Pebble (watch)

Pebble Smartwatch
Also known as Pebble
Developer Pebble Technology, Corp., Pebble Devices, Corp in California.[1]
Manufacturer Foxlink Group in Taiwan[2]
Product family Pebble
Type Smartwatch
Generation 1
Introductory price
  • Pebble: $89[3]
  • Pebble Steel: $149
Units sold 1,000,000+ as of December 2014[4]
Operating system

Pebble OS; uses a customized FreeRTOS kernel[5][6] Can communicate with Android and iOS apps using Bluetooth. Portions of Pebble OS are closed source.[7]

Latest Version: 3.10.0
CPU STM32F205RE Cortex M3 CPU for Pebble Smartwatch and Steel, and Cortex M4 for Pebble Time and newer.
Memory RAM 128 KB (84 KB OS, 24 KB app, 12 KB background worker, 8 KB app services)[8]
Storage

Pebble Time-series: 50 slots for faces/apps stored on watch, infinite can be loaded from the connected phone. Pebble Classic-series: 8 slots for apps/watch faces, 100 KB per slot for a total of 800 KB user accessible space.

The Kickstarter version has 4 MiB (32 Mibit) flash.[9][10] Originals built after October 2013 and all Steel watches have 8 MiB (64 Mibit) flash.[11][12][13]

All models also have 512 KiB SoC flash memory

Display 32-millimetre (1.26 in) 144×168 pixel Sharp Memory LCD "e-paper"[14][15]
Graphics Pebble Classic/Steel: 1-bit black-and-white e-paper; Pebble Time: 64 (6-bit) color e-paper.
Sound None
Input 4 buttons
3-axis accelerometer with gesture detection
magnetometer and ambient light sensor,[5] microphone on Pebble Time models
Camera None
Connectivity Bluetooth 2.1 and 4.0 LE (used for iOS 7 notifications) + EDR
Power 130 mAh, 7 days (assuming ~20–30 notifications a day, and a per-minute updating watchface)
Dimensions Pebble: 52 mm × 36 mm × 11.5 mm (2.05 in × 1.42 in × 0.45 in),[16]
Pebble Steel: 46 mm × 34 mm × 10.5 mm (1.81 in × 1.34 in × 0.41 in)
Weight Pebble: 38 g (1.34 oz),
Pebble Steel: 56 g (1.97 oz) (with default watchband attached)
Backward
compatibility		 Android, iOS
Successor Pebble Time (both normal and Steel variants)
Website www.pebble.com

The Pebble Smartwatch, often known now as the Pebble Classic, is an American smartwatch developed by Pebble Technology Corporation,[17] and is the first generation of the Pebble watch lineup. The smartwatch was pledged from a Kickstarter campaign, proving massively successful, collecting around $10 million for development of the smartwatch.

Pebble connects to both Android and iOS phones, so they can display notifications from the phone, control music, view calendar events, and create reminders.[18][19] An online app store makes the Pebble compatible with apps tailored for them from many third party sellers, for many purposes especially sports.

The Pebble is distinct from competing watches like the Apple Watch due to its fully functional, always-on e-paper displays that allow them to have full waterproofing and having a 7- to 10-day battery life, depending on the version.[20] E-paper inhibits the displaying of pictures, but it gives Pebble's watches better battery life and lower cost than competing Android Wear smartwatches and the Apple Watch.[21]

The Pebble Classic features a monochrome, battery-efficient liquid-crystal display, a programmable CPU, memory, storage, Bluetooth connectivity, a vibrating motor, a magnetometer, an ambient light sensor and accelerometer; with the hardware extending its use into many roles including interacting with smartphone notifications, activity tracking, gaming, map display, controlling music and connected devices, setting timers, alarms, and reminders, viewing calendar events, and run and golf tracking.[9][22]

When connected to an Android or iOS smartphone via Bluetooth, it will vibrate and display text messages, emails, incoming calls, and notifications from social media accounts when they are received on the paired device. It can also act as a remote control for the phone, or for cameras such as the GoPro. As of April 2015, the Pebble app store had over 6,500 apps and faces developed using Pebble's free software development kit (SDK).[23]

In 2015, Pebble Technology released its second-generation Time, with a color e-paper display, microphone, and updated design.

