Smartwatches have been on the scene for the last couple years and they're picking up speed fast. Now that Apple has joined the bandwagon it is not just a geeky or nerdy thing to wear a smartwatch, it's fashion. Other big names have been pushing out smart watches like Samsung, Sony, Motorola, and LG. But there's a lesser known name that's been there since the beginning: Pebble.
Pebble started as a Kickstarter project back in 2012 and were immensely successful with their first smartwatch: The Pebble. 
It was a simple companion for your smart phone that didn't try too hard to do too much. They had so much success with the Pebble that they were able to create a next generation called the Pebble Steel.
Hardware
The new design of the Pebble Steel allows it to look more refined than the original Pebble without drawing too much attention to itself. With its metal frame and its leather band, the Steel feels both sturdy and premium at the same time.
The watch does come with two bands; a genuine leather band and a metal link band. The metal band feels a little cheap and tends to pull my arm hairs while wearing it. I prefer the leather band because it is light and very comfortable. I did get another band with my Pebble that is a heavier, more premium feeling band that looks very nice, but I still prefer the leather. 
The Pebble has a total of four buttons. It is not touch screen, so the buttons serve as navigation tools. The button on the left is a Home/Back button, the middle button on the right is the Menu/Select button, and the up and down buttons on the right are... well... up and down buttons.
The watch is water proof up to 5 meters. Although, if you plan to leave your watch on while you shower, I'd advise to switch out the leather band for a metal one.
There is also a place on the left side for magnetic charging cable to snap on. Conveniently, the cable uses a USB connection to plug into any charger you already have or a computer or laptop.
Software
Here's the basics of the Pebble: the watch can store up to 8 "slots". These slots can be filled with extra watch faces or apps. You use the Pebble app on your device to download and install these apps and faces and when your 8 slots are full they are saved to your "locker", which allows the apps or faces to be switched out with ease using the app.
Because Pebble has been around for a while and it is open source there are tons of watch faces and apps available. Some apps include RunKeeper, Evernote, Foursquare, Yelp and a lot more. There's also games similar to Tetris, Flappy Bird, and Snake and there are endless pages of watch faces; anybody can find one to suit their personality.
One of the best features of the Pebble is that, unlike many other smart watches, it works with Android and iOS! I was able to test my Pebble on both of these platforms and was happy with each one.
Overall, the Pebble feels great on iOS or Android. But, typical of Apple, it feels like the Pebble doesn't use its full capabilities when connected to the iPhone. Setting up the connection is simple and using the iOS or Android Pebble app makes it very easy to add or remove watch faces or apps. But the watch feels held back when it comes to notifications on the iPhone. When you receive a text the watch vibrates and you see who sent the text and the message itself. The only option then is to dismiss the message.
When using an android device you are given the option to open the message on the phone, dismiss, or reply. You can reply with an emoji, or a preselected answer(I.e. Yes, no, ok, thanks, on my way etc.) OR you can create 5 custom responses and reply with a genuine response without even having to use your phone at all. I found these quick responses very useful. One other neat feature that is only available on the Android app is that ability to choose which apps send notifications to the Pebble. On iPhone, all notifications that would show up in the Notification Center come to the Pebble. Basically, that means that if you want it to be notified on your phone, you're going to be notified on your watch. Whereas with Android, your phone can still create notifications without sending them to your watch. For example... I like to see, on my phone, who all liked my Instagram posts, but I don't want my watch buzzing every 30 seconds letting me know someone liked my picture.
Battery Life
I don't think people really want one more thing they have to charge all the time. And that's what makes the Pebble great. A lot of smart watches will drain the battery in the course of a single day, but the Pebble can go multiple days without dying. I was able to get 5 full days use out of the watch with my iPhone. I did have a different result when using my LG G2. I don't know if it was because I was responding to texts through the watch a lot or what, but I was only able to get about 2 full days from the watch. But, that is still better than charging every night! And the charging time is very short on the watch because the battery is so small. There's a pretty good reason why the battery last so long, and it leads me to my next topic...
Display
The Pebble uses something called an e-paper display. It is very similar to the screen used on the Kindles called e-ink, just with a faster refresh rate for better animations. The watch face is always on, unlike other smart watches where the screen only turns on when you turn your wrist to look at it (and sometimes not even then). The face does have a back light that is used depending on if it's bright or dark out. I found that it's nice to have the screen on all the time so that you can glance at the watch if you need, and you don't have to perform a certain motion to see the time. Obviously this display does have drawbacks. It's not color, it doesn't make the face look like a "real" watch, and you can't view or take photos with it. And that thought leads me to my conclusion....
Conclusion
What is the purpose of a smartwatch? Is it supposed to replace your phone? Is it any better to look at a screen on your wrist than take the screen out of your pocket? I think the Pebble does a great job at finding the right balance for a smartwatch. It's there to alert you to what is happening on your phone; it's not there to replace your phone. If you want to text, and take pictures, and send emails from your wrist then this watch is not for you.
So then you may ask... "Ryan, why did you get a smartwatch?" I got it because I couldn't even count the number of times a day I would get my phone out of my pocket for no reason, just in case I missed a text or a facebook notification or a super important tweet from a famous celeb. Now, I don't have an excuse to distract myself with my phone. I actually turned sound and vibration off on my iPhone. So, if I don't have anything come to my Pebble, I have no reason to get my phone out, which means I can focus on what's in front of me rather than what's in my pocket.
So, I think Pebble absolutely nailed it with this smartwatch. It does exactly what it should, and doesn't try to replace your phone. Is it necessary? No. Not by any means. But, when I'm driving on a back road, in my manual car, drinking a milkshake, and I feel my pocket start to vibrate, it's nice to know whether or not it's a call worth taking, before I wreck my car because I was digging in my pocket for my phone, just so a robot woman could tell me how many break-ins the FBI report every half hour.
Final thought: The Pebble Steel is a smart, fun, stylish and simple watch that I would highly recommend to any iPhone or Android user wanting to enter the smartwatch space. Also, keep an eye out for the soon-to-be-coming-out Pebble Time with color display and other great features :)
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope you learned something and buy a Pebble :)
Be safe. Be courteous.
Ryan
