Pebble Steel: A more elegant Smartwatch
Pebble promised there would be something new at CES this year and now they have shown it off. Named the Pebble Steel, it is a much better designed smartwatch that I wouldn’t be a bit ashamed to wear in public. Not to say the original Pebble was ugly, you can only do so much with plastic, but to look at the picture below and say the new one doesn’t look leaps and bounds better would be crazy.
If you are not familiar with the original Pebble, it was first launched on the website Kickstarter and set records for the amount of money they raised for the project. You will notice they both use a black and white E-ink display similar to what you find in an E-reader like a Nook or Kindle. By not having a color LCD display like the Samsung Galaxy Gear for instance, the battery life is closer to a week instead of one day like the Samsung. The only thing the old version has going for it that I wish the new one did is no branding. But that is just a personal observation. Although this model has a striking new aesthetic, aside some more storage the internals have stayed the same as the one before it. However reviewers that have had a chance to try it have said that it runs much smoother and faster which a Pebble rep confirmed was the result of new software. That should be good news to anyone who has the older version. Because they have the same hardware, just a software update is all that is necessary to make the older version run just as well as the new one and include the same new features.
They are available for pre-order right now for $250, but shipping time is slowing slipping later and later as people are entering their orders. So if you want to be among the first to have one you better get your order in quick. The two colors you can choose from are pictured above. I personally would opt for the black matte version, but whatever your style, they both come with the black leather band pictured. Here is a video posted by The Verge to walk you through a bit of how it all works and looks when you are wearing it.
Ben Johnson
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