Apps include remotes for Nest, sports scores, travel directions, live arrival time information for public transit systems, fitness tracking, news headlines, reminders, weather, checklists, and numerous other independently created apps.

Pebble Technology Corporation raised $10.3 million through a Kickstarter campaign running from April 11, 2012, through May 18, 2012; this was the most money raised for any product on the site at that time. Best Buy, an American consumer electronics corporation, began selling Pebble smartwatches in July 2013, and sold out within five days. On December 31, 2014, Pebble sold its one millionth smartwatch.[4] In 2015, Pebble launched the Pebble Time and Time Steel with Kickstarter, raising $20,338,986 from over 75,000 backers, breaking records for both on the site.

History

Development

The Pebble Smartwatch was designed based on a concept by Eric Migicovsky describing a watch that could display messages from a smartphone and select Android devices. Migicovsky successfully took his idea through the Y Combinator business incubator program, and unusually for a startup company at Y Combinator, Migicovsky's business actually generated revenue during the program.[24] Migicovsky was able to raise US$375,000 from angel investors such as Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, but was unable to raise additional funds.[24] Discussing his inability to raise further funds, Migicovsky told the Los Angeles Times, "I wasn't extremely surprised... hardware is much harder to raise money for. We were hoping we could convince some people to our vision, but it didn't work out."[25]

Funding

After raising venture capital for the product under their former name Allerta (which had already developed and sold the inPulse smartwatch for BlackBerry devices), the company failed to attract traditional investors under their new Pebble brand name,[24] so the company requested crowd funding in April 2012.

Migicovsky's company Pebble Technology launched a Kickstarter campaign on April 11, 2012, with an initial fundraising target of $100,000. Backers spending $115 would receive a Pebble when they became available ($99 for the first 200),[26] effectively pre-ordering the $150 Pebble at a discounted price.[25] Within two hours of going live, the project had met the $100,000 goal, and within six days, the project had become the most funded project in the history of Kickstarter to that point, raising over $4.7 million with 30 days left in the campaign.[25][18]

On May 10, 2012, Pebble Technology announced they were limiting the number of pre-orders. On May 18, 2012, funding closed with $10,266,844 pledged by 68,928 people.[27]

Production

Pebble worked with consulting firm Dragon Innovation to identify suppliers and manufacturers.[2] After overcoming manufacturability difficulties with the prototype design, Pebble started mass production with manufacturer Foxlink Group in January 2013 with an initial production of 15,000 watches per week. Shipping was originally expected to begin September 2012,[28] but Pebble Technology encountered manufacturing difficulties and began shipping units on January 23, 2013.[29] Pebble shipped 300,000 units by December 2013 during its first year of production,[30] over 400,000 by March 2014,[31] 450,000 as of July 2014,[32] and 1 million by December 31, 2014.[33]

Features

Hardware

Pebble can display notifications when, for example, one receives an email.
A Pebble displaying bicycling speed, distance, and time when attached to a bike.
Pebble smartwatch size compared to UK's 50p coin and standard silicone wristband.

The watch has a 32-millimetre (1.26 in) 144 × 168 pixel black and white memory LCD using an ultra low-power "transflective LCD" manufactured by Sharp with a backlight, a vibrating motor, a magnetometer, ambient light sensors, and a three-axis accelerometer.[9][34][35][22][36] It can communicate with an Android or iOS device using both Bluetooth 2.1 and Bluetooth 4.0 (Bluetooth Low Energy) using Stonestreet One's Bluetopia+MFi software stack.[37] Bluetooth 4.0 with low energy (LE) support was not initially enabled, but a firmware update in November 2013 enabled it.[38] The watch is charged using a modified USB-cable that attaches magnetically to the watch to maintain water resistance capability.[34] The battery was reported in April 2012 to last seven days.[39] Based on feedback from Kickstarter backers, the developers added water-resistance to the list of features.[40] The Pebble has a waterproof rating of 5 atm, which means it can be submerged down to 40 metres (130 ft) and has been tested in both fresh and salt water, allowing one to shower, dive or swim while wearing the watch.[41]

