Gadgetory

pebble does it again and now I'm not talking about the hugely successful Kickstarter campaign considered one of the pioneers in the smart wearable game pebble is back with a clear direction and an even clearer voice as to how they want to express themselves differently from the rest it strata regard from Android Authority what's going on everybody and this is the pebble time perhaps the most important aspect of the pebble time is its updated design but this is true inside and out but in the stark contrast from the taller overall design of the original pebble the pebble time is more symmetrical on its face which makes it look like a tiny old-school TV on the wrist though the body of the watch is rather wide there is still a bezel around the actual display itself adding further distance from the screens edges to the edges of the watch itself and the sides of the body how's the button layout up and down with selection button in the middle on the right and a back button on the top left a water-resistant microphone is just below the right buttons ready for any voice input via Android where the buttons are perhaps the main difference between this and other smartwatches as Saks I'll feel is the name of pebbles game rather than full-on touch screens and the buttons start off squishy but then end with a pretty strong click at the end feeling pretty much sturdy all around the usual 22 millimeter prongs are on top and bottom and provide one of the main SmartWatch pet peeves I have the fact that they stick out so much makes it kind of difficult to find a replacement watch strap that doesn't look a little bit weird cuts in the strap itself will tend to stick out and they don't fill the blank space enough to look stylish but the back of this pebble time houses the charging and expansion ports through which we will hopefully see smart straps become a reality underneath it the clear indication that this is a Kickstarter edition of the watch a reminder that I was an early adopter design has been one of the most polarizing aspects of the pebble time and we can somewhat see why this watch is hardly close to what the original pebble looked like and is pretty far from any actual designer watches and despite the usage of the word watch I don't really mind my with smartwatches having some unique aesthetics while the pebble time does well is present the screen with enough room around it to express itself still and it does so in a simplistically elegant way with just enough space for comfortable buttons the watch isn't all that thick either and is quite light on the wrist so you might actually forget your wear the time throughout the day finding a replacement watchstrap might be a bit of a nuisance but even with this black silicone band on here my dark version of the pebble time remains pretty inconspicuous at first glance and then piques interest on the double take pebble upgraded the ePaper display to now provide color which brings a new level of character to the ecosystems applications colors are really muted however which might be expected considering the nature of this display though colors make it easy to distinguish among different elements you won't really be amazed by this enhancement the way you might be on full-on color displays from other competitors what mattered most about the original pebble was visibility however and the time continues that tradition - mostly positive effects in broad daylight it's really easy to see what's on the screen and in highly late situations that's always on display is a real treat to have compared to any others that might have to be triggered at will but where it does fall short is in lower light situations where the backlight just isn't really engineered to its best potential though bright enough for easy viewing a hard flick of the wrist is needed to trigger it but the movement is a little bit jarring and doesn't work a hundred percent of the time and even then the backlight only stays on for a short amount of time which can become frustrating while there is an app in the App Store that tries to remedy this issue it's just a shame that this kind of functionality is not better out of the box and hopefully a substantial update to the firmware will make the backlight better on the daily though the pebble time performs about as well as its predecessor and that's a very good thing speed and snappiness aren't too difficult to achieve when applications are given a simple but effective platform to work on an update to the ARM Cortex processor underneath is accompanied by a larger amount of storage so the original eight apps installed can now become as many as 50 in the pebble time getting among a large number of applications may prove a pain from time to time but that's about all that will slow down users in the pebble time animations among screens don't take too long to finish though they keep tasks from feeling as instantaneous as they did before but really it isn't hard to forgive this because the animations add just as much character as they might add a very little amount of loading time the only real slowdown is in the pebble time application on Android which still takes a little bit of time loading lists of apps and watch faces but once we found what we were looking for hitting the Add button got it - the watch in a short amount of track for time time will tell pun intended if a year from now the watch continues to be this snappy but that was pretty much the case with my original pebble and for now we're happy with how the time performs and we're pretty confident it will stay this way now hardware takes on a somewhat different outlook in the pebble time because of further protection and the addition of voice commands a dust and water resistant body puts the time in line with pretty much any other watch analog or digital or smart that can take a deep plunge or a bit of a tumble and keep going Gorilla Glass 3 for example is the crystal on the screen so scratch resistance is also