Introducing Pebble Time - <AUTHOR> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-time-awesome-smartwatch-no-compromises <comment><USER2> As I look at the total pledge amount climbing higher and higher, at $5.5m presently, I can't help but think that VCs and bankers got completely cut out of the "deal". It used to be that you had to please a whole bunch of finance guys to get anything done, but this time they weren't even invited to the table. It's a big change.

I also keep thinking about other ways in which the financial sector can get disintermediated. Bootstrapping is always an option, if a very long and arduous one. To speed things up there is Kickstarter in b2c, but what about b2b? Are there ways to get the future beneficiaries of a new b2b product to fund its development, and that don't involve spending 6 month to raise funding? It always bothered me that funding decisions are usually made by people who know a lot about finance and, as a rule, very little about the target market. Surely there is a lot of potential there for the insiders of the target industry?

<comment><USER3> That's a cute viewpoint, but the mere mortals get screwed, same as always.

Let's say a VC invests $2.4 million dollars in a company. Let's assume the company does well and sells out to Facebook for $2.3 billion. The VC, being wise in the ways of finance, profits handsomely from that $2.3 billion.

What if, instead of a VC investing $2.4 million dollars, it was a large collection of mortals each investing a small sum, say $300.

The collection of mortals would simply _give_ the company $2.4 million, and after selling out to Facebook, the company... screws over the puny mortals and simply pockets it all.

Sure, the company gets to keep out the eeeeevil VC and bankers, but the little guy sees no return on their $300.

Yay?

Wait, no, we all got a shiny Oculus Rift out of the deal to play with.

<comment><USER4> You forget the 'mere mortals' working at the company. They keep their equity rather than the VC.

On the Oculus example: I got what I paid for. Did they ever say equity? Did they ever say that backers got decision making rights for a company on the financial high-wire (both IP and hardware capital expenses).

Really, I thought the outcry against Oculus just exposed how little people think through the hard choices of running a business and how entitled they feel for so little expenditure.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> What happened to 'Kickstarter is not a store' \- [https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarter-is-not-a- store](https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarter-is-not-a-store) ?

 _Offering multiple quantities of a reward is prohibited. Hardware and Product Design projects can only offer rewards in single quantities or a sensible set (some items only make sense as a pair or as a kit of several items, for instance). The development of new products can be especially complex for creators and offering multiple quantities feels premature, and can imply that products are shrink-wrapped and ready to ship._

<comment><USER6> Honestly, that seems like a completely arbitrary policy which serves no real purpose.

In general I'd stay the hell away from hardware projects on Kickstarter, but in this case Pebble has a proven track record of delivering a quality product in a reasonable time frame. I assume that gives them a little more leeway when Kickstarter is approving their campaign.

<comment><USER5> That Kickstarter policy update was in response to the rising levels of failed projects on the site. It was an attempt to fight off bad press. Of course, it turned out to be pretty toothless (Just take a look at the joke of a 'risks' section of almost any kickstarter project. That section was also introduced by this udpate).

I'd agree with you that Pebble probably have a better chance than most at delivering on their promises, but as people have commented elsewhere, Pebble are only really back on KS as a promotional exercise. This is not really comparable to most other KS projects.

Still, it's one rule for them, another for everyone else. KS are doing well out of this promo too.

Perhaps someone should go and report Pebble for their other rule-breaking? Those watch pictures at the top of the page are clearly computer renderings. " _If a simulation or photorealistic rendering is discovered after a project launches, that project will be canceled._ " :)

<comment><USER7> The risks section is great because you can tell very quickly if they've put some thought into logistics or not. No need to enforce that it's properly filled out.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I was waiting to see what Apple had in store but...oh, what the hell, I'll pull the trigger. Fact is, I'm pretty satisfied with my original KS-backer edition Pebble. Apple is going to have to have a pretty convincing story for me to charge a watch every single day. I spend enough time away from 5VDC power sources that such short battery life could become occasionally annoying.

The original Pebble does what I want it to do. In fact, it does more than it promised pre-shipping (counts steps, as one example). I'm hardly one to be brand-loyal to a watch, but ignoring late shipping to KS backers, Pebble has exceeded expectations, so I'll give them another whirl. Apple, OTOH, is going to have to do a hell of a job to convince me to spend almost twice as much on a new platform that needs daily charging. And I say this as one with a house full of Apple gear, much of it pre-ordered on the day of announcement.

<comment><USER9> I really just want a "normal" watch that has some "smart" features. I already have a sports tracker (Garmin Forerunner), and I have given up wearing my Moto360 because it's almost never useful in compelling enough ways that I don't just pull my phone out after seeing a notification ... and I have to charge it nightly.

<comment><USER10> If you want a normal watch combined with a fitbit, check out: [http://www.withings.com/us/withings- activite.html](http://www.withings.com/us/withings-activite.html)

<comment><USER11> Very sexy.

Though the band ruins it for me, as I wear my fitness tracker while doing actual fitness. The rubberized Garmin Vivofit can handle the beatings.

<comment><USER12> They do a cheaper version called Activite Pop which ships with a silicone band.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I'll admit to being disappointed. After the Pebble Steel I thought they were going to take appearances seriously, but the Pebble Time barely even looks better than the original Pebble. Maybe if they make a Pebble Time Steel it'll be the one for me (and the sales figures suggest plenty do not agree with me).

