If you have been following my Twitter, you may have seen that I have written more than a few tweets about the Pebble Steel. At first, it was anger that I didn’t have it. After the nearly three months of waiting, it was about my sheer bliss at having the thing.
If, you’re confused about this thing, let me clear the air. It’s just a watch. It’s a watch that’s connected to my phone though. It’s a smart watch, but not in the sense that a smart phone is special. It doesn’t have a touch screen. You can’t really connect to the internet with it. It simply takes your notifications from your phone, and sends them to your watch, and notifies you with a little vibration.
Now, you may be asking, “Why?”
Good question. I’m happy you asked.
I recently read an article about a thing called Phantom Vibration Syndrome, which is basically the idea that people randomly hear vibrations even when there are none, making them obsessed with checking their phone, to the point of distraction. I am such a technophile that I am always connected, and I started noticing that I was checking my phone more often than the average bear. It would be the first thing I did before and after each of my classes, and anytime I had a break. It would be the first thing I did when I woke up, and the last thing I did before bed, and pretty much every 15 minutes in between.
The main benefit of having a Pebble, is that I don’t feel like I have to be so obsessed with my phone that it becomes a noticeable distraction.
So, let’s have a look.
First, I’d recommend checking the thing out on their website: https://getpebble.com/steel.
It’s about the same size as a normal men’s watch, although a bit thicker (not noticeably though). It comes with two bands, a leather and a steel band. It has a very professional look to it.
This is the watch face I’m currently using, but you can download other faces, as well as a variety of apps, from the Pebble app-store. I like this one because all the pertinent information is on the screen. It shows the time, date, weather, connectivity, and the battery meter.
After connecting it to my phone, my whole world changed. I was able to set my phone to silent, and I haven’t even thought about it since. While I can’t reply to messages or emails on the watch, which is a good thing imho, I can read the contents of most messages and notifications I receive on my watch with a quick glance. It still vibrates, but it’s much quieter than a phone, and I only pay attention to the feeling. The best thing, is that I don’t feel like such a jerk when I am with friends. I hate when people are constantly checking their phones when we are together, it gives an air of disinterest. With this, I can just casually check my watch. It’s more natural, and it’s less stressful.
The battery-life is great too. I charged it to 100% the evening I received it (last Saturday), and it has been connected to my phone since. As of writing this, on Thursday evening, it’s still at 40% battery. I would say it will clock in at just under one week on a single charge, which is better than any of the other devices I have (wish I could say that about my phone).
It uses an e-ink display, which helps with the battery consumption, but also makes it readable in just about any environment. A simple flick of the wrist turns on a backlight for low-light situations.
On top of all that, it doesn’t come with an outrageous price tag. I paid only $215 for it, and they included free shipping, which isn’t bad for a watch.
Now, the downside:
It connects to your phone using bluetooth. I have never been a fan of bluetooth. In the early days, the connection was spotty at best. While the connection has improved, it’s still not perfect. There have been a few times that I have to reset the connection just to continue getting the notifications. I also haven’t really checked the effective distance of the connection. I think it’s somewhere between 15 and 30 feet, but I’m not so sure.
There is a built in alarm, which vibrates annoyingly when activated, but who wears a watch when they’re sleeping? I guess if you wanted to use the watch as an alarm, it would be effective if you put the watch on a hard surface so that you get the reverberating effect, but overall, I can’t see that feature getting much use.
In closing, I’ve seen many complaints about my generation always having their faces in phones. I think this is true. I think many people, especially in my generation, have forgotten how to be polite in social situations, due to their very short attention spans. I hope that this little gadget will help me get my face away from my phone, and experience the real world in a non-digital fashion.
By the way, this isn’t a paid advertisement for the company. I am just so excited to finally be able to put my phone on silent without worrying/obsessing that I’m missing something.
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