Pebble Time Round smartwatch moves to circular, thin design with two-day battery life
Pebble on Wednesday opened up preorders for the Pebble Time Round, a new smartwatch model that not only changes to a circular face but shrinks the size of the Time to make it extremely thin and light.
The Round is just 7.5 millimeters thick, and weighs 28 grams. Its case measures 38 millimeters in diameter, and bands come in 14- and 20-millimeter sizes.
Buyers must initially choose from five different preset combinations, mixing black, silver, or rose gold case colors with one of five different leather bands -- rose gold watches are limited to a 14-millimeter band. Metal band options should become available later this year.
The device makes some sacrifices. Unlike the standard Time, it's not fully water-resistant, meaning that it should not be worn swimming or in the shower. The Round must also be charged every two days instead of seven, though it can be quick-charged to a full day of power in 15 minutes.
Preorders cost $250, with an expected U.S. ship date of early November. Sales should expand to the U.K. later this year and mainland Europe in early 2016. Some people who bought a Pebble Time Steel are eligible to get a Round with a $50 discount, or choose to return one of the two products for a refund by the end of a 30-day trial.
Pebble's watches lack some of the features of products like the Apple Watch, like fitness tracking, but are both iPhone- and Android-compatible, and use always-on e-ink displays that make them easier to read outdoors while extending battery life.
The Round is just 7.5 millimeters thick, and weighs 28 grams. Its case measures 38 millimeters in diameter, and bands come in 14- and 20-millimeter sizes.
Buyers must initially choose from five different preset combinations, mixing black, silver, or rose gold case colors with one of five different leather bands -- rose gold watches are limited to a 14-millimeter band. Metal band options should become available later this year.
The device makes some sacrifices. Unlike the standard Time, it's not fully water-resistant, meaning that it should not be worn swimming or in the shower. The Round must also be charged every two days instead of seven, though it can be quick-charged to a full day of power in 15 minutes.
Preorders cost $250, with an expected U.S. ship date of early November. Sales should expand to the U.K. later this year and mainland Europe in early 2016. Some people who bought a Pebble Time Steel are eligible to get a Round with a $50 discount, or choose to return one of the two products for a refund by the end of a 30-day trial.
Pebble's watches lack some of the features of products like the Apple Watch, like fitness tracking, but are both iPhone- and Android-compatible, and use always-on e-ink displays that make them easier to read outdoors while extending battery life.
Comments
Round displays for smartwatches are dumb.
I don't agree there (I think that the Samsung Gear S2 Classic is the best looking smartwatch out there), but this Pebble Time Round is comically bad. That bezel... I can't stop laughing.
Look at that huge, damn ridiculous looking round Bezel!
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And $250? An Apple watch is the far more logical choice.
Trying to compete head-on with Apple is a mistake.
Pebble needs to hire someone who has some.
did you see the S2 in real life?
No, but I've seen enough pictures and hands-on (err, wrists-on) images (and videos) of the device closeup on many different people with many different wrist sizes to come to my conclusions. It's no more relevant or irrelevant than everyone that was proclaiming the Apple Watch to be the Messiah on the day it was announced.
And this is coming from an Apple Watch Sport owner.
Round displays for smartwatches are dumb.
I don't agree there (I think that the Samsung Gear S2 Classic is the best looking smartwatch out there), but this Pebble Time Round is comically bad. That bezel... I can't stop laughing.
I agree, that Gear S2 looks pretty sharp for the round smartwatch category.
I'd like to get some hands on with an S2 to try out that rotating bezel and apps to see if it really is like it looks in the videos I've seen.
That bezel and the buttons on the Pebble are simply a no-go for me.
I think it's smart for Pebble to go with a round face in order to attract buyers who dislike the Apple Watch's rectangular face.
Trying to compete head-on with Apple is a mistake.
Valid point, but giving up existing selling points (like water proofing and longer battery life) to get there is a zero-sum game at best. And that design... is a non-starter, not even up there with Samsung and Moto (and even they still look like geek crap and not watches).
Round watches are dumb, they should have been square all along.
Looks cheap. Like a $25 watch.
But I realize that's totally subjective.
Apple's build quality and materials seem top notch, but I don't see the Watch as being such an attractive design. (I don't care for super chunky peanut butter either.) The design is kinda directed by the need to fit whatever necessary into it though.
Maybe they used the same designer that designed this...
Apple has a history of building devices with great build quality and materials.
Samsung's record is spotty at best. I would not be surprised if it looks much worse in person. I'm not talking about size but material quality and build quality. So yes people who said the Apple Watch look great when it was announced had good reason to believe it.
My problem with the Samsung watch is it looks exactly like my $10 Casio.
IMO the gear looks like this $10 watch below.
The regular Gear S2 looks like crap to me. It's the Gear S2 Classic that I think looks, well classy.
There's no accounting for taste.
(...snip...)
Do accountants have taste to begin with? Continuing the thought...what does an accountant taste like?
Oh, and Craig Federighi just Tweeted:
Good to see @Pebble sticking with their "big ugly bezel" design language for their new round watch. ????????
9/23/15, 2:23 PM
I think it's smart for Pebble to go with a round face in order to attract buyers who dislike the Apple Watch's rectangular face.
Trying to compete head-on with Apple is a mistake.
You're right on the last one.
But, since its not offering anything competitive except battery life and price and others offer mostly better watches that are also round, I'm not sure if they're going to get somewhere if their price comes close to Apple's one.
They're design aren't too bad in a swatch way, so this could work at a low price point, focus on funky design (like swatch) and battery life.
I guess it is fine for a time piece, but as an information delivery device, it looks pretty primitive.
https://www.filepicker.io/api/file/ZtBQwQZSP6gkG0uH96Rs/convert?h=450&w=450
You mean a Craig Federighi parody account.
as predicted, this thread will devolve into people posting watch photos.
Posting watch photos... in a post about watches? GET OUT OF HERE! NO WAY!
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- Pebble Design Chief
Edit: I just did a rough measurement by blowing up the images. Then a little pi*r^2 and... The actual ratio of display area to bezel area of these watches is 1.1:1. So the amount of surface used for actual display is only 10% more that that dedicated to the bezel. Amazing.