours, and obviously it’s the favorite
thing among our readers.
Of course, there was doubt whether
Migicovsky, the founder of the company, would provide likely attractive and
powerful product with $125 or not, but after our first view during the press
conference at the company’s CES, that dream actually came true.
So what’s Pebble? It’s not a smartphone for
your wrist, as we've seen that it’s been tested before. In fact, it's less
sophisticated than you might expect - the lightweight device reads basic text,
lets you skip through music tracks and, of course, displays the time. It's not the
greatest achievement of our generation, or the best device of the year. It's definitely
becoming incredibly popular, but regardless of the hype, you certainly
don't need it. Yet, even those who have the least knowledge in technology
have heard it mentioned on morning talk shows, FM radio stations or from children
of under 13 years old interested in impressing their friends. Having a
smartphone alone isn't enough anymore. Is it right?
What
is Kickstarter? You will hear the answer, even though it’s wordy, related to
Pebble.
Hardware
We have tested the black Pebble, which was
the first color to be sold. The face is slightly glossier than the displayed
image, but on the other hand, the production looks nearly like the prototypes. There's
a 22mm rubber band for mounting the device to your wrist-you'll likely be able
to swap your own band with suitable size. It's a fairly attractive combination,
though regardless of the band you choose, you'll probably want to leave Pebble at
home during formal events, or walks along the runway.
We
have tested the black Pebble, which was the first color to be sold.
Pebble feels very comfortable when tied on
the wrist - it's relatively light, and the smooth edges maintain their distance
from your sensitive skin. However, it feels strong enough for regular use, and
thanks to waterproofing ability down to 50 meters (164 feet), it can stay on
your wrist during diving in the pool (or in the ocean), and it'll work fine in
the shower as well. There are two exposed metal connectors, used to pair up
with the proprietary magnetic USB charging cable (the only accessory available
in the box), but the cover seems to be sealed.
The secrets for the battery life lasting
for a whole week and the ability to read in daylight of Pebble
is a technology similar to what's penetrated the lives
of young and old bookworms: e-paper display. The 114x168 black-white screen has
nearly 20,000 pixels, allowing you to view emails and time in several fonts,
along with watch faces and other indicators. The display looks great both
indoors and outdoors although we noticed some unusual black spots while viewing
the display in sunlight - adjusting the angle solved the issue.
There's a simple backlight illuminating
automatically the panel for a short time at night when you receive a
notification or manually when you activate any of the 4 side-mounted buttons.
It's fairly dim, allowing you to avoid disturbing buddies who love film or other
patients sharing your bed, but still bright enough for you to follow every
detail. However, Pebble will even reflect a little of ambient light, so your
backlight usage may be a little.
The
114x168 black-white screen has nearly 20,000 pixels, allowing you to view
emails and time in several fonts, along with watch faces and other indicators.
Pebble doesn't provide a lot of functions
without a smartphone. You'll need one (and an accompanying app) to get started,
and although you'll be able to display the time while being disconnected (for
example, in Airplane Mode), software updates, feature additions and
notifications all require a Bluetooth connection. Fortunately, there's a
Bluetooth 4.0 support, which offers speedy performance with reduced energy
consumption. This also plays a part in Pebble's weeklong battery life, and 5%
to 10% of contribution to your smartphone's life.
We'll talk in detail the user interface
more in the section below, but since there's no touch function here, you'll
need to navigate by using the four side-mounted buttons. There's a home (or back)
button on the top of the left side, which brings you back to Pebble's main
configuration page. On the right of the e-paper panel: a top button scrolls up,
a smaller center button makes selections and the control on the bottom scrolls
down through messages, menus or tracks while playing music. All of these
buttons require a firm press rather than a tap, and while you won't
accidentally activate the controls, recognizing the input can take a bit of
effort.
Software
2 apps of Pebble – one for Android 2.3 or
later and the second for Apple devices running iOS 5 or later activate
everything from initial setup to push notifications. There's no user manual in
the box, so you'll need to download your correlative app to get started.
Pairing takes a few seconds, and it’s done. The smart watch will automatically adjust
to the local time on your smartphone, and you can select from a few default
watch faces, from Text Watch, which you’ve probably been familiar with already,
to Classic Analog.
2
apps of Pebble – one for Android 2.3 or later and the second for Apple devices
running iOS 5 or later
To take full advantage of the device's functions,
you'll need to head back to the smartphone app, where you can push additional
watch faces (there are currently just five to download, including TicTockToe). Finally,
this custom app store will include third-party apps, such as the bike computer
and golf rangefinder that the company advertised on Kickstarter page, though
they're not available at the moment.
