too bad its a US based company
this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2025
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I just pre-ordered one, but the price made me wince π¬
Wait, the basic version has a compas and barometer without a heart rate monitor, but the more expensive one has a heart rate monitor and no barometer or compass? Why?
Because that's the feature people actually want. The biggest use of these watches is having an active heart rate monitor, as evident by even most of the cheaper watches having them.
Pebble is now playing a gambit, whereby they think they will sell more of the premium model to people who will be using it for exercise and health reasons.
Either that, or the hardware chosen specifically separates the heart rate monitor so that vendors strike a better deal with the factories to get specially designed chips.
Either way, someone is getting taken for a ride.
Pebble is now playing a gambit, whereby they think they will sell more of the premium model to people who will be using it for exercise and health reasons.
There's an explicit line in their site that says these are not made to be fitness trackers, and that garmin are good for that (or some other brand, can't remember). It would be very odd to say that if it was their target.
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
There are a couple already, e.g. https://github.com/Willow-Systems/pebble-home-assistant
What's even cooler is that the nRF52840 chip that they will use has ZigBee support, which theoretically means it can talk to your network directly if software supports it
Lol, fml. Guess I'm buying a Repebble.
It's open source.
Anyone remember the screen tearing issue that fucked basically 100% of screens from pebble? I remember.
Yes, had that problem, too.
easy to fix with zebra strip replacement I'm still wearing pebble steel rn
- 30-day battery life
- open source OS
π«¨
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.
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The Bangle.js is around too.
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.
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 shouldnβt get one ifβ¦
You need a perfectly polished smartwatch.Β 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 youβd 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, Iβd say your take is pretty accurate. At least theyβre honest lol
My concern isn't that things will get delayed, it's that I'll give them my money and get nothing in return
That's. Uh.. the entire idea of a kickstarter.
It may crash and burn. Don't want that, don't back anything on kickstarter.
Understandable, which is why I'm choosing to not preorder. However, they also have a full refund policy that's good until your unit is being prepared to ship, and several notifications leading up to that point. One of the best ways to handle preorders I've encountered.
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.
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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 have a few times I rotate through. can't wait for some new hw
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 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.
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.
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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.
I'm with you on this. If it could come with a privacy-respecting smartphone app hosted on F-Droid, that would be so great.
Man I might have to get one of these.....I don't mind my FitBit, but since being gobbled by Google, I don't need another data point for Google to feed off.
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.
And why are both watches a β2β 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.
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That was my first thought as well. "Intel gonna sue somebody."
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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 π€
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...
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Only thing missing is NFC. If it had it I would get it in a heart beat
That price tag though. π
This is a blast from the past
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?
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. Heβs joining crc32, long-time Cobble developer, who has been working with me since last summer. Weβll also be working on an updated SDK for creating new PebbleOS watchfaces or apps.
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