That said, kudos to them for getting it out and being independent competition to Android Wear and the Apple Watch. We need that.

<comment><USER14> Yeah it is too bad. I know many people who will not wear a smart watch if it doesn't look good. And these are people who have / wear many fashion watches of various sizes. The apple watch is the first watch that they actually like appearance wise.

At least come out with a shiny gold, brass and rose gold colored versions. Not actual gold mind you, just gold colored. There are certain market segments that love those colors.

<comment><USER15> I don't need fashionable watch. But this thing looks so childish.

<comment><USER16> I don't need a fashionable watch, but I really don't need an ugly watch. My phone tells time, shows notification, and does everything this does perfectly fine.

If it were fashionable, I'd be tempted. But it has to be at least one of useful and fashionable.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> What I think is good about this is that they are thinking of a new paradigm for UI on a wearable. For Android Wear devices it feels like Google just decided that voice was going to take care of UI, and no decisions about physical controls needed to be made. But there are two problems: voice isn't that reliable, and more importantly, there are a lot of situations where you want to use your watch but not talk to it.

<comment><USER18> I disagree with you in parts. I've a pebble while my wife has an android watch. The killer feature on the android phone is voice commands. I agree that when in public it's a privacy concern to use voice commands hence an alternative is necessary. But its incredibly convenient and useful to control your phone and watch say when you are driving or at home. It's incredibly useful to set reminders just by saying "Ok Google, Set reminder for..." etc. Btw, our native language is not english and have bit of accent although that hasn't caused any issues. The second great feature on android watch is gestures. Just swiping and tapping to control is useful than having to fiddle with 4 buttons.

However the best thing I find on the pebble is \- Battery Life, \- Readability in daylight, \- Slim and light weight.

Smart Watches are quite nascent tech and if we get to where we get ones that are amalgamation of all these features, I'll be a content man.

<comment><USER19> Basically the only things I use voice commands for is "set a timer for..." while cooking or "remind me at noon to..." when I need a time alert.

Oh, and saying "What's my name" and having Siri respond "Your name is <name>, but since we're friends I get to call you Captain James T Kirk". But that's just personal amusement.

<comment><USER20> Huh. When I ask my name, it says "Your name is <name>. That's what you told me, anyway."

Seems a lot more suspicious of me for some reason..

<comment><USER21> It's like a tamagotchi- you have to take care of it everyday for a bond to develop.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> It's interesting that they've chosen to launch the product on Kickstarter. They don't appear to need the funding structure; they're simply using it as a shop.

<comment><USER23> I'm guessing they have a understanding with Kickstarter. Pebble is guaranteed to break some records with Kickstarter and it will get great press. With competitors like GoFundMe and Indiegogo I'm sure that Kickstarter welcomed Pebble back with open arms. Good for them!

<comment><USER24> That and the 5% they get for funded projects.

<comment><USER23> I highly doubt they didn't negotiate that way down.

<comment><USER24> Does it matter? That's just how Kickstarter makes money. The idea that they wouldn't welcome Pebble because it's low-risk and somehow makes them appear more "store-like" is unrealistic.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> The killer feature here is something that no one is talking about!

>We've included a soft silicone band with each Pebble Time, but all standard 22mm watch bands will fit. All new Pebble watch bands include a quick-release pin, letting you swap bands in under 10 seconds.

Standard watch bands is something that most other wearables aren't embracing. This makes the Pebble significantly more enticing.

<comment><USER26> This is false. The Asus ZenWatch, moto360, LG G Watch, LG G watch R all use standard 22mm bands.

<comment><USER27> But not 'quick release'?

<comment><USER28> That's a feature of the band not the watch.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> It's a bland gadget. I'm really not sure about that approach. It's so cheap and uninspired. Whatever you think about the overall shape of the Apple Watch, at least it's not a bland gadget. It seems to pay meticulous attention to all the micro details that make jewelry jewlery and not a bland tech toy. (Seems to because obviously no one has looked at it in detail. But first indications are good.) This one does not.

I'm really not sure why more smart watches don't try to be actual worthy jewlery. Pebble has this really cool and really functional tech, why not pack it into something worthy of being called a watch?

<comment><USER30> You say bland, I say functional. Since my Casio data bank watch in the 90s I didn't wear a watch until I got my Pebble.

To me a watch is a tool, not a fashion accessory. I understand not everyone looks at it that way, but really I don't think there's any smartwatch that looks like an elegant timepiece anyway.

<comment><USER31> It's not a choice between bland and functional. Metal and sapphire crystal is much more robust and functional than these cheap materials.

<comment><USER30> > Metal and sapphire crystal is much more robust and functional than these > cheap materials.

The screen is Gorilla Glass and the bezel is stainless steel!

<comment><USER31> What's with the exclamation point?

Anyway, Apple is using sapphire for everything except the low end: [https://www.apple.com/watch/gallery/](https://www.apple.com/watch/gallery/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> Pretty sneaky to advertise $159 and not mention the $10 shipping which makes it $169, and KS doesn't even advertise that until you've already clicked through to the 'pledge' (aka purchase, what happened to "Kickstarter is not a store"?) page.