Software

As of February 2014, the Pebble app store had over 1,000 applications.[42] These include notifications for emails, calls, text messages & social media activity; stock prices; activity tracking (movement, sleep, estimates of calories burned); remote controls for smartphones, cameras & home appliances; turn-by-turn directions (using the GPS receiver in a smartphone or tablet); display of RSS or JSON feeds; and hundreds of custom watch faces.

The Pebble was originally slated to ship with apps pre-installed, including a cycling app to measure speed, distance & pace through GPS, and a golf rangefinder app supporting more than 25,000 courses. These apps use data received from a connected phone for distance, speed and range information. More apps are downloadable via a mobile phone or tablet, and an SDK is freely available.[43] Not all apps were installed when the watch originally shipped, but CEO Eric Migicovsky announced on January 9, 2013, that every 2–3 weeks updates for the watch's operating system would be released until all features are added.[34]

The Pebble integrates with any phone or tablet application that sends out native iOS[44] or Android[45] notifications including for example the web service IFTTT.[46][47] IFTTT allow users to create rules for events that will send notifications to the watch.

The watch's firmware operating system is based on a FreeRTOS kernel and uses Newlib, the STM32 Peripheral Lib, the Ragel state machine compiler, and an unnamed UTF-8 Decoder.[48]

Gadgetbridge is an alternative companion application for Android. It is open source, does not require account creation and supports features like notifications, music playback and watch application installation/removal.

Pebble SDK

Pebble Technology announced that an open Pebble software development kit (SDK) would be released before shipment of the watches began.[49] A proof-of-concept watchface SDK and documentation were released on April 12, 2013.[50][51] The released SDK was limited to development for watch faces, simple applications and games. The second release of the SDK (renamed PebbleKit) was released on May 17, 2013, and added support for two-way communication between Pebbles and smartphones running iOS or Android via the AppMessage framework.

The 2.0 Pebble SDK, as of February 2015, included APIs to access bluetooth messaging, background workers, the accelerometer, the compass, and Javascript apps. Applications written with the second, PebbleKit SDK are not backwards compatible with 1.x apps, and developers had to port their apps to the second-gen firmware.[52]

Reception

The Pebble Watch's first edition was released to mixed reviews. The design was acclaimed for being innovative, and the watch vibration results in higher awareness of phone alerts.[21] For the Pebble Steel model reviewers noted the large price jump from $149 to $249 USD, the continued lack of touch-activation, and the cosmetic overhaul described as "less-geeky".[53][54]

Pebble Steel

Pebble Steel

The Pebble Steel is a steel-bodied variant of the original Pebble smartwatch. Announced at CES 2014, it has a thinner body, tactile metal buttons, and Corning Gorilla Glass. It comes in 2 variations: a black matte finish and a brushed stainless steel finish, with both a black leather band and a matching steel band. It was released in February 2014. The CNET reviewer liked the design, readability, swim-friendliness and selection of apps, while he disliked the lack of storage that limits to 8 user installed apps and the lack of a heart-rate monitor.[55]

Pebble Time

Main article: Pebble Time
Pebble Time

On February 24, 2015, Pebble announced the Pebble Time, their second-generation Pebble smartwatch via its Kickstarter campaign. In late May, Pebble Time started shipping to backers. It is currently available on Pebble's website via Best Buy.

The Pebble Time Steel is a stainless steel variant of the Pebble Time smartwatch, available in multiple finishes: silver, black or gold with either a leather or steel band.[56] Pebble claims it has a 10-day battery life.

