[HN Gopher] Two new PebbleOS watches
___________________________________________________________________
Two new PebbleOS watches
Author : griffinli
Score : 873 points
Date : 2025-03-18 15:59 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (ericmigi.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (ericmigi.com)
| erohead wrote:
| I'll be hanging out here - happy to answer any questions you
| have!
| goosedragons wrote:
| What does Intel think about that name and was it intentional?
|
| Any plans for a more sporty model (i.e., HR, GPS?)?
| erohead wrote:
| Intentional?? :)
|
| Core Time 2 has a heart rate monitor!
| varbhat wrote:
| I was interested in NFC payments using a smartwatch. Do these
| watches support NFC payment? I didn't see any mention of it.
| erohead wrote:
| Nope. I just use my phone.
| isjustintime wrote:
| Personally I never found myself using my NFC payment watch.
| It felt like if I was venturing far enough to the store, I'm
| just going to bring my phone with me anyways. I wonder if
| this differs for areas that don't get as much suburban
| sprawl.
| eisa01 wrote:
| I never bring my phone with me when I go running, but
| occasionally pick something up and pay with my watch
| afterwards
| bentcorner wrote:
| I use NFC payments on my watch all the time, even though I
| have my phone and card in my pocket. Tapping my watch is
| just easier than digging into my pockets and/or opening my
| wallet app on my phone.
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| I personally don't use NFC payment at all. I just can't see
| the utility in it. If I leave the house I have my wallet,
| and I find it easier to take my card out of my wallet than
| to fiddle with NFC on my phone.
| 4ndrewl wrote:
| Wonder if this is a nationality thing? In the UK I'd say
| ~30% of sales are done via phones/watches these days.
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| That's fascinating to me, because many times I've tried
| to do that it's an exercise in frustration. Terminals
| don't always have the sensor in the same spot, phones
| sometimes don't register the connection, and so on. Maybe
| things work better in the UK?
| vel0city wrote:
| Sometimes I leave the house with only my phone. Why carry
| two things when one thing will do fine for a quick trip?
| Its my car keys, my credit card, my transit pass, etc.
|
| I've been moving towards using NFC payments for
| activating gas pumps as those readers still have you
| fully insert your card exposing the full mag strip.
|
| Its also often faster for me to just tap my phone than to
| take my wallet out, pull out the specific card I'm
| wanting to use to pay, tapping/inserting that card,
| putting that card back, and then putting my wallet back.
| Instead my phone which still has a touch unlock is
| already unlocked before I take it out of my pocket and
| ready to be tapped and then put back in my pocket.
| jsheard wrote:
| These use standard watch straps, so you could put them on one
| of those NFC-payment straps as a workaround.
| itomato wrote:
| Chameleon Ultra on the band
| ZeWaka wrote:
| The deprecated Timex Pay (w/ Chase Bank) would be an
| option.
| 1024core wrote:
| The chip inside claims to support Bluetooth Low Energy,
| Bluetooth mesh, NFC, Thread and Zigbee. Maybe someone can
| hack together a payments app using the NFC?
| numpad0 wrote:
| Payment is more of tamper resistance and trust problem than
| protocol problem. You don't want a hackable card tied to
| your credit.
| stavros wrote:
| Speak for yourself, I'd love one!
| garaetjjte wrote:
| Maybe you could reverse-engineer HCE from bank Android app,
| but that would be rather fragile.
| voxadam wrote:
| The Nordic nRF52840[1] SoC on which these are based support not
| only Bluetooth 5.4 but also Thread, Zigbee, and 802.15.4. These
| three standards are becoming commonplace in the home automation
| space. Has any thought been given to how the new Pebble devices
| could utilize these protocols?
|
| [1] https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/nRF52840
| erohead wrote:
| Nope, but the OS is open source so you could try getting it
| to work yourself: https://github.com/pebble-dev/pebble-
| firmware
| sevg wrote:
| Is it actually open source though? The repository
| description may be outdated then, but it currently says
| this:
|
| > This is the latest version of the internal repository
| from Pebble Technology providing the software to run on
| Pebble watches. Proprietary source code has been removed
| from this repository and it will not compile as-is. This is
| for information only.
| hexxeh wrote:
| This just hasn't been updated since it was forked from
| the initial OSS release from Google, I've started a
| discussion on the firmware Discord to update it.
| pokeymcsnatch wrote:
| Just a guess, but Nordic pushes a proprietary bluetooth
| stack. You don't _have_ to use it, but it 's the fastest
| way to get up and running.
|
| edit: not sure they use the proprietary stack... at the
| very least, it looks like they're in the process of
| switching to a free BT stack
| Avamander wrote:
| Pretty sure those different radio stacks do not run very well
| in parallel or if they do, they'd likely start to starve the
| rest in terms of resources needed.
|
| The nRF52840 is not the most performant, I would've really
| liked if they had chosen a SoC, like the nRF5340, with more
| RAM or cores for this reason amongst others.
| TickleSteve wrote:
| There are similar devices (i.e. SiLabs) that allow multi-
| protocol use with the radio (I would expect Nordic to have
| a similar feature set), tho yes, you're right the resource
| issue would be a major limitation.
| pblfan2000 wrote:
| Just ordered! I saw a comment about a new app - Will that use
| new backend services, or will it use the rebble appstore.
| erohead wrote:
| Right now it uses https://apps.rebble.io/en_US/
| JoshTriplett wrote:
| The Core Time 2 mentions heart-rate monitoring. Have you
| considered also adding an oximeter?
|
| The comparison chart, under "sensors", doesn't mention the
| compass under the Core Time 2; does the Core Time 2 drop the
| compass? A 3D magnetometer seems like a useful sensor for
| orientation purposes.
|
| Is there a light sensor, to allow automatically disabling the
| backlight when there's enough ambient light and enabling it
| when there isn't?
|
| You mention "Standard Pebble charger" for both; I'm guessing
| that that _isn 't_ USB-C?
| dreamcompiler wrote:
| You cannot put oximetry in a watch without getting sued by
| Masimo. Just ask Apple.
| JoshTriplett wrote:
| The heart rate sensor patents were ruled unpatentable:
|
| https://www.tomsguide.com/wellness/smartwatches/apple-
| watch-...
|
| > This week, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal
| Circuit upheld the previous verdict of the Patent Trial and
| Appeal Board that concluded all three of AliveCor's patents
| were unpatentable. This is generally the outcome when
| courts conclude that patents are either obvious or too
| generic to enforce.
|
| The case over the oximeter functionality is still ongoing,
| but with luck it'll go the same way.
| dreamcompiler wrote:
| That story is about heart rate sensors. The Masimo case
| is about oximetry, and AFAIK Apple is still blocked from
| selling watches with this feature.
| bornfreddy wrote:
| Yes, it looks like Apple "won" their reciprocal patent
| cases against Masimo but basically got $250 for it, and
| no injunction. The case against Apple is still blocking
| them from selling watches with oximetry.
|
| https://pharmaphorum.com/news/apple-wins-masimo-lawsuit-
| its-...
| ratmice wrote:
| I think the article is referencing two different cases,
| and the ones invalidated don't seem related to oximetry,
| I'm not sure what happened with the oximetry one though.
| themaninthedark wrote:
| It looked like it was not just the oximeter but the
| arrangement of the sensors and the fact that they fist
| approached Masimo with a licensing deal but then canceled
| and hired engineers from Masimo instead....
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34360292
| JoshTriplett wrote:
| Interesting. So, potentially, using a different source
| might have helped?
| apparent wrote:
| The 360deg view on the product page shows the charger
| interface on the back of the watches. Definitely not USB-C!
| JoshTriplett wrote:
| Ah, when it said "standard Pebble charger" I incorrectly
| assumed it was a charging _port_ , rather than something
| like pogo pins. What's on the back of the watch seems
| pretty reasonable.