And now that the 'early tier' is gone (great UX on that, they took me to the credit card page, I entered my info, then they reloaded it and went "oops, that tier's full now tee-hee!"), why would you save $10 to pay them for a product that might ship 2 months later if they get around to releasing it? So, no Kickstarter for me, it's actually plus because I'll get to see real reviews and not hype.

<comment><USER33> Unless you can lock in the early bird, I don't believe there's any point in pledging. I just about scraped through and pledged $179 + $10, which puts me about $20 ahead of the final cost (assuming shipping will stay the same).

<comment><USER8> (If I downvoted you, sorry. Stupid tiny arrows on mobile, and no undo or even a way to see which way I voted.)

Meh, you get it a few months early, and they're not shipping retail until the Kickstarters are released. That, and as an original KS backer I get a special engraving I'll never, ever see. :-)

<comment><USER34> (Off topic) Is there any reason we can't undo voting on HN (like we can do on Reddit)?

<comment><USER35> Especially since post editing is allowed, though maybe post editing could just drop the votes or something.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> I've owned an original pebble for a couple weeks now, but I'm still skeptical on their usefulness. I save maybe 5-10 minutes of time per week by being able to check the weather forecast or dismiss non-urgent emails and texts using my watch instead of having to pull my phone out of my pocket, but that's about the only benefit I'm seeing so far.

Maybe a smartwatch would be more useful to me if I was more popular and had calendar events to keep track of or more friends who contacted me regularly, but as your typical socially-isolated introvert software engineer, this thing seems to have limited utility.

<comment><USER37> For me its not necessarily a raw measure of just time saved.

I realized that the physical habit that we've all developed of pulling our phones, unlocking , checking time or messages etc is a really really annoying physical habit.

It's disruptive and awkward to do, interrupts conversations or basic interactions with things in your environment.

A two handed fumbling time check/message check becomes a no handed operation with a smart watch.

I don't actually check my messages any more often, in fact less, since the notification is actually much more obvious then phones chirping in a pocket and my decision about whether to handle the information now or later is just much more quick and fluent.

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> The main value prop over the Apple Watch and current Android wear appears to be the battery life. They're advertising over 7 days on a charge, which is certainly better than whatever the Apple Watch will be in terms of battery life. I just worry about the market for apps after the introduction of apple's watch around the same time.

<comment><USER39> Actually, they're saying "up to" 7 days which is obnoxious because that could mean anything.

<comment><USER40> But probably more than the almost-a-day the Apple Watch is likely going to get.

Being able to sleep with your watch on most nights of the week is a bigger deal than a lot of people realize.

<comment><USER41> personally, i don't like wearing my watch when i sleep.

<comment><USER40> There's still the drag of having to remember to recharge it every night, even if you're taking it off.

I experience this now that I've gone from the XBox 360 to the PS4. The XBox 360 battery lasted what seemed like forever. I would go a week or two without even thinking of plugging it in to charge. The PS4 controller battery life is so bad you have to plug it back in every time you're done playing.

I've had many people say "what's the big deal, just plug it in, are you lazy or what", but it is noticeably irritating.

<comment><USER7> PS3 controller also lasts forever. It's weird how much they regressed on that front.

But it glows!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER42> I agree that Kickstarter isn't a store. It's an informercial platform optimized for hype and maximally dumping risks onto your customers.

I am a fan of Pebble, but I find this campaign on Kickstarter (after an already successful Kickstarter and three years of continued success), to be both excellent marketing and an utter disgrace to the goals that Kickstarter once stood for.

</comment><comment><USER43> I think animated transitions are the skeuomorphism of 2015.

Mind you, I'm technically impressed that an E-Ink display can now be animated, but I can't wait for the end of the animated UI boom.

<comment><USER44> Isn't the Pebble using E-Paper and not E-Ink? Wikipedia says the original Pebble used an 144×168 pixel Sharp Memory LCD ([http://www.sharpmemorylcd.com/1-26-inch-memory- lcd.html](http://www.sharpmemorylcd.com/1-26-inch-memory-lcd.html))

<comment><USER45> Correct. E-ink screens don't have a FPS anywhere near what is displayed in the video, and there wasn't any screen refreshing. The Pebble is using a LCD with no backlight, the terminology is slightly confusing.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER46> Looks like this will finally get me to jump on the smartwatch bandwagon; the original Pebble didn't really do it for me. The new interface is looking great and the week worth of battery is nice, especially since most LCD smart watches need to be charged every night.

<comment><USER47> I have to admit they did a good job with the new watch, adding color is great and still having the week of battery is huge. I was one of the early supporter for the first Pebble and have zero regret. It did convinced me of how useful a smart watch can be. I will be a little bit sad when replacing it with the Apple Watch when it comes out: I decided to change ship, but the Pebble will always have a special spot.

It's great to see they have a strong supporter base, and that will force Apple and others to stay active and compete.

I will for sure miss the long lasting battery of my Pebble!

<comment><USER48> You talk good about the Pebble Watch but still you want to replace it with an Apple Watch. Are there any interesting reasons for this decision you might want to share?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER49> Aaand they're already funded ($775k out of $500k at this moment). That was quick.

Edit: To clarify, it was already at $775k at 16:27 CET.

<comment><USER50> going up at ~ $1000/second, as I've watched.

<comment><USER51> It's currently trending towards a cool 68 million dollars:

[http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/597507018/pebble-time- aweso...](http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/597507018/pebble-time-awesome- smartwatch-no-compromises/)

<comment><USER52> Hmm are there even enough levels for them to reach that goal?

