Got a Pebble Smartwatch Tonight

[Scott Greczkowski]

I have been looking at Smart watches for a long time now and have wanted one. I preordered a Kreyos Meteor last year from a Kickstart type company and still I sit here waiting. I hoped to see Kreyos at CES this year but with the thousands and thousands of booths I never did find their booth.

Tonight I had to go to Best Buy to return the Logitech UE Portable Bluetooth Speaker she got me for Christmas as it would not hold a charge, so I went in and swapped it for a Beats Pill. When I was getting ready to leave I noticed something which has never been in stock at our Best Buy and that was a Pebble Smartwatch. At CES I saw many people wearing them, and to those people I talked to that had one they loved one.

So I walked out of Best Buy with a new Pebble Smart watch as well.

I got home and got it setup and I like it especially since it has its new Pebble App store, made it very easy to find and install what I wanted. Although I did find it limited as you can only load 8 apps / watch faces at any time.

At dinner tonight anytime I got a message I just looked at my wrist and did not need to take my phone out of my pocket. I did feel a little lost that I couldn't reply to messages from the watch, and I think the reason I feel this way is because this is one of the things the Kreyos can do In fact I went back to the website and looked at what the Kreyos can do that the Pebble can't.

The Kreyos can has a mic and speaker built in and just like Dick Tracey you can talk to you watch, answer the phone, dictate, use siri and more.

According to the last update the Kreyos should be shipping in April.

So now I sit here with a watch which I like, but feel its missing a lot because I know whats coming. For whats available out there at the moment the Pebble seems to be the best Smartwatch. Sure Samsung has their smartwatch, but it don't work with my iPhone so it was not even a consideration.

As I mentioned earlier, this week Pebble launched version 2.0 of the OS and app, and a big part of the app is the App Store. Not having a Pebble Watch before this I can't imagine how hard it was to find apps and load them, and now all the apps are nicely laid out and installing them to your watch is as easy as clicking Add. I just wish I could add more then 8 apps at a time.

The display is easy to read and the backlight comes in handy in a dark room. Setup of the watch was a breeze, you download the app to your smartphone and ran the app following the instructions on the screen, soon your Bluetooth was synced with your phone. BTW for those wondering I have no issues using the watch and playing music over my wireless bluetooth speaker at the same time.

They say the battery life is over 7 days, and I will test that. I am not a fan of the USB charging cable that comes with the watch as it uses its own proprietary connection which uses magnets to attach itself to the watch. I think a normal micro USB port on the watch would have been better. The cable is not that strong and might be hard to find a replacement if you break it or go away an forget to bring your charging cable.

So with that said I do like it, but I am still dreaming of that Kreyos watch, it looks like it could give the Pebble a run for its money.

 

[dangue]

I have been looking at Smart watches for a long time now and have wanted one. I preordered a Kreyos Meteor last year from a Kickstart type company and still I sit here waiting. I hoped to see Kreyos at CES this year but with the thousands and thousands of booths I never did find their booth. Tonight I had to go to Best Buy to return the Logitech UE Portable Bluetooth Speaker she got me for Christmas as it would not hold a charge, so I went in and swapped it for a Beats Pill. When I was getting ready to leave I noticed something which has never been in stock at our Best Buy and that was a Pebble Smartwatch. At CES I saw many people wearing them, and to those people I talked to that had one they loved one. So I walked out of Best Buy with a new Pebble Smart watch as well. I got home and got it setup and I like it especially since it has its new Pebble App store, made it very easy to find and install what I wanted. Although I did find it limited as you can only load 8 apps / watch faces at any time. At dinner tonight anytime I got a message I just looked at my wrist and did not need to take my phone out of my pocket. I did feel a little lost that I couldn't reply to messages from the watch, and I think the reason I feel this way is because this is one of the things the Kreyos can do In fact I went back to the website and looked at what the Kreyos can do that the Pebble can't. The Kreyos can has a mic and speaker built in and just like Dick Tracey you can talk to you watch, answer the phone, dictate, use siri and more. According to the last update the Kreyos should be shipping in April. So now I sit here with a watch which I like, but feel its missing a lot because I know whats coming. For whats available out there at the moment the Pebble seems to be the best Smartwatch. Sure Samsung has their smartwatch, but it don't work with my iPhone so it was not even a consideration. As I mentioned earlier, this week Pebble launched version 2.0 of the OS and app, and a big part of the app is the App Store. Not having a Pebble Watch before this I can't imagine how hard it was to find apps and load them, and now all the apps are nicely laid out and installing them to your watch is as easy as clicking Add. I just wish I could add more then 8 apps at a time. The display is easy to read and the backlight comes in handy in a dark room. Setup of the watch was a breeze, you download the app to your smartphone and ran the app following the instructions on the screen, soon your Bluetooth was synced with your phone. BTW for those wondering I have no issues using the watch and playing music over my wireless bluetooth speaker at the same time. They say the battery life is over 7 days, and I will test that. I am not a fan of the USB charging cable that comes with the watch as it uses its own proprietary connection which uses magnets to attach itself to the watch. I think a normal micro USB port on the watch would have been better. The cable is not that strong and might be hard to find a replacement if you break it or go away an forget to bring your charging cable. So with that said I do like it, but I am still dreaming of that Kreyos watch, it looks like it could give the Pebble a run for its money.

