Pebble is one such smartwatch people would remember for being one of the earliest of them in the world of wearables. It was launched back before even any decent smart watches were available, and about a couple of years before Android Wear came into existence. Now, Pebble has came back to the platform where it started for getting funded – Kickstarter, to come up with a new smartwatch – the Pebble Time.
Pebble Time is a smartwatch thinner than the earlier watch that is already launched by Pebble Inc., and it comes with a color display as well as a microphone, taking the functionality to the next level. Moreover, there is an all new operating system running in this small screened watch.
“We looked at all the different screen technology like LCD and OLED, and we tried all of the different watches that have them,” says Eric Migicovsky, CEO and founder of Pebble. “It just wasn’t doing it for us.” In the end, he says, a smartwatch has to be a great watch. “We couldn’t deal with the compromise of LCD or OLED. The battery life was poor, the watch screen would turn off and you’d have to press a button to turn it back on.”
Pebble Time has an e-paper technology for the screen, rather than OLED or LCD display and the use of e-paper helps keep the watch face ON for always, and just like the earlier pebble, it is still able to give a battery life of about 7 days. That is quite an achievement as you see the display turned on all the time.
The scratch resistant Gorilla Glass over the display helps keep the square display strong enough and resistant from scratching. While the body is a polycarbonate one, there is a stainless steel bezel given to the Pebble Time. This is a water resistant watch, and it comes with a quick release button that helps in easily switching the straps on the smartwatch.
“The reason why we’re going back to Kickstarter,” he explains,”is because we’re still a small company. We’re battling the largest company in the world. And we want to speak directly to our community. We want to bring it directly to the people who matter.”
The color options are white, red and black. The early bird price is $159, and then the watch actually costs $179. But, the full retail price later on is $199 when the Kickstarter project ends. While the campaign ends in March, the Pebble Time will be shipped from May 2015.
