The Apple Watch might be the household name in smartwatches today, but it was hardly the first of its kind. It was actually a bit late to the scene, having been beaten to the punch not only by some Android-powered wearables but by a niche product that would briefly be the darling of the market until Apple arrived. Compared to later smartwatches, the Pebble was extremely limited in functionality, but who would have thought that people today would actually prefer that to the distraction overload offered by modern wearables.
Pebble has had a rather colorful history, one that eventually ended in Google’s graveyard. Fortunately, the tech giant did something rather unusual and actually released the code for Pebble OS as open source software, which would mean anyone could take it and make their own pebble. And by “anyone,” that includes Pebble’s original creator, who just announced the return of the original Pebbles, specs and all.
Designer: Eric Migicovsky
The OG Pebble definitely looks dated by today’s standards, though later editions not only refined the design but also improved on the hardware and features. The smartwatch boasted days-long battery life thanks to its use of an e-Paper display rather than conventional LCDs or OLEDs, and although it used a proprietary operating system, it supported easily writing apps that extended the device’s features. Unfortunately, popularity didn’t translate to commercial success and Pebble closed up shop after being partially bought by Fitbit who would later on be bought by Google.
In a somewhat weird twist of fate, Google just announced that it was open sourcing Pebble OS, laying the foundations for not just third-party mods on existing Pebble smartwatches but also a full-blown rebirth of the original wearable line. Of course, that would require hardware that would actually run the Pebble software, which is what the buzz today is all about.
Eric Migicovsky, the creator of Pebble, quickly announced that they were bringing back the smartwatch now that the doors have become fully open. The rather interesting detail about the revelation is that the new watch will have the same specs and features as the old Pebble, though it’s not clear which generation of Pebble he was referring to. The intention was to make that “rePebble” immediately compatible with the dozens of apps and watch faces that were made by the passionate Pebble community.
That said, it will be interesting to see how the old Pebble will measure up against today’s smartwatches. With a strong trend towards minimalism and distraction-free experiences, it could very well become a crowd favorite yet again, almost a decade after it was officially discontinued. It might be a tough sell, though, with the Apple Watch’s dominance in the market, and Pebble might have to upgrade some of its specs to include more advanced health sensors to compete there.
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