The Pebble Time Round is also made of stainless steel and 2.5d gorilla glass, with five finishes, including the new rose gold. Pebble claims it has a 2-day battery life, dramatically decreased because of the shape and size but still significantly longer-lasting than the Apple Watch's 16-hour life.

Hardware

Pebble's second generation comes with various improvements over its predecessors, such as a 64-color e-paper display with Gorilla Glass[57] a thinner and more ergonomic chassis, plastic casing and a microphone. The Pebble Time retains the seven-day battery life and water resistance found on the previous two Pebble watches. It has a 150mAh battery.

Alongside the Pebble Time Steel, Pebble announced its open hardware platform called "Smartstraps". This lets developers develop new third-party straps that connects to a special port at the back of the watch and can add new features like GPS, heart rate monitors, extended battery life and other things to the watch. This new platform prevents smartwatch bloat and making the watch bulky like most of its competitors' smartwatches.

Software

The Pebble Time also includes a new interface designed around a timeline,[58] which is similar to what is found in Google Now on Android Wear. In December 2015, all old Pebbles got a firmware update, enabling support for the timeline and removing the maximum of 8 apps-restriction, letting additional apps load directly from the connected phone. It is backwards compatible with all previous apps and watch faces.

Funding and records

The Pebble Time retails for $199.[59] The project reached its Kickstarter funding goal of $500,000 in 17 minutes.[60] The project took 49 minutes to reach $1 million, which is a Kickstarter record.[61] The project raised $10.3 million in 48 hours, another Kickstarter record. On March 3, 2015, Pebble Time became the most funded Kickstarter ever with nearly $14 million funded, while having 24 days left in its campaign.[62] At the end of the funding, March 27, 2015, Pebble Time received pledges of $20,338,986 from 78,471 backers.[63]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Business Entity Detail". California Secretary of State. April 4, 2012. Retrieved May 21, 2014. Entity number C3456720
  2. 1 2 Milian, Mark (September 16, 2013). "The Sticky Situation That Delayed the Pebble Smartwatch". Bloomberg L.P. Migicovsky signed an agreement with Taiwan-based Foxlink Group to assemble the Pebble watches in a plant near the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
  3. ↑ "The Pebble is now even cheaper". Compare Smartwatches. Retrieved 2014-10-07.
  4. 1 2 Pebble has now sold over 1 million as of Dec. 2014 smartwatches. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Pebble smart watch review – hands on". Expert Reviews. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  6. ↑ Murray, Brad (May 23, 2014). "FreeRTOS™ Code Revisions from Pebble".
  7. ↑ Migicovsky, Eric (May 22, 2014). "Eric Migicovsky on Twitter". Our proprietary code is not open source though.
  8. ↑ "What is Pebble's (and Steel's) actual amount of Memory and Storage (RAM and ROM)?". May 15, 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 "Pebble Teardown". iFixit. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
  10. ↑ "OET Exhibits List for FCCID RGQ-PEBBLE-WATCH, Internal Photos". FCC. December 27, 2012.
  11. ↑ Detwiler, Bill (June 16, 2014). "Cracking Open the Pebble Steel".
  12. ↑ [=https://fccid.io/RGQ-PEBBLE-WATCHA#Exhibits "OET Exhibits List for FCCID RGQ-PEBBLE-WATCH2, Internal Photos"] Check |url= value (help). FCC. January 6, 2014.
  13. ↑ [=https://fccid.io/RGQ-PEBBLE-WATCHA#Exhibits "FCC OET Exhibits List for FCCID RGQ-PEBBLE-WATCHA, Internal Photos"] Check |url= value (help). FCC. October 18, 2013.
  14. ↑ Galan, Walter (March 12, 2013). "Pebble Teardown". iFixIt.