<comment><USER53> Nope.. Adding up all the tiers up totals a maximum of $9,550,000, for a total of 56k watches.

Interesting that they didn't design this to break their 10.2M record of the first campaign. I'd bet they are going to increase the slots or or announce addons for the pledges to go for it. At this rate they are going to be sold out in a couple hours, if that.

<comment><USER54> I'm sure someone at Kickstarter would be happy to _immediately_ add a new tier for them if they max out.

<comment><USER53> They should be able to do that themselves (I've seen a lot of projects adding tiers in the middle of campaigns, you can't remove/change existing tiers).

Kickstarter shouldn't be able to add new tiers by themselves, as they have no say what the price/rewards should be. The current tiers are likely (hopefully) carefully planned based on their manufacturing plans and how many watches they can fulfill in the schedule given.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER55> Anybody know which display technology they're using? It kind of looks like Qualcomm's Mirasol from the videos.

<comment><USER56> Here's my guess: [http://www.pcworld.com/article/2842092/sharp-smartband- lcd-u...](http://www.pcworld.com/article/2842092/sharp-smartband-lcd- uses-1000-times-less-power.html)

* Original Pebble used greyscale version of same tech from Sharp.

* Available in 1 inch size.

* In production spring 2015.

</comment></comment><comment><USER57> I'll get one if the $159 pledge becomes available again, but I'm really looking forward to the "Steel" version of this watch. This is one aspect of the watch that Apple is getting right from the very first iteration. It needs to look sexy and make you want to wear even when the battery is dead.

</comment><comment><USER58> How did they get the e-ink display so fast? Or is the video only an explanation of how it works (and therefore not real)?

<comment><USER59> It's not e-ink, it's "e-paper". A power-efficient display, but not the stuff you get on Kindles. I wish they wouldn't mislead people _again_ with this.

</comment></comment><comment><USER60> "We will ship Pebble Time worldwide, with the exception of Cuba, Myanmar/Burma, Iran, Sudan, Syria, and Russia."

Russia?

<comment><USER19> Doesn't the US still have an embargo on Russia for the whole Ukraine thing?

I find Cuba to be interesting. I thought we ended that embargo in December.

<comment><USER8> The embargo might have ended, but perhaps all of the details are not yet in place to make it practical. Customs forms need to be reprinted (whether paper or electronic). Are UPS and other carriers ready to go? And so on. An entire generation of US businesses and people have never done business with Cuba, that isn't going to change overnight...or even in a few months.

Or maybe the Pebble founders just don't like Fidel.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER61> I'm extremely torn. On one hand (or rather, on one wrist) I have the pebble steel and I LOVE it, couldn't imagine going back. But on the other wrist I have an iPhone and the pebble works better with Android ATM so the Apple Watch looks attractive. Back to the first wrist, the pebble has much better battery life and is cheaper than the even the lowest priced Apple Watch...

Edit: Ok, I pulled the trigger, I can always get a refund or just resell it if the Apple Watch blows it away or something like that.

<comment><USER62> The Apple Watch will be better with strong competition. It's great that there's a company that spends all day thinking about making a better watch.

Anyway, you'll need to wear something while your Apple Watch is charging. :-)

<comment><USER61> Agreed and if the rumors on iPhone battery life are true [0] (which they probably are) then you're right, I'll need something for when my Apple Watch is charging lol.

[0] [http://9to5mac.com/2015/01/22/apple-targets-for-apple- watch-...](http://9to5mac.com/2015/01/22/apple-targets-for-apple-watch- battery-life-revealed-a5-caliber-cpu-inside/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER63> I'm still rocking my original Pebble. I really wanted to upgrade to the Steel, but I figured I would just wait for the 2nd (3rd?) gen. to come out. Now it looks like I'll be waiting even longer, until they come out with the TimeSteel, or whatever they will call it. Kudos on the awesome updates, but the watch body just looks terrible to me. BTW, they raised a cool $100k in the time it took me to watch the video. That's just crazysauce.

</comment><comment><USER64> FWIW, I have a regular pebble, and was a KS backer from the first campaign. I'm considering a second backing, mainly because the delivery date is may 2015, which is probably late enough that I'd be in the market for a new one anyway, and the promise to have a special something for double backers is a nice touch.

Personally, I use my pebble for just about whatever you'd think. It's nice to control my music (don't laugh- the nexus 6 is a pain to take out of my pocket just to change tracks), to have a quiet and personal alert of important emails, (the notification is a lot less noticeable by other people than the buzz of a vibrating phone) and to have ridiculous watchfaces.

QR code of the current time in a watchface. My favorite! [https://github.com/TrueJournals/pebble- qrwatch](https://github.com/TrueJournals/pebble-qrwatch)

Finally, Android L has this nice new trusted-bluetooth-device notion, so when I'm wearing the pebble, I don't have to unlock the phone. I know it's a bit of a security risk, but it is one I'm willing to take.

</comment><comment><USER65> The refresh rate on the e-paper is impressive. I remember some first- generation ereaders that required a whole second to refresh a page.

