REVIEW 1 (4 STAR) I love my Pebble
This watch is great! I love being able to try different watch faces every day. There is an app so that I can even create my own watch face. So I did. It was easy to load it on an use it. I added it to the others on my Pebble.
I'm hard of hearing. Normally I need to have my phone on LOUD to hear it even with my hearing aids and sometimes I don't feel the vibrating alert on my phone. Other times I have my phone in the bedroom because I don't have it with me. Nevertheless, my Pebble will vibrate and tell me who is calling. Even 30 feet away. It is totally awesome. If I want to ignore the call I just click the button on the watch.
For those of you that don't like the Pebble because they think that it looks cheap. Prior to the Pebble, all of my watches (except the one that I use to work in the yard) were fancy $500+. I now wear my Pebble everywhere. I meet with executives, and often I'll show it to them and next thing they want to know what it costs and where to get it.
I also wear my Pebble running and occasionally in the shower or bath. Never a problem.
I added the Skinomi Skin to the watch face to protect it.
The only drawback is that I'm 55 and find it difficult to read the text messages without my readers on. I wish that I could increase the font size of the text. For this reason, and only this, I give it 4 starts.
REVIEW 2 (3 STARS) To Pebble or Not to Pebble....Potential
Ordered the black Pebble in early Dec 13'. Order arrived within the prescribed time frame promised. It came packaged in a padded envelope and neatly boxed.
Construction: Light weight plastic with some metal (buckle and side charging pins). The screen is scratch resistant (according to the website literature). The screen is ~1-inch (corner to corner). The larger button on left above the charging pins is a 'back-button'. There are three buttons not shown on the right. Think of them as scroll up (top), select (middle button), and scroll down (bottom). The band is made of rubber and is very comfortable. Over all the watch is very light weight...I caught myself looking to make sure it was still on it is so light. The watch charges over a standard USB port. There is no literature on the specific type of AC charger to use, so i'd caution anyone in using this method to charge the watch as it may not match the charging requirements of the watch itself.
Software/Sync: I own an iPhone 4S with iOS7. The watch came with firmware 1.2 (? not sure if i'm using the correct terms-- firmware or software-not an IT guy!). I down loaded the free pebble app to my iPhone, once connected, it automatically walked me through the update process from 1.2 to 1.3., actually it was pretty seamless and a hands off process. Bluetooth established a handshake with my iPhone in seconds. I then selected the option to send test text and test call. both worked and the watch vibrated almost immediately. Packaged in the box were two short pamphlets, one with basic instructions and the other was all the FCC requirement information.
Pebble can only receive data, save one, the music selection, which can start, stop and play music on your mobile device. Otherwise you can't text, email, or call from the watch. Think of it as an 'extension' "to" your phone as a remote control and as a notification system--albeit a limited extension as it can't manipulate apps on your phone--it can only use streams of data from it, e.g. GPS-data. The phone must be in proximity to the Pebble (Bluetooth range varies) in order to function as a 'smart watch', otherwise it's only good as a watch...it tells time and date. There is tremendous potential here but that's a discussion beyond the scope of this review.
Issues I encountered. First, there are other Pebble utilities (e.g. Smartwatch +, SmartWatch Pro, etc.) that allow you access to weather features, maps, etc. But these are pay-utilities. In other word to really start enjoying the potential of this watch, you need to add these 'foundational utilities' in order to obtain the apps that make the watch more enjoyable to use as a tool. That said, some utilities/apps are pay and some are free, some are OEM type apps (approved for use on Pebble-tested), others are not (not tested or guaranteed). My opinion is that the smart watch needs to come with those baseline utilities/apps or at least make them available through the website. If its a third party vendor app, then sure, you may have to pay for those apps/services--I embrace capitalism, but in the most basic sense, the watch should come with baseline functional apps that showcase its potential. It just makes business sense.
I personally ran into issues after the upgrade. My Pebble was constantly looking for a Bluetooth connection and when established, it was constantly in an "updating" mode for weather and GPS for when I ran (didn't work the only time I used it on an outdoor run which lasted for 47 mins), and lastly it never was able to correctly sync may battery status for my phone. So for example, if my phone was 100% charged, the Pebble would show 75% charged.
Assuming you don't have a Samsung which has its own watch and assuming Apple doesn't come out with its own line of smart watches, Pebble can only improve in my opinion. It has a lot of potential, but it first needs to work out the basic bugs.
5 starts for it potential, 3 stars however for its functionality vis-a-vis the need to purchase additional apps, and its glitchy-ness.
REVIEW 3 (5 STARS) Pebble is easily the best smartwatch on the market!
Having used my Pebble for several months, it is hard to overstate its usefulness and practicality. There is no other electronic device closer to you than your watch, and the beauty of the Pebble is that all of its features work extremely well and help it to seamlessly integrate into your everyday tasks more than any other smartwatch.
You almost need to wear one on a regular basis to fully appreciate what it can do for you, because it enables you to do things you couldn't do before and might not have thought of. Some of my favorite uses:
1) Going for a run with my phone strapped to my arm and using the RunKeeper app on my Pebble. I can easily pause/resume my run, glance down at my wrist to see my speed and time elapsed (rather than having to awkwardly look and poke at my phone on my arm, especially in the sunshine).
2) Being able to remotely control the music playing on my phone. Handy for when your hands are all wet/dirty and you don't want to touch your phone or it isn't right next to you, and especially for running with earphones. Since Pebble is waterproof, I even use it when I'm swimming to change songs when I'm in the pool.
3) Being able to see immediately when I have a new text message, a new email, Facebook update, or when someone is trying to call me. I love being able to see at a glance who is calling me so that I don't need to take my phone out of my pocket to check (or worse yet, so that I don't miss the call entirely if I'm walking and don't feel it). Once I see who is calling, I can ignore the call without needing to take my phone out of my pocket. Of course, you can control which alerts get sent to your watch in the first place. How's that for minimizing phone-related distractions?!
4) Inconspicuously being able to read an email or text message on my watch, rather than fiddling with my phone and looking like I'm not paying attention to anyone nearby.
5) Changing watch faces for different occasions (especially using the Big Time face for practicality where the time is in huge font, or a cool look where the time is shown in text as "four thirty"). You could try a new one each day!
6) I can simply flick my wrist to activate the backlight for reading the screen in the dark.
7) What a great conversation starter -- if people don't come up to you and ask about it first, just about anyone would be impressed by its cool factor and what it can do. Whereas it would be pretty socially unacceptable to show off your Rolex to strangers, showing off your Pebble is cool, everybody loves it and has that genuine look of "wow, that's really awesome, now I want one!"
The Pebble is also physically a good size, very light and comfortable to wear. The stock watchband is very comfortable and waterproof, but you can change it if you want something unique. If you're not used to wearing a watch, the Pebble won't feel like a large heavy object like some other watches (*cough* Samsung *cough*). With a week of battery life, you won't need to worry about forgetting to charge it daily either.
Setup in the Pebble app and connecting it to your phone is a breeze. It works with Androids and iPhones, and gets software updates directly from Pebble as new features are introduced -- this is really a case where the product you buy today can get even better over time while you own it.
If you're the type of person who explores more than the basic functions, Pebble also has you covered. Designing your own watch face is fairly straightforward and you can add all kinds of data feeds to your watch. Personally, I have my watch face show the weather and temperature, the time, when sunrise and sunset are, the date, the battery life percentage remaining on my phone and what my next appointment is in my calendar.
I know a number of people who have Pebbles and we all love them! A highly recommended product!
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