The Pebble Smartwatch: A waste or worth it?

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.

 I was able to acquire a Steel at a great value and spent the last 10 days trying it out. Here's my thoughts:

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

Switching back to iPhone: What I love and what I miss

A lot of people became really concerned for me when I gave up my iPhone 4S for an LG G2 about a year and a half ago. I just wanted something different. I loved my iPhone from the moment I got it, but the small screen size and software started to really strangle my smartphone experience. I had to make a change. And when I made the switch from iOS to Android, people didn't understand. It was like I was abandoning Apple and starting a new life with my mobile mistress. Sometimes I think people act like they are married to whatever smartphone platform they first choose. If I have an iPhone now, when I upgrade I need to get a new iPhone. Or, if your Samsung Galaxy S4 is getting slow, you better get an S5. But, there are so many options out there, and it's okay to try them out. You don't know if what you have is what you like best if you never try anything else. 

So, I tried something else. My LG G2 was, and still is, awesome. I fell in love with the Android experience right away. I started to tweak every single thing I could on the phone; things I couldn't change on my iPhone. My newfound phone freedom was exciting. I ended up rooting the G2 for even more personalization and installing custom Roms like Cyanogenmod and CloudyG3; the possibilities seemed endless. I thought I would never go back to the confining features of an Apple device. Then, the iPhone 6 and iOS 8 came out. 

Finally! The iPhone 6 finally had the features that I wish my first iPhone had. Things like a larger screen, Swiftkey, and better Google integration were just a few of the things that I became quickly excited about. But could I give up my beloved G2 for it? Well, I did. And about 6 months later I've compiled a list of things I love about my iPhone 6 and things I miss about my Android. Here we go...

Things I miss about my G2:

1. Customizability - Obviously this has to be first. With so many different keyboards, cameras, fonts, color layouts, button layouts, etc, there's a lot to miss in this department. 

2. Tap to wake - The G2 has a feature that I used almost every time I picked up my device. You can double tap the screen to turn it on. Quick and simple, no buttons required. 

3. Buttons on Back - The G2 has the volume up/down and power buttons all on the back of the device; right where your pointer finger rests when holding the phone. This allows for a convenient place to turn the screen on/off and for my next point....

4. Screen to phone ratio - the LG G2 doesn't have the best overall body design, but it does sport a 5.2" screen in a slim, small frame. The side bezels are practically nonexistent and the top and bottom bezels are just big enough to house the speakers and camera. This made a large screen feel relatively small. 

5. Software - Last, but not least, just the overall software layout of Android. I like widgets and an app drawer so that I don't just have pages of square app icons on my home screens. 

Now for the iPhone 6: What I love:

1. Design - The best way to describe the iPhone 6 is 'premium'. It feels like what you're holding is actually worth something, not some glassy plastic or rubbery design. It's simple and sleek, and the way the glass screen seamlessly meets the metal chassis gives it an infinity pool look. Very stylish. 

2. Google integration - Because I did use a Google powered android device, I immersed myself into the Google ecosystem, and I love it. But, unlike the first time I had an iPhone, Google has integrated its apps so well into iOS that I can still use most of the Google features I've come to love. 

3. Messaging - This is a two fold point. First, iMessage. iMessage is such a great convenience mainly because you can text over wifi. I have no service at my desk at work and I had to send texts 4-6 times from my android device for my iPhone-using wife to receive them. Problem solved with iMessage. It also just makes sending everything over messaging iPhone-to-iPhone so much easier. Secondly, the keyboard. Although you cannot swipe for texting, there is just something about using the iPhone keyboard that is so satisfying. The predictions are amazing and the spacing is perfect. I feel that you can't really know what I'm talking about until you've tried it. It just feels right. 

4. Simplicity - This is a big one for a lot of people. iPhone gets a bad rep for being an old lady phone because it's simple to use, but isn't simple a good thing? If I want to change something or find something I can, without having to Google it. A two year old can pick one up and literally start using it immediately. Although it does have its restrictions, I've come to appreciate simplicity. 

5. Camera - This one is, by far, the most important for me. I take A LOT of pictures. Especially of my toddling daughter. Toddlers are constantly moving and the last thing I want is to use a camera with shutter lag and an over saturated product. I couldn't ever get the picture when I wanted because the moment passed by in between the time I hit the shutter button and the time the picture was actually taken. I have so many blurry pictures of my daughter on my LG. I have absolutely no complaints about the quality of portraits and still lifes from my G2, but if I wanted to get something in action, well, forget it. And, I found this on other android devices as well. In those type of situations, the iPhone just takes the cake (and the better picture). And, of course, the iPhone has the slow-mo video, which never gets old. 

There are many other things I could add to both of these lists, but these are the top 5. Will I ever switch back to an android powered device? Most likely. And then back to iPhone. Then android. Then iPhone. I don't think I'll ever settle on one or the other. I like so many things about each of them. Android device manufacturers just seem to take more risks on advancement with their devices, and I like that. It's not always something that turns out to be a long-lasting or useful feature, but I like that they're trying something new. iPhone wants to make sure everything is as perfect and well-working as it can be before it lets consumers use it, which is a huge positive and shows in all their devices and software. And, for now, I am loving my iPhone 6 and have absolutely no desire to give it up for an android device... Yet :) 

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Let me know your thoughts and opinions :) 

Be safe. Be courteous. 

Ryan