<comment><USER66> Pebble has never used E-ink, despite all the confusion in the media (not that Pebble was in a hurry to rectify it, since it played to its advantage). The color one doesn't look like E-ink now either. They used some transflective PixelQi-like displays in the past, but not sure if they're using an upgraded version of that now (with color!) or something like Mirasol, and they are just naming it the same.

<comment><USER67> Ahh, and I was most excited about the new E-Ink tech I thought they were showing off in those GIFs. Hopefully something like it can come to the Kindle eventually. Would be great for comic reading (and the animations are so smooth!).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER68> I got the Pebble for Christmas and wondered if I needed it, but it does a really good job on a few simple things. It tells you whether that buzz you just felt on your phone was a text or important email or just a Snapchat. A few other features, but that simple thing is by far the best part about it.

</comment><comment><USER69> We are developing a smart sensor strap for Pebble time: check it out: [http://www.gethbeats.com/](http://www.gethbeats.com/) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWqbaX94_lA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWqbaX94_lA)

<comment><USER70> Your site is fairly low on information, mind if I ask a few questions?

So this would be a replacement 'watch band' for the Pebble Time, which provides biometric data to it? Your website seems to suggest it'll work with any device, will it still interface with the "smart accessory port" on the Time? Do you have advance information about the protocol/form-factor that the sensors, or are you going to finalize that part of the design once it's available? Also, I'm not sure I understand why it's called "contactless".

Seems very interesting though. It seems most wearables lean either towards "interface for your phone" or "fitness device", so something that boosts the Pebble's biometric tracking could be pretty cool.

<comment><USER71> Yep,replacement strap. We were devloping it to work with any device, but now with "accessory port" on Time, we will be able to leverage the battery and data connection to watch, which simplify the design.

@Contactless: we are developing a new sensor technology for measuring HR which will not be in contact with the skin(like optical sensors/bio-impedance metal stubs). This means that the sensor is embedded inside the silicone strap as you can see in the demo video.

Any suggestions ? pls mail me : firstname.lastname@example.com

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER72> I am studying at Waterloo, I love Pebble and while this is exciting news, I wish they had made the screen's margins thiner. The watch looks like a toy and is certainly not on par (design-wise) with other watches on the market. I hope it will work well for them though!

</comment><comment><USER73> Is it just me, or does it look like he's squeezing the buttons fairly hard in the timeline demo images? I suppose you have to make the buttons firm enough to prevent accidental presses but I would hope that you could use the buttons with one figure comfortably.

<comment><USER74> I can't recall ever wearing a watch with buttons on the side that I could press without "squeezing" the watch

<comment><USER73> You may be right, I never got into the habit of wearing a watch myself.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER75> Awesome! The first thing I noticed was the battery life - 7 days (like the original). I'm buying it :).

In the video, Eric makes a very good point - most smart-watches are trying to replace the phone, but instead should focus on what's critical to a watch - Time.

</comment><comment><USER76> I'm glad they went with ePaper, but I think I'll hold off until the battery life has developed to be quite a bit better (lasts a few months on a single charge?). The biggest value prop to having information on a watch to me is that I never have to think about charging my watch so I can always rely on it having the information I need. I don't recall ever replacing a watch battery and I'm looking forward to when smartwatches reach that kind of longevity.

Considering my Kindle lasts over a month on a single charge, I'd be thrilled to have an e-ink watch that showed me a listing of notifications and the time that lasts just as long.

<comment><USER30> > I think I'll hold off until the battery life ... (lasts a few months on a > single charge?)

You'll be waiting a very long time.

> Considering my Kindle lasts over a month on a single charge

Your Kindle isn't maintaining a bluetooth connection to your phone or updating the screen frequently, and has a much larger battery than a watch.

> I never have to think about charging my watch so I can always rely on it > having the information I need.

With the Pebble you don't have to worry about it either. It notifies you when it's getting low (has a day or two of battery life remaining) and you charge it when you get the chance. And if you don't have time to give it a full charge, in my experience with just 10-15 minutes charging time you'll get a few more days of use.

I agree with your sentiment about battery life though. It's why I don't understand why anyone would even consider any smartwatch besides Pebble. Fall asleep without charging your _watch_ one night and you can't wear it the next day? That's crazy. It also means you can't really use your watch as an alarm if you need to charge it each night.

<comment><USER76> Oh I don't know if it will be all that long.

[http://www.withings.com/us/withings- activite.html](http://www.withings.com/us/withings-activite.html) seems to be able to track and synchronize physical activity with my phone, runs on CR-2025 for 8 months. Don't know how they pull it off, but an inventive UI/watch interface to show me notification information like this one might be the ticket.

<comment><USER30> That is pretty impressive if it can really get 8 months on a battery while maintaining a bluetooth connection! Of course, this is quite a different category of product as it doesn't have a screen and just has normal watch hands.

Still, you're asking for an order of magnitude improvement in battery life, so I'll assert again that you'll be waiting a while :) I think you should relax your position, since imo there's really not much difference in having to charge a battery for 30 mins to an hour once a week vs once a month. You still rarely need to worry about your battery, which is qualitatively different than Apple or Android watches that you need to charge once a day or they die on you.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER77> It's 2PM CST on launch day and they already have preorders for nearly 30,000 units. It's really a cool thing to see considering that 5 years ago this situation wouldn't exist.

</comment><comment><USER66> What's that "e-paper" screen technology they are using?

<comment><USER19> It's an LCD without a backlight.

