back to article Pebble: The brilliant stealth wearable Apple's Watch doesn't see coming

The wearables bandwagon rolled into town this year – heralding the arrival of glossy and expensive new wearable timepieces. Android Wear and Apple’s Watch have grabbed most the headlines, but I suspect that come Christmas morning, more people will be unwrapping a Pebble than the glitzier rivals. We caught up with Pebble’s …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Where Pebble fails?

    1. Battery life isn't as good as stated. Battery replacement is impossible. It's effectively landfill technology. I stopped using mine once the battery life declined massively.

    2. Poor UI. It has a 1980s digital watch type interface. So making apps to control your thermostat or music is pointless if it's more cumbersome than just getting off your backside and walking to the dial.

    3. Display resolution is too low and is not e-paper, it is memory LCD.

    4. Doesn't support Windows Phone, for a device which supports Android and iOS it should support Windows Phone too.

    1. ByeLaw101

      I get at least 5 days battery on mine, and the UI strikes me as simple and easy to use considering it's form factor... I can't imagine a touch screen for example being that useful for my fat fingers?

      1. twilkins

        Beyond how small and fiddly using a watch-sized touch sensitive display is, you can use a Pebble WITHOUT needing look at the screen. I often clear notifications or start a stopwatch without looking at the watch.

        The more I look at Android Wear and the Apple Watch, the more surprised I am just how right Pebble seem to have got it.

        Personally I won't buy any wearable with a display that can't be read in direct sunlight. Since my phone is hard to read outside, complementing it with something that shares the same problems seems a tad silly.

    2. Professor Clifton Shallot

      Purely anecdotal I realise but my Pebble goes longer than a week between charges (about nine days in fact).

      The UI is obviously not very slick and (because) the screen resolution is low but that's a result of the focus on battery life which is the correct compromise IMO - it certainly made the difference between me stumping up on Kickstarter and writing it off as a silly gadget.

      Personally I think they've done very well - initial production and distribution delays aside - largely through setting themselves achievable goals that were in line with what people would find useful rather than aiming for a wow factor with insufficient utility backing it up.

    3. tirk
      Facepalm

      4. Doesn't support Windows Phone...

      With 3% market share*, why should it? Should it support BlackBerry too?

      * http://www.idc.com/prodserv/smartphone-os-market-share.jsp

      1. cambsukguy

        Re: 4. Doesn't support Windows Phone...

        Even as a very happy WinPhone user, this is reasonable.

        A tiny percentage of people have a Pebble, my guess is more technically minded people too.

        I am guessing they would more likely be higher end Android users in any case.

        I doubt they would sell even a 1000 to WinPhone users in the UK.

        Mind you, I would consider one since the battery seems to last long enough for decent use. I can't really thing of a use case though. Perhaps a xmas pressie for an offspring or two though.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: 4. Doesn't support Windows Phone...

          > Even as a very happy WinPhone user

          Hey! So that's you then?

          [ I'm a Linux user, so I guess I have every right to make fun of low market share products. :-) ]

      2. billdehaan

        Re: 4. Doesn't support Windows Phone...

        Actually, I have a co-worker with a Blackberry Z10, and he *does* have it working with the Pebble (he's ported/hacked the Android Pebble application onto the Blackberry, I think).

      3. Daniel Bower

        Re: 4. Doesn't support Windows Phone...

        DISCLAIMER: I am a fully paid up WinPho fanboy.

        My understanding is that it doesn't support WinPho as MS are a bit funny about releasing certain API's.

        There are a couple of apps available that will allow certain features on Pebble but it is a bit limited.

        Shame really as I would have one in a heartbeat otherwise...

    4. phuzz Silver badge

      My Pebble (one of the older plastic ones) gets at least 7 days per charge, which is about what I'd heard the battery life was, so I'd have to disagree with your first point there.

      As for the rest, well, each to their own really, although I wouldn't write a bullet pointed list of what I think is wrong with a Windows Phone because I don't have one.

    5. Lallabalalla
      Unhappy

      Re: Where Pebble fails?

      Still fugly.

      1. Peter 48

        Re: Where Pebble fails?

        not any worse than the sony clone that apple are pushing though

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Pebble says it all really.

    7. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Doesn't support Windows Phone"

      I'm sorry it doesn't support a niche product with only a couple percent of market share. The days when cross platform app meant it worked on both Windows 98 and NT 4.0 are long gone. In the mobile market Windows Phone has less market share than the Mac did at its lowest point, and not much more than desktop Linux at its peak!

