Toward the end of June, the interns of Aragon went to Target and picked up some awesome wearable devices—a GoPro, a Fitbit, and a Pebble Smart Watch. For the past few weeks, I’ve been wearing the Pebble and loving every second of it!
First and foremost, as soon as I opened the box, I evaluated the watch’s appearance. I had always been dubious about smart watches—I assumed they would be large and clunky, and cumbersome to wear. So I was pleasantly surprised at the Pebble’s sleek design. In addition to the white color we bought, the watch comes in black and red. It is only about one inch by two inches and is pretty thin, so it’s really comfortable!
The watch has a battery life of 5-7 days, so it will definitely last you through the work week. It was nice not to have to worry about charging it every day. It’s also super user-friendly—there are just 4 buttons, and I learned their functions quickly and easily.
What exactly does it do?
Basically, the watch displays a watch face (which you can customize), displays notifications you receive on your phone—including text messages, Snapchat notifications, Instagram notifications, etc. (you can customize what you want it to show!), and can hold up to 8 apps that you download onto it via your smartphone. I’ve downloaded 6 apps so far that I think are some of the most useful apps available:
Pebble Cards – Displays local weather, stock info, store notes (put your grocery list on it!), sports scores, and much more
Runkeeper – Instead of pulling out your phone or having the phone app’s voice interrupt your music, just glance down at your Pebble watch to see your time/distance
Foursquare and Yelp – You can put these apps on your Pebble instead of having them take up space on your phone. This was big for me personally because I recently got a lot of new music and had to delete a lot of apps to make space!
PebbleBucks – Provides quick and easy access to your Starbucks account info/card barcodes
Timers/alarms – I’ve used these a lot! I don’t always want to use my phone as a timer, especially if it’s in another room or charging. I used this specifically when I was waiting for cookies to bake in the oven. It’s nice to have a timer you can easily carry around on your wrist.
Another neat function is you can control your phone’s music from the watch—play, pause, skip, and replay songs without pulling out your phone.
What would make it even cooler?
I think there could be some useful additions to the watch, including a microphone. I just keep thinking about having Siri on my watch—I raise my wrist and ask the location of the nearest Starbucks, and a voice comes out of the watch and says, “Right down the street.”
Or how cool would it be if you could speak into your watch to send a text message to someone.
Something else to keep in mind–the constant Bluetooth connectivity drains your phone’s battery.
Final Thoughts
It’s awesome that we’re living in an age when 1960s science fiction is becoming a reality. The Pebble is a really nice early effort for a smart watch, and the possibilities for future smart watch capabilities are boundless.
Where do I think the watch would be the most useful? Probably while exercising or while in a meeting. For just about any other situation, I can’t help thinking, why not just pull out your phone? Before I buy a smart watch for myself, someone will need to come out with one that provides clearer and wider benefits.
We’ll have to see what Apple brings to the table—rumors of an attached microphone, biometrics, integration with multiple iOS devices, and a sleeker, more fashionable design on their upcoming smart watch just might make fantasies instilled by Inspector Gadget and Knight Rider a reality.