<comment><USER78> pretty sure it's not that. color e-paper tech has been in the works for years now

<comment><USER79> Nope, the refresh rate is clearly too high. Compare with amazon's newest Kindle e-ink, quick animations are not possible with ink yet, and there is ghosting. Also, deducing from the battery life of 7 days ONLY, this doesn't look like eInk, which would last for weeks or longer, since it does not require power at all to keep contents on the screen. However, I have to admit that their display is the most interesting part of the watch.

<comment><USER78> well the thing is this thing has to stay connected to bluetooth the entire time, so that's part of the battery. The animations are also 3 frames or so... so maybe it's fine.

I think the ghosting comes from not explicitly setting bits. with the color e-ink screen you're probably resetting a lot of things, so even if ghosting is present, it's not very visible (especially after a lot of changes)

Looking at this closely though this _does_ remind me of something like the GBC screen. This might just be LCD.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER80> I have to think that Pebble, and most other smart watches, are going to get crushed by the Apple Watch. iOS has an amazing ecosystem of developers that enhance the value proposition of owning iOS-based products to the point where literally no one can compete. People argue over the size of the smart watch market, but whatever it is, Apple will take a huge chunk of it. I see Pebble faltering before the end of the year, so I wouldn't want to buy one at this point.

</comment><comment><USER52> I'm glad they're continuing to iterate on their product. This is certainly a nice improvement. Though I don't really understand the insistence of putting buttons on a watch that are used to interact with the thing. Pressing buttons, on the side of a watch and on your wrist while doing anything but standing still is always really awkward.

I was really hoping their v2 would have axed the buttons. I would be very tempted to pick one up if they did but oh well.

<comment><USER81> I actually love the buttons.

I can change the current song or take a call while on the bike without taking the of the road, just because I know where the press. This would not be possible with a touch screen. If I want to do stuff where a touch screen would come in handy I take out my phone anyway.

<comment><USER52> Whenever I went for a walk or run and tried to use the buttons it always felt awkward and cumbersome. I'd rather have buttons on my headphones or something that's really easy and obvious to hit (such at tapping the screen or something).

I mean the Android Wear watches can do this (so it's possible) but it's not always the most intuitive either.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER82> Mmm, this looks awesome. Now, I'm just hoping for an update to Pebble Steel so that I can have a metal pebble with a color display and timeline. Would be awesome!

All the best,

</comment><comment><USER83> 3 million dollars and they can't hire an industrial designer to make it look like something other than a preschool toy? They feel like a bunch of developers competing against Apple. No offense intended, I'm a developer myself. I think they'll have more and better features, since that is how developers think, but you need to look good to really capture all the consumers.

<comment><USER19> Have you ever seen a normal watch? Like a Wal-Mart, off-the-shelf Timex? They're hideous. Absolutely atrocious. If people want a nice looking watch, they buy a Rolex or a Tag. What people get from a Timex is a functional watch that is easy to read, relatively oops-resistant (can take some damage and go under water without breaking), and has some features they really need. A $500 Rolex probably doesn't have a stopwatch with a lap counter, but that $10 Timex sure does.

There's precedent in the watch-world to not care what the watch looks like. Watches are not always fashion items, which is why the watch section exists in Wal Mart. I keep hearing people say "it doesn't look as nice as the Apple Watch or Android Wear" (personally, the Apple Watch looks awful), but if you're looking for features over fashion, this is the device for you.

<comment><USER84> A $10 watch and a several hundred dollar smart watch are two very different animals. When Pebble first came out it was new and innovative so first adopters bought it regardless of appearance. Now they're competing in a field that's getting more competitive every day. The poster isn't saying they should trade functionality for appearance, they're saying Pebble should at least put some effort towards design to appeal to the non-first adopters who care at least a little about appearance.

PS used low end Rolex watches start at several thousand

<comment><USER19> I guess that goes to show what I know about the watch market. One of the other guys who responded with a bunch of watch manufacturers had the gall to accuse _me_ of blabbering, when I barely understood half the words he said.

At any rate, I don't think the smartwatch market _is_ getting more competitive. All we're seeing is the same watch being released over and over again by Samsung, Motorola, LG, and Apple. Exact same watch. Touchscreen (for no reason), all glass and metal (when we have that on phones, we wrap it in plastic and rubber), and a 12 hour battery life. They're putting a smartphone on your wrist, but worse. There's no one competing with Pebble, who is developing _actual_ smart watches.

They had the Pebble Steel, and there's nothing saying they won't make a Steel version of this one, too.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER85> I've been using my Pebble I got from UIUC when they gave hundreds away:

[https://blog.getpebble.com/2013/12/16/pebbling-schools-in- th...](https://blog.getpebble.com/2013/12/16/pebbling-schools-in-the-name-of- awesome/)

It was some good marketing, because I just bought a new one because I loved it so much.

</comment><comment><USER86> > Works with iPhone, Samsung and Android.

So I guess I won't be buying this one either, doesn't work with my 1520!

</comment><comment><USER87> Whatever about the product, their timing is spot on. Not that it will really make much of a dent in the Apple Watch sales, I'm sure there are a lot of people who'll get this now instead. Major differences, battery life & price do make this a tempting product.

<comment><USER88> The demographics feel very different. Is it meant to compete with Apple Watch, or with Android Wear?

