This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
If it's open source, could someone potentially develop an app for it to control devices in home assistant? Would love to be able to control my room lights from my watch, and don't think it's possible on my Xiaomi watch fit 3 connected to gadgetbridge.
I recognize that there would also need to be work done in the app to support this as the watch only supports BLE
It's open source.
Anyone remember the screen tearing issue that fucked basically 100% of screens from pebble? I remember.
How does this compare to pine64? I want a privacy focused watch if at all possible
I have a PineTime running through Gadgetbridge, and a Pebble Time Steel with Rebble services. You can pair the Pebble with Gadgetbridge and run it that way, and I imagine these new Core watches would operate similarly... But we will find out as time goes on.
Price seems kinda steep for a device that doesn't have sleep/SpO2/Stress and HRV tracking capabilities
I am wondering/hoping if another company will step up and make a PebbleOS based watch with these capabilities.
Only thing missing is NFC. If it had it I would get it in a heart beat
How are they allowed to give it the exact same name as an Intel CPU line?
I've got a Core 2 Duo around here somewhere...
Honestly, makes me want it more. Are our brains broken?
This is a blast from the past
I am wearing my OG Kickstarter Pebble right now, 12 years and still getting 8 days battery out of it.
I think I will be getting a new Core Time 2
Edit: added picture
I had to stop wearing my pebble 2 hr when the software became too flaky to tolerate. Notifications would just randomly Go through or not, media controls would sometimes not work, and so on. But can't wait to go back, as my alternatives are all fundamentally flawed.
I'm just using gadget bridge now, most of the original functionality is gone. I can't be arsed jumping through the hoops to install the original pebble app on my phone.
I had no issue getting the app on my phone, but it wasn't really working anymore. I'd also have to swap the battery and reprint the buttons again. I'm just waiting for the new pebble now, it's only a few months now.
I asked my partner if she wanted a new pebble, she has a nice little Garmin, her response:
I do like my Garmin in terms of a watch and the feel but the app is shit
Funny how she lost her last one:
Her strap broke on the pebble time, my (at the time) 15 month old saw it on the bench, and asked why she wasn't wearing it. She said it is broken, a few days later she was going to get a new strap and the watch was gone. The 15 month old, had thrown it in the bin.....rubbish day had already happened.
Wow, mine died years ago.
It has the screen tearing issue, which can't be fixed because it is one of the original ones which are glued together.
I have to have it on the analogue watch face so the screen refreshes every second. But it has outlasted the 4 other watches I tried.
Ꝏꝏ love the white one . That watch faceeeeee 🤍🤍
I'm pretty excited about this; my Pebble Time was the best watch I've even owned - smart or otherwise.
That said, I don't think I'm going to be preordering this given how badly the last Pebble Kickstarter went. For those who weren't around at the time, Pebble (whose CEO is behind this venture) built his whole business around Kickstarter. The first 2 generations were wildly successful, but for the third generation they massively overextended themselves trying to get hardware into mainstream retailers, prioritised building stock for retail channels (because contracts) and ran out of cash before shipping for the majority of backers who had bankrolled this whole thing. Eventually everyone who hadn't had their orders fulfilled got a refund, but that was only because FitBit decided to buy them. Eric seems like a nice guy and great at the technology - and I'm not saying that I could run a business any better - but I think I'll wait until there is stock on hand for me to buy outright before I hand over my cash
From their FAQ, emphasis mine:
You shouldn’t get one if…
You need a perfectly polished smartwatch. This project is a labour of love rather than a startup trying to sell millions of watches. There may be some rough edges (literally). Things will get delayed. Some features will not be ready at launch. Things could break. Things could not last as long as you’d like. The only thing we can guarantee is that it will be awesome and a lot of fun! Every time you look down at your watch, you will smile
So yeah, I’d say your take is pretty accurate. At least they’re honest lol
He also screwed a lot of the employees on the way out from Pebble, and he also bailed on Beeper the minute it got complicated. Sold it to Matt Mullenweg a year or two after getting pimp-slapped by Apple because he had no real plan for what to do if Apple started banning the devices he was using as Matrix bridges. He gave up after like three days, it was honestly genuinely pathetic. This was a paid service and he fucked it all up for anyone using iMessage on it.
I have personal experiences with Beeper that make me less than trust Eric Migicovsky, and I really don't think he seems like a "nice guy." He actively sucks, doesn't have plans for sustainability and then sells it all off to someone else at a personal profit while the people doing the actual work get fucked out of a job.