    8. Stabbybob

      1) I've had my Pebble since the early access Kickstarter orders were delivered. Battery life is STILL around 7 days, depending on number of alerts and type of watchface I'm using.

      2) Didn't you know what it looked like before you bought it? (if indeed you do own one) It does exactly what it needs to. I don't need to see text messages in colour, and I can see the time better in crisp black/white thanks.

      3) Resolution is fine for purpose. You haven't been sucked in be "retina everywhere" have you? Why do you need HD resolution to show a watch face, or message text? It's for quick glimpses of small pieces of information, not for use as a Kindle.

      4) Windows phone? Ah I think I see you have other issues...

    9. jai

      I know a few people who got a Pebble and wore them for a while...

      I don't know anyone that is wearing one anymore these days. They were a fun novelty, but lack the staying power.

    10. billdehaan

      1. Battery life is variable; heavy usage of the backlight and vibration will significantly drain it. On days where I've received 40+ calls/SMS/emails, I've seen the battery drop 30%; on a Sunday with practically nothing happening, it was still at 90% when I went to bed. I went a week without charging it just so see how long I could reasonably go without a recharge. On day 7, it was at 20%; on day 8 it hit 10% and there were lots of warnings to charge it.

      2. I'm not really sure "UI" really applies. It is, after all, a watch. It's got the same UI that all my old wind up watches had - a few buttons on the side.

      3. Resolution could be higher (of course, at the cost of battery life), but given that it's just a watch, I don't see it as a limiting factor. I *do* see the lack of readability when wearing sunglasses as a limitation, however.

      4. It's not that it doesn't support Windows Phone, it's that Windows Phone doesn't support it. There are lots of discussions on the Pebble forums on this, but the upshot is that the WinPhone API limits what can be done. There are a few third party apps in the Windows store, but outside of the calendar, the apps can't get at incoming phone calls or mail messages. Until that's opened up in the OS, there's not much for the watch app to do. Sure, you can play music, or check you phone's battery, but the core functionality of mail and SMS requires OS support, and that's missing.

  2. James 51

    The Pebble is certainly the only wearable I've considered and it works with Blackberry.

    The sony e-ink screen watch looks interesting but seems to be a limited run experiment.

  3. 0laf Silver badge

    It's not for me but as a person that likes watches IMHO the Pebble is one of the better looking devices as well especially in the steel model.

    Now if they could hook up a microgenerator from a spinning weight a bit like a mechanical automatic then they might be onto something.

  4. Oli 1

    Love my Pebble, have worn it nearly every day for 2 years.

    Highly recommended device!

  5. Snorlax Silver badge
    FAIL

    I wonder how many people will get a cheap "wearable" for Christmas and chuck it in a drawer after the first charge runs out?

  6. Lee Burridge

    Love my Pebble. As dones my son. Battery life is still good after a year. I charge mine every 4 to 5 days and there are plenty of watch faces and apps to keep you entertained.

  7. RISC OS

    The watches look classy...

    ...in a 1980s delboy style "chunky gold identity braclet" kind of way...

    "That's not Rooney.... that is copperplate writing..."

  8. Will Godfrey Silver badge

    Battery Life

    This really is the critical issue. I have an electromechanical watch that is solar powered. It is over 10 years old and has never stopped. The only concession I make for it is that when I take it off, I put it on a window ledge.

    1. Cuddles

      Re: Battery Life

      Indeed. I have a solar powered watch and it doesn't even need any concessions - the battery is good for several months, and only needs a couple of hours of decent sun to charge. Even if it gets very little light all winter it only needs a couple of days at either end of the summer to keep it going all year, and of course something regularly worn outside gets far more than that.

      An important related point is that it's not just the watch battery that is relevant. Having a bluetooth connection to your phone pretty much 24/7 is going to kill the battery life for that as well. With many phones struggling to make it a whole day without needing charging as it is (depending on how much use they get of course), that's an important factor to consider. Saving you the effort of occasionally taking your phone out of your pocket isn't exactly a great benefit to start with, and it's going to look a lot less attractive if it means not having a phone at all for half the day.

      1. noboard

        Re: Battery Life

        "Having a bluetooth connection to your phone pretty much 24/7 is going to kill the battery life for that as well."

