Greg Chaffins Back in the day I was a proud wearer of the original Pebble Watch, and I feel like I pushed it to its limit as far as applicable use was concerned. And it performed very well, with several niche functions that served my needs well. And let’s not forget that battery life, something that most smart watches today can’t even come close.
Since then the world has moved on, and I currently tend to sport an Apple Watch for my nerdy needs. I like it, and works well as long as you plan ahead for charging, especially if you do any sleep tracking with it. But don’t get too comfortable just yet, there may be a new old choice on the horizon: Pebble is coming back.
The new unit is, logically enough, called Pebble Time 2, and it has moved forward with current technology. The new watch incorporates a touch friendly 64 color e-paper display with a hardened glass display. The battery life is still a bragging point, with an estimated 30 day battery life between charges (take that Apple Watch.) And even with that run time, the watch offers a heart rate monitor along with step and sleep tracking. The watch is also going to be waterproof, although the exact rating has not been published yet.
The Pebble Time 2 will pair with smartphones via Bluetooth, and will let you get notifications and more while letting you control basic things as music playback. I would expect the paired smartphone will also supply internet data to the watch as well for any on-board apps running, but those details are forthcoming.
The Pebble Time is priced right at $225, and preorders are being accepted now.
The original Pebble Watch premiered on January 23, 2013. By February 2014 its App Store contained over 1,000 applications for the well-received device.