Yep im also going to wait til its out to make a judgement call.
Ditto, even though I’m in the market to replace my smartwatch since the buttons fell off.
I always feel nervous preordering anything. I got a new Fitbit so I think I have some time before it fails so I can see how this rePebble works out. If it is as good as it looks I might just get it. 30 day estimated battery life is amazing
🫨
The Bangle.js is around too.
Does it use just standard watch bands? It looks like it, but I didn't see it mentioned.
One of the things I find ridiculous about other smart watches is that they use proprietary bands. When I found out that people are paying $60+ for a silicon band for an Apple watch, it blew my mind. Also that people put screen protectors or cases on their Apple watches because their $500+ watch doesn't even have a crystal lens, and is prone to scratching.
Yes, the announcement blog post states they use standard 22mm watch bands, as the original Pebbles did.
Is that typical? I guess Apple sells watch bands at that price, but I’ve never bought a $60 Apple branded watch band. With the ubiquity of Apple Watches it’s not hard to find inexpensive Apple Watch bands even if they are proprietary. I don’t think that’s the case for other smartwatches, though.
Why would they choose to name the watch "Core 2 Duo" when that's the name of an Intel processor? And why are both watches a "2" variant? They need a new marketing person.
That was my first thought as well. "Intel gonna sue somebody."
And why are both watches a “2” variant?
Because this is the next generation of the original Pebble watches.
Core 2 Duo
I'll actually be surprised if this makes it to launch without Intel perhaps making a few legal calls and prompting a device name change.
That is not how trademarks work. They are purpose specific. I still have no idea why they would want to name it the same as an old processor, but I doubt it's actually an issue.
The most recent Intel Core 2 Duo was discontinued in 2008. I doubt Intel would be able to convince anyone that this is a competing product or would cause any customer confusion. No one is going to be looking for a low end processor from over a decade ago and accidentally buy a watch.
The point is not that it is being used, the point is that corporations must protect their trademarks or else they may lose the exclusive rights to them. Intel also still uses the "Core" branding on their modern CPU's so it wouldn't be a stretch for them to try and continue legally protecting "Core 2 Duo" under the guise of retaining the "Core" part of their trademarks.
Corporations are extremely protective about their branding, even if it’s for discontinued products. If this product gets any negative press, it can still affect their branding if people associate it with Intel.
Wouldn't this be the fourth generation? Pebble Time was the second generation and Pebble 2 was the third generation.
when that’s the name of an Intel processor?
It's totally a reference to that, it has to pretty much... Why? Idk, nostalgia? Duo as in black and white maybe
The two colours of the first Intel MacBook by Apple, which had Core 2 Duo processors…
Quite an hommage indeed
For anyone looking for a similar device in the interim (long battery, open source) the PineTime is a great device.
This is neat but the selling point for me with the Pebble is the e-ink display. If repebble fails though, my next watch will be a Pine. Hopefully my Versa 2 holds on for a bit longer 🤞
it's an "e-paper" display, which annoyingly is nothing like an e-ink display. it's an LCD with a memory chip in it. the bangle.js also has one, which can do eight colors. so better than the black and white one, but worse than the 64-color one. also it's half the price of the cheaper pebble...
Got a PineTime for Christmas and so far been very pleased with it. I found the PineTimeStyle watchface and it's been a bit like coming home to Pebble, but I do miss the wide array of watchface choices and effortless customization.
Did they add a heart rate monitor? I know the originals didn't have them. Otherwise Pebble was the perfect smartwatch.
Yes, on the more expensive version.
Are they going to support it with an app?
Ope!
We will publish a companion mobile app for Android and iOS. My friend and past Pebble colleague, Steve, recently joined us to lead this effort. He’s joining crc32, long-time Cobble developer, who has been working with me since last summer. We’ll also be working on an updated SDK for creating new PebbleOS watchfaces or apps.
IDon'tNeedAPebbleIDon'tNeedAPebbleIDon'tNeedAPebbleIDon'tNeedAPebbleIDon'tNeedAPebbleIDon'tNeedAPebble
Aaand preordered. The Pebble Steel was one of the best smartwatches I've ever had. I loved that thing and I'm still pissed that I sold the steel a few years ago.
I've been procrastinating for weeks about setting up a dev environment to help contribute to the codebase, but I didn't procrastinate at all in preordering a Core-2. My Pebble Time might be the last piece of consumer tech that I was both excited for and a satisfied customer of.
