Why I’m excited about a new Pebble smartwatch – and what Apple could learn from Pebble’s rebirth
As smartwatches do more, they become more complicated and demanding. The new Pebble smartwatch could buck the trend and reimagine the industry all over again
I was torn on the original Apple Watch. It was great that Apple tried something new (at least, to Apple). And I saw value in alerts, exercise tracking and Lifeline… (aka the one good Apple Watch game – there are now a handful more). I was less keen on regularly almost accidentally punching someone in the face due to the exaggerated wrist flick required to activate the screen to find out the time. And even today, the device elicits mixed feelings through trying to do too much. I sometimes can’t help wishing it was simpler. Which makes it a pity I missed out on the Pebble. Fortunately, it looks like a new Pebble smartwatch is on the way.
The original Pebble was funded on Kickstarter and rocked up (oho) in 2013. It wasn’t the first smartwatch – but it was arguably the first one that mattered. However, I was at that point two decades deep into not wearing a watch at all. I’d never been a fan of the things, and once I started carting about a mobile phone, that was enough for keeping time. Before that, I was at university and, well, I went to art college. No one cared much about time-keeping there.
Set in stone
In hindsight, this was something I regretted. Avoiding the Pebble, that is, not going to art college. But now there’s a reasonable chance I’ll soon be able to immerse myself in Pebble joy without having access to a time machine – or resorting to eBay and risking a wag shipping me a rock in a box rather than a second-hand Pebble. This triumphant comeback comes courtesy of Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky and, in a rare moment of remembering its old motto, a temporarily not-evil Google.
Dissatisfied with modern smartwatches, Migicovsky has apparently been mulling over creating a new one for some time. But he feared writing the software from scratch could scupper his plans. So he asked Google whether PebbleOS could be released from the vaults the company acquired when it ate Fitbit – which itself had previously consumed Pebble. To everyone’s surprise, Google said yes and has now open-sourced PebbleOS, ready for clever coding folks to massage it with their magic hands (I’m pretty sure that’s technically how software is made) and inject the result into shiny new hardware.
Only the new Pebble smartwatch won’t be new in every sense. Because that’s kind of the point.
Rock the boat
I’m excited about Migicovsky’s vision for the new Pebble smartwatch, because it’s all about focus and sustainability. We need more tech that isn’t trying to do everything at once. Not everyone needs an iPhone on their wrist. In much the same way as I’m getting back into CDs and mulling over an e-reader, I like the idea of a smartwatch that does only what’s really important and necessary.
Migicovsky talks of an e-paper display that’s reflective, thereby working in sunlight, and that doesn’t look like you’ve a tiny distracting torch glued to your wrist. Of battery life measured in weeks rather than days (or hours). Of a small number of vital features – time, alerts, weather, music and step tracking – with simple interactions and physical buttons to activate them. But also of integration with modern smartphones and customisation that lets you make the device your own.
Which isn’t to say I want to hurl my Apple Watch into traffic just yet. Definitely not before I complete today’s rings anyway. But competition can make existing players rethink. My current Apple Watch no longer demands an exaggerated wrist flick to use its display. If the new Pebble – Nebble? – can convince Apple to iterate further and steal its best ideas on things like battery life, simplicity and customisation, I won’t complain. Or maybe I’ll switch. Either way, perhaps this time round Pebble won’t be taken for granite.
Craig Grannell
Contributor 
