If you plunked down for a Pebble Time Steel over a regular Pebble Time, you might be a bit jealous that Pebble Time owners have their smartwatch but you don’t. Good news: that’s going to change soon.
Pebble announced today that production of Pebble Time Steel units will begin this week and that all Kickstarter reward units will be made in July. The first batch of Pebble Time Steel watches will start going out during the last week of July, and it’s expected that buyers at the back of the Steel wait line will get their tracking numbers by the end of August.
It’s also worth noting that Pebble Time Steel’s Kickstarter backers will get both a leather band and a matching steel band, while the retail version will only include the leather band. However, the steel band will be shipped out to backers separately due to a reduced initial availability from the supplier. Pebble plans to ship out metal bands to as many backers at once, then fill remaining backer orders as steel bands become available.
One final tidbit is that if you did back the Pebble Time Steel on Kickstarter, you should keep an eye on your inbox, because Pebble is going to start reaching out to early backers to see what finish they want (Gunmetal Black, Brushed Silver, or Gold) and their shipping info.
The Pebble Time Steel is largely similar to the regular Pebble Time, but its got a more premium construction with a metal body and bands made of leather and steel. While it may not have as high-res a display as competitors from Android Wear or Apple, the Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel have considerably longer battery life than Google and Apple’s smartwatches, and the Pebble watches also work on both platforms.
Did you buy a Pebble Time or Pebble Time Steel?