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| What are the dimensions (length and width) of both models? I'm
| trying to decide if the Time would be too big for my taste, and
| I'm having a hard time trying to picture what the increased
| screen diagonal size translates to.
| jsheard wrote:
| What's the lens material this time? The page just says "glass"
| which could mean a generic mineral crystal or something fancy
| like Gorilla Glass.
| erohead wrote:
| Something fancy
| ramses0 wrote:
| re: glass... please please learn from that awful shadow
| curvature issue on the pebble time (color).
|
| Seems like you did as the screens look blessedly flat!
|
| Congrats!
| kulahan wrote:
| The post specifically addresses how they're changing the
| screen curvature
| 999900000999 wrote:
| Anyway to put in even a slow LTE chip for emergency calls ?
|
| I would pay an irrational amount of money for a watch that can
| make calls that has a very long battery life.
| LeifCarrotson wrote:
| Calls? Or just emergency texts?
|
| The closest thing to what you probably want is the Garmin
| Forerunner 945 LTE:
|
| https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/698632
|
| Discontinued, but young for Garmin devices and still
| available if you're willing to pay irrational amounts of
| money. It doesn't make audio calls out, but can receive audio
| messages (to Bluetooth headphones) and send/receive
| "emergency" text messages either to the Garmin emergency
| response center (sends a helicopter to your location, if
| required) or by SMS with a few canned messages or tediously
| entered custom messages to to a predefined, pre-approved set
| of emergency contacts, as described here:
|
| https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2021/06/garmin-
| forerunner-945-de...
| 999900000999 wrote:
| I've come across this.
|
| I really would like calling too. There's a lot of daylight
| between I lost my phone and need to call a cab, and send a
| helicopter.
|
| Right now I have an LTE smart watch, but the battery is
| optimistically about 24 hours( on a good day ).
| LeifCarrotson wrote:
| With the Garmin emergency contacts system, you can set up
| arbitrary messages to send to your emergency contacts.
| One of mine is "I'm OK, but need you to come pick me up".
| nycdotnet wrote:
| Excited for this release! Have you heard from Intel yet? "Core
| 2 Duo" was the name of one of their processors in the early
| days of multicore on a single package.
|
| Edit: preordered!
| blockarchitech wrote:
| I see you link to apps.rebble.io in the blog post - will this
| use Rebble's web services as well?
| erohead wrote:
| It's using the appstore right now
| csours wrote:
| If I buy one of each will you consider adding all the sensors
| to an e-paper watch?
| joewhale wrote:
| We love you
| debunn wrote:
| Any ideas what the screen refresh rate is going to be at this
| point? All the screenshots don't have time that includes
| seconds, and having a watch face that can update at least every
| second would be a requirement for me.
|
| (I know e-ink displays can have fast refresh rates, like the
| 60Hz / fps Daylight computer - but that may not be cost
| effective / battery efficient here?)
| erohead wrote:
| 30fps
| apparent wrote:
| What is the impact on battery life to have the screen
| update every second, versus every minute? Will it be
| possible to have the HR display, on faces that include it,
| rate-limited to achieve better battery life?
|
| One of the nice things about Amazfit watches was that I
| could dial down the HR polling and get better battery life
| that way.
| erohead wrote:
| I think it's a little bit more. I don't know if I've ever
| measured it. You can definitely see it in battery life
| though. Using a watch face that only updates every minute
| will give you longer, better life.
| skiman10 wrote:
| The Daylight computer DC-1 isn't e-ink it's a reflective LCD
| by the way. Different screen technology.
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40457491
| debunn wrote:
| TIL! Thanks for the link - all the demos / videos had me
| convinced this was just e-ink technology!
| seltzered_ wrote:
| It's a sharp memory lcd (not eink, sometimes called epaper):
| https://sharpdevices.com/memory-
| lcd/#1615979030123-5695809f-...
|
| https://www.sharpsecd.com/#/memory-in-pixel-lcds-product
| rcarmo wrote:
| Apple Health integration - what are your plans?
| apparent wrote:
| Presumably the same as the original Pebbles, which were able
| to feed step data and HR data into the Apple Health app.
| alternatex wrote:
| Google Health Sync as well?
| aaronax wrote:
| And I'll be looking for Vitality integration for my
| employer's health program!
| JLO64 wrote:
| Being able to sync steps taken, heart beat, and especially
| sleep tracking with Apple Health would 100% push me to Core
| Time 2.
| erohead wrote:
| We supported it before, should be pretty straightforward to
| support now.
| Robelius wrote:
| 6 months from announcing rePebble (Jan '25) to shipping your
| first units (July '25) seems like a quick turnaround for a
| compact consumer electronics device. Curious to know if these
| first units are closer to a white label of existing hardware or
| more of a JDM model.
|
| Side note - I got the first pebble through the kickstarter pre-
| orders in my first year out of high school. Seeing something so
| novel was definitely a contributor to me switch from CS to Mech
| E and working in the consumer electronics space now. Thanks for
| making cool and interesting things :)
| erohead wrote:
| Aww really glad to hear it!
|
| It is fast - but we've done this before (many times) and know
| what we're doing. I've been blogging about the experience too
| https://ericmigi.com/blog/february-shenzhen-trip-update
| modeless wrote:
| Whoa, whoa. Touch screen?!
| wibbily wrote:
| Just bought both. One for each arm
|
| Will the watch ship with a JTAG clip? Or is that coming later.
| Not sure if I missed the option in the store
| erohead wrote:
| it will be an option for Core 2 Duo, coming later.
| tomgag wrote:
| Hey, this is pretty slick! I'm not into smart wearables myself,
| but if I change my mind (or if I have to recommend one to
| family or friends) I know where to look!
|
| Question: does either of the model have NFC capabilities, or is
| there any plans to add this feature in the future? I am looking
| specifically for a way to pay contactless with Graphene OS
| (which does not support NFC payments because Google does not
| want to).
| beeflet wrote:
| What's the status of "small android phone" is it basically just
| a petition atm?
| erohead wrote:
| https://www.theverge.com/mobile/609857/small-android-
| phone-b...
| its-kostya wrote:
| Hey Eric!
|
| Any chance to open up support and reparability for old pebbles?
| For example, run the newly open OS on old hardware or source
| parts for old pebbles, like batteries for pebble time ;)
| noname120 wrote:
| Not enough money to be made + older parts are hard to source
| (discontinued)
| stebalien wrote:
| Will the Android companion app be open source? And/or will the
| watch APIs be documented such that someone could write an open
| source companion app?
| erohead wrote:
| there's an open-source companion app already, called Cobble.
| https://github.com/pebble-dev/mobile-app
|
| Core Devices will publish an open source fully featured
| library, that anyone can use to build an open source
| companion app as well.
| stebalien wrote:
| Awesome! Thanks!
| happosai wrote:
| Gadgetbridge support (or open docs of the BLE interface for
| dyi) planned? https://gadgetbridge.org/
| erohead wrote:
| The new watches will use the exact same protocol as Pebble
| watches, so Gadgetbridge should work by default.
| crims0n wrote:
| The original pebble was almost entirely dependent on it's
| connection with the android/ios app. Given the increase in
| onboard processing capabilities, are there any plans to allow
| for a more standalone experience?
| erohead wrote:
| Not sure how that would work. You still need connectivity,
| which the phone provides.
| pizzafeelsright wrote:
| I ordered one, with no experience although like the story and
| heard about the original.
|
| One very frustrating concern - the warranty. This is $255+ for
| a device that is only good for 3 million seconds. Would it be
| possible to arrange replacement at cost after 2 years?
| erohead wrote:
| I have no reason to think that it will not work well for 2
| years, but I am not prepared to guarantee that in a warranty.
| That would be taking on too much risk as a small company.
| pizzafeelsright wrote:
| Your explanation is reason enough to cancel. I have
| experienced enough hardware fails the day after the
| warranty to avoid purchasing anything that I do not
| consider disposable. I still have my Vector watch which
| suffered the same fate as Pebble. I am curious about the
| risk of a "at cost" replacement. I have avoided buying a
| FitBit to replace my existing FitBit because their warranty
| is also limited to "one year" which is basically Wearable
| as a Service.
| robocat wrote:
| > curious about the risk of a "at cost" replacement
|
| You can't tell consumers the raw manufacturing cost
| because people act weird when they are told it: they
| usually assume the "markup" is profits. They assume that
| they're getting ripped off because most people don't
| understand development costs or overheads and they always
| argue that any profit is too much. This problem can't be
| fixed.
|
| Apart from the risk of scammers buying a watch to sell,
| saying it is broken, getting a replacement at cost and
| the scammer steals the markup/profit.
|
| You can maybe think of ways to make it work, but they are
| likely to have excessive support costs or other hidden
| costs for the manufacturer or consumer.
| ahel wrote:
| Hey, I completely agree and I also suffer from this same
| bias: it's ruining me from enjoying stuff that I would
| like to buy but in the end I just give up because it
| feels that any profit is a scam. What kind of resource
| can I study for me to understand and accept other people
| making profits?
| kubatyszko wrote:
| I remember that my Pebble 2 (HR) over time (pun intended) would
| develop play around the rubber button area especially on the
| right side. Eventually the rubber covering the buttons would
| break off. This was common to the point people were making
| 3d-printed replacement parts. See
| https://help.rebble.io/pebble-2-buttons/ What's the expected
| longevity of the buttons this time around, and will you have
| replacement parts available ?
| jerlam wrote:
| The post says:
|
| _More reliable buttons (up to 30% longer lifetime in
| testing)_
| horseless wrote:
| I want to get a smartwatch that has enough functionalities to
| run a time tracker app with the purpose of not having to carry
| a phone most of the time. The existing ones are all WearOS or
| Apple watch, neither of which can be used in a freedom-
| preserving way. Would it be possible to write time tracking
| apps for these watches?
| zevon wrote:
| Sure it would and there are existing Pebble time tracking
| apps. Here's a search for "Time Tracker" in the Rebble store
| but I'm sure you will find more with other search terms:
| https://store-
| beta.rebble.io/apps/search?query=time%20tracke...
| zevon wrote:
| No questions but a comment: I rarely get emotionally attached
| to devices, especially since I have to handle a lot of fancy
| hardware for work and it gets old quickly. However, there are a
| few pieces of technology like my Walkman or my Thinkpad X61t
| that I really liked and was sad to have to let go when their
| time had come. The Pebble is another one of those devices for
| me and I'm quite happy that I won't have to it let go for a lot
| longer that I thought thanks to your new project. Thanks. :-)
| lonjil wrote:
| You mention only producing a limited quantity, but do you have
| any plans to do a second batch next year? I know that knowing
| the future is impossible and that you thus can't make any
| promises, but are you at least hoping to be able to make more
| batches in the future?
