No NFC !!???? Whyyyyyyyyyy
this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2025
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Pebble sounds cool but i really dont like square watches(except the retro casios and gshocks) and now its owned by google so thats shit as well.
Google dumped the Pebble OS code on GitHub when this whole "rePebble" thing (not Rebble) started. Now there's a new phone app coming out soon (or out now, depending on your platform and abilities) that handles old and new Pebbles and modern phone platforms.
None of this is from Google.
...and now its owned by google so thats shit as well.
Google acquired it back in 2021, this move to open source it is a good thing.
I think Google just owns the software because the product page for these watches say the guy invested his own money to get these produced.
I've pre-ordered the Core Time 2.
Pre-orders are something I never usually do, but given this is essentially just an improved version of an existing product, as opposed to a Kickstarter, I feel more confident. And I can cancel the preorder at any time (plus I'll see reviews of the cheaper model before the Core Time 2 ships).
The price made me wince, though. It's very expensive for the functionality. Technically cheaper than the original watches adjusted for inflation, but that ignores the current-day smartwatch market. Still, I loved the Pebble, so I think it's worth it.
I pre ordered, and I'm usually annoyingly loud about not pre-ordering. That being said, i love my pebble time. I Kickstarted it back in the day, and it still works but the battery is weak. I could replace the battery, but i want more devices like this, so I'll put some money in and eat Ramen for a few weeks.
I still can't believe that no one else has made a smart watch with physical buttons and low energy use that has surpassed the pebble after all this time. I'm still cautious that this venture will pan out, but honestly there really hasn't been a smart watch released that matches my use case. Sleep tracking makes no sense if I have to charge the watch daily, as I'd probably charge it over night. Media control with screen buttons is awful. Fossil came close with their hybrid smart watch, but the layout of the media controls made no sense and couldn't easily be used without looking at the watch. Just let me check my calendar and texts and skip through ads in podcasts, and last over a week of battery and you will have my money.
Don't love the closed-in ecosystem but Garmin watches with MIP display do almost all you just said.
- Touch screen + also Buttons for 100% touch-free interaction
- Battery life of around 3 to 4 weeks (depending on what you are doing)... more with the Solar models
- Media control is there, but don't really use that
Podcast ad skipping sadly not a thing.
Price might be an issue though. The top end models with all the whistles come at a smartphone flagship price point.
I have a Vivoactive 4 that I picked up used from Facebook a couple of months back. It's a few years old now, and the regular LCD screen looks pretty janky once you've got used to OLED. But it cost me £50, works perfectly well with GrapheneOS, and the battery still lasts a week.
It's left me pondering upgrading it to a new one with an OLED screen.
To offer a counter point: I've owned 3 different VivoActive 3 Music watches for about 2 years each. All of them had the screen stop working. Could be my bad luck, but I wasn't super rough with them (never wore them in water)
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Honestly daily charging isn't the worst I just usually charge my watch when I'm in the shower and getting ready in the morning pop it back on when I'm done and I'm good to go.
A commute-by-car is a great time to charge a smart watch, too.
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Genuinely considering it as I love e ink, lightweight, long battery life, and open source
I understand that the watch operating system is open source. However, it seems that the watch will connect to a companion smartphone app. Do you know if the app is a requirement and/or if the app will be open source?
Yeah the mobile app is open source too https://github.com/pebble-dev/mobile-app
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I'm still very confused about why we needed PebbleOS for this. It's been like 10 years and no one could come up with any comparable software? They whipped up the hardware design in a few months.
Because good software is hard. The PebbleOS is a gem, and no, no one could in 9 years.
To anyone reading - this person is intentionally obtuse.
PebbleOS was sold to Fitbit, Fitbit sold to Google, Google made PebbleOS open source this year. It couldn't have been made before.
PebbleOS was awesome, though. Such a well thought out system for end-users, and it already has tons of apps. Developing for it (in C!) is also super easy because it has an amazing SDK.
From what I've read from Eric since this relaunch was announced, he just wants a new pebble and so do some of the userbase. This project isn't really intended as a viable, polished product. Rather it's a niche thing made for a Core audience of nerds.
Disclaimer: I'm one of the nerds this is intended for. I instantly pre-ordered a watch because it's a pebble. I7
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How's navigation with Pebbles? If I start bike navigation in Google Maps on my phone, can I get turn-by-turn directions on the watch, and does it not suck?
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