</comment></comment><comment><USER89> Now if it wouldn't be THAT ugly.. It even looks cheap on the movie :(

I guess i'll stick to a real watch.

</comment><comment><USER69> New Smart Sensor Strap for Pebble Time: [http://www.gethbeats.com/](http://www.gethbeats.com/)

POC: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWqbaX94_lA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWqbaX94_lA)

</comment><comment><USER90> I don't understand how this many people are supporting a new version. Anyone I've talked to who bought one was extremely disappointed with the product.

I had one to work on some prototypes about a year ago and it was nothing but frustration. Bad documentation, scattered, outdated already.. Getting code running on it was painful and most ideas were very limited by the watch abilities.

To top it off, the ios application to sync notifications was a complete joke. Bluetooth is pretty typically bad about staying connected, but the Pebble should win an award for how frustratingly often it would drop. To get it back, you must open the app or repair.

Beginning to end, a very poor experience. I get the design being pretty poor on the first version, but it seems like they didn't work very hard to fix that for v2.

Maybe I just happen to meet the only people who had these problems too, and every other person who bought one was very happy, but I'm honestly baffled.

</comment><comment><USER91> This is my next smart watch:

[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/920064946/oscilloscope-...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/920064946/oscilloscope- watch)

As soon as it ships, of course ..

</comment><comment><USER92> They are clearly trying to differenciate from Apple by using more sporty apperearance. I would have prefered more business-like layout but ended up ordering anyways. It looks very promising!

</comment><comment><USER93> Does anyone have insight into how this fits into the market? I don't understand how this isn't a strictly worse phone (given that people carry phones with them all the time).

<comment><USER94> It's a phone accessory. It lets you see and respond to things like SMS messages, caller ID, calendar reminders, etc. without taking your phone out of your pocket.

Kind of a small thing, but actually pretty handy when you're walking around or in a meeting or other places where glancing at your wrist is easier or less intrusive than using your phone.

(Plus, it tells time.)

This review goes into more detail: [http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best- smartwatch/](http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-smartwatch/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER95> "At anytime up until your watch has shipped, you may request a full refund"

Nice. I own a pebble and pebble steel. Hardly use them but the full refund policy won me over.

</comment><comment><USER96> I hope they've managed to improve the color and sharpness on color e-paper displays. The ones I've seen over the years have been rather less than vivid.

<comment><USER19> If it's anything like the old Pebble display, it's not e-ink like we would see in a Kindle. They call it e-paper, but it's really a low-power LCD with no backlight. There's no problem making an LCD full color.

</comment></comment><comment><USER97> $2million in an hour.

Is that a record?

(What else has sold anywhere near this fast?)

<comment><USER98> I don't think it's fair to consider this campaign as any sort of 'record'. Pebble is an already successful company with a history of success using Kickstarter as a store. If Apple decided to release the iPhone 7 on Kickstarter it would also break a ridiculous amount of records, but it's still not really 'fair'.

</comment></comment><comment><USER99> The amount is increasing by around $2-3k every second!! This ones going to beat every kickstarter record out there!

</comment><comment><USER100> Man, I wish they'd just release their firmware as open source. And get rid of the 8 app limit.

</comment><comment><USER101> To see in realtime the figures increasing like that in the page is sort of scaring.

<comment><USER102> Definitely. During the time it took me to watch the video, the counter went up 100,000$

</comment></comment><comment><USER103> Does anyone know how you are going to go about charing this device? MicroUSB?

<comment><USER104> I'd go with the four metal dots visible on the back (some connectir unique to the watch)

</comment></comment><comment><USER105> $6.2 M and 31 days to go. Wow. This is definitely a successful campaign.

</comment><comment><USER106> What I like about Pebble- Display + Battery + Cross-platform support.

</comment><comment><USER107> How much money do you think they are going to raise? I think $25M.

</comment><comment><USER108> 7-Day Battery life. Why does no other smartwatch offer this?

<comment><USER109> Possibly because the others aren't using e-paper.

</comment></comment><comment><USER110> Kickstarter, the pre-order website for the rest of us...

</comment><comment><USER111> I hope they reduce the price of orginal pebble. ;-)

</comment><comment><USER112> Honestly I find it real hard to believe that they sold over 13K pebbles in less than an hour. imho it doesn't make sense.

They have a great product, but not 13K / 60 min great

<comment><USER13> The evidence suggests otherwise.

<comment><USER112> 1\. We don't know of 13K different ppl bought it or if just 1K different ppl. 2\. Don't you think that it's great marketing both for pebble and KS?

I still find it hard to believe this numbers, but I might be wrong...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER113> new interface is probably the basis for touch screen interaction in 3rd gen

</comment><comment><USER114> Scrolling among items (up/down) as demonstrated needs to be changed.

</comment><comment><USER115> Black ops 2

</comment><comment><USER116> It seems everyone and their brother wants this, but

> _up to 7 days of battery_

is a deal breaker for me; when/how do you recharge a watch? Isn't the point of a watch to never go off your wrist?

I'm old enough to wear a watch (and to not remember a time when I didn't) and having to thing about recharging it would kill the whole watch experience for me...

<comment><USER117> Is the idea that you have a second battery and swap them out or are they going to have a charging stand you put it on the charge at night time?

</comment></comment><comment><USER118> Innovation! A watch that tells time!