|
| I can't spend $225 right now, and by next month I'm guessing
| the pre-orders will already have blown way past your production
| quantity ^^
| fencepost wrote:
| How is the sleep monitoring on the base model being done
| without a heart rate sensor, just with stillness as measured by
| the accelerometer?
| krambs wrote:
| So awesome. Ordered!
| qingcharles wrote:
| This is great. I was an OG backer in like 2012(?).
|
| What affect are tariffs having?
| spearman wrote:
| Until when will you take pre-orders?
| girvo wrote:
| I've preordered the Core Time 2, I'm so incredibly excited that
| you've resurrected Pebble like this!
|
| My only hope is that you can bring the Time Round back in some
| form: Mine is unfortunately dead, and they're very difficult to
| purchase even second hand these days! It was the single best
| smartwatch I've ever owned and used
| xrd wrote:
| I know battery life is impacted but I really want exactly this
| with GPS.
|
| I want to be able to track my runs.
|
| I love the banglejs because it is hackable but the GPS was very
| difficult to use. But it is such a fun device to hack on.
| lrvick wrote:
| The firmware is open. You could add a GPS backpack and firmware
| support if you wanted.
| 4k93n2 wrote:
| the option to pair with an external gps would be better all
| round, apart from having a separate thing to carry. i have a
| garmin glo 2 that i pair to my android when doing openstreetmap
| stuff, and its something that you would barely notice in your
| pocket or clipped onto a backpack
| solox3 wrote:
| > Core 2 Duo
|
| Is that not one of Intel's trademarks from the past 20 years?
| jchw wrote:
| I actually checked because I thought the same thing
| immediately, but I think what Intel actually trademarked was
| "Core", as in "Intel(r) Core(tm)2 Duo"
|
| The closest mark I could find is a wordmark for INTEL CORE
| INSIDE DUO cancelled in 2014 due to disuse.
|
| https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=78775512&caseSearchType=U...
| timvdalen wrote:
| I realized a long time ago that I don't actually want a
| smartwatch, but this _is_ making me very nostalgic
| diggan wrote:
| Maybe I skimmed too quickly, are there no size/dimensions
| published? Seems the display size is there, and the strap width,
| but no other details as far as I can tell.
| legitster wrote:
| On the store page there are dimensions.
| diggan wrote:
| I think you're gonna have to be more specific, this page?
| https://store.repebble.com/
|
| All I see is display size and strap width there.
| advisedwang wrote:
| Is the weight and thickness of the watches announced anywhere?
| I_am_tiberius wrote:
| I guess this is fairly unrelated to repebble
| ulbu wrote:
| check the store link
| Tiberium wrote:
| Not sure what you mean? Those are the exact watches Repebble is
| selling https://store.repebble.com/
| BiteCode_dev wrote:
| I want it, and yet I know that not only I don't need it, but I
| likely won't use it that much.
|
| This is really like a cool gadget purchase impulse.
| codingmoney wrote:
| It's great to see PebbleOS making a comeback! Regarding the
| questions about NFC payments and GPS, these would definitely be
| valuable features to consider for future models. The demand is
| clearly there, and it would make the watches more competitive
| with other smartwatches on the market.
| enragedcacti wrote:
| As a Pebble fan I'm sad to say I'm a little bit disappointed. I
| love the pebble ethos but I think the design for the Core Time 2
| is a step back in terms of style compared to the final Pebble
| options. I rocked an OG Pebble and it was nerdy in a way that I
| didn't mind at the time, but now with smartwatches being so
| common and having so many cheap and feature packed options with
| multi-day battery life I think the styling matters a lot more.
| Pebble in particular could have a big advantage here with the
| reflective display since you can show a lot of personality in the
| always-on watch face without it being distracting, but I think
| you would need a more minimal and sleek body to make that a
| selling feature.
|
| As it is I find the pricing to be a hard sell given how many
| features you are losing compared even to cheap fitness bands e.g.
| lots of advanced health tracking, NFC payments. I applaud Eric on
| self-funding the project and I'm sure the risk and volume
| questions there are contributors to the cost.
|
| All that said, I may still pick up a duo because there really
| isn't anything like a Pebble and I would really like this to be a
| success so that we can see lower prices, more styles, and an even
| more awesome community at some point in the future.
| JoshTriplett wrote:
| > more minimal and sleek body
|
| I don't think that this should be trying to compete head-on
| with existing smartwatches on styling. And for the purposes of
| a hackable device, a larger screen seems like a selling point.
| Also, the larger screen makes touchscreen features more usable.
| enragedcacti wrote:
| Agreed with respect to size and the touchscreen which I do
| think is a great addition. I just think something that's more
| of a continuation of the Time series designs would be better
| fitting for a $200+ option. The Time 2 body which would have
| had the exact same screen would be fine by me.
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| For what it's worth, I'm also a Pebble fan and I love the
| styling of these watches. I always thought that the original
| style looked much nicer than the later, "more stylish" designs.
| So I think this is just a case where they can't please
| everyone, and are trying to stick to what people originally
| liked (or perhaps their own design tastes).
| maufl wrote:
| Why does the Core 2 Duo not have a heart rate monitor (which I
| think my Pebble 2 had) and why does the Core Time 2 not have the
| barometer and compass? It makes it really difficult for me to
| decide which to get. Also, I have a small preference for the
| design of the original Pebble Time 2 over the Core Time 2 ...
| margalabargala wrote:
| Very much agree. I want to go take this on a hike in the
| wilderness. I want a compass and a heart rate monitor.
| Barometer would be nice but I could take or leave.
| apparent wrote:
| This would be nice, but for me I'd never go hiking without my
| iPhone (especially since they now have satellite-based
| messaging). I assume there was a tradeoff here, and even if
| it was just a bit more battery I probably would have to agree
| with ditching these bits.
| apparent wrote:
| This blog post [1] makes it seem like the cheaper model has a
| barometer and compass, but the more expensive one does not.
| Anyone know if that is true?
|
| 1: https://ericmigi.com/blog/introducing-two-new-pebbleos-
| watch...
| margalabargala wrote:
| Everything appears to point that way, yes.
|
| This thread is full of people complaining how these aren't like
| _their_ preferred watches, in terms of design, face shape, no
| GPS, etc.
|
| I think this is a much more valid criticism in that their
| expensive flagship watch is not like their cheaper watch.
| apparent wrote:
| Is there anything else lacking? I ordered the color one
| without much thought and only saw the barometer/compass bit
| afterward.
| macNchz wrote:
| It's kind of weird segmentation, but, given neither has GPS,
| I wonder how many people who'd seriously consider buying one
| of these really care about having a compass & barometer. Are
| those often important features to someone who doesn't care
| about GPS?
| hn8726 wrote:
| You can track elevation with barometer which is nice for
| casual hiking in the mountains
| inasio wrote:
| I had an old Suunto from before they went to crap, by far
| my favourite function was vertical speed, and it relied
| only on the accelerometer (the watch had GPS, but turning
| it on killed battery life). I still tried a couple of
| newer models but they removed that function.
| stavros wrote:
| The accelerometer? How can the accelerometer measure
| speed? It would drift to massive error very quickly.
| TickleSteve wrote:
| vertical speed likely relied on the barometer rather than
| the accelerometer for exactly that reason.
| apparent wrote:
| It would be nice to track elevation change/stairs climbed
| during hiking, even if you don't care about GPS. I'll
| probably hang onto my old Garmin for exercise though, so
| this is sorta moot for me. Mostly it was just surprising to
| see that the pricier one was not a superset of the cheaper
| one.
| tecleandor wrote:
| Having a compass and a barometer could be a "happy
| accident" of already having an all in one sensor that does
| all that things.
|
| The compass could be easily related to an accelerometer
| used for detecting watch position (a function commonly used
| in smartwatches to power on the screen on certain positions
| that suggest you're looking at it) or detecting "steps".
|
| Not so sure about where could you also get the barometric
| pressure sensor...
| margalabargala wrote:
| Both models have a 6-axis accelerometer, only one has
| compass reading.
| delecti wrote:
| > This thread is full of people complaining how these aren't
| like their preferred watches
|
| Which is funny to me because that's explicitly the point.
|
| > These watches are not made for everyone. We want to be
| upfront with you about what to expect.
|
| It's probably the most frustrating part of smartwatches.
| Everyone has a different list of mandatory features, and few
| seem to accept that their list isn't universal. Unlike phones
| where just about all of them have just about all the
| features, the smartwatch market is a wild west. It makes
| finding the right one for you a lot of work, and it's
| understandably disappointing when a watch checks all but one
| or two of your "must have"s.
| margalabargala wrote:
| The thing that really frustrates me right now about this is
| that between the two watches, basically all of my boxes are
| ticked, but some of those boxes are mutually exclusive
| between the watches.
