The Pebble Has Been Brought Back
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Google recently open sourced Pebble and today, Repebble has put some of the watches up for preorder.
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I'm still very confused about why we needed PebbleOS for this. It's been like 10 years and no one could come up with any comparable software? They whipped up the hardware design in a few months.
PebbleOS was awesome, though. Such a well thought out system for end-users, and it already has tons of apps. Developing for it (in C!) is also super easy because it has an amazing SDK.
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I still can't believe that no one else has made a smart watch with physical buttons and low energy use that has surpassed the pebble after all this time. I'm still cautious that this venture will pan out, but honestly there really hasn't been a smart watch released that matches my use case. Sleep tracking makes no sense if I have to charge the watch daily, as I'd probably charge it over night. Media control with screen buttons is awful. Fossil came close with their hybrid smart watch, but the layout of the media controls made no sense and couldn't easily be used without looking at the watch. Just let me check my calendar and texts and skip through ads in podcasts, and last over a week of battery and you will have my money.
My Garmin Forerunner 245 Music does all that I'd say
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Probably. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I don't usually make dumb decisions with money, but when there's a potential pebble involved you could sell me an idea of one and I'd go for it. Especially after all this time.
What's the huge thing about it? I don't know nothing about the product and an curious as to why somebody would be that hyped about it.
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Genuinely considering it as I love e ink, lightweight, long battery life, and open source
IIRC, it has a reflective LCD, not epaper display.
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What's the huge thing about it? I don't know nothing about the product and an curious as to why somebody would be that hyped about it.
It's just a smartwatch that does some basic things right. The software is simple, it has buttons for control, it only does the very basics of smartwatching. There are no bells and whistles.
Most of all, to me, it just feels right. It always did. Other smartwatches I've had were all too demanding of my attention.
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What's the huge thing about it? I don't know nothing about the product and an curious as to why somebody would be that hyped about it.
It might be one of those "you had to have been there" moments. It's 2014, Obama was reelected, Uptown Funk was on the radio (there used to be this thing called FM radio), and there you are - a happy young thing reading texts on your watch in broad daylight, right the middle of a conversation. You felt like a cucumber straight from the freezer.
I know all that sounds slightly laughable now, but there is an undeniable yearning for that zeitgeist compared to where we ended up.
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Follow-up question - is this the watch I've been looking for that doesn't spy on me and require a cl of us account to use?
Yes, this combined with gadgetbridge.
A pinetime is also a good alternative. (also with gadgetbridge)
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IIRC, it has a reflective LCD, not epaper display.
Core 2 Duo
- 1.2" black/white e-paper screen
Core Time 2
- 1.5" 64 color e-paper screen
Am I missing something?
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It says they're able to extend the battery life from 7 days to a month due to how efficient the new Bluetooth chips are.
You must have skimmed pretty fast.
I did indeed skim pretty fast, but it doesn't say that, it just says from 7 days to 30:
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Yes! The best thing about Pebbles (IMHO) is how they handle notifications. In the specs, they list Nordic nRF52840 BLE chip (BLE stands for Bluetooth Low Energy)
Thanks for the info! Was actually thinking my current watch's battery was beginning to hold a charge less and less lately, so definitely keeping these in mind.
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I did indeed skim pretty fast, but it doesn't say that, it just says from 7 days to 30:
Battery life: I’m really excited that battery life will be increased from 7 days to 1 month! This is due to massive improvements in Bluetooth chip power efficiency over the last 10 years.
It's further down the page.
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I still can't believe that no one else has made a smart watch with physical buttons and low energy use that has surpassed the pebble after all this time. I'm still cautious that this venture will pan out, but honestly there really hasn't been a smart watch released that matches my use case. Sleep tracking makes no sense if I have to charge the watch daily, as I'd probably charge it over night. Media control with screen buttons is awful. Fossil came close with their hybrid smart watch, but the layout of the media controls made no sense and couldn't easily be used without looking at the watch. Just let me check my calendar and texts and skip through ads in podcasts, and last over a week of battery and you will have my money.
Don't love the closed-in ecosystem but Garmin watches with MIP display do almost all you just said.
- Touch screen + also Buttons for 100% touch-free interaction
- Battery life of around 3 to 4 weeks (depending on what you are doing)... more with the Solar models
- Media control is there, but don't really use that
Podcast ad skipping sadly not a thing.
Price might be an issue though. The top end models with all the whistles come at a smartphone flagship price point.
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My Garmin Forerunner 245 Music does all that I'd say
The benefit if the core repebble watches are that they have 1 month of battery life, they're cheaper, and they are open source
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Core 2 Duo
- 1.2" black/white e-paper screen
Core Time 2
- 1.5" 64 color e-paper screen
Am I missing something?
Oh that seems to be new since the original pebble
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Battery life: I’m really excited that battery life will be increased from 7 days to 1 month! This is due to massive improvements in Bluetooth chip power efficiency over the last 10 years.
It's further down the page.
It's damn near the very bottom lol, so I forgive myself for missing that. When I skim something for a product, I'm looking at the tech specs/BLUF message, not digging thru the entire page of text. Anyway, glad it's all sorted out.
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I did indeed skim pretty fast, but it doesn't say that, it just says from 7 days to 30:
[...] Battery life: I’m really excited that battery life will be increased from 7 days to 1 month! This is due to massive improvements in Bluetooth chip power efficiency over the last 10 years. [...]
Source: https://ericmigi.com/blog/introducing-two-new-pebbleos-watches
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Google recently open sourced Pebble and today, Repebble has put some of the watches up for preorder.
Pre-ordered one immediately. I miss my old Pebble Time Steel so much. Part of me wishes there's one with that design but I'll take what I can get.
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Google recently open sourced Pebble and today, Repebble has put some of the watches up for preorder.
I've pre-ordered the Core Time 2.
Pre-orders are something I never usually do, but given this is essentially just an improved version of an existing product, as opposed to a Kickstarter, I feel more confident. And I can cancel the preorder at any time (plus I'll see reviews of the cheaper model before the Core Time 2 ships).
The price made me wince, though. It's very expensive for the functionality. Technically cheaper than the original watches adjusted for inflation, but that ignores the current-day smartwatch market. Still, I loved the Pebble.
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I want one, but I don't know what I'd do with it. It's hackable, it pairs with a phone/tablet/etc.
I'm just trying to figure out what it can do for me. My lack of imagination annoys me.
I use my autopebble with tasker. Scripted a few things, like find my phone, load my audiobook, messages, etc.
Used to have Google Home messages and lights and stuff, but I stopped using smarthome stuff for the most part. Mostly I use it for music control and weather and time though.
