New Pebble 2 and Time 2 smartwatches, plus the all new Pebble Core

Pebble returns to Kickstarter for their new smartwatches

The ever popular crowd-funded, Kickstarter-started smartwatch company is back with a third generation of smartwatches. And staying true to their origins and their second generation watches, the company is right back on Kickstarter for their next watches, the Pebble 2 and Time 2 - as well as a little fitness companion called the Pebble Core.

However, the biggest difference this time around for both smartwatches from the previous Pebble smartwatches is the presence of a heart rate monitor. Users who wanted a Pebble with heart rate monitors can now rejoice - last I heard there was another crowd-funded attempt to make a heart rate strap for the Pebble Time, I wonder what goes with that now. 

Both the Pebble 2 and Time 2 will have the heart rate sensor on the back, which rests against our wrists, providing an accurate heart rate estimation.

Pebble 2 and Time 2; time to Pebble too?

Fans and users of the Pebble Classic smartwatch (like yours truly) will unmistakably notice the resemblance of the new Pebble 2 smartwatch with the previous Pebble Classic. Both watches have got very similar shape and design, although the new Pebble 2 will have a more angular design to it.

The Time 2 retains a more similar design with the Pebble Time, but I am rather surprise at the decision to start off with a stainless steel build instead of a plastic one. Pebble has always launched with a plastic build smartwatch, only to release a steel version of it later (or at the same time), but I'm just going to assume that the Pebble 2 will fulfil the more affordable end of their smartwatches.

Both Pebble smartwatches will feature their e-paper display, the Pebble 2 with black and white, and the Time 2 with a 53% larger colour display. The smartwatches will also retain their super awesome battery life of up to 10 days, and also still have their 30 meter water resistance. I'll have to say that the water resistance paired with the heart rate monitor does truly make the new Pebble smartwatches a very wholesome device, fulfilling both a smartwatch and an activity tracker.

The all new Pebble Core

I expected new smartwatches from Pebble, we all did. It's a brand new year and of course there's going to be some updates and new stuff, but I doubt anyone predicted the arrival of the Pebble Core.

It would seem that the Pebble Core acts purely as an activity tracker. It's basically a small little box-thingie that clips onto your clothing during runs to track your pace, distance and location. The Pebble Core has built-in cellular connectivity which can stream music from Spotify, and track your pace and location through GPS - which means it'll take a micro-SIM card for the tracking and streaming. 

The idea of the Pebble Core for Runners is that we can leave our phones at home while we go for a run. No more having our large phones bouncing around in our tiny pockets or having a heavy armband weighing us down.

Developers will also be able to get their hands on the Pebble Core for Hackers, which omits all of the activity features and is simply a barebone miniature Android computer. Along with the Core SDK, developers will be able to program the Core for other tasks such as tracking their pets or perform actions with the two programmable buttons.

If you're interested, it's a good idea to back them on their Kickstarter right here. Although knowing how popular Pebble crowd-funding is, it might have already surpassed their target and is all sold out.

The Pebble 2 will ship out September 2016 and the Time 2 will ship out November 2016. The Pebble Core will be the only one having a much later release in the following year: January 2017.

Pebble 2 and Time 2 don't strike your fancy? You can still purchase the previous Pebble Time.


Pictures are all sourced and retrieved from the Pebble 2 Kickstarter page.

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A Pebble smartwatch for a Malaysian

We all know what are watches: they sit on your wrist and tell you the time and date --some even had calculators! 

In the past, I used to wear watches, digital, analogue, whatever. I just needed something to tell me the time. I was never a great watch connoisseur, just a guy who needed a watch.
So when I got into smartphones, I started to wear less and less of those little gadgets on my wrist, as my phone could tell me the time --and I was never in any situation where glancing at my own phone was criminal.

When I saw smartwatches start emerging from all over the place, I thought they were really... silly.

The one that made me scoff at smartwatches most was the ridiculous battery - why the heck would anyone need a watch that you'd have to charge every day or two?
I also argued that one could just easily just put their hands in their pockets or bags and whip out their phone to read that ever important Facebook status or Tweet.

I just basically didn't see any need for a smartwatch in my life.

Until that faithful day I happened upon the good ol' Pebble smartwatch, and I saw how its battery was supposed to be able to last you up to a week, and also how it's quite value priced: USD $99 for the plastic/classic Pebble. Of course Pebble's been around for a long time, I was slow to catch up to it until then.

At that point, I figured to myself that eh, I sort of do need a watch --but I didn't want something overly traditional, and so I thought I'd give the Pebble smartwatch a try.

