I have always liked technology, I had an iPaq when others had paper diaries, I wasted time with a ZX81 when I should have been out making dens and more recently I bought a Pebble watch when others wait for the Apple Watch or ignore the whole thing. I read a lot about the Pebble online before I bought it, and I have to say overall the reviews were positive. I have now lived with it for a month and decided to share for anyone else who is considering buying one.
The first thing to say is it seems to work better with the android devices than the Apple ones. The Android companion app is better as well. The second thing to say is that I have noticed just how the general population is not at all hooked up to this tech and/or interested. Finally I have realised that wearing two watches is strange and so if I am going to give up my Omega it needs to be for a bloody good replacement.
I only bought the watch to fill in the tech gap until the Apple watch which I am certain is going to be a game changer, I believe it will create a market like the ipod did, and the reason I think that is because the Pebble gives you a glimpse of how a wearable device like this could improve day to day without actually delivering entirely.
My biggest disappointment? - you can only hook up one device at a time, I missed that in the reviews and was the greatest let down. Many of us carry multiple devices and we cant watch them all so having a wearable device help you not miss what is happening on the second or third device would have been useful. The connection to the iPhone is buggy and is hard to connect, it should be much simpler, this becomes irritating but once it is connected there are some nice benefits.
a) I don't miss calls so much - don't tell people though, they will know you are ignoring them
b) One small thing I had not considered but like is if your phone goes off in your bag or somewhere embarrassing, a quick touch of the button on the watch and you switch it off with out too much fuss
c) It does have a good golf GPS and Runkeeper App which hooks up seamlessly to the phone
d) If you receive a text, Whatsapp message etc you can delete from the phone via the watch and not go into the phone to do it.
There is more, lots of Apps which I have not explored too much as they all seem very basic. In fact that is the issue for me. It is like going back in time when you buy this device. The world has moved forwards to much to have buttons and not touch screen, to have black and white instead of colour. The phone is just not clever enough. Why does it need to be clever? well the main reason is that the Pebble does not replace enough functions of the phone and so the phone remains close at all times. If the phone remains close at all times then I agree with the sceptics who say it would be quicker to just pull out your phone rather than fiddle with the watch. However if you have a watch that can reply to texts, talk, listen, swipe, watch, find and so on and so on then you would leave your phone in your bag or pocket a lot more and if we do that we spend more time looking around us and at other people. That can only be a good thing.
So would I recommend the Pebble? No. Just more hassle with limited upsides. Just wait for the Apple watch which is coming very soon.