        This, this and once more this. I have a moto360 and enjoy the toy side of it, but it kills the battery on my Moto4G so badly that I rarely have it connected now. I just connect it up when I want to change watch faces. Most of the reviews winged about the battery life, which isn't an issue for me, but my phone battery life is.

        If pebble can get a coloured screen going, I may consider switching. I never expected my Moto 360 to 'change my life' and it's certainly living up to my expectations, but I do love messing around with the watch faces.

      2. GaryBarber

        Re: Battery Life

        Since I don't have to get my phone out and turn the screen on anywhere near as often as I used to this more than balances the small battery hit caused by Bluetooth.

        Turning the screen on sucks way more juice than bluetooth. My battery lasts longer with a Pebble than without.

        Perhaps if you only get notifications and look at them a couple of times a day then the bluetooth drain will be more than the screen drain.

    2. Gordon 10

      Re: Battery Life

      How does that work if I only take my watch off at night?

      1. Samuel Penn

        Re: Battery Life

        I only take my solar powered watch off at night, and it charges fine. As long as it's not covered by your sleeve all year, it'll charge whilst you're walking around or sitting at a desk.

        1. Lallabalalla

          Re: Battery Life

          It also charges when you look at it. Like others, I wear mine all day and put it on the bedside table at night. It has kept faultless time for 3 years and outlived 2 leather straps: I've fitted a stainless one and find it just as comfortable (the original canvas strap was just horrible).

          1. werdsmith Silver badge

            Re: Battery Life

            Solar powered watches are great, but they don't silently vibrate to let you know there's a call or message, nor do they allow you a discreet glance to decide whether a notification is worth following up or not. They don't offer a development platform for enthusiasts, nor a huge library of community source software apps, faces and enhancements. Or allow me to be 30 metres from my phone and still be in touch. Even in a swimming pool.

            My solar watch, however, does require the time correcting more often than I need to leave my pebble on a charger overnight while I sleep.

            There are many comments on here about the negatives of a smartwatch that are made by people who don't have one. I know this because they are wrong.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Battery Life

      Press education is a bigger problem.

      My Sony Smartwatch with Androidwear gives me 4 days use with moderate use, thanks to it's Transflective Display. The press of course find the product with the worst batter life, and then just assume ALL AndroidWear devices are the same. So far (after owning it for 2 weeks), I'm really pleased with it. It doesn't look stupid on the wrist like the Moto360 does, has better battery life than the other current Android Wear devices (which is where you got your assumptions from, I guess), and has better waterproofing specs (but more awkward charging, if I had to call it out on anything).

  9. Mage Silver badge
    Coat

    Yes. Right Direction

    Google Wear and Apple Watch are wrong direction. Pebble (and maybe the Sony) have it nearly right.

    It's not eInk, though, but a special low power memory LCD. eInk is maybe higher resolution, but slower response time.

    1. twilkins

      Re: Yes. Right Direction

      +1000 on the "right direction".

      I don't want to spend more than a second interacting with a wrist mounted "wearable", otherwise I might as well just get my phone out. I also want something that lasts a long weekend away from home without a charge and can show me the time at a glance.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    +1 for a Pebble here!

    I've had my Pebble for 6 months now, so here is a warts and all review :

    Bad stuff :

    Quality Control is a little hit & miss. My first Pebble lasted 3 months, before failing to charge properly.

    It's not the most beautfiful watch (Pebble Classic), and the Pebble Steel is a little too expensive.

    App support for iPhones seems a little more mature than Android.

    Battery charging connection uses magnets to hold the lead in place which means a gentle knock can stop the watch from charging.

    Good stuff :

    Battery life is 5 days when synced to my Android phone and using the Misfit fitness tracking app, RSS feed, email notificatoins (i.e. in typical usage). I'm sure I could get 7+ days from it, if I was to turn it into a dumb watch.

    Loads of watch faces and apps available, and very easy to design your own watchfaces (Canvas) or build your own apps.

    It's very waterproof - no worries showering or swimming with it.

    What I use mine for :

    Tell the time & date! The number 1 app for me :)

    Receive Call/SMS notification (means that I can leave my personal phone on silent whilst in the office and not miss any calls from emplyment agents).

    Receive emails to my wrist - I don't get the full text, but enough to decide whether I want to get my phone out and check.

    Receive the BBC news RSS feed direct to my wrist.

    Get Live(ish) football score/goal alerts to my wrist.

    Full time fitness tracking.

