Pebble
Hardware
smartwatch
SHOW HN2012
342points
107comments
#28of 1,677 in 2012
Top 2%of 2012 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
20 positive, 28 neutral or asking, 3 mixed, 8 critical, out of 59 comments about the project. Thread score +0.19.
Idea: 9 for, 1 againstDesign: 4 for, 3 againstPerformance: 2 for, 2 againstDocs: 0 for, 1 againstPricing: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Hackable with SDK and programmable apps
From 3 comments
Brilliant. I've been looking for something with the functionality to replace my old SPOT watch, and it looks like this is finally the ticket. Also looks like there's a "hacker"…
rohansingh on HNThe SDK sounds very promising, ripe for hacking. I guess you could do some bluetooth triangulation (plus accelerometer fine-tuning) to "localize" it for different rooms of your…
mhd on HNLooks awesome, Eric! Can't wait to hack on one. If only it ran on a dcpu-16, you'd have a super marketing combo :)
jazzychad on HN
E-paper good for outdoor use and looks great
From 2 comments
Congrats to Eric and team! This looks great! Epaper is a huge plus for outdoor use.
karanbhangui on HNlooks awesome, and just in time for me to replace my broken analog watch. Congrats!
yurisagalov on HN
Objections
Needs regular charging
From 2 comments
Looks really neat, but I won't buy it, because: * It requires regular charging -- at least once a week, according to the kickstart page. Who wants more cables dangling from the…
cs702 on HNI also purchased a Garmin forerunner - now catching dust. Without changing the law of physics, an eink device whose main function is to display time should be designed to work…
guylhem on HN
Smartphone apps make it redundant
From 1 comment
Looks really neat, but I won't buy it, because: * It requires regular charging -- at least once a week, according to the kickstart page. Who wants more cables dangling from the…
cs702 on HN
Design looks ugly or unsuited to square display
From 2 comments
I love the technology but aesthetically the unit itself looks pretty horrible to my eyes. Watches are one of the few accessories men can wear and it always saddens me that these…
hartror on HNLooks like a cool little product, I would buy one if I wore watches. My only suggestion would be to stop designing your dial as if you had a round face to work with, your display…
pg_bot on HN
Price is high for the features
From 1 comment
Basis is $199 and comes (will come) and adds (will add) a lot of value. $99+ is a little too pricey, I think. Those are two are different products, of course, but still.
kolev on HN
Requests
Bluetooth 4.0 / BLE support for lower power
From 2 comments
I was expecting to see BT4/LE in use. Any reason to stick to the more power-hungry 2.1?
ricardobeat on HNOut of curiosity, any reason for not using Bluetooth 4.0?
iuqiddis on HN
Longer battery life
From 2 comments
I already have an inPulse but this is so cool I just backed Pebble on Kickstarter too. I really hope the battery life is as good as you are claiming, because the 20ish hour bat…
thechut on HNI also purchased a Garmin forerunner - now catching dust. Without changing the law of physics, an eink device whose main function is to display time should be designed to work…
guylhem on HN
Google Voice SMS support
From 1 comment
What is the process like for using it on iPhone? Do you need to always be running a companion app in the foreground? Have you considered adding support for Google Voice, if you…
rubergly on HN
Questions
Does it work natively with iOS without jailbreak
From 1 comment
Does it work natively with iOS, or does it require hacks like jailbreaking? I bought one of the other programmable watches (forget the company name, I think it's a YC company?)…
brk on HN
Does iOS allow Bluetooth 2.1 from background apps
From 2 comments
I was under the impression that iOS apps can only talk directly to Bluetooth Low Energy devices, not Bluetooth 2.1. Your Kickstarter page only mentions Bluetooth 2.1 support.…
guan on HNI would really like to know the answer to this, as well.
mietek on HN
Does e-paper ghost or wear out
From 2 comments
Won't the epaper pixels wear out after a finite number of transitions? After all, a year has millions of seconds to display...
limmeau on HNWell, from the video it looks pretty good. But is e-paper the best display technology to use here? Doesn't it get ghosting? What about PixelQi?
nextparadigms on HN
Alternatives named
inPulse smartwatch
From 2 comments
Thanks, but I was thinking of InPulse. I bought like literally the first one (still have it somewhere if anybody wants it).
brk on HNDid you watch the video? This is inPulse (see 0:23) Also, for skimmers, it's under PROJECT BY: > Eric and his team have been designing smartwatches for 3 years. Their first…
kefs on HN
Motorola MotoACTV
From 2 comments
I think this is a really exciting space and have been wanting a connected watch for some time. Here are some other options: MotoACTV: https://motoactv.com IM Watch:…
jaxn on HNWish this would have come out about 6 months ago. Spent about $350 on the Motorola MotoActiv. It's a great GPS fitness device with bluetooth, and right now is definitely more…
adahm on HN
TI eZ430-Chronos
From 1 comment
Texas Instruments was selling the eZ430-Chronos for $25 the other day, it sold out. http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/EZ430-Chronos , http://tideals.com/ It doesn't have…
slug on HN
Meta Watch, WIMM One, IM Watch
From 2 comments
I think this is a really exciting space and have been wanting a connected watch for some time. Here are some other options: MotoACTV: https://motoactv.com IM Watch:…
jaxn on HNAnybody tried one of these? the imWatch? http://www.imwatch.it/ie-en/ I'm curious to hear what they are like... disclaimer: I too succumbed to the Pebble deal on Kickstarter...…
RoryH on HN