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.
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.
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I understand that the watch operating system is open source. However, it seems that the watch will connect to a companion smartphone app. Do you know if the app is a requirement and/or if the app will be open source?
Gadgetbridge is compatible with Pebble devices
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Google recently open sourced Pebble and today, Repebble has put some of the watches up for preorder.
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.
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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.
From what I've read from Eric since this relaunch was announced, he just wants a new pebble and so do some of the userbase. This project isn't really intended as a viable, polished product. Rather it's a niche thing made for a Core audience of nerds.
Disclaimer: I'm one of the nerds this is intended for. I instantly pre-ordered a watch because it's a pebble. I7
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From what I've read from Eric since this relaunch was announced, he just wants a new pebble and so do some of the userbase. This project isn't really intended as a viable, polished product. Rather it's a niche thing made for a Core audience of nerds.
Disclaimer: I'm one of the nerds this is intended for. I instantly pre-ordered a watch because it's a pebble. I7
he just wants a new pebble
I'm sure that's what he wants you to believe.
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he just wants a new pebble
I'm sure that's what he wants you to believe.
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.
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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.
Fair enough. I feel the compulsion myself.
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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.
Garmin watches come close?
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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.
