A year ago people were foaming at the mouth at the prospect of a watch that was a vibrating e-ink backlit display with buttons and customizable watch face options and a battery that could go a week between charges.
Now it's getting panned for being nothing but a vibrating e-ink backlit display with buttons and customizable watch face options and a battery that could go a week between charges. Go figure.
I backed them on Kickstarter and got a black watch in the mail a couple months ago. I was surprised that it doesn't show me every notification by default, but somebody made a Pebble Notifier app to fill in the gaps there. Other than that, it fulfilled every expectation I had when I backed it, and I love the convenience of checking my notifications without having to pull my phone out of my pocket. The music controls are a pretty nifty feature I use often, too.
It sucks that they don't have their color options available yet, I don't know what their excuse is for that, but if they've worked all the kinks out in producing the black model then why shouldn't they get that on retail shelves as soon as possible?
I mean, the reason Kickstarter exists is so we regular consumers can recognize a company's potential and help them succeed, and now that this company is on the road to success we're going to get out our torches and pitchforks because they're struggling to ship certain variations of the product? I am flabbergasted at the entitlement some people feel, such that they think this company should run themselves into the ground financially just because they didn't get their special-colored watch yet.
Isn't this the classic mistake of assuming "people" on the internet are a single homogeneous group? When Pebble had a kickstarter, a lot of proponents were vocal. Now its going into best-buy, those that are vocal are (a different set of) people who have the opportunity to criticize. Those who successfully funded the project and are proud users of Pebble maybe see less desire to be vocal.
There's nothing really to "go figure", its just different people being selectively vocal in their support/dismissal.
I didn't back it because it seemed like it was just a vibrating etc.
I have not changed my opinion since that time. I think the thing is that the number of people that didn't back it far outnumber the number of people that did back it. Now the non-backers are saying, "I still don't get why I'd want this."
This news makes me very disappointed in the company's handling of their KickStarter campaign.
I backed their KickStarter campaign and ordered a white Pebble in May of last year, and I still haven't received it. So if I understand correctly, someone who walks into Best Buy next week will get a Pebble before I do?
While I understand the desire to stay out in front of Apple, Sony, and any other companies who may enter the smartwatch market, as one of the people who funded and helped make the Pebble possible, I am disappointed at how this was handled. The whole experience will make me think twice about backing KS campaigns in the future.
They offered you the chance to switch to the black one a month or two ago, which is what Best Buy is selling. That seems fair and reasonable. You can certainly still be upset that the color you picked got the short end of the stick, but one of them had to be last.
Did you order a black Pebble or another colour? The black Pebbles have been shipping in large quantities for ages (I got mine some time ago) but the colour ones are taking a little more time to get right.
Assuming you opted for a colour other than black, you should still get it before the general public does.
You aren't missing anything. I got mine months ago. It is the most disappointing thing I have supported on kickstarter. I would literally send you mine but one of the buttons fell off the first (and only) day I wore it.
It looks like Best Buy are selling the black watches, which were all shipped to backers quite a while ago now (I've had mine for a few months).
While I can understand your frustration whether they sell black Pebbles to Best Buy or not makes little difference to when coloured ones ship since they go through a different molding process.
Indeed. I didn't back them, but I pre-ordered a black Pebble many moons ago. My account page still insists they estimate shipping will start in late may (for those not keeping track, it is now early july).
yeah, still waiting on my arctic white one as well.. not too bothered though. having been on kickstarter a little while now i've come to shut-out any mention of 'planned release windows'. its pretty much hopeless. anyways, its kind of nice being surprised every once in a while when a package shows-up containing a cool little gadget i totally forgot i ordered..
Honest question: Has anyone actually found a good use for their Pebble? I wore mine once the day after it arrived, felt totally ridiculous, and it hasn't left the drawer since.
I think it depends on if you wear a watch normally. I do and I've found that I use it most for doing things like getting texts while on the subway and not having to fish through my pocket to get out my phone.
Do I absolutely need my Pebble? Heck no. Does it make some things simpler? Yep.
To me, I funded a neat middle-step in wearable computing.
I've had and worn one for a few months, and while I can't say its radically changed my life it has been pretty neat.
One of the things I particularly like is that it allows me to have the sound turned off on my phone all the time, and still notice when its going off because my watch vibrates. The Runkeeper integration has been nice as well, previously when running I wore my phone on a truly ridiculous arm band, while now I can throw it in my bag and not have it getting in the way.