  15. ↑ Chang, Alexandra (May 14, 2012). "Hands On With Pebble Smartwatch, the Most Successful Kickstarter Project Ever | Gadget Lab". Wired.com. Retrieved 2013-08-28.
  16. ↑ FCC Office of Engineering and Technology (December 27, 2012). [=https://fccid.io/RGQ-PEBBLE-WATCH "OET List Exhibits Report"] Check |url= value (help). fccid.io. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  17. ↑ "Privacy Policy". Pebble Technology Corp. January 19, 2013.
  18. 1 2 Anthony Wing Kosner (April 15, 2012). "Pebble Watch for iPhone and Android, The Most Successful Kickstarter Project Ever". Forbes. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  19. ↑ Shanklin, Will (November 10, 2015). "Pebble Time Round review: Incredibly thin watch, pretty thin value proposition". GizMag.
  20. ↑ "Pebble Time Steel review: Steel-ing the smartwatch limelight? - Pocket-lint". www.pocket-lint.com. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  21. 1 2 Pebble Watch Review. Business Insider (April 17, 2013). Retrieved on 2014-01-14.
  22. 1 2 Bennett, Brian (January 9, 2013). "Pebble watch is the smartest timepiece ever (hands-on)". CNET. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
  23. ↑ Chu, Sanna (April 17, 2015). "Apple Watch Vs. Pebble Watch: More Than 1,000 Apps Submitted Ahead Of iOS Smartwatch Launch". iDigitalTimes.
  24. 1 2 3 "Rejected By VCs, Pebble Watch Raises $3.8M on Kickstarter". Go.bloomberg.com. April 17, 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-22.
  25. 1 2 3 Netburn, Deborah (April 18, 2012). "Pebble smartwatch raises $4.7 million on Kickstarter funding site". latimes.com. Retrieved 2012-04-22.
  26. ↑ "Vancouver-born entrepreneur’s Pebble smartphone breaks Kickstarter record". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2012-05-12.
  27. ↑ "Pebble Smartwatch Pre-Orders Are Sold Out, $10+ Million Pledged". Time. May 10, 2012.
  28. ↑ Cowley, Stacy. "Kickstarter's top projects: When they shipped". CNNMoney (CNN, Fortune, and Money). Retrieved 2014-05-11.
  29. ↑ Neal, Dave. "CES: Kickstarter funded Pebble watch makes a splash". The Inquirer. Incisive Financial Publishing Limited. Retrieved 2013-03-05.
  30. ↑ Francis, Don (February 4, 2014). "George Zachary Calls Pebble His Best Investment To Date". Startup Grind. When asked by StartupGrind founder and interviewer, Derek Andersen, about the investment, George called said Pebble has not only been the fastest growing investment based on revenue, but also the most profitable. Charles River Ventures invested $15 million Series A funding in 2013. George confirmed that Pebble had shipped 300,000 units in its first year of operation.
  31. ↑ Mangalindan, JP (March 20, 2014). "Pebble sold 400,000 smartwatches last year, on track to double revenues in 2014". Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  32. ↑ TeamPebble (July 8, 2014). "Pebble refusing to replace broken Kickstarter Edition. (screen flicker)". With over 450k active Pebbles in the wild,...
  33. ↑ Martin, Brandon (February 2, 2015). "Pebble ships more than 1 million units, 2015 models to take on Apple Watch". www.inferse.com. Inferse.
  34. 1 2 3 Migicovsky, Eric (January 9, 2013). "Pebble: E-Paper Watch for iPhone and Android by Pebble Technology " CES Announcement recap". Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  35. ↑ Pebble Smartwatch | iPhone & Android Smartwatch. Getpebble.com. Retrieved on 2014-01-14.
  36. ↑ "Pebble: E-Paper Watch for iPhone and Android by Pebble Technology " Manufacturing and Software Updates". Pebble Technology. Kickstarter. February 6, 2013. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
  37. ↑ Migicovsky, Eric (CEO, Pebble) (July 30, 2012). "Why only one connection?". Pebble Technology Corp. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  38. ↑ Klug, Brian (November 6, 2013). "Pebble Releases Update _ Better iOS 7 Integration, New APIs, Enables Bluetooth LE". AnandTech. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  39. ↑ "Allerta intros Pebble smartwatch, inPulse's attractive younger sibling". Engadget. Retrieved 2012-04-22.
