Earlier today, Pebble announced the Pebble Time. It’s a brand new smartwatch from the company that, essentially, kicked off the whole smartwatch craze to begin with. Since the initial launch of the original Pebble wearable, we’ve seen plenty of devices get announced since. There will continue to be new wearables announced, too. Wearables are the future, one way or another.
Unfortunately, I still think we’re a long, long way off.
The wearables market is one that just can’t seem to find the right traction, or even the footing to start things off. Don’t get me wrong, I know a lot of people who have picked up a smart wearable and haven’t looked back since, and obviously the desire for something like the Pebble Time, which features a color e-paper display, a weeklong battery life and an all-new operating system is there, but the Pebble Time also encapsulates just about everything I think is wrong with wearables right now.
When I first saw the Pebble Time, my initial reaction was, “Wow.” And then, immediately after that, “I don’t like the look of that at all.” And, as I’ve continued to look at it all day now, even coming back to it after looking at other wearables (including the original Pebble watch), I really don’t like the design. It still looks like a science project, as far as I’m concerned.
And let me be perfectly clear here: The Pebble Time is a great smartwatch. It’s the perfect follow-up to the original, and it’s got a ton of great features baked into it. Timeline, for instance, is awesome, and I think it’s great that Pebble’s found a way to make the smartwatch even more usable. Sure, it’s a bit odd that they went back to Kickstarter to launch it, but hey, it’s a small company and they can do what they want.
Unlike the original Pebble, though, I don’t have any plans to buy the Pebble Time. Because I’m still someone that’s connected to the past when it comes to timepieces. I still remember being legitimately wowed by some amazing watch designs, which still happens to this day. I haven’t been wowed by a smartwatch yet. Not even close, actually. I think a smartwatch’s functionality is awesome, and like I mentioned above the Pebble Time’s loaded with features, but the looks come first to me. Without those, the functionality doesn’t mean much.
Do you plan on picking up a Pebble Time?
