Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Video Review: Pebble SmartWatch

Pebble-Smartwatch-02

Pebble had one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns of all time and raised over ten million dollars to finance an e-paper smartwatch. The essence of this device is to pair to your iPhone, or Android device. It will give you notifications from Skype, eBay, Whatsapp, and basically any app that gives you notifications.

The Pebble is basically a watch that has Bluetooth capabilities. You can think of it as a dumb terminal for the functionality that exists on your phone or tablet. The only interactive elements it has is being able to activate your default music app, by playing, pausing or scrolling between tracks.

More apps are starting to build functionality into the Pebble, but they are few and far between. It seems iOS 7 devices have the best end-user experience by upgrading firmware and downloading new watch skins. Android has problems with default notifications and custom software must be downloaded.

The build quality on the Pebble is lacking severely. It is a plastic design and it keeps the costs between $80 and $150, depending on what market you’re in. This is basically designed by Silicon Valley geeks, for Silicon Valley geeks. I wish more devices hit the market that actually had higher build quality and had an emphasis on design. The real benefit on the Pebble is the e-Paper display, that lasts almost a month. It charges via a proprietary cable that ships with it.


Video Review: Pebble SmartWatch is a post from: E-Reader News

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