    I think battery life will be the major differentiator for the Pebble/Sony e-ink watches and the shiny phone on your wrist bling from Apple/Android wear. If Apple and Android don't fix the battery life issues, then I think that there will be lots of shiny expensive devices languishing in drawers in 6 months time. This wlil be a shame as a smartwatch is a really useful addition to the mobile in everyones pocket.

    1. Number6

      Re: +1 for a Pebble here!

      Quality Control is a little hit & miss. My first Pebble lasted 3 months, before failing to charge properly.

      Mine does that occasionally, it turned out in my case to be that the charger connector wasn't making a good connection with the phone, possibly due to grease on the contacts. Provided I make sure it really is charging then it's OK.

      I've had mine almost a year now, it was a gift last December. Once I finally got around to upgrading my phone from an old HTC Wildfire S, the watch got to be far more useful.

    2. Sparkypatrick

      Re: +1 for a Pebble here!

      "It's very waterproof" - I wear my watch at depths of 20 - 30m, so my definition of 'very' may be different to yours. How deep can a Pebble go?

  11. JDX Gold badge

    "the steps counter was counting an arm flex as two steps"

    Snigger

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "the steps counter was counting an arm flex as two steps"

      In the kitchen?

      So that was cream of mushroom soup for starters then?

    2. Jim Birch

      Re: "the steps counter was counting an arm flex as two steps"

      Increased heart rate, higher metabolism, lowering of blood pressure, what do you want?

  12. 's water music

    come on people

    You love your pebbles, I get that, but: It turned out the steps counter was counting an arm flex as two steps. Really? is nobody going to make a wanking joke?

    1. My Opinion
      Facepalm

      Re: come on people

      I thought that's what JDX's comment was - or maybe that's just my way of thinking!

    2. Graham Dawson Silver badge

      Re: come on people

      Too busy getting their rocks off.

    3. NBCanuck

      Re: come on people

      uh....I think JDX just did (see comment above yours.

  13. goldcd

    Still love mine, after using it for well over a year.

    Strangely I prefer the original plastic one - looks like a 'pebble', whereas the metal one looks like some f'ugly 80s casio - but nothing wrong with their being choice.

    I just want an updated version - higher-res screen, maybe transflective colour LCD etc. Maybe pulse meter? But, is any of these are going to hammer the battery, I'll gladly forgo them.

    I just like Pebble's approach. It's not a computer. It's not designed to be used without a phone - it's just a nifty little low notification screen/controller, that happens to be on your wrist, not your phone.

    I mainly just use mine to see what meetings I have coming up, who's calling me, controlling my music as I walk about.

    1. billdehaan

      I just like Pebble's approach. It's not a computer. It's not designed to be used without a phone - it's just a nifty little low notification screen/controller, that happens to be on your wrist, not your phone.

      I agree. The Pebble/iWatch/Wear arguments reminds me of the PDA wars with the first generation Palm Pilot, fifteen years back. The big name competitor then were the WinCE devices.

      Back then, I had a Palm Pilot, and a friend had a Cassiopea. My PDA was low-resolution, monochrome, light, pocketable, and ran for a month on 3 AAA batteries. It was basically a battery-powered Franklin Daytimer. It hooked up to a cradle that plugged into any serial port and synced with my PC trivially. My friend's PDA was high-resolution (for the day) colour, had sound (stereo!), rechargeable batteries that lasted six hours (at best), was almost size and weight of a paperback book, and, like Nosferatu, it was powerless in sunlight. I could get to most of the functions from the four buttons, my friend had to root around with the stylus to get to the right menu to access functions. I could enter the same data in Graffiti in about a third of the time it took him with Jot (although his speed increased over time, whereas mine was constant).

      Oh, and to sync that WinCE device with a PC required two of us spending a Thursday night getting Windows Networking to communicate with the thing.

      It was really hard to compare the two, because although they were both PDAs, they were vastly different in capabilities and limitations. It wasn't that one was "better" than the other, because they were doing different things.

      I much preferred my Palm Pilot then, and I much prefer my Pebble now, for the same reasons. Both do a few things extremely well, compared to competitors that have more features, but don't execute them as well.

      As the technology advanced, I eventually did get a WinCE device and dumped my Palm Pilot, because the WinCE tech was advancing faster than the Pilot was. Of course, that's because it had a lot more to improve; the Pilot got a lot better out of the starting gate. I suspect the same thing could happen with the Pebble over time. If Wear devices start getting battery lives of a week, and sunlight readability, Pebble will be in a real fight. But that's a ways off, I think.

