Tuesday, November 5, 2013

The Pebble. So sad.

I really, really wanted to like my Pebble. I waited ages for it and it had so much promise... Promise. Not overly featured, simple, great battery life, design I actually want on my wrist, not a full computer (looking at you galaxy).  I shipped it back.

You see, I have an iPhone which means I just couldn't get the most out of that watch. Really this is because of decisions that Apple makes about it's product. I understand that the (relatively) closed system is the price I pay for my Apple addiction. BUT Pebble really didn't make clear just how much of a challenge I was going to have with the device up front. There are things that just don't work. Most of the apps require you to jailbreak your phone (all but one that I could find actually). Bummer, but I probably would have been okay with this had it been clear up front.

The connectivity issues are another thing; survivable before iOS 7 but so frequent after I found myself just keeping my phone on the desk again. Then there is the notifications not showing problem. An apparently known issue that is discussed frequently on the forums. Notifications on my wrist + Runkeeper integration is why I bought the thing. Hey Pebble pro-tip: telling you customers the solution notification problem is to do something called "the finger dance" where in one goes through and turns off and on all the notifications on my phone every single time the connection gets dropped isn't a solution. It is a sign that your product isn't production ready to pair with iPhones. It was annoying when I had to do it because I went out of bluetooth range, it made it unusable with the connectivity issues I had with iOS 7.

So back the Pebble went. I am once bitten twice shy on smartwatches now. I am going to sit back and see what happens with these over the next 12 months.

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