After months of waiting, my Pebble watch is finally here!
This was my first Kickstarter project. I opted for the US$115 option, which comes with a Jet Black Pebble watch and US$15 shipping fee for delivery to Singapore.
Here's some photographs...
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| The environmentally-friendly packaging which the Pebble came in... |
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| How the Pebble watch is packaged... |
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| Kickstarter edition! Also indicates its waterproof capabilities of 5 atm. |
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| Fits snugly on my wrist. Background shows the magnetic two point charger that is proprietary with Pebble, to allow for its waterproofing. |
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| Updated 24 March 2013: Simple watchface showing the date and time |
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| Updated 24 March 2013: This watchface is pretty cool. Can you figure out how to tell the time? ;) |
Functions
As of now, the Pebble has only preliminary functions, such as watch, alarm, controlling of music from the watch, and phone notifications showing the number calling. For controlling of music, it allows skipping of tracks, starting and stopping of songs and does not allow volume control. As for phone notifications, it allows you to decide whether or not to pick up the call. You will have to use your phone or bluetooth headset, should you wish to talk to the caller.
Needs upgrading to iOS6 for notifications
After upgrading my iOS on my iPhone 4 to iOS6, it allowed me to configure my notifications such that email notifications showed up also on my Pebble screen. From my limited tests carried out so far, I have not managed to get the other alerts such as calendar, sms, Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter etc. I am not sure if the Android version is better since it appears that some open source programs have already been written and are available for Android users.
Concerns
My battery was flat within 2 days of wearing it after an initial charge of about 2 hours. After researching on the internet, it seems like some users are also facing issues with shorter battery life of 1-2 days (as opposed to 7+ days in the specs). I am monitoring this and will update again when I have had more time with the Pebble.
Also, I am not sure if it is my imagination, but I felt some tingling sensation/numbness on my left upper arm after just half an hour of wearing it and with the bluetooth on. Am I hypersensitive to bluetooth waves or what? In any case, I will have to test that again.
Initial impressions
Smart looking watch + cool factor with untapped potential.
Need to iron out the teething problems such as notifications, more applications such as Runkeeper, and longer battery life to make this worthwhile.
Posts which you may be interested too
- My further impressions with the Pebble Watch...
- Initial impressions with Tinke in Singapore - keeping my health and fitness in check
- For the Lego Fan
Kickstarter editions are available now from Amazon resellers
Updated 5 May 2013: Community developed pebble watchfaces on mypebblefaces.com !
Updated 8 May 2013: I can now use Runkeeper on my Pebble!