|
| When a product has two price points, like this, it's
| usually expected that the more expensive one is strictly
| "better" than the cheaper one in some ways. That isn't the
| case here, and it makes everything more difficult. Most of
| us are conditioned to look at the more expensive version,
| and say "are these extra features worth $X extra" and
| decide that way. With these watches, I have to try to think
| about whether I would use a compass or heart rate monitor
| more.
| MostlyStable wrote:
| >unlike phones where just about all of them have just about
| all the features
|
| I knew my preferences were niche, but I didn't think they
| were _that_ niche. There hasn 't been a phone with even
| half my ideal feature list (that works in the US) in
| probably close to a decade, and even if I abandon my more
| niche "nice to haves", there are essentially no new phones,
| and that's even before I add in that I'd really like it to
| be relatively repairable. And yes, there _used_ to be
| phones that had my entire feature list, so it's not a
| completely crazy list. It's just that phone makers have
| converged a pretty standard feature list with not too many
| companies coloring outside the lines. If you want that
| particular feature list, then sure, everyone has "all the
| features", but there is a whole universe of additional
| features that phones _could_ (and some did) have, that they
| no longer do.
| greetings wrote:
| Are there any plans for a circular screen? I would love one of
| these devices, but the screen feels like it may be bulky on my
| wrist.
| modeless wrote:
| Eric has mentioned that they might later do a Pebble Time Round
| equivalent. Not this year though.
|
| And I have the perfect name for it: the Second Time 'Round.
| erohead wrote:
| Holy crap, I almost want to make it just so we can name it
| that.
| wlesieutre wrote:
| I'd buy one! With the Bluetooth power use improvements
| mentioned for today's watches, the tiny Round battery ought
| to be good for a week or more now, right?
|
| My main complaint about Apple Watch is the size, so a very
| slim watch might get me to switch back. Have a Time in a
| drawer somewhere, but I assume its battery is shot by now.
| DecentShoes wrote:
| I don't understand this in the slightest. There's no advantage
| whatsoever to a round screen, but tons of disadvantages. Why
| not make your phone screen round? Why not make your computer
| screen round? Your TV?
|
| Please, Core, resist the temptation to enshittify yourself with
| another useless round screen.
| Alive-in-2025 wrote:
| Because the larger market of watch buyers end up buying way
| way more round watches than square or other shapes, thus a
| lager market of buyers and prices are probably lower. I don't
| really care though. It doesn't matter for these kinds of low
| sales boutique devices. I ordered one ;-)
| wferrell wrote:
| Who did the product design (cad, picking components, etc) for
| both of these watches? Is this in house? (shout them out!) or did
| you work with an outside firm, and if so which one?
| hombre_fatal wrote:
| Pretty cool.
|
| I'd like to hack around with the HR sensor, so I pre-ordered the
| Time 2.
|
| What are good resources for looking into building an app for it?
| I see the OS is hosted here https://github.com/pebble-dev/pebble-
| firmware But most pebble-related google searches bring up ancient
| material and I'm not sure what's still relevant.
| modeless wrote:
| The ancient material is relevant because nothing has changed
| since the company went out of business :) I'm wearing a Pebble
| right now and I was able to update one of my favorite
| watchfaces using a docker container of the old Pebble SDK. The
| blog post says there will be an updated SDK released with the
| new watches.
| erohead wrote:
| We're still working on improving the documentation, but here's
| a good place to start https://github.com/richinfante/rebbletool
| and
| https://developer.rebble.io/developer.pebble.com/tutorials/j...
| apparent wrote:
| I'm pleased the pricing is so low. I did some math and if they're
| making 10k of these (not clear if that's each or all together),
| there's not a ton of money to be made.
|
| Assuming $100 average profit, that's a $2M for 20k watches. Given
| the work opportunities that the founder and other employees have,
| that's not a lot of money for them to make in a year, and it
| comes with significant risk. Basically seems like this is a
| passion project, for which I am very grateful!
| nebulous1 wrote:
| $100 profit on a $150 watch would be crazy. Rest of the post
| seems made up too. I don't know where these numbers are coming
| from. I'm genuinely confused.
| apparent wrote:
| I was using a blended average of the $150 and $225 watches.
| Also, it sounds like some of the components for the $150
| watch were literally left over from Pebble days, which means
| they could have gotten an amazing deal on them.
| IshKebab wrote:
| Nah that's pretty typical, depending on what you mean by
| "profit".
| ac29 wrote:
| Right, that is presumably gross profit per unit, not net.
| Net profit could easily be zero or negative.
| roboror wrote:
| Not crazy at all in consumer electronics, that's margin on
| the parts only. R&D, admin, software, etc. costs need to be
| recovered from that money.
| beambot wrote:
| MSRP of 3x COGS is a pretty common rule of thumb for
| hardware. Have to leave room for distribution, software, R&D,
| returns, SG&A, etc. End of the day, it's probably still only
| 30-40% gross margin -- less than half of a good SaaS company.
| Hardware is (indeed!) hard.
| cenamus wrote:
| But then how could you call that 100 profit in any way? If
| you made at most like 30-50?
| roboror wrote:
| No offense but it's only an issue if you don't understand
| net vs gross profit.
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| That makes no sense. Profit, by definition, is net. If
| you still have to pay costs out of some money, then it
| _isn 't profit_.
| KAMSPioneer wrote:
| Gross and net profit are each their own concept:
| https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/101314/what-are-
| dif...
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| What they call "gross profit" _is not profit_ , by
| definition. It's certainly useful to track
| $revenue-$cost_of_goods, but you can't call that profit.
| People are free to use words incorrectly, but they
| shouldn't expect anyone else to go along with them.
| ActivePattern wrote:
| Who chooses the "correct" use of words? Is it you?
| Wikipedia disagrees with you:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_margin. Maybe you
| should make your own encyclopedia.
| brianshaler wrote:
| It's absolutely essential to be able to differentiate
| between gross profit and net profit to establish unit
| economics, especially as the scale of a newly founded
| operation may drastically change relative to some amount
| of fixed capex or SG&A expense.
| roboror wrote:
| You can't run a business based on dictionary definitions.
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| You most certainly can, and you should.
| lopis wrote:
| Please hire an accountant asap if you ever start a
| business. Things don't mean what you think they mean in
| accounting. You are wrong and insist you are right
| despite multiple people pointing it out to you.
| diggan wrote:
| > Assuming $100 average profit, that's a $2M for 20k watches.
| Given the work opportunities that the founder and other
| employees have, that's not a lot of money for them to make in a
| year, and it comes with significant risk. Basically
|
| Reading through the terms on the shop page, it seems they're
| preparing to (maybe) raise the prices at any time, and they'll
| ask you to pay more before shipping, if they end up raising the
| prices after you buy it.
| apparent wrote:
| Whoa didn't see this! What's the language you're referring
| to? I only saw the part about how either side can cancel
| without penalty and didn't read a threat of higher pricing
| into that bit.
| diggan wrote:
| > If tariffs change dramatically, we will pass these costs
| along to you and require further payment, even for US
| orders.
|
| Under the "What if the tariff situation changes?" section
| on https://store.repebble.com/
|
| I was excited and about to purchase one until I saw this
| "We might not ship the device unless you pay us more"
| thing. I get that the economy is very up in the air right
| now in the US, but sucks that seemingly ordinary businesses
| are losing international business because of it.
| ryukafalz wrote:
| That reads to me as what they'll do if the import tariff
| situation changes, not if the company changes the price
| themselves. Which seems like a reasonable thing to say
| given the massive uncertainty around US economic policy
| at the moment.
| diggan wrote:
| Fair, and you're probably right. I've personally learned
| to be very cautious when it comes to statements like that
| though. There has already been additional tariffs, and
| since it isn't exactly defined, they could raise the
| price tomorrow based on that, "because it wasn't taken
| into account at the time" and so on.
|
| Better to just wait until the whole drama blows over I
| suppose.
| johnmaguire wrote:
| I think it's reasonable too, but it also means I don't
| want to pony up $150 now to potentially have the seller
| renege and (hopefully) refund me later. I can make use
| that $150 between then and now.
| c22 wrote:
| By that logic the watch is a non-essential luxury good so
| you probably should use the $150 you have now in a more
| productive manner regardless of potential futures.
| jaapz wrote:
| Sounds reasonable considering the unpredictable worldwide
| trading situation
| apparent wrote:
| It's good of them to consider this and be transparent,
| but I don't consider tariffs to be part of the price. The
| price is the amount the seller gets, not the amount they
| collect and remit to the government.
| johnmaguire wrote:
| As a consumer, the price is whatever I have to pay to
| receive the product. You seem to be confusing it with
| revenue.
| apparent wrote:
| I think "price" is an imprecise term that could refer to
| the pre-tax/tariff amount or the post-tax/tariff amount.
| It would include shipping, if there is no other way to
| get the device (as is the case here).
|
| But regardless, they're not saying they would increase
| the "price" (whatever that means), but just that if the
| tariff situation changes, then the customer will need to
| pay the additional tariff. This is the same as what would
| happen if a state increased the sales tax rate and they
| had to collect and remit additional sales tax. It just so
| happens that it's unlikely any state is going to sharply
| increase its sales tax in the next year, but there's a
| decent chance the tariff rate will jump. If the sales tax
| went up, I wouldn't consider that to be the company
| raising the price. Same for tariffs, in my book.