And I made a complete hypocrisy of myself with my generalized statement that smartwatches are silly.

I ordered the Pebble watch off their website on sale ($79 instead of the original $99) and also some skins from GadgetWraps to protect the watch. Few weeks later, and wham, the two things I ordered were on my desk.

Pebble smartwatch and GadgetWraps skins

So what was it like using the Pebble watch? To sum it up: Very subtle, yet functional.

It's like the father of smartwatches - the OG, if you will. It has all the features that you'd expect a smartwatch to have: notifications, music control and the like. I had many uses in mind when I got the watch: glanceable information when I'm driving, when I'm out of my mancave socializing with people, swimming, and at work.

Setting the watch up is very easy: all I had to do was download the Pebble app onto my Android phone and then pair it with my Pebble; it immediately got an update to its firmware too. However, unlike the watch, the Pebble store/app is a rather buggy piece of software, but more on that later.

The Pebble without any skins or protector is just glossy plastic all over.

So I had set up the watch, taken some glamourous shots, and then applied my first GadgetWraps skin (which failed because I placed it wrong; but GadgetWraps allows people to purchase a replacement at only USD $1, which is great!). The skin is great, it's as waterproofed as your Pebble is and pretty easy to apply actually, looks great too - those looking to get a Pebble watch should really consider getting a skin and screen protector for it.

Then I literally took the watch to town.

Using the watch is truly subtle, and not at all distracting. Notifications from apps that you select in the Pebble smartwatch app appeared on the screen with the watch vibrating to notify me whenever a message came in or someone favourited a Tweet.

The Pebble locker page, where apps you aren't currently using on your watch are stored locally on your phone instead.

The simplicity of the Pebble and it's hardware buttons makes it actually perfect for doing things whenever you shouldn't pay full attention to it.
Whenever I'm driving with both hands on the wheel, I can just glance down quickly and back up to read any information that is coming through.
And yes, I know... I know it's wrong to use your phone when you drive; that's why I'm just looking at my smartwatch to y'know, check the time.

Pebble's music control can be set up to control any media app on your phone, such as Google Play Music or Spotify

I've never experienced any other smarwatches before until my Pebble, but I think a smartwatch with hardware buttons is much more practical than a touchscreen. Put it this way: we all remember how it was like to text with a feature phone without even actually looking at the screen, or when you shouldn't be texting during classes or meetings. Our hands and fingers naturally know where to press on the smartwatch because we can feel the individual buttons and perform actions without looking at the Pebble itself.

Before I actually put the Pebble into water, I was slightly worried and skeptical about it being waterproofed even though it is. I Google'd around and to my surprise there were quite a few cases of water damage. Keeping all those cases in mind, I still wore my Pebble and jumped into the pool. And by jump, I mean lowering my self and the watch in the pool slowly in fear of damaging it - just being paranoid.

And tadah! The Pebble is fine underwater, even the buttons work well in water - no leaks or anything. There is one issue however: The Bluetooth connection disconnects underwater, so my Pebble won't be paired to my phone. I guess this is more of the Bluetooth connection's properties more than the watch's hardware. This is not a problem as I pretty much use Pebble apps that don't require a phone.

Now, what of the battery life? Amazing.

I literally got through many one weeks in between charges for my Pebble, and I'm constantly getting notifications which vibrates the Pebble and lights up its display.

The Pebble's e-Ink display is one of those olden displays you'd see on older feature phones or that old Gameboy you have lying around. It's actually very effective and does the job much better than it sounds: you have great viewing angles, it's always on, you can view it in the day time without having the sunlight drown out its brightness. In short, it's a functional display, and I love it.

So, by now you must be wondering that this watch can't be all that great? You're right, but that's only on the Pebble app for the smartphones - that app is just buggy and takes a really long time to respond at times. It also zooms in for no apparent reason at random, so all I'm looking at is the top corner of the app. Settings of Pebble watchfaces and apps are also buggy, it is almost often I find myself staring at a blank screen when I click settings for apps.

To summarize my whole experience with the Pebble watch: It's a functional piece of gadget, it's not a distraction, it's not something you need to charge every day (my biggest fear); it just works. It shows you glance-size information, and you can respond to notifications with the AndroidWear compatible update with preset texts or emoticons.

Will I be getting myself a Pebble Time (or Time Steel)? Perhaps, but I'll definitely hold out until I've seen reviews of the first batch that goes out to people.

Until then, cheers!

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