All the way back in April of 2012, a small Californian tech company launched an ambitious Kickstarter for a sleek, sexy, and simple smartwatch called the Pebble. 37 days, and over $10,000,000 later, almost everyone was talking about Pebble Technology.
The campaign launched with a modest goal of just $100,000, and I doubt that there’s a soul on this planet that thought the Pebble could earn 100x that. On May 18th, 2012, the Pebble Kickstarter closed with a $10,266,845 backing from 68,929 backers. Nothing short of incredible. In fact, the Pebble remains the highest earning Kickstarter project to date (only the unsuccessful Ubuntu Edge Indiegogo campaign has been able to surpass it).
I’ve been swooning over the Pebble since it was first announced. The idea of having an always-connected timepiece on my then-naked wrist sounded like a future that I needed to be a part of. On January 23, 2013, the first watches began to ship to backers, and last week I finally got my hands on one.
Unfamiliar with the watch? Take a look at Pebble’s Kickstarter video below, and keep on reading for my thoughts on the device.
Yep. As you can see in the video above, the Pebble is essentially a pretty (or nerdy, depending on who you’re talking to) watch that connects to your Android or iOS phone via Bluetooth, and accepts notifications from said device. If you get a text message, iMessage, phone call, Skype alert, Facebook message, or anything else that would cause your phone to buzz and beep, instead of pulling the device out of your pocket, you can simply look at your wrist.
It sounds trivial, but for me, it’s a huge time saver. I get tons (and tons) of emails and messages daily, and the vast majority of them don’t need to be dealt with immediately. Also, I’m often in areas where it would be beyond impolite to pull out a phone, but I could momentarily glance at my watch without anyone giving me a second look (also, isn’t it just simpler to look at your wrist instead of fishing for your phone). Admit it, when your phone buzzes in your pocket, be it at work, a family dinner, on a date, or anything of the sort, all that you want to do is look at it. Maybe it’s important? Maybe someone needs me? Maybe someone is hurt? 99% of the time, it’ll be a Candy Crush notification or some other garbage, but you simply cannot be completely invested in what you were previously doing until you figure it out. The Pebble has essentially solved all of these worries for me, and many more.
Here’s another scenario. I love to shower. In my life, it tends to be the only few moments that I get to myself each day. I also like to listen to music while I’m showering (and who doesn’t). Think about this: the average length of a standard song is about four minutes. That means you’re listening to about three songs per shower. You throw your phone on shuffle and start washing, so what happens when the second song comes on, and it’s one that you really don’t want to hear? Well, you don’t enjoy that 1/3 of your shower, simple as that. This wouldn’t be the case with the Pebble. It’s waterproof (5ATM rated), so take it in with you. When that song that you don’t want to hear inevitably comes on, just skip it, and go on with your day (much more relaxed, of course, since you enjoyed your entire shower).
They’re all little things, but isn’t it the little things that really matter?
You can even use it as a running clock. Pretty cool, huh?
As for the device itself, I think that it looks pretty phenomenal. I went with the Black unit, but the watch also comes in Arctic White, Cherry Red, Orange, and Grey, all of which are set to have a huge following I’m sure. For all that the Pebble can do, it still manages to retain a simple and uncomplicated design. The left side of the unit hosts just one button (Back/Backlight), while the right side has three (Up, Down, Select), and that’s it. No weird gestures or touch screens that’ll make you look much sillier than you already do (sorry Hot Watch). That being said, due to the waterproof nature of the device, the buttons tend to feel rather floaty and cheap (due to the gaskets inside protecting the watch’s sensitive innards from the elements). The Pebble comes with a just-okay rubber strap, but it can be replaced with any 22mm band that you desire (I’ve got a nice leather one coming in the mail). In the week that I’ve had the watch, I’ve received plenty of compliments that my naked wrist never would have.
Perhaps the Pebble’s greatest feat is just how adaptable it’s set to become. The device is marketed as being fully customizable and offers an open SDK so that anyone can develop and release different apps and watchfaces for the product. Being that the Pebble is still in its infancy, I haven’t yet seen many faces or apps that really interest me (aside from the neat 7-Minute Workout app), but there are a variety of cool looking faces available on sites like MyPebbleFaces (I chose to stick with the standard text face for now), and more are being added seemingly by the minute.
I really like the text face.
If you’re thinking about picking up a Pebble (either by pre-ordering and waiting likely a long time, heading to eBay and paying top-dollar, or going to Best Buy in the US and hoping you’re lucky), there are certainly a few things you should know before pulling the trigger. First, if you’re an iOS user, at this point the experience is admittedly limited. Things like iMessage/SMS messages, calls, and emails will come through just fine, but until iOS 7 releases to the public (which should be coming up very soon, and features much improved support for Bluetooth devices such as the Pebble), that’s all you’re going to get. Also, and this is coming from someone who hates cases, screen protectors, and anything that even remotely resembles them: you’re going to need a screen protector. I used my Pebble for one day while I waited for my protector to arrive. I babied the thing beyond belief, and at the end of the day, noticeable only at very specific angles under very bright light, there were some tiny scratches. This bugged the hell out of me. If this was a single day, I can’t imagine what it would have looked like six months down the road. I went with the fine folks at GadgetWraps, who gave me excellent customer service, offered a very affordable product, and even offer a lifetime guarantee on their wraps.
Really, I’ve spent just a short time with the Pebble watch, and I already see it as an indispensable part of my daily life. It isn’t perfect, but it’s a device that’s set to vastly improve as more and more people are able to attain one. The Pebble is a device that makes my life easier and manages to look quite sleek while doing it. As far as smartwatches go, the Pebble is easily the best on the market at this point, let’s just hope they can continue to evolve as Apple and Google develop their offerings.
The Pebble scores a cool 4/5.
My Pebble, complete with GadgetWrap.