Gadgetory

the pebble steel is definitely more stylish than the original pebble smartwatch and thanks to its metal body and several design changes it's also easier to disassemble I'm Bill Detweiler and this is cracking open the pebble steel is a clear step up from the original pebble watch in both design and construction it has a gorilla glass covered display a steel body and it comes with both leather and metal bands it weighs just under two ounces which is about half an ounce more than the original pebble the body however is actually just a tiny bit smaller the steel also has redesigned buttons a slightly different magnetic charging connector and a new led which shows the charging status on the inside however the steel has basically the same hardware as the plastic pebble a cortex m3 arm MCU a tiny bit of storage a 3-axis accelerometer a magnetometer and an ambient light sensor now unlike the original pebble opening the steel isn't that difficult first remove the four Torx t4 screws on the back cover then gently pop the cover off and remove it now once inside the steel we can detach the single ribbon cable connected to the circuit board and then gently pry the battery away from the adhesive underneath lastly using a thin metal tool I was able to pop loose and remove the circuit board and the attached components the Steel's ePaper display button contacts and internal plastic frame appear to be glued to the metal body if any of the components were damaged you could likely remove and replace the entire assembly but as I want to reassemble this device in working order I'm going to call this teardown complete the pebble steel is definitely a smart looking smart watch and thanks to its removable back cover you can replace the internal Hardware if it gets damaged I only wish pebble had made the parts a little more modular now doing this would have made it possible for steel owners to upgrade their watches new hardware was released instead of having to toss out their entire 250 dollar watch now for more information on the steel including real world tests check out the full scene out of you the c-more teardown photos and read my full Hardware analysis go to TechRepublic comm forward slash cracking over