Technology

Does it use just standard watch bands? It looks like it, but I didn't see it mentioned.

One of the things I find ridiculous about other smart watches is that they use proprietary bands. When I found out that people are paying $60+ for a silicon band for an Apple watch, it blew my mind. Also that people put screen protectors or cases on their Apple watches because their $500+ watch doesn't even have a crystal lens, and is prone to scratching.

The Bangle.js is around too.

From their FAQ, emphasis mine:

You shouldn’t get one if…

You need a perfectly polished smartwatch. This project is a labour of love rather than a startup trying to sell millions of watches. There may be some rough edges (literally). Things will get delayed. Some features will not be ready at launch. Things could break. Things could not last as long as you’d like. The only thing we can guarantee is that it will be awesome and a lot of fun! Every time you look down at your watch, you will smile

So yeah, I’d say your take is pretty accurate. At least they’re honest lol

He also screwed a lot of the employees on the way out from Pebble, and he also bailed on Beeper the minute it got complicated. Sold it to Matt Mullenweg a year or two after getting pimp-slapped by Apple because he had no real plan for what to do if Apple started banning the devices he was using as Matrix bridges. He gave up after like three days, it was honestly genuinely pathetic. This was a paid service and he fucked it all up for anyone using iMessage on it.

I have personal experiences with Beeper that make me less than trust Eric Migicovsky, and I really don't think he seems like a "nice guy." He actively sucks, doesn't have plans for sustainability and then sells it all off to someone else at a personal profit while the people doing the actual work get fucked out of a job.

Yep im also going to wait til its out to make a judgement call.

I always feel nervous preordering anything. I got a new Fitbit so I think I have some time before it fails so I can see how this rePebble works out. If it is as good as it looks I might just get it. 30 day estimated battery life is amazing

Wow, mine died years ago.

And why are both watches a “2” variant?

Because this is the next generation of the original Pebble watches.

Core 2 Duo

I'll actually be surprised if this makes it to launch without Intel perhaps making a few legal calls and prompting a device name change.

when that’s the name of an Intel processor?

It's totally a reference to that, it has to pretty much... Why? Idk, nostalgia? Duo as in black and white maybe

That was my first thought as well. "Intel gonna sue somebody."

Core 2 Duo is also a terrible name from Intel in the first place. I did place my repebble order, hopefully it will serve me well.

He wasn't going to add compass because most people don't use it, but then he added it to the Core 2 Duo as a favor to a friend who helped on that version and wanted a compass in it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pebble/comments/1jea5cc/ama_with_eric_migicovsky_lets_talk_about_the_new/migw1ct/

Because that's the feature people actually want. The biggest use of these watches is having an active heart rate monitor, as evident by even most of the cheaper watches having them.

Pebble is now playing a gambit, whereby they think they will sell more of the premium model to people who will be using it for exercise and health reasons.

Either that, or the hardware chosen specifically separates the heart rate monitor so that vendors strike a better deal with the factories to get specially designed chips.

Either way, someone is getting taken for a ride.

This is neat but the selling point for me with the Pebble is the e-ink display. If repebble fails though, my next watch will be a Pine. Hopefully my Versa 2 holds on for a bit longer 🤞

Got a PineTime for Christmas and so far been very pleased with it. I found the PineTimeStyle watchface and it's been a bit like coming home to Pebble, but I do miss the wide array of watchface choices and effortless customization.

There are a couple already, e.g. https://github.com/Willow-Systems/pebble-home-assistant

What's even cooler is that the nRF52840 chip that they will use has ZigBee support, which theoretically means it can talk to your network directly if software supports it

It's open source.

I am wondering/hoping if another company will step up and make a PebbleOS based watch with these capabilities.

I have a PineTime running through Gadgetbridge, and a Pebble Time Steel with Rebble services. You can pair the Pebble with Gadgetbridge and run it that way, and I imagine these new Core watches would operate similarly... But we will find out as time goes on.

I'm with you on this. If it could come with a privacy-respecting smartphone app hosted on F-Droid, that would be so great.

I haven't moved on. Pebble Time Steel was the best watch I've ever had. I've been using Fitbit since the death of Pebble and they never got as good as Pebble was. If Repebble hadn't shown up, I'd probably be going Garmin after the inevitable death of Fitbit. But now that the choice is between Garmin and a hackable open source Pebble with 30 days of battery life... Repebble wins for me. ☺️

No moving on here. I still wear a OG Pebble daily, and I'm super excited about this. I just wish they hadn't chosen 'Core 2 Duo' like it hadn't been the name of another product...