| johnmaguire wrote:
| The difference between sales tax and a tariff is that the
| consumer pays the sales tax while the importer pays the
| tariff. In other words, I'm not presented with a "price +
| taxes + tariff." I'm presented with a "price + taxes"
| where the price is supposed to bake in the seller's costs
| (which may include tariffs) and a margin of profit.
| Likewise, if the price increases to allow for additional
| tariffs, I will also pay more in taxes.
| nottorp wrote:
| Funny, aren't you USers used to not knowing what you'll
| pay for something because the advertised prices don't
| include sales taxes and administrative fees and whatever
| fees and service charges and tips that are not service
| charges?
| hombre_fatal wrote:
| No, those questions are answered at point of sale in the
| US like when you click a Checkout button or you're at the
| cash register.
|
| Prices changing after a preorder is completely different
| and not anything US specific.
| nottorp wrote:
| Well in europe letting me know what the real price is
| only at the cash register and not when I check out the
| product in the store is as unusual as your problem with
| import duties :)
|
| I think it may even be illegal for consumer prices. What
| they display or list in the contract is what you pay.
|
| But on the other hand I'm used to paying import taxes
| separately when ordering something from outside the EU.
| hombre_fatal wrote:
| Yes, Americans don't know the exact price of the products
| in their cart between the 10min they put the items in
| their cart and when they check out. They know it will be
| a little more and they mentally budget for it.
|
| But that doesn't have much to do with a price increasing
| weeks or months after paying for a preorder.
| nottorp wrote:
| So you can mentally separate the price the vendor charges
| from taxes imposed by the state when you pick up in the
| store but not when ordering internationally?
| vel0city wrote:
| Not with an administration levying 250% tariffs one day
| and cancelling them a few hours later.
|
| Tax policies change from the Truth Social post to the
| press conference.
| Uvix wrote:
| It's not an international purchase, though. Core Devices
| is a US company.
| diggan wrote:
| Never a good look to assume where someone is located :)
|
| FWIW, I'm in south-Europe, maybe that's why I got
| surprised I wouldn't have known the final price until the
| device would land in my hand?
| nottorp wrote:
| Haven't bought something from outside the EU in a while?
| They charge us at least VAT (maybe over a certain price,
| depending on your jurisdiction) :)
|
| Large stores can afford to precalculate this and use a
| service that will handle taxes for you, small stores not
| so much so you may end paying it personally on receiving
| the package. But they can afford to precalculate it if
| the taxes are known in advance (usually starts at
| whatever your country's VAT rate is).
|
| Now in this case, shipping to the US looks like it will
| be randomly taxed depending on the phase of the moon and
| how well Trump has slept last night, so this warning is
| fair. You can't expect them to absorb a 50% import tax if
| it's established tomorrow.
| diggan wrote:
| > Haven't bought something from outside the EU in a
| while? They charge us at least VAT (maybe over a certain
| price, depending on your jurisdiction) :)
|
| Sure, and as you also seem familiar with, you know it's
| pretty trivial to calculate yourself when you place your
| order :)
|
| So far, I've never bought something internationally, then
| before shipping the tax laws changed enough that the toll
| and/or tax payment was different than I expected.
| nottorp wrote:
| No but there's a certain jurisdiction across an ocean
| where that's likely to happen and that's what they are
| aiming at.
| jorts wrote:
| It's not hard to roughly calculate tax.
| noname120 wrote:
| I'm highly skeptical that they will sell 20k units at that
| price point.
| mouse_ wrote:
| Shouldn't call it Core 2 Duo...
| InkCanon wrote:
| Definitely excited for this! Been wanting a hackable smartwatch
| for awhile now.
| solarkraft wrote:
| Core 2 Duo is a pretty funny name.
|
| Are you going to sell replacement parts this time? I was
| immensely disappointed to see the initial watches being pretty
| repairable in theory, but no parts being sold. It was marketed as
| a tinkerer's device after all.
|
| I'm wearing my Pebble Time Steel right now - and quite like it.
| Haven't found anything better. It could use some better activity
| tracking, but the worst thing about it right now is that it
| doesn't really have an iOS app (AltStore is pretty flaky). Any
| news on that front?
|
| For some reason there just hasn't been a real spiritual
| successor, so the revival is greatly appreciated.
| thekoma wrote:
| > Core 2 Duo is a pretty funny name.
|
| I remember there was also an Intel processor with the same
| name.
| starttoaster wrote:
| I'm guessing that is why they said it was a funny name.
| apparent wrote:
| > it doesn't really have an iOS app (AltStore is pretty flaky).
| Any news on that front?
|
| I thought the Pebble app still worked, using Rebble. My
| understanding is that they are building a new app for the new
| watches, if that's what you were asking about.
| zevon wrote:
| The only way to install the old iOS Pebble app is by
| sideloading via something like AltStore (or doing it manually
| every week). Maybe you can also still re-install it if you
| had it installed when it was available in the App Store but
| I'm not sure if that still works.
| KeplerBoy wrote:
| There's no way it's actually shipping with that name, right?
| mrpippy wrote:
| I'm sure Intel's law firms are drafting a cease & desist as
| we speak. I'd bet $10 the name changes.
| johnmaguire wrote:
| Yeah, maybe... but what harm would it really do? The Core 2
| line was killed off over 10 years ago in 2012.
| throwaway48476 wrote:
| The point of trademarks is to avoid ambiguity of origin.
| Pebble core 2 duo is definitely ambiguous.
| hiatus wrote:
| To the average consumer? I doubt it.
| johnmaguire wrote:
| Is it? I own a Fujifilm X-T5 camera and Cadillac makes a
| car called the XT5, but I don't see anyone getting
| confused.
| apparent wrote:
| When you apply for a trademark you have to say what type of
| products/services it involves.
|
| Intel did make a smartwatch for a while, but I don't think
| it had a Core Due chipset!
| IshKebab wrote:
| Yeah but I think that's only a factor in the
| consideration. I doubt it cancels out identical and very
| distinct names.
| apparent wrote:
| Perhaps a trademark lawyer can weigh in. My understanding
| is that a trademark is strictly limited to the areas
| (both in terms of geography and vertical) claimed in the
| application. This is why Apple didn't have to do battle
| with the Beatles until they got into the music business.
| IshKebab wrote:
| Yeah because "apple" is a common term that people might
| reasonably expect two businesses to use. The point of
| trademark law is to prevent consumer confusion.
|
| I am not a trademark lawyer and I haven't even looked
| this up but if Apple made a "The Beatles Laptop" then I
| would hope that defence doesn't apply.
| Steltek wrote:
| The more interesting Apple trademark case was "iPhone",
| which was in active use by Cisco for their VoIP desk
| phones.
| kps wrote:
| > _This is why Apple didn 't have to do battle with the
| Beatles until they got into the music business._
|
| That went back to the Apple IIg.
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sosumi
| vel0city wrote:
| The main thing is if a consumer would be confused. I
| don't think consumers would be confused about an ancient
| Intel processor and a brand new smartwarch.
| mattlondon wrote:
| No such thing as bad publicity as they say.
|
| They'll be cheeky, the big dinosaur corporate will come out
| swinging and look bad like they always do, and they'll get
| a load of press in the tech websites which is their target
| market.
| skvmb wrote:
| I'm gonna name everything I make "Metallica"
| lolinder wrote:
| There's a whole second blog post about Apple support being
| discussed here:
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43401245
| kwanbix wrote:
| I came to say Core 2 Duo is a terrible name :/
| jnsie wrote:
| Same. It neither describes the product nor makes it easier to
| search for online. For that matter, it doesn't exactly roll
| of the tongue either...
| xattt wrote:
| They knew what they were doing.
| jnsie wrote:
| I'm sure they did. However, intentionality neither makes
| it consumer friendly nor beneficial from a marketing
| perspective.
| jetrink wrote:
| > nor makes it easier to search for online.
|
| Searching for 'pebble core 2 duo' already comes up with a
| page of results only related to the watch[1] (including
| this very comment thread, ironically[2].) Search engines
| are very good these days.
|
| 1. https://imgur.com/TE3aaGY
|
| 2. https://imgur.com/l4aBszK
| ghilston wrote:
| I have an original backer watch and bought one when they
| launched. Both stopped working within maybe 6 months and
| support at the time suggested I just buy another...
| rcarmo wrote:
| Very nice. I love my OG Pebble (even if I now use an Apple
| Watch), and I dream of the day when I will go back to having an
| all-week battery...
| pnemonic wrote:
| I am beside myself with excitement. This has been in the back of
| my mind 8 years, I always believed. I have never pre-ordered
| anything this quickly in my life.
| andrewmutz wrote:
| The demo image of getting a text message about a party on your
| watch is an example of everything that is wrong with wearable
| computing. The last thing I need is more invasive notifications.