I'm not sure I would have paid full price for one, but at the reduced Kickstarter price it was definitely worth it for me.
I get 60 minute and 10 minute reminders for upcoming meetings by way of SMS, which then shows up on my Pebble.
I've been using the 60/10 minute reminders through Google Calendar for over a year now, but the Pebble has really made that feature a killer feature for me. Previously, I'd run the risk of my phone being on silent and missing the reminder. Now I get discrete reminders on my wrist.
* Switching music while in the shower / while hosting parties
* Runkeeper for cycling
* I have pushover setup for any important server issues / growl notifications / iffit stuff to send to my watch (best imo is I get a message every morning when my alarm goes off telling me what the weather will be for the day)
* 7 Min workout app is pretty cool
* Tetris app if i'm bored
But its really great for meetings so I can see if I actually need to look at my phone or not to pickup a call / respond to texts
Yes! besides the obvious stuff (SMS, notifications, caller-ID, music controls):
- I have a pomodoro app to keep track of time I spend on tasks
- I have a stopwatch/lap counter app for keeping track of my lap swimming
- I use the runkeeper app which displays my pace/time/distance on my Pebble while I run.
- quick calculator for the times I don't want to whip my phone out.
I've worn mine every day for three months now. It's fantastic. I can preview mail and read whole text messages without having to take out my phone or stop what I'm doing. Plus I use the Glance app to send quick replies to text messages I receive.
My favorite use is when i'm driving or it's hooked up to Jambox and I either want to change the current song or answer/end a call. It's also nice seeing stats whilst running.
I got back to learning C so that I can make a space invaders watch face. I look forward to the satisfaction of wearing my accomplishment on my sleeve... eventually.
If you're on a team that uses groupme, kik, sms, or what-have-you for coordination and you're often at events or jobs where you are physically quite busy then it's enormously useful. Being able to read notifications without pulling our your phone is very helpful.
I'm extremely disappointed by how Pebble have handled their entire operation.
I originally backed an Artic White Pebble on Kickstarter, they had issues, I switched to Black. And they sent me a watch without a Kickstarter stamp. As an apology I'm supposedly getting a sweat band - what?
Their entire operation has been mistake after mistake. And to be honest, that's no excuse for a company who has prior experience.
The whole fiasco with their SDK supposedly shipping, promised to be shipping, pretty promised to be shipping, and finally shipping about 9mo late in a "warranty voided if used" alpha version annoyed me to no end.
The leaders of the project lack the most prosaic communication skills. Hopefully their recent investor infusion will get them to hire someone who does.
Hey, likewise! Unfortunately there's no kickstarter for better bullying utilities. At least this does things that they might also want to do? Calculating: still for nerds. But imagine being able to check your notifications while holding someone's head under the faucet.
[+] [-] Zikes|12 years ago|reply
Now it's getting panned for being nothing but a vibrating e-ink backlit display with buttons and customizable watch face options and a battery that could go a week between charges. Go figure.
I backed them on Kickstarter and got a black watch in the mail a couple months ago. I was surprised that it doesn't show me every notification by default, but somebody made a Pebble Notifier app to fill in the gaps there. Other than that, it fulfilled every expectation I had when I backed it, and I love the convenience of checking my notifications without having to pull my phone out of my pocket. The music controls are a pretty nifty feature I use often, too.
It sucks that they don't have their color options available yet, I don't know what their excuse is for that, but if they've worked all the kinks out in producing the black model then why shouldn't they get that on retail shelves as soon as possible?
I mean, the reason Kickstarter exists is so we regular consumers can recognize a company's potential and help them succeed, and now that this company is on the road to success we're going to get out our torches and pitchforks because they're struggling to ship certain variations of the product? I am flabbergasted at the entitlement some people feel, such that they think this company should run themselves into the ground financially just because they didn't get their special-colored watch yet.
[+] [-] heyitsnick|12 years ago|reply
There's nothing really to "go figure", its just different people being selectively vocal in their support/dismissal.
[+] [-] akandiah|12 years ago|reply
It's not an e-ink display!
[+] [-] DannoHung|12 years ago|reply
I have not changed my opinion since that time. I think the thing is that the number of people that didn't back it far outnumber the number of people that did back it. Now the non-backers are saying, "I still don't get why I'd want this."