  14. Sykobee

    For me the key aspect of a watch should be how long it lasts. A week on battery seems ideal. If they could somehow add a solar film to the display to keep the battery topped up that would be great. A solar film probably wouldn't be effective for a smartwatch that only lasts a day or two on a charge, but for something that can last a week it might work.

    I have no issue with the slower CPU in the Pebble. It's a frickin' watch with a monochrome display.

    However they could try and make the next version have a display that stretches to the bezel, and had higher resolution or contrast. And whatever people say, a touch screen, even if it was simple (single finger tap or swipe) would add some interaction possibilities.

  15. Spindreams

    EU Price difference

    It is such a shame that to buy this in the EU it costs $100 more than in the US (For the steel version), that seems pretty crap to me......

    1. Number6

      Re: EU Price difference

      That can be made up from differential transport costs to Europe compared to the US, different import duty and the fact that if you compare the pre-VAT price with the US price it's a lot closer. In a lot of places the US price gets bumped up by sales tax - over here the price on the tag doesn't include tax so you always have to remember to add that when working out what it will really cost you. So you're not being ripped off by quite as much as you might think at first sight.

  16. Bodestone

    Pebble don't always listen

    Otherwise there would be automatic updates for watchfaces and apps.

    Otherwise have to love it. Still going strong with 5-7 days between charges on my kickstarter edition.

    I too like the simplicity of design with the original. It's a nice mix of retro low tech high tech.

    1. Try Turning It Off And On Again

      Re: Pebble don't always listen

      Maybe they have...My TrekV2 watchface updated yesterday and I'm sure I didn't do anything.

    2. Extra spicey vindaloo

      Re: Pebble don't always listen

      The pebble app on IOS now auto updates watch faces and apps, has done for the last couple of months.

  17. Champ

    Another satisfied customer

    Like the other real life users on here, I love my Pebble too. I got it around March 2013 (I was a kick start backer) and it's still an essential part of my life. Battery life has decreased a little, but is still 3~4 days.

    But the main reason I live it is that it has changed my relationship with my phone. I now never have to 'check my phone' - Pebble tells me about incoming messages, and much more importantly, whether they need attention now. All the various bacon that comes in, I glance at on my watch, but just don't have to reach for my phone. And then an important message arrives and I deal with it immediately.

    And, with the brilliant 'Glance' app, I have the weather on my wrist too!

  18. Joe 48

    Pebble the Next RIM (Blackberry)

    Just a thought but Blackberry was very good at being a corporate device, great for email, calling etc. With amazing battery life. They didn't change with the times and looked what happened.

    Pebble should learn from this. Yes their device currently is very good at a few things. But the market is already shifting slightly and if they don't keep up they'll end up in serious trouble.

    Just a thought.

  19. phuzz Silver badge

    Strapping

    One thing that's not often mentioned is that a Pebble uses a standard watch band, so you can swap it out for any other 22mm watch strap of your choice. A small plus point over a lot of other smart watches.

    1. Joe 48

      Re: Strapping

      That might be because the LG, Samsung and Moto 360 devices all use 22mm as well.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Strapping

      Yes a small plus in an ocean of minus and it's f-ugly.

    3. werdsmith Silver badge

      Re: Strapping

      The standard 22mm strap is correct for the original plastic pebble, but the steel has a weird attachment.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is a nice story. However it appears that Pebble, just like Blackberry, is content to sit on its laurels in this explosive fast-evolving market, a market that they largely created. it may already be too late for them..

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      I think you may be right. Ask your "average man in the street" about smart watches and they will likely have either not heard of them or comment that they think Apple might be bringing one out soon.

      I'd be willing to wager a small amount that in a few years time the average person will assume that,like iPod and mp3 players, Apple invented smartwatches despite coming to market later. Because not only will Apple make sure it looks good and works well but they will have massive marketing campaigns and huge amounts of free publicity in the mainstream news media. Even if the watch itself is crap, the marketing and publicity will be hard to beat.

  21. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge
    Mushroom

    The Smart Watch paradox

    The problem of the Smart Watch is that for everything good it brings to the table there is some detracting feature which makes it worse than what we already have. For many there are too few gains for the inconvenience caused.

    The ideal - always on, full and responsive colour display, easy interaction, months or years without charging, with replaceable batteries, allowing a user's choice of strap, and doing everything we want in a way we want it done - seems a long way off at the moment. And currently any improvement in one area seems to lead to something suffering elsewhere; better display but shorter battery life for example.