The app's Settings page is where you'll
select notifications to push. Based on the apps installed on Galaxy Note II, we could
choose from incoming call alerts, text messages, calendar reminders, email
previews, Google Talk messages, Google Voice messages and Facebook messages.
Each option has a checkbox, so if you want to use your Pebble to get the caller
ID but don't want to be bothered with Facebook messages, that's absolutely OK.
With each notification, the watch will vibrate once, the backlight will turn on
(in a few seconds) and the message will appear.
Theoretically, you can simply shake your
wrist to cancel the notification, though we were only able to do this by
pressing one of the buttons. You can choose from large and small fonts for
notifications, but no matter what the size is, you can scroll to see more by using
the up and down buttons. You'll need to get into your smartphone to read the
full message or send a feedback. Similarly, when you receive a call, the only
option on the watch is to skip the notification, but doing so won't send the
caller to voicemail.
Unless you look at your watch every few
seconds, maybe there will be time when your inbox contains many messages.
Unfortunately, Pebble will only display the latest notification just received,
so it won't completely eliminate a need to check your smartphone. Also, it's
not currently able to display certain languages - a message we received with
Chinese characters displayed in the form of several lines of rectangles on the
display.
Basing
on the apps installed on Galaxy Note II,
we could choose from incoming call alerts…
At this time, all of the interactions
between Pebble and a connected smartphone are in one direction - from your phone
to the watch - with one exception. The watch's music player controls playback
on your Android or iOS device, including play/pause and track skipping. There's
no volume control, which seems reasonable based on the limited number of
buttons. With our Android phone, the watch could identify and control music
from the separate app, but not from third-party services, such as Spotify.
Rivals
Although it may seem to be successful
according to the excitement surrounding this launch, Pebble is not the only
smart watch on the market. Sony and now Toshiba are two
of the giants behind the similar technology, and Sony's SmartWatch even has a
reasonably price, with $149. Allerta, the company behind Pebble, released its
own watch several years ago, called inPulse, but
smartphone compatibility was limited to BlackBerry models and certain Android
phone, and the device uses an OLED display. Similarly, WIMM Labs' WIMM One was made
available to developers, but is no longer in production.
The success of Pebble begins from the
promise of the third-party apps and practical e-paper screen, together with Kickstarter’s
marketing power. Functions are somewhat limited but this is a first-generation
device from a small manufacturer that's currently only in the hands of a very
limited number of lucky supporters. If consumer interest is any indication,
developers will soon be able to work on many unique applications, if they haven’t
done it yet. The platform is incredibly young, and the best is yet to come.
Conclusion
We've really enjoyed the time with Pebble -
it's not a fashion statement, necessarily, but we wouldn't be surprised to see
it appeared on many wrists in the upcoming months. Function is still quite
limited at this point, and if considering how fresh the device is, that's the
thing can be predicted. The features available work well, and the smart watch is
interesting to use.
We've
really enjoyed the time with Pebble - it's not a fashion statement,
necessarily, but we wouldn't be surprised to see it appeared on many wrists in
the upcoming months
If talking about price, Pebble is an
excellent value, especially for lucky Kickstarter supporters who could to take
advantage of $99, $115 and $125 pre-orders. We're very optimistic for the
device's future - our major concern which doesn’t relates to the hardware, but to
how it will affect behavior: If you thought that friend who kept looking at his
smartphone once every few minutes was rude, just wait until he owns a Pebble.
Pebble's courageous leader, Eric
Migicovsky, responded some questions of us. He confirmed that the goal is to
fulfill all Kickstarter orders within the next six to eight weeks, then with
pre-orders following. The device may eventually appear in retail stores, but
there's no firm timeline. Pebble is powered by an ARM Cortex-M3 microprocessor,
with a 140mAh battery helping you to make it run for up to a week with
occasional use, or five days with frequent notifications and backlight
activation. Aesthetically, the dark spots we saw in sunlight might be a
"Mura Effect" from the lens -- it's possible that other users will realize
this as well. Finally, English is the only language currently supported (which
explains why our Chinese characters displayed in rectangles), but other
languages will soon be supported.
Apps that support the Audio / Video Remote
Control Profile (AVRCP) will have the compatibility with Pebble's audio
controls. However, Spotify never include this support.
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Technical specs
·
Screen size: 1.26 inches
·
Storage type: internal storage
·
Maximum battery life: up to 168 hours
·
Connectivity: Bluetooth to wirelessly
communicate with your smartphone and install watch apps; Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR
Advantage
·
Easy to set up
·
Stable performance
·
Android/iOS compatibility
·
Waterproofing at the depth of several meters
Disadvantage
·
Limited app selection when released
Verdict
·
Pebble has been an excellent value, but the
new features will increase attractiveness.
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