The Pebble smart watch ($150), one of the first wearable-computing devices, sounds futuristic and retro (as in Dick Tracy and Maxwell Smart). And beyond the novelty, it’s actually pretty useful. This gadget channels e-mails, texts, and other notifications from your smart phone or tablet and runs a variety of apps, including fitness apps for bikers, runners, and golfers, with lots more apps expected to follow.
The Pebble comes from a young entrepreneur who was unable to obtain enough financing through venture capitalism—so he turned to the crowd-funding site Kickstarter. There, he was able to raise more than $10 million. Bigger names are now developing similar products: Sony has a smart watch, and reports say Apple, Samsung, Google, and LG, among others, are working on their own versions.
Here’s my take on the Pebble.
Highs
To my surprise, the notifications turned out to be my favorite thing about the Pebble watch. It’s so much easier to glance at your wrist than to haul out your phone to see who’s on the line or whether you need to respond right away to an e-mail. (One caveat: When you get a few buzzes in a row, people may think you’re compulsively checking the time. I was asked more than once, "Are you running late for something?")
You can stop the buzzes and get just visual alerts by going into Settings, then Display, on the Pebble and disabling Vibration. If you want to stop getting notifications, just disconnect from Bluetooth on your phone. On my Motorola Droid Razr Maxx, reconnecting was as simple as turning Bluetooth back on.
Pebble’s online help is decent, but there’s a lively user forum on its website that’s a great place to get answers or to see what other users are doing with their Pebbles.
The watch is also water-resistant, always a nice plus. And if you’re not crazy about the plastic strap you can swap it for a standard-size watchband.
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Lows
My Pebble’s connection dropped once, though the phone thought it was still connected. I had to restart my phone to get things going again.
I used an Android phone to test (the aforementioned Droid Razr Maxx), but iPhone owners in Pebble’s forum reported problems I didn’t encounter. For one, if your iPhone's Bluetooth connection breaks, you may stop receiving certain types of notifications after you reconnect (though phone call and SMS notifications still work). The remedy has been dubbed "the finger dance," requiring numerous steps to get things working again.
Though battery life is about a week, there’s no way to tell on the watch how low your charge is getting; a low-battery icon appears only when the Pebble’s getting low on juice.