on this watch's protection list where there's a big enhancement in capabilities however is with voice the microphone nestled below the right buttons requires Android wear to be installed as the pebble time will take advantage of where's API for voice input it cannot be triggered at any point to perform google searches at least not yet but it does provide the opportunity to respond to messages with one's voice and it works about as well as it does on Android wear especially if you talk a little bit like a robot good times keep on coming with the battery now and one of the only times that we've ever seen a battery life claim actually live up to the hype the double-time can stretch to a full week's worth of usage before clunking out and that's what plenty of vibrations and backlight usage throughout the day what's even better is that the charging time is short around an hour tethered to the magnetic cable is enough to get the time back to 100% now this is something that pebble has been able to boast about since the beginning and it remains one of the best aspects of this pebble time the fact that you don't have to take it off and put it on a dog every single night and even when you do have to take it off to charge it won't stay off your wrist for very long and that's pretty great because users may want to keep the pebble time in eyes reach as much as possible because this new version of the software is about as charming and uniquely voiced as it gets the underlying foundation of the pebble time is exactly the same as the original all applications installed via the Android app are transferred over to the watch only now you can put more than eight at one time not all applications have an update for the color screen or for the new timeline yet but all can still be installed and presented in the original monochrome versions and notifications remain a key part of this platform as any in all applications on the phone are triggered they then appear as previews on the watch making it easy to decide if need to grab your phone or just hit a couple of buttons on the watch and go about your day this is without a doubt the main point of a SmartWatch and one of those features you must feel for yourself if you haven't already now the biggest addition to the way pebble feels is the timeline and agenda based UI triggered by going up or down the main watch face see what's coming up see the sunrise or sunset times or see anything you might have missed recently and true to form of the grey pebble community there's already an app that can create a custom timeline entry for a simple reminder for anyone that is big on calendaring this is a pretty huge feature and will only get better with more apps adding information like sports scores and travel times but unfortunately for now the timeline still feels a little bit bare but we hope that will change soon enough now what makes the new pebble firmware is character and that's exactly what colors and new animations bring at first I thought the extra time needed to show these quirky transitions was time lost but really it doesn't matter when you get used to them because once a task is triggered via a button press you actually don't really have to stick around to watch them all happen anyway any time that you do however a charming and quirky animation might be just enough to lighten you up like a star that tells you that you're all set or an ostrich digging its head into the ground telling you about muted notifications recently we got a look into what Apple thinks a SmartWatch operating system should look like and even though it does look quite elegant it was pretty predictable what they would do on the other hand we have Android wear that is more information based and thus really useful still but it does feel a little bit sterile under google's own designs but now we have the pebble time that isn't afraid to look a little bit goofy as it still gets all the same work and tasks done all in all the software might get a couple of new abilities and some color but what gives the pebble such a loyal following is how unique it is inside and out though I pledge to $179 on the Kickstarter the pebble time is available for pre-order now and will come to Best Buy stores by the end of July the price there 199 dollars now 199 might seem like a bit considering there are some high-quality Android wear watch is coming down and cost recently even the original pebbles are easy to find in retail stores for 99 dollars which sounds like quite a steal these days for a full-featured SmartWatch as was already evidenced by the hugely successful Kickstarter campaign if you used pebble before then the pledge price and maybe even that somewhat higher retail price will probably not really matter because the pebble ecosystem just speaks to the users who have used it already I think I kind of fall in that category but for everyone else consider for a second opit falls of nearly any other SmartWatch touch screens can be fidgety where tactile input is plenty reliable battery life on full LCD screens don't go much further than two days let alone seven and while the Big Apple and Google stick to their guns in terms of look feel and compatibility the pebble is functional across both platforms and gets tasks done just as well without taking itself too seriously smartwatches are still on the bubble between need and want but among the smart wearables that I have it doesn't take much time for me to decide which one I do prefer to wear throughout my day as always thank you guys very much for watching and I hope you enjoyed this review of the pebble time yes for those of you who have never used a pebble smartwatch before the price might seem just a little bit steep but what's great about this wonderful working SmartWatch is the fact that if you want an alternative to the Apple watch or any Android wear iterations you have a great one right here so keep it tuned here for even more 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