| its-kostya wrote:
| As someone who has exclusively worn a pebble since it was crowd
| funded, I am trilled. I love purpose built devices[0] that don't
| attempt to do everything. I don't need a watch that does
| everything, just triage notification and perform time related
| activities and get out of the way. Pebble has always fit that
| niche. The fact that I can hack on it and mold it to my needs has
| been icing.
|
| I have some sincere questions on the design choices. For context,
| I own a pebble time (everyday wear for triaging notifications)
| and a polar watch (for exercise tracking). Also part of a cycling
| community where we swap exercise watches to try out what else is
| out there. I have found I always sleep in my polycarb pebble time
| because I forget I am wearing it - it is that unnoticeable.
|
| 1) Why limit Core 2 Duo screen to BW? Feels like a step back when
| the Core Time 2 will have it. Sourcing parts?
|
| 2) According to the blog, I understand the Core Time 2 is your
| (Eric's) dream watch, so not trying to rain on your parade but
| trying to reason about the audience you're catering to here. The
| heart rate monitor suggests that it can be used to track physical
| activity. But... no GPS, metal (heavy) case, and protruding
| sensor diminish the utility of the sensor. If you've ever run
| with a light watch, you'll start noticing how quickly metal
| watches fatigue the skin. I've slept with watches on that track
| my sleep (optically) and the protruding sensors always causes
| pressure points - similar to a pebble (heh) in the shoe. Having
| 30 days battery life, speaker, and better vibration make for a
| great gadget that doesn't need to be taken off... unless it is
| not comfortable.
|
| [0]: https://www.polar.com/en/science/whitepapers Purpose built
| devices are optimized and companies that build they have domain
| knowledge. You've probably never heard of polar but they publish
| the science behind their features where as garmin has nice
| looking gear but has gimmicky features, like "body battery"
| apparent wrote:
| > Why limit screen to BW?
|
| There's one with a color screen.
| erohead wrote:
| 1) Yes, the hardest part of building a watch is getting a
| display. There is only 1 vendor and we have to use what they
| make. Custom displays cost $1m+ and take 18 months to build.
|
| 2) It's not a running watch. I'd recommend getting garmin if
| you're looking for that.
| its-kostya wrote:
| > 2) It's not a running watch. I'd recommend getting garmin
| if you're looking for that.
|
| I think we are on the same page but I've communicated poorly.
| Why even include a heart rate sensor on a watch that is not
| intended for exercising in when the trade-off is sacrificing
| comfort and raising the complexity and cost of the design?
| hombre_fatal wrote:
| 1. Every watch with a sensor towards your skin has a bump.
| Every example I've looked at has a much larger one.
|
| 2. People already exercise in metal straps and aluminum
| Garmins.
|
| These just seem like you-things. Which is fine, but you
| should temper your complaints/bikeshedding accordingly.
| its-kostya wrote:
| I acknowledge this is a niche concern/complaint but this
| is a niche product for a niche base of folks, I'm simply
| curious about why. I want this to succeed and be
| sustainable so I asked about the utility of the sensor
| and provided a counter example since it's additional
| raises complexity.
|
| It is not common to wear watches for more than a few days
| at a time simply because there are not many whose battery
| will last that long. The effects of fatigue/pressure
| point from the sensor bump are less observed but not
| missing. With 30 days on wrist, I can extrapolate that
| fatigue will be more pronounced - so I am calling it out.
| I understand I am a small sample size but I have 2
| watches whose battery lasts 7 days and the one without
| the bump is more pleasant to wear for a week between
| charges. To the point that I always reach for the comfort
| option and eventually sold off the other.
|
| On a lighter note, I do hope I'm not providing a series
| of increasingly bizarre and nonsensical questions or
| scenarios ;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YDpvMYk5jA
| closetohome wrote:
| Heart rate sensors have a number of uses aside from fitness
| tracking.
|
| I'm guessing comfort wasn't considered because it isn't a
| common complaint.
| its-kostya wrote:
| I've used exercise as a catch all for continuous
| monitoring of the heart. Point being, to get more utility
| out of a sensor, you'd have to wear it more with less
| interruption. 30 days without taking off a device is...
| Unheard of (and wicked cool!). So comfort will be more
| appreciated in the long term, I suspect
|
| I've mentioned this in the above reply but I'll repeat
| here: It is not common to wear watches for more than a
| few days at a time simply because there are not many
| whose battery will last that long. The effects of
| fatigue/pressure point from the sensor bump are less
| observed but not missing. Majority of consumers wear
| Apple/Android watches that need to be recharged every
| day. With 30 days on wrist, I can extrapolate that
| fatigue will be more pronounced - so I am calling it out.
| 0xcafecafe wrote:
| I don't use my watch for running (using a 7 year old Fitbit
| versa). However, I do keep it on the entire day unless it is
| charging. I was curious what the weight of the Time 2 was
| going to be (I don't see it in the specs). I just wanted to
| compare the weight of it to my existing device. Thanks!
| noname120 wrote:
| Why would you want a custom display? Just use the same one as
| any of the thousands of Chinese watches use
| Vurdentium wrote:
| Can you tell me if the Pebble can do this...
|
| On my Samsung Galaxy watch, if I get a notification from my
| Unifi security cameras, for example, I get a little thumbnail
| image appear on my watch. There's no special app on my watch,
| just the app on my paired Galaxy phone.
|
| Will it do this? Or would I just get a text notification? I
| don't understand smart watches well enough to know how much
| they are doing themselves vs how much of what they do is to be
| a mindless projection of whatever the paired phone tells them
| to do.
| its-kostya wrote:
| I am not familiar with the pebble SDK or notification API it
| has. Smart watches usually will display whatever notification
| the mobile devices instructs it to display.
|
| If you get a push notification on your mobile, I don't see a
| reason why pebble won't display it. The thumbnail image might
| be fixed but all the text content will be shown. And FWIW,
| the entire thing is open source so you can go in an add it,
| or open feature requests, etc.
| modeless wrote:
| The Pebble software doesn't have support for images in
| notifications right now. But it definitely could/should be
| added. And it's open source, so you could even do it
| yourself!
| zokier wrote:
| I wonder how good the sleep tracking is without heart monitoring?
| nabaraz wrote:
| All i want is sleep and step tracking. Is this a good option?
| jmcphers wrote:
| Probably not if you care about accuracy. Really good sleep
| tracking requires more sensors than these devices have.
| pornel wrote:
| Quite the opposite. Pebble is great at sleep tracking. They
| manage to do a better job with Pebble's limited sensors than
| Apple can with all of their hardware. I have both, I use
| sleep tracking a lot, and I've compared them.
| officeplant wrote:
| Honestly getting the Core 2 Duo just because of the funny name. I
| miss my old Pebble sometimes so it will be a neat tinker toy.
| rescbr wrote:
| As a previous PTS2 backer, I knew I couldn't hesitate. I had to
| pre-order both watches at once.
|
| But whenever July (and December) comes, I'm very much going to
| dread the import duty on these things.
| nashashmi wrote:
| I am annoyed at the name, core 2 duo. Could have changed it to
| core 2 duos, just so it doesn't confuse people who search for it.
| RandomBacon wrote:
| I liked the old feature of the alarm clock vibrating when the
| wearer was in the good phase of sleep to wake up in, please make
| sure the new watches also have that.
|
| I preordered.
| modeless wrote:
| It'll be the same alarm app on the same OS since Google open
| sourced it.
| AndroidKitKat wrote:
| Would have been nice to see a model without a microphone. I
| understand I'm a minoritiy (workplace doesn't allow devices with
| mics), but being severely hamstrung with smartwatch choices that
| don't have a microphone is tough. Will still definitely buy one
| to support the project, and will eagerly watch (heh) for new
| models!
| BariumBlue wrote:
| Strange - I would expect a workplace that doesn't allow mics to
| also disallow bluetooth
| Yhippa wrote:
| Security theater
| AndroidKitKat wrote:
| Agree with sibling, security theater largely. I suspect the
| logic of banning is to stop recordings of conversations,
| whereas Bluetooth is just a protocol for sending data.
| Eliminate collection sensors and mediums for transmit are
| fine.
|
| I did decide to purchase a Pebble Time Steel and a new
| battery alongside the Core 2 Duo. I hope that with Eric back
| in charge, the old Pebbles will be allowed to use the new app
| and hopefully get modern apps.
| carlgreene wrote:
| Does it say the thickness or weight of them anywhere on there?
| They look awesome! But I really care about how it feels on the
| wrist
| toisanji wrote:
| I want minimal plastic in my life. its too bad the core 2 duo is
| made of plastic, otherwise I would buy it. I don't care for
| color.
| dheera wrote:
| Love it. I would absolutely love if they would consider making
| the Core Time 2 in a slightly more timeless outer case than this
| "sport" look.
| elliot07 wrote:
| Bought the Core 2 Duo, but I really wanted it to have a HR
| sensor. May have to buy the other one too.
| juujian wrote:
| These look really appealing. What are the most common use cases
| for these other than telling the time? Are they gimmicky or
| actually useful?
| apparent wrote:
| Elimination of phantom vibrations. You always know when your
| phone buzzed if your wrist buzzes right afterward. Also nice to
| see what a notification is without having to take out your
| phone.
