Great news, Pebble has recently announced its new watch, Time Round, that is poised to become one of the best (if not the best) smartwatches in the world.
I’m a big fan of Pebble – both the watches and the team – since its first KickStarter campaign, and I’m looking forward to playing with this new gadget.
I bought my first Pebble by accident. While looking through KickStarter, I stumbled on a new wearable device, thought “Oh, this is cool… And it works with RunKeeper!” and ordered it on the spot. Almost three years later, I can hardly imagine myself leaving home without this gadget. It really simplified my life and changed my behavioral patterns, and it was a big part of what inspired me to build my own wearable, MYLE.
For me, it wasn’t about its beauty (first generation of Pebble bears a strong resemblance to WWI tanks), it wasn’t about bells and whistles (there are other watches with more features), and it wasn’t about 7-day-battery-life (at the end of the day, it’s not a big deal to put a watch into a cradle before going to bed). The sell was its simplicity, convenience and sufficiency.
Yes, you bet it! Simplicity, convenience and sufficiency! These qualities convert an ordinary device into an amazing product with millions of loyal users. Look around: there are a ton of nice-looking, beautiful and highly-functional devices sitting on shelves and collecting dust. You played with them for a few weeks and lost interest. You wore these mini-smartphones on your wrist, tapped their tiny screens, rolled the clock winder, and started getting bored as it’s bloody inconvenient. Yeah, they’re cool. So what?
I’m a strong believer that an ability to help us use our time wisely and be more efficient is what makes a wearable gadget “smart” device.
Pebble does this better than the other guys, and this is why I personally love it even if it glitches from time to time (hey, Eric, what the hell? Do something, eh…)
Pebble wins because it simple and convenient, and it gives you the only essential information without all the fancy-shmancy junk offered by its competitors. Pebble doesn’t force you to tap on nanoscopic icons or play with a microscopic winder, and get angry after three days of playful fun. Instead, it gives you exactly what you need with a swipe of the wrist. It helps us become smarter by cutting through all the unnecessary stuff.
In a vote for the best smartwatch, you know whom I would give my vote to 😉
Ultimately, if a wearable doesn’t help you in some way, what’s it good for? And how can be “smart”? It’s just another toy – a shiny object destined for the trash heap of history.
Stay tuned,
Pavel and MYLE Team