Pebble, Maker of the Best Smartwatch on the Planet, Just Unveiled Its Latest Timepiece

Daniel Howley
·Technology Editor
Updated
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Pebble makes the best smartwatches on the planet (the Pebble watch and Pebble Steel). Today, it is adding a new member to the family with the Pebble Time.

Unveiled Tuesday morning, the Time features a thinner body than its predecessors and, for the first time, a color display made from e-paper. That’s a huge change for the company, which previously used monochrome e-paper displays. (You can see the color above. Magic!)

Unlike the Pebble watch and Pebble Steel, the Pebble Time’s body offers a slight curve to its underside, which the company says will make it more comfortable to wear. Its edges are also made of stainless steel, an aesthetic improvement over the Pebble watch’s plastic design.

But the big news here is the color display. Pebble’s monochrome e-paper displays gave its watches excellent overall battery life; where smartwatches from Samsung and Sony were lucky to get a day of battery life with their all-color screens, Pebble’s watches lasted a week. For the Pebble Time, though, the company chose a color panel. Interestingly, Pebble claims the new screen won’t have a negative impact on the Time’s battery life, saying that the Time’s battery will last up to 7 days just like the Pebble watch and Pebble Steel.

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In addition to a new look and new screen, the Pebble Time also gets an updated operating system that prioritizes your most recent smartphone and app notifications. So you’ll see that text message you just got on the screen before you see the score from last night’s terrible Knicks game.

You can also scroll through your previous messages and notifications. Google’s Android Wear operating system has been roundly criticized for making it difficult to retrieve older notifications.

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Like the Pebble watch and Pebble Steel, the Pebble Time will have access to Pebble’s huge number of smartwatch apps and custom watch faces.

Curiously, Pebble is once again relying on Kickstarter to help fund the Pebble Time. Get in early, and you can get the Time through the crowdfunding site for $159 with deliveries beginning in May.

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(Image via Pebble/Kickstarter)

Want to hold off on getting the Time until you see what Apple’s Apple Watch, which will start at $349, has to offer? Then you’ll have to fork over $199 for the Time when it hits retailers later this year.

So far, Google’s Android Wear line of smartwatches has dominated the market, and with the Apple Watch coming this spring, the Pebble Time is facing some serious competition.

But if the Time is as good as its predecessors, Pebble may just be able to stand the test of … time. I’ll see myself out.

We have yet to review the Time, or even try it out for ourselves. But we will let you know when that time comes and update you on its quality.

Kickstarter link for the Pebble Time

UPDATE: That was fast! Pebble’s Kickstarter for the Time smartwatch was funded in less than 20 minutes.

Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley or on Google+ here.