| pornel wrote:
| Pebble is still way better at sleep (and nap) tracking than
| Apple Watch.
|
| I have a tendency to stay up late and get up at random times,
| so I need to track if I get enough sleep.
| starkparker wrote:
| The "having a baby"/"having a baby bok choi party" attempt to
| sell me on the larger screen did not work, but it did make me
| laugh.
| nickthegreek wrote:
| > Core 2 Duo has an ultra crisp black and white display,
| polycarbonate frame, costs $149 and starts shipping in July.
|
| > Core Time 2 has a larger 64-colour display, metal frame, costs
| $225 and starts shipping in December
|
| Pretty affordable!
| lptptech wrote:
| please also bring back a version of pebble time round! it was so
| classy and slim that no round smartwatch since has been able to
| compete. my wife is still wearing it everyday! i had to learn
| soldering to replace the battery :)
| chc4 wrote:
| I've wanted to play around with a color ePaper watch for a while,
| including debating buying an old Pebble Time, so this seems like
| a great excuse to pull the trigger.
|
| For people who have developed apps for them in the past, does
| everyone just use the embedded JavaScript engine? For maintaining
| apps that modify the firmware or talk to new peripherals does
| that require maintaining a fork or is there some module system?
| ramses0 wrote:
| Get on their discord. Bangle has the JS thing, pebble watch
| faces used a c-variant, I don't remember if their applets used
| something different.
|
| AFAIK, if you're doing firmware replacements you're likely
| going to be maintaining an "out of tree fork" unless it's
| already well-modularized in the way you're imagining.
| marsknight wrote:
| I almost bought one and I'd love to.
|
| But then I've read in the Q&A about the tariffs and how that
| would affect the price at time of shipment.
|
| This is too much uncertainty for me.
|
| I've got no incentive to buy from the US right now, as a
| European.
|
| I wish you the best of luck, as you definitely put a lot of love
| into it
| mrzool wrote:
| Same here. Based in the EU, I was ready to buy one on day one,
| but when I saw the prices listed only in USD I had to stop
| right there. Just the shipping alone would be $25, plus the
| uncertainty of duty fees. I hope to see an EU store soon --
| with prices in EUR, low-cost shipping, and all fees already
| factored in.
| erohead wrote:
| International shipments will not be sent from the USA;
| they'll be shipped directly from Asia. The comment is in
| reference to your own countries - they may charge tariffs.
| jezze wrote:
| I would buy one but only if I am guaranteed to be able to compile
| the source code somewhat easily and flash it to the device.
| Anyone knows if they have made any promises around that?
| nameless912 wrote:
| I can't see why this wouldn't be the case, the firmware will be
| open source and I have to imagine a developer mode will be part
| of that.
| j45 wrote:
| This watch might be enough reason to jump back to Android.
|
| It's too bad third party watches are second class citizens in
| iOS.
| blorkusmelorkus wrote:
| Core 2 Duo is an intel trademark
|
| https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/33910/i...
| noname120 wrote:
| Intel(r) is a registered trademark, Core(tm) is an unregistered
| trademark, 2 Duo is nothing.
| ftkftk wrote:
| I miss my pebbles every day. Can't wait for december!!
| lostphilosopher wrote:
| I was surprised at the time how cheap the original Pebbles were,
| they were nearly exactly what I wanted and I would have been
| willing to pay more for mine. In fact I ultimately paid more to
| replace mine with a watch I like less. When Pebble folded I
| wondered if having too low of price ultimately hurt them - if
| they didn't pick up enough customers to make up on volume what
| they left off the table on per-unit revenue? I hope the relaunch
| is successful, and I assume they have all manner of internal data
| that says I'm wrong, but my initial reaction to the listed prices
| is the same as it was to the originals - they seem too low. (I'm
| setting aside the caveat about a potential price change due to
| tariffs and assuming they launch at current list price.)
| lolinder wrote:
| > I'm setting aside the caveat about a potential price change
| due to tariffs and assuming they launch at current list price
|
| As you should, because if they raise the price because of
| tariffs they won't see a dime of it. It's less raising the
| price and more that they don't yet know how much tax they'll be
| expected to collect and remit.
| jerlam wrote:
| There's a big difference: it's 2025 and there are no shortage
| of competitors that look better and have more features than a
| $150 Pebble 2 or $225 Time 2. Unlike 2015 the market already
| has a $200 Apple Watch, $60 Amazfit Bip, $55 CMF Watch Pro, and
| a $220 Coros Pace which will track an ultramarathon. All these
| devices are made by mature companies and have multiple
| revisions.
|
| I liked my Pebbles, but I won't spend $300 on one because the
| chance of failure (again) is so great.
| extraduder_ire wrote:
| I would be amazed if there aren't comparable pebbleOS watches
| from a Chinese manufacturer for cheap(er) coming soon.
| jerlam wrote:
| I'm not sure why manufacturers would care - it's a ten year
| old device with limited appeal. Chinese manufacturers
| already make better, cheaper watches.
| cdurth wrote:
| I might be missing something, but how do you specify color
| options for the Core Time 2?
| pizzaman500 wrote:
| I'm super excited to hear this announcement!
|
| For those of us interested in health metrics - can we expect the
| precision of the heart rate sensor to be sufficient for
| calculating HRV (heart rate variability)? It doesn't have to be
| natively supported, but I'd love to see a third party app offer
| this some day... In fact I may work on it myself, provided the
| data from HR sensor is good enough.
| desireco42 wrote:
| Look Eric,
|
| I had and loved Pebble in the past. You sold us and ditched us
| first chance you got.
|
| Why would we trust you now?
|
| Lovingly, Zeljko
| its-kostya wrote:
| Eric, thank you. Lurking in the forum answering questions evokes
| people to share their opinion for satisfaction and
| dissatisfaction and often neglectes to evoke praise
| (proportionally). I am guilty of this too.
|
| So please have some well deserved praise for your work on this.
| We have gotten an open source wearable OS, purpose built
| hardware, R&D, a community, more pressure on Apple to be less of
| a gatekeeper, and something we can own in a crazy short
| timeframe. I hope you see this despite it being buried. Thank
| you, you glorious nerd.
| zevon wrote:
| Wow, those guys are moving fast. :-)
|
| I own and use a Pebble Time Steel and a Pebble Time as my only
| watches. I'm not really missing anything and I'm very happy with
| my old Pebbles - yet, I'm still quite tempted to pre-order a Core
| Time 2 to support development and out of curiosity. I'm looking
| forward to seeing how the touchscreen is implemented.
| Intuitively, I'd consider a touch-based interface almost an anti-
| feature on a Pebble, but given their software/UX quality, maybe
| I'll be pleasantly surprised.
| HumblyTossed wrote:
| > Core 2 Duo
|
| Cringe...
|
| Why do people _do_ this? You should make it _easier_ to search
| for you product.
| nosrepa wrote:
| Tangentially, that reminded me of my days back when I
| frequented a forum for Rio digital audio players. When the
| company got sold off, an engineer leaked an unreleased firmware
| without the company's permission. We all had a laugh when the
| engineer decided to go by the name of "Nestle tollhouse".
| Zetaphor wrote:
| As someone who was a huge fan of the original Pebble series, it's
| hard to get excited about this offering when compared to the
| alternatives available today with more features and a cheaper
| price.
|
| I'm currently wearing the BangleJS v2 [0] which has the following
| going for it, all for $90USD:
|
| * 1.3 inch 176x176 always-on 3 bit colour LCD display
| (LPM013M126) with backlight
|
| * Full touchscreen (6H hardness glass)
|
| * GPS/Glonass receiver
|
| * Heart rate monitor
|
| * 3 Axis Accelerometer
|
| * 3 Axis Magnetometer
|
| * Air Pressure/Temperature sensor
|
| * 175mAh battery, 4 week standby time
|
| * Full SWD debug port on rear of watch
|
| * The OS and every app are open source, all written in Javascript
|
| In my experience it lasts over 2 weeks with multiple daily
| notifications and wearing it 24/7 for HR and sleep tracking.
|
| The Pebble was a compelling offer when it came out, but I'll have
| to pass on this one.
|
| [0] https://shop.espruino.com/banglejs2
| NAHWheatCracker wrote:
| > all written in Javascript
|
| Pass.
| Zetaphor wrote:
| All I care about is battery life and level of friction to
| creating an app.
|
| 2+ weeks and extremely low, so language purism is irrelevant
| imo
| wizzzzzy wrote:
| Why?
| Zetaphor wrote:
| Because dunking on Javascript is trendy
| nosrepa wrote:
| Pebble 's user created apps and watch faces are all JS.
| dubbel wrote:
| As far as I remember it was either JS or C. cf.
| https://github.com/pebble-examples
| Avamander wrote:
| Unfortunately it's the software that determines how good such a
| device is to use. What's currently considered the best firmware
| for the Bangle?
|
| I will also note that backlit LCD is vastly inferior to e-paper
| in smartwatches. Size of the watch also matters, there are some
| tradeoffs you have to make.