I have to admit that I really like the looks of the Pebble Steel. But I can't shake the feeling that getting one would be an early adopter mistake. 2nd or 3rd generation smart watches will just be so much better that getting one now to satisfy my inner nerd will just be a waste.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[jcrandall]

They are pretty slick watches. The definite miss right now is siri integration to reply to incoming messages.

I think in one year you'll see a bunch of options, then in two years Apple will show up with something amazing.
The unfortunate thing is Apple is never concerned about being first, just getting it right.

I don't wear a watch currently but have in the past. To say the least, I've thought about the smart watches a bit, and will likely end up wearing a watch again.
That said, I'll ride the bench while they refine them.

 

[Teehar]

Timex indiglo best watch ever! Seriously,I wouldn't have a smart watch if it didn't have siri.

 

[TheForce]

I still like my Sony Smartwatch 2, Scott, but it does not support iOS either.

What I found on mine for battery was that when new and no apps loaded, vibration off, the watch did run for 4-5 days as long as I didn't activate the backlight more than a couple times a day. The specs say 5 days. But after adding several apps, 22 all total, with email alerts, SMS alerts, alarm clock, 30 stocks polling every 5 minutes, weather, and vibration alerts for limit of Blue tooth range, phone calls, and messages, the battery needs to be charged up every other morning for about 30 minutes. The more stuff you do the faster you drain the battery. But, I love it! I don't know how I ever got along without it. I have other apps too that don't get much use, such as a web browser, flashlight, camera controller, chess game, solitare card game, calculator, calendar, compass ( doesn't work too well ), lost phone locator, phone ringer, tic-tac-toe game, and a few others.

 

[Ramy]

I have a smartphone. I don't need a smartwatch personally. My phone is always with me.

 

[TheForce]

Most of these Smartwatches are not all that smart. They are nothing more than a remote display and control point for the apps that reside on your smart phone, Ramy. If my phone is out of range of the watch, about all the watch can do is display the time and date. When it connects to the phone with all the apps, all those apps come alive. The main advantage of the smartwatch like this is you don't have to dig out your phone to answer it or look something up, see what e-mail or SMS message came in or to see what the weather is doing, get a weather radar screen and control certain functions remotely, such as the camera. If you keep your phone in a holster on your belt, or in your pocket you could use a Smartwatch. If you wear your smart phone on your wrist then a smart watch would not be of much use.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

It came in handy a few times today. Was in a meeting and got a few messages... never took my phone out of my pocket but read everything without anyone knowing.

I loaded the sleep tracker app and found it closely matched the logs from my cpap machine. After awhile its supposed to let you know when to wake up so you have the most energy for the day.

 

[Stargazer]

I have been thinking about getting a smart watch myself but think there needs to be more improvement before taking the leap.

 

[dangue]

Sorry to resurrect such an old thread. I just pulled the trigger on a pebble steel. Eventually I'll likely get an I watch, but I figure this pebble will allow me to enjoy the main smart watch benefits I'm interested in while I wait for a second or third gen product from apple or some other electronics maker.