    Battery capacity and having to recharge seems to be the main limiting factor at present and it's not clear how that will be resolved. Perhaps nuclear batteries?

  22. Bagpussawake

    Bluetooth and planes...

    Does anyone know if you have to switch Bluetooth (or the watch itself) off on a plane?

    1. Number6

      Re: Bluetooth and planes...

      You're probably supposed to. You can't switch the watch off, but you can turn off Bluetooth.

    2. Old Handle

      Re: Bluetooth and planes...

      Don't think so. Different airlines may have their own rules, but regardless it's not going to hurt the plane and they're not going to notice if you don't.

  23. Dapprman
    Thumb Up

    Happy New Owner Here

    Bought mine on a whim just under a week ago for £75 in a 'Black Friday lead up' sale. Was nervous it was going to be a bad impulse buy, but from the start I've not regretted it. Learnt the hard way not to have a seconds hand showing, but now my battery life has grown from just 2 days to 4 days so far with ~1/3-1/2 battery left. Still trying new apps, which won't help energy levels.

  24. BakoD

    Overpriced

    I almost bought into the android wear but backed out because they are too new and you can't read them outdoors. I happen to enjoy the outdoors and would like to use my watch whilst doing so. I looked at the pebble and thought it was overpriced. 50 bucks maybe. I bought a new Timex for 35 and still have that geek vibe. On another note; Samsung needs to get off the Tizen bent or they will die a horrible death.

  25. Grubby

    Value Add

    I'm starting to like the idea of wearable tech more but only if it can provide me with something extra or remove the need for an existing piece of tech. Telling the time adds nothing as it's a watch, that's the bare minimum. Being able to tell you that someone has sent you a text, for when the phone in your pocket is an inch out of reach?

    I do like the heart monitor, pedometer , temperature features etc. There are devices that can do this but you don't need them if you have a decent smart watch.

    I'd like to see some decent applications like the ability to replace credit / debit cards, ID passes, home and car keys. The security would have to be increased significantly for me to trust the provider of such a service with anything more than pictures of my dogs though.

  26. Chris Evans

    Lower power than Bluetooth

    ANT (network) as used by Garmin for wireless bike, heart rate monitoring etc is lower power than Bluetooth, it does I believe have a low data bandwidth but might be enough for some of the suggested watch uses.

  27. Anonymoist Cowyard

    FUD Time.

    Android Wear watches are much slicker – but barely make it through a day. And priced at £199

    I paid £132 for my Sony SWR50 (Smartwatch 3) AndroidWear smartwatch. it has Wifi, GPS, and thanks to it's really good translucent display tech, the batter life is 3+ days in real life, moderate use.

    So far (after owning it for 2 weeks), I'm really pleased with it. It doesn't look stupid on the wrist like the Moto360 does, has better battery life than the other current Android Wear devices (which is where you got your assumptions from, I guess), and has better waterproofing specs (but more awkward charging, if I had to call it out on anything).

  28. roger stillick
    Coffee/keyboard

    Pebble... the right stuff....

    Since 1984 and the Russian boycott of the Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games leaving the surpluss dumping of a ton of souviner canteen watches (Russian pjot chips)... ALL WATCHES are CHIPS / READOUT / BATTERY...except for a few like Ralph Lauren's USD $12,500 masterpieces, and other similar toys.

    Wristwatches are (in CE 2014) simply a pretty case and electronics... when Palm Pilots were used as industrial controllers years ago, an arm attachment was available (making a really big Geek Wristwatch).

    IMHO= It is beyond me why what is essentially a multi-function TV Remote Control w/ benefits needs a MS-OS of any kind...if the weareable remote control accesses blue tooth, wi-fi, and wireless internet, and maby a cell phone, who cares ?? it's just chips and software= (job no.1 per MS, do your own thing) this Pebble is a natural extension of today's life...WHY MUCK IT UP W/ ARCANE SW ??... Anyone could have made the Pebble and these folks just actually did (without stepping on anyone's toes)... if the other guys stuff just got obsolete, looks like Sue Balls will again determine progress...paradigsm shift or not someone owes me a keyboard, the someone protesting chips in watches...RS.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Self Winding?

    Is it not possible to adapt self-winding systems to these watches? My dad's not wound his watch for 40 years (yes, it is actually running, smart-arse).

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