| Zetaphor wrote:
| The official one, which runs great. And since it's all open
| JS there's even alternative app menus and launchers if you're
| not happy with the stock option
| Zetaphor wrote:
| I forgot to add that this LCD screen is perfectly readable
| in direct sunlight, I wouldn't know it was not e-ink at a
| casual glance. Even at extreme angles the only thing that
| makes it difficult is the reflectivity of the front glass,
| but I have a large font watchface so even that is a minimal
| issue.
| jmcphers wrote:
| Pebble's display is also a backlit LCD. It is better than
| some backlit LCDs but the technology is not fundamentally
| different.
|
| Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/pebble/comments/3i6mje/epape
| r_tech_...
| z3t4 wrote:
| ohh, I always thought my Bangle had e-inc display because the
| clock will last several months on one charge, and the display
| is always on.
| Steltek wrote:
| The original blog post for the revived Pebble was very clear
| about the design goals and it drove home something quite
| clearly: this is not going to deliver a laundry list of
| features or support all possible lifestyles. It will be focused
| on doing a few things well because there's a need for a modern
| Pebble not met by existing watches.
|
| I have a Bangle2 and while it's super fun, I think it perfectly
| illustrates the point that simply having features isn't enough.
| I would not say my Bangle2 is the same as my OG Pebble.
| Zetaphor wrote:
| As someone who only ever cared about a handful of features
| (HR, sleep, steps, notifications), the BangleJS is definitely
| the superior offering imo.
|
| It does everything my Pebble did, it's cheaper, and it's been
| open source since day one rather than first requiring an
| acquisition and resurrection.
|
| Obviously different strokes for different folks, Eric is
| great and I wish him and the team over at Rebble (hi ishot!)
| all the best, but the smartwatch landscape is very different
| from what it was in 2014
| Jordan-117 wrote:
| From your Reddit AMA you said there are no plans to make a more
| Time-style design since you prefer the original Pebble form
| factor. Is this just for now or is it a hard no to ever offering
| a different design? (I never got into the OG Pebble or Pebble 2
| myself because it looks very clunky on my fairly thin wrist, but
| the Time was perfect)
| briandear wrote:
| Pebble Day at HN?
| cunidev wrote:
| This might be asking too much, but will there be any way to run
| the newer pebbleOS on the first-gen Pebbles? I love my Steel, and
| am currently still using it
| moron4hire wrote:
| I know this is going to sound weird, but I'd really love a
| stylish smartwatch without any wireless comms of any kind on
| board. And I think a lot of people living in and around
| Arlington, VA would as well.
| fersarr wrote:
| I want a smart watch where bluetooth and everything can be fully
| turned off. Can I do that with this one?
| tonymet wrote:
| I had an OG pebble, it was a gift from a conference. An amazing
| product, more Apple than Apple in terms of making clear tradeoffs
| to provide real utility & design quality.
|
| Reading this press release I thought -- they perfectly read the
| minds of the target customer. Retaining the spirit of the product
| and exceeding expectations with polished improvements.
|
| Great job guys! I'm in
| aucisson_masque wrote:
| i expected the price to be cheap, like the original pebble.
|
| it's trying to make a cheap product into a niche product with
| kind of premium price, 150$ and 225$ for a watch is already
| pretty high.
|
| The people who can afford it, they already got apple watch.
| DecentShoes wrote:
| Apple Watch doesn't work on Android, and Android Wear watches
| are laggy garbage with stupid round screens. There are zero
| good options on the Android side, so something like Pebble\Core
| has value.
| repeekad wrote:
| Apple Watches start at $250 and up to over $1k, pebbleOS offers
| way more functionality and 10x battery life, they're not
| overlapping audiences
| sulam wrote:
| Sorry but while I won't argue the battery life angle, you
| really cannot say that the PebbleOS offers significantly more
| functionality than WatchOS. It just ain't so.
| noname120 wrote:
| Do Pebble watches have GPS, cellular, and almost medical-
| grade sleep analysis? Are they rated for 50m underwater?
| dag11 wrote:
| I had an original Kickstarter Pebble, a Pebble Time, and am
| probably ordering this new Pebble, but I have to say you have
| it the other way around. Apple Watch has 10x the
| functionality in this comparison, but they're both delightful
| devices and I'm excited to have a Pebble back in my rotation!
| c22 wrote:
| The Pebble Time was $150 and the Time Steel was $250.
|
| That was also 10 years of inflation ago.
| theodric wrote:
| Disagree, with the following reasoning:
|
| 1. IIRC the first Pebble was $99, and the one after it was
| $149. We're a decade on, inflation is rampant, and the new
| devices are evidently intended as lower volume products. $149
| seems OK to me in 2025. $225 seems OK as well for the color
| unit, but I don't feel like waiting until December, and can't
| justify buying two watches. I put my money down for the $149
| unit. We'll see how much it ends up being by the time it's on
| my wrist in Ireland. My current "smart" watch is a Mi Band 6.
| I'm on screen no.2, strap no.3, and shortly battery no.2: all
| told, I certainly have $100 invested in it by now, even though
| it cost me 42 Swiss Francs ($45?) to buy initially.
|
| 2. There are other hacking-friendly watches out there, but they
| do not have the depth of app ecosystem that Pebble did/does. I
| think those thousands of watchfaces and applications ready to
| fire on day1 are worth something. This is not a net-new
| smartwatch environment, it is an established if a bit aged
| standard that is being polished back up for the modern world.
|
| 3. I'm the target market, but I definitely don't have an Apple
| watch because it doesn't work with Android devices, and I
| absolutely detest iOS (and am increasingly frustrated with
| Apple's blatant cash grab-ism vis-a-vis RAM and flash prices on
| their computers to the point that I've pivoted back to Linux
| devices).
| brianshaler wrote:
| > can't justify buying two watches
|
| I managed to eke out a couple more years after Pebbles were
| discontinued by finding replacements on ebay. If this is a
| low volume run, I'm contemplating the opposite--whether I can
| justify not buying multiple while I still can.
| tombert wrote:
| It's a lot, but for the smartwatch world it's not _that_ bad.
| My Garmin Instinct Crossover was $400, for example.
| walrus01 wrote:
| If the goal is to make a product impossible to google, "core 2
| duo" is a pretty good choice, since it'll turn up 99.9999%
| results related to an obsolete Intel desktop PC CPU.
| schnatterer wrote:
| Interesting as companion for a phone. Anyone know of a hackable
| or privacy friendly standalone watch that can be used to make
| calls (e.g. for children pre smartphone age)?
| TulliusCicero wrote:
| > Core 2 Duo
|
| Well that's a name I've not heard in a long, long time...
| promiseofbeans wrote:
| I'm curious that the $150 ones has a barometer and compass, while
| the $225 one doesn't in favour of a heart rate monitor.
|
| Given that they're specifically saying you shouldn't use it as a
| sports watch, what use is an HRM, especially when compared to the
| utility of a compass and barometer/altimeter?
| seltzered_ wrote:
| Possibly SoC differences or space limitations.
|
| If I recall correctly, the original Pebble had a Compass (which
| may not have even been used until a OS overhaul later on) but
| the Pebble 2 SE didn't. (https://www.reddit.com/r/pebble/commen
| ts/4kz7ch/why_pebble_i...)
| r0fl wrote:
| I bought my first Pebble watch the week it was released.
|
| Loved it! Got an Apple Watch and hated it. Got a few more Apple
| Watches and now the activity rings alone have me hooked. 800+
| days in a row of closing my rings means I cannot switch away from
| apples tightly closed ecosystem :(
|
| I wish this came out years ago and I never got to experience the
| Apple Watch
|
| Good luck
| poisonborz wrote:
| Any chance of wireless charging? I can't imagine it being so
| complicated or expensive... tho most smartwatches come with
| custom pins so there has to be a reason.
|
| Worst aspect of these watches are the custom charging cradles you
| have to lug around when travelling.
|
| Hell, even usb-c with some cap/sliding door mechanism would be
| better.
| Groxx wrote:
| While I really do like wireless charging for watches (no
| exposed electrical contacts == easier waterproofing and no
| corrosion to worry about, and the battery capacities are so low
| that slow charging barely matters): 2 and 4 pin magnetic
| charging cables are _extremely_ common in smart watches, it 's
| what pebble used before, and it sounds like what they're using
| for these as well. "Standard pebble charger" is listed in the
| tech-specs, which likely means the 2-pin version.
| evolve2k wrote:
| Eric, I'm interested in what you learnt picking up a 10 year old
| open hardware project.
|
| I'm especially interested in the "revival" nature of this
| project. How did staying mostly true to the original vision guide
| you practically?
|
| You mentioned briefly that some apps may have stopped working as
| they attempt to hit now no existent url endpoints. Least of which
| is likely the old official pebble endpoints.
|
| Have you done any design work as a revival project such that the
| project will be more robust in future. Eg 50 years from now, if
| things didn't pan out and your company is still here, such that
| the watches and their apps are all that bit more resilient?
|
| Curious as to your thoughts on designing in longevity of
| serviceability into this reboot given you can feel that yourself.
| Reason077 wrote:
| > _" 30 day battery life"_
|
| I've done the math and according to my calculations that's
| approximately 30X more battery life than an Apple Watch.
| Impressive!
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