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] SnowLprd|12 years ago|reply
This news makes me very disappointed in the company's handling of their KickStarter campaign.
I backed their KickStarter campaign and ordered a white Pebble in May of last year, and I still haven't received it. So if I understand correctly, someone who walks into Best Buy next week will get a Pebble before I do?
While I understand the desire to stay out in front of Apple, Sony, and any other companies who may enter the smartwatch market, as one of the people who funded and helped make the Pebble possible, I am disappointed at how this was handled. The whole experience will make me think twice about backing KS campaigns in the future.
[+] [-] smackfu|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _djo_|12 years ago|reply
Assuming you opted for a colour other than black, you should still get it before the general public does.
[+] [-] spullara|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jon-wood|12 years ago|reply
While I can understand your frustration whether they sell black Pebbles to Best Buy or not makes little difference to when coloured ones ship since they go through a different molding process.
[+] [-] jeroen94704|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] vsviridov|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] simba-hiiipower|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] themstheones|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] btucker|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hamax|12 years ago|reply
It's also very coworker friendly since I can have my phone on mute all the time.
Overall it's a nice toy, not a life changer.
[+] [-] pcodes|12 years ago|reply
Do I absolutely need my Pebble? Heck no. Does it make some things simpler? Yep.
To me, I funded a neat middle-step in wearable computing.
[+] [-] jon-wood|12 years ago|reply
One of the things I particularly like is that it allows me to have the sound turned off on my phone all the time, and still notice when its going off because my watch vibrates. The Runkeeper integration has been nice as well, previously when running I wore my phone on a truly ridiculous arm band, while now I can throw it in my bag and not have it getting in the way.
I'm not sure I would have paid full price for one, but at the reduced Kickstarter price it was definitely worth it for me.
[+] [-] bryanlarsen|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yurisagalov|12 years ago|reply
I get 60 minute and 10 minute reminders for upcoming meetings by way of SMS, which then shows up on my Pebble.
I've been using the 60/10 minute reminders through Google Calendar for over a year now, but the Pebble has really made that feature a killer feature for me. Previously, I'd run the risk of my phone being on silent and missing the reminder. Now I get discrete reminders on my wrist.
[+] [-] Cub3|12 years ago|reply
* Switching music while in the shower / while hosting parties
* Runkeeper for cycling
* I have pushover setup for any important server issues / growl notifications / iffit stuff to send to my watch (best imo is I get a message every morning when my alarm goes off telling me what the weather will be for the day)
* 7 Min workout app is pretty cool
* Tetris app if i'm bored
But its really great for meetings so I can see if I actually need to look at my phone or not to pickup a call / respond to texts
I love the thing
[+] [-] MrSourz|12 years ago|reply
I feel it go off on my wrist even if I'm blasting down a hill and can't hear the ringer, nor feel the vibration within my thick jacket.
[+] [-] marknutter|12 years ago|reply
- I have a pomodoro app to keep track of time I spend on tasks - I have a stopwatch/lap counter app for keeping track of my lap swimming - I use the runkeeper app which displays my pace/time/distance on my Pebble while I run. - quick calculator for the times I don't want to whip my phone out.
[+] [-] dag11|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] martin_|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] asciimo|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] frakkingcylons|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Kiro|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] InclinedPlane|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jbrooksuk|12 years ago|reply
I originally backed an Artic White Pebble on Kickstarter, they had issues, I switched to Black. And they sent me a watch without a Kickstarter stamp. As an apology I'm supposedly getting a sweat band - what?
Their entire operation has been mistake after mistake. And to be honest, that's no excuse for a company who has prior experience.
[+] [-] twistedpair|12 years ago|reply
The leaders of the project lack the most prosaic communication skills. Hopefully their recent investor infusion will get them to hire someone who does.
[+] [-] smackfu|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ck2|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] twistedpair|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] williamcotton|12 years ago|reply
That thing is really ugly.
[+] [-] wam|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Zikes|12 years ago|reply
Progress doesn't necessarily start at the top.
[+] [-] jlgreco|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joezydeco|12 years ago|reply
http://gizmodo.com/this-so-nerdy-its-cool-calculator-watch-i...
[+] [-] Amadou|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] umsm|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] donniezazen|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] captainbeef|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ChristianMarks|12 years ago|reply