  40. ↑ "Pebble: E-Paper Watch for iPhone and Android by Pebble Technology " We're waterproofing Pebble!". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2012-04-22.
  41. ↑ Kim, Eugene (February 26, 2013). "Pebble Smartwatch Review". PC Mag. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
  42. ↑ Lee, Adriana (February 10, 2014). "10 Cool Things A Pebble Smartwatch Can Do". ReadWrite.
  43. ↑ Chang, Alexandra (April 11, 2012). "Pebble E-Ink Smartwatch Connects to Your iOS or Android Phone | Gadget Lab". Wired.com. Retrieved 2012-04-22.
  44. ↑ "Setting Up IOS Notifications". Pebble Technology. October 15, 2014. With the iOS7 Notification Center, Pebble can receive notifications for any apps that you set up to send alerts to your iPhone (4s or later iDevices).
  45. ↑ Joseph, Pebble's Community Manager (November 20, 2014). "A world of increíble Pebble updates: Firmware, Android, and iOS (Release Notes)". Pebble Technology. With a new foundation to introduce awesome features more easily, version 2.1.0 of the Pebble Android app is here, starting with three magic words: Full. Notification. Support Android devices running 4.3 (Jelly Bean) or above can now send notifications to Pebble from any app, via the new Notifications " All Apps menu.
  46. ↑ "Connect iOS Notifications". IFTTT. Retrieved November 21, 2014. IFTTT enables you to connect the iOS Notifications Channel to 119 different Channels.
  47. ↑ Migicovsky, Eric (CEO, Pebble) (July 18, 2012). "IFTTT Support". Pebble Technology Corporation.
  48. ↑ "Licenses | Pebble". Pebble. Retrieved May 7, 2014. Software; FreeRTOS, newlib, STM32 Peripheral Lib, UTF-8 Decoder, Ragel
  49. ↑ "Pebble: E-Paper Watch for iPhone and Android by Pebble Technology " Developer SDK availability". Pebble Technology. Kickstarter. April 13, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2013.
  50. ↑ "Pebble Watchface SDK Release". April 12, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2013.
  51. ↑ "Pebble Watchface SDK Documentation". April 12, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2013.
  52. ↑ https://developer.getpebble.com/2/guides/migration-guide.html
  53. ↑ Stein, Scott. (January 6, 2014) Pebble Steel – Watches and wrist devices – CNET Reviews. Reviews.cnet.com. Retrieved on 2014-01-14.
  54. ↑ "Pebble an affordable smartwatch in your range". StockNewsDesk. September 17, 2014.
  55. ↑ Pebble Steel review - CNET. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  56. ↑ Pebble Time Steel launches alongside new smart watch straps. Gigaom. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  57. ↑ Hoffelder, Nate (April 16, 2015). "Official webpage says it is "1.25-inch, color e-paper display"". Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  58. ↑ http://www.smartwatchcrunch.com/pebble-time-the-new-pebble-baby-after-pebble-and-pebble-steel/
  59. ↑ "Pebble Time - Awesome Smartwatch, No Compromises". Kickstarter. Pebble Technology. February 24, 2015. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  60. ↑ "Made our @Kickstarter goal in 17 minutes?! Only one thing to say :-D #PebbleTime http://pbl.io/kickstarter". Twitter. Pebble Technology. February 24, 2015. Retrieved February 24, 2015. External link in |title= (help)
  61. ↑ "Pebble's color watch is the fastest Kickstarter project to hit $1 million (updated)". Engadget. February 24, 2015. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  62. ↑ Pebble Time most funded Kickstarter ever. USA Today. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  63. ↑ Pebble Time - Awesome Smartwatch, No Compromises Pebble Kickstarter Pebble Project Updates Retrieved April 30, 2015.

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