Pebble's new smartwatches take on Apple Watch with longer battery life
Pebble is back and is betting that a 30-day battery life can shake up the smartwatch market dominated by Apple Watch.
Pebble Core Time 2
The company is making a comeback with the Core 2 Duo and the Core Time 2. Led by original Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky, these offerings provide an alternative to the smartwatch market led by the Apple Watch.
At $149, the Core 2 Duo is an upgraded version of the classic Pebble 2, featuring modern enhancements such as a black-and-white e-paper display, 30-day battery life, and a polycarbonate frame.
The extended battery life comes with trade-offs, as e-paper screens refresh more slowly and lack the vibrant colors and high refresh rates of traditional OLED smartwatch displays.
In contrast, Apple's Series 10 offers only 18 hours of battery life but excels with a brighter, more colorful display and extensive health-tracking capabilities, including a new sleep apnea detector. Apple's Series 10 also features deep iPhone integration with Apple Pay, Siri, and fast-charging.
The Apple Watch SE, which starts at $249, is a more direct price competitor to Pebble's models, offering core Apple Watch functionality at a lower cost.
Two new smartwatches from Pebble. Image credit: Pebble
The Core Time 2, priced at $225, features a vibrant 64-color e-paper touchscreen display, metal construction, and advanced interactions similar to Apple's complications. It claims 30 days of battery life but lacks an always-on display and advanced sensors like ECG or blood oxygen monitoring.
Both Pebble watches contrast Apple's polished integration and proprietary software. Pebble's open-source PebbleOS appeals to tech enthusiasts seeking customization, with support for sideloading apps and community modifications.
Pebble devices can't match Apple's seamless ecosystem integration, especially regarding iOS functionalities like Apple Pay and Fitness+ tracking. But for users valuing extensive battery life, retro-style e-paper displays, and open-source flexibility, Pebble's latest offerings offer an interesting alternative to the Apple Watch.
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Comments
It will probably integrate fantastically with Android, so pick your poison.
In the meantime she loves the vibrant screen, fluidity of HarmonyOS and week long battery life plus 'fast' charging.
It's really hard not to laugh out loud. Apple has ALWAYS been about a walled garden. Not a bug, but a feature. And for years and years (and years) it was roasted for this approach while Apple buyers were ridiculed as stupid sheeple being led to certain slaughter because Apple and its walled garden were doomed in the face of Windows and Android freedom! Funny thing: consumers voted with their wallets for the walled garden and made Apple the most successful consumer electronics company in history. Another funny thing: the competitors stopped predicting doom for the walled garden and are now wailing--with apologies to Pink Floyd--to tear down the wall! Now the walled garden, because it has become so successful thanks to consumers choosing it, is "anti-competitive." Oh, give me a break and tough luck! If you like the freedom of an open system, you have plenty of other choices which, collectively, outsell Apple by a lot. Have at it! Just leave me and my choice to buy into the walled garden alone.
I wish Apple would follow Hauwei and Samsung's lead and make a round Watch. I've looked at the latters' offerings and haven't seen one that would make a good casual-dress watch, like a Rolex Datejust. Something that doesn't have to look like a smartwatch when I don't need it too.
Apple has a few watch faces that fit the bill but I'm getting tired of the same old-same old rectangular shape. The Series 10 does soften that a tad. But even Apple needs to do a little more to make the Watches and faces look a little more elegant without being busy or ornate. Pebble need not apply.
it is no coincidence that he is complaining about iMessage access either.
All these years later, and Apple is continuing to do the exact same thing, but now competitors are complaining that it's unfairly excluding them from the walled garden. They want in, but ignore the fact that mandating that Apple move to the Windows/Android business model would forcibly lower Apple's quality and destroy the reason for wanting in in the first place.
Apple customers choose the walled ecosystem because they want the quality, security and data privacy. People who don't care about that can choose the competition.
Apple Retail Store, Apple Pay, Apple Silicon, iMessage, Safari, Apple Maps, etc., etc. etc. you name it and almost everything had to be created if Apple was going to sell any product moving forward, for competitive sake why can’t the EU or the US government get on all those AAA game companies after all they’re not interested for the most part in any of the Apple ecosystems but what about competition competitiveness?
Kind of like a Kindle on your wrist.