Had a Pebble Time back when those were new and after using Apple Watch for a while I think it's time to try a return to that minimalism.
- Pebble 2 Duo: $149, B&W, original Pebble look
- Pebble Time 2: $225, color, new round square look
* both with intended IPX8, 30-day battery, "e-paper" aka gameboy style LCD, suite of sensors, Pebble app compatibilityI really like the term "squircle"
"The new pebble time 2 sports the chic squircle aesthetic"
Similarly, the Withings Scanwatch claims the same, although as a hybrid smartwatch, it is not driving such a power-hungry screen.
Even with 1 minute intervals though, battery life was absolutely stellar. I'd often lose my charger, and in few days after I saw the battery dropping/low battery alerts, I'd find it too (before the watch died)!
I understand it's about 4x the price, but there's also lower-end Garmin's that are about 2x the price with the same screen, slightly less features and similar battery life
As to "why": I'm not interested at all in Garmin's sports and health features and their cloud stuff. Pebbles work well, get out of the way and have a nice, friendly and slightly quirky interface. There are many apps and watchfaces out there. As of the new ones, the OS is open source. Reasons enough for me. ;)
There's still a strong market for dumb watches too, so a long-lasting "smart" device that does some things but not as much as an Apple Watch, Garmin, Coros, etc while still serving as a general information displaying wearable sounded enticing. Unfortunately Apple's lockdown of the iPhone for the previous Pebbles (which I think might still be a thing) and my need for fitness tracking are what prevented me from buying a Pebble.
I'm a Garmin Venu fan, but... apparently it was a $350 watch[0], and now there's a $450 version[1] and an $800 version[2]. There's still an older one[3] available for $250 (or ~$185 on Amazon). Though I got my original Venu "refurbished" for under $100 (and it still had all the plastic wrap, etc. so was truly "like new.")
10-11 day battery when new (mine gets 6-7 days after several years of use, but I have never used always-on-display.)
If I can get a Venu 2/2S/2S Plus/3/3S as a refurbished watch for ~$200-250, then I would go that route over an inexpensive Pebble 2 Time. Love that OLED screen. But I totally get the hacker ethos favoring the Pebble OS over Garmin. (Garmin does have a pretty good watch OS, and most things work without a subscription, which was a major factor in my purchase.) For $450 (or more...) it is not comparable to Pebble's offering.
[0] https://www.techradar.com/reviews/garmin-venu
[1] https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/873008/
The idea of having a screen on my wrist doesn't particularly appeal to me.
My partner has one and when they turn over in bed, I am sometimes blinded by the screen which still glows brightly even at the lowest setting in complete darkness.
That's why I'm considering a e-ink watch. The reason I didn't commit yet is that I fear that notifications and such before bedtime could be just as harmful to my nightline peacefulness.
Automatic illumination has never worked well for me on any watch. It seems I just don't roll my wrist to view the screen the way other people do, so this heuristic fails badly for me. I often read my watches via ambient light and the light hasn't triggered or comes later after I've already seen what I want. And on the other hand, I get annoyed by false-positives where it just lights up randomly in my peripheral vision. So I often disable the automatic light feature.
So, I enjoy the always-on but passive aspect of a transflective LCD display. It is practical like a conventional watch with physical hands. It works well in bright sunlight, well enough in other decently lit environments, and at least copes with dark via the backlight. I wish it was even more reflective for low light, but the recent LCDs are not bad.
I vastly prefer my Garmin FR255 which seems like the last of its breed. Garmin may have lost me as a repeat buyer with the changing products. I think I'd like their Enduro line, but not at those prices. I don't like many of the compromises of the Instinct line either, but it seems the only option left.
Why/how can my Apple Watch barely make it through 24 hours?
What’s the fundamental difference between these two smartwatches that accounts for a 30× decrease in battery life?
I can see myself buying one of these new pebbles, but not the one with the hr sensor. I really just want it for the notifications support.
The 2 duo is at least a little bit fun aesthetically, but I would like a heart rate monitor if I’m gonna be wearing a smart watch.
To misquote Bernie, I am once again ~~asking~~ requesting for a single watch to have both heart rate/health tracking, as well as compass and barometer in a single watch.
I had an Amazfit Bip which, just like a Pebble, also had a transflective screen and between 1 to 2.5 months of battery life. However, it did have a compass along with a barometer, alongside HR/activity/sleep tracking.
I was (and still am) sad when my watch broke (screen pops out, known failure mode).
Since then I got a basic Band (7), and very recently, the Amazfit Active 2.
The latter is amazing on many aspects. Every sensor mentioned above of course, but a few nice add ons like continuous barometer readings for storm warnings, a thermometer, and so on.
What it notably does not have, s nither the transflective screen, nor the week to month(s) long battery life.
I searched a good bit for transflective watches, and it seems garmin is the only half-decent brand in town, and they appear to paywall nicer features to their expensive products.
In the absence of much of a budget, my choice was easy. But I really hope Pebble makes something in a single package that makes my next watch purchase a real dilemma if not an outright purchase :)
I still have mine. The front fell off, but I glued it back on. The battery life is not as good as it was when I got it in 2019, but it still keeps a charge for over three weeks. I keep looking for replacements, but haven't found anything that can match that lifespan while also not being huge. Maybe this Pebble is the ticket.
Now I'll have 8.
There, Eric. Take my money..
This is really a killer feature for me. GPS tracking would be nice to track runs, but I can live without it.
Until then, I'm sticking with the Apple Watch.
I was working on a subpixel rendering algorithm for it at the time, but then it was killed, and I shelved it.
Funny, now in 2025, 10 years later, I'm not a fan of smart watches due to their enabling bad habits, think I'll pick up this pebble and leave notifications turned off this time. :)
If I could design _my_ dream watch (to borrow Eric's phrase), I'd put a larger version of the black and white MIP display in Time 2's case -- not more pixels, just bigger and easier to read.
There is one bright spot, which is that I believe the new Time 2's higher resolution display matches the original Time 2 specification and therefore has been supported by the SDK for years already. There were only a handful of physical prototypes, so no users of course, but some developers probably did build support for it.
apparent•4h ago
Would be great if we could vote. I am excited that there's a metallic option, but IMO the silver is too light. A dark gunmetal, or even medium-darkness silver, would be better in my book. The silver comes across as a bit flashy (which is perhaps good for the company), and I'd rather something that fades into the background a bit more.
The color-accented ones are nice, especially with matching bands. But for my taste (and the ability to wear it in more formal/dressy settings), black or metallic options will win out.
JaggerJo•2h ago
Red and Blue are IMO not needed as you can always add an accent using the band. Probably just makes everything more complicated.
apparent•2h ago
It sounds like the colors don't add much complexity because it's just a polycarbonate piece that's sandwiched between the metal front and back. It does add complexity and and there are surely some fixed costs associated with making these and the matching bands. But it's kind of a neat innovation to have a pop of color on the side, matching the band. I think the red one could actually look nice with a plain black band.
JaggerJo•49m ago
True. It might be just me but I think the color makes it look cheap.