I sure hope the previous model told time as well ... but they seem to really be pushing the angle this time 'round. What with literally calling it Time.

The future is now.

<comment><USER59> Oh come on Swizec ;). You have to give them credit, they're apparently the only smartwatch brand that doesn't suck. I like that there is at least one company that, as opposed to Apple, seems to care about providing a useful tool instead of a fashion piece.

</comment></comment><comment><USER119> God why is this thing so fugly. I thought with the advent of the Moto 360, smartwatches would become at least what watches were before: jewelry, sadly the pebble time even lags behind the pebble steel</comment>


How an Engineer Earned 1.25 Million Air Miles By Buying Pudding - <AUTHOR> http://gizmodo.com/how-an-engineer-earned-1-25-million-air-miles-by-buying-1339646546

<comment><USER2> There is extensive discussion of this story elsewhere on HN, but I'm on my crappy mobile for which HNSearch doesn't work, so I can't find it for you. As I recall, it was moderately interesting.

<comment><USER3> [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6404563](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6404563)

<comment><AUTHOR> Sorry, didn't know it already was there - I thought it was new.

<comment><USER3> That's alright, it's the first time I'm reading it today too.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Reasons to Travel While You're Young - <AUTHOR> http://goinswriter.com/travel-young/

<comment><USER2> I wish I followed this advice. I'm turned thirty today, have a 1 year old, and make more money than I thought I would at this age (poor background).

I thought with the career, money, and family, I'd be much more free to travel. Consequently, the anxiety associated with traveling with a small child is my "yeah, but".

We go to NY and other domestic locations (subconsciously feel safer and less risk than abroad?), but I feel like I missed my window to go to more adventurous places.

</comment><comment><USER3> Great advice, as long as you've been born in a fairly privileged part of the world.

<comment><AUTHOR> Nomadic matt has some amazing tips on traveling with less cash in hand.</comment></comment>


[DigitalOcean] Credit Expiration Update - <AUTHOR> Original e-mail: http://pastebin.com/enmCYWbH
I spent a lot of time getting referral credits on DigitalOcean. I was saving the credits for a long time and just a couple of months ago I started using droplets. And now they are going to expire.
I feel cheated. I never asked to get stuff for free, and I didn't. I got them a few paid customers and even recommended the service for my employer who host quite a few things there.
Am I being immature? I feel like they got what they needed from me. I'll be moving my stuff if this really happens. Not by choice but because after taxes and monetary conversion I would be paying about 4 times that if I host in my country. I choosed DO because if I start getting more traffic I would be able to trust that my servers would work. Hosting in my country is really bad (no infrastructure). So yes I wasn't trying to abuse the credits and move away. It was a business decision. A badly one. <comment><USER2> This is likely an accounting decision by DO, no more no less. They simply don't want to have indefinite liabilities on the books.

Email them and ask them nicely if they will replace your expiring credit with a 12 month customer goodwill credit. Evangelists at tech companies can give those out like candy.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah I don't feel like begging right now. Now that I think about it I'm more pissed that I realized. Might as well convice all the customers I brought to move on too.

They offered an option to withdraw the money (Paypal) but I was trying to show support and left the credits there. I won't make the same mistake again.

So I guess I answered my own questions. I am being immature about it, like these companies complaining that Twitter cut API access. I should have known better.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> It's the same reason why companies give unlimited vacation or demote it into sick pay if you don't use it. Otherwise, people would accrue credit for years and years, and there'd be millions of dollars on the books in liabilities.

Similarly, if you write someone a check and they never cash it, it stays on your books as a liability. Your state government usually runs a service where they'll hold the cash for you and assume the liability. If you run through your old books and remember a check that you never cashed 60 years ago, you can sometimes find it from the government.

Unless you're running a bank or insurance company whose entire purpose in life is managing liabilities, companies don't like leaving liabilities on the books for extended periods of time. It's a different story if you charged someone's credit card for the credits, because there's an asset to balance it out.

</comment><comment><USER4> Original support request: 2016-03-31

Subject: Credit expiring soon- your assistance is appreciated

Hello there! I have $100 of credit with you. I just found out on an email that it will be expiring in a month due to a new policy. Is there any way to prevent this credit from expiring?

Thanks for your help and consideration!

       Reply from (Support Team) Yesterday at 7:09 PM

Thanks for reaching out! We certainly understand your concern here, as we're just beginning to enforce the expiration of unused credit after making the change last year. We see that you haven't used DigitalOcean or the account credit just yet; while we're not able to change the expiration date for credits, or allow credit to expire more than a year in the future, we'll be glad to add another $10.00 credit to your account as a one-time courtesy to help you get started. Moving forward, however, please note that any unused balance from promo credits (including this one) will expire 12 months after being redeemed.

Let us know if you have any other questions and we'll be happy to help!

Platform Support Specialist

<comment><USER5> I got 60$ (from 110$) from them.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Got the same thing a week after I started using DO, very reasonable for them to do this but now I'll be transferring my domains and servers over to AWS.

</comment><comment><USER7> Wait -- so you're saying that if I add $20 to my account via credit card, it'll expire after a year?

<comment><USER8> No it's limited to promotional and referral credit from what I've read in their TOS.

<comment><USER7> Ah, see, that's okay. Phew!</comment></comment></comment>