{"id":15529,"date":"2016-02-08T08:00:51","date_gmt":"2016-02-08T13:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/?p=15529"},"modified":"2018-02-23T15:02:06","modified_gmt":"2018-02-23T20:02:06","slug":"pebble-steel-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/pebble-steel-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Pebble Steel Review: 4 Months of a Vibrating Arm"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m seeing smartwatches of various kinds on different people more frequently now.\\n\\n\"pebble1\"<\/a>In fact, current market statistics suggest that you can see a smartwatch on 4-6 million people<\/a>. I\u2019m having a hard time finding direct statistics that I can rely on accurately, but suffice it to say\u2014smartwatches have a strong foothold in our economy.\\n\\nI bought a Pebble Steel<\/a> back in October of 2015. It probably doesn\u2019t have as much glamour as John Sonmez\u2019s Apple Watch does<\/a>, but I still think it warrants a fair shake at a review. Overall, I love wearing it and it does exactly what I\u2019d hope for in a device like this.\\n\\n<\/p>\n

Why It\u2019s Great<\/h2>\n

\\n\\n<\/p>\n

Alarm Clock<\/h3>\n

\\n\\nYou won\u2019t miss a deadline or a wake up call when you wear this thing. Whether you choose to use the stock alarm clock (which is pretty basic and boring) or an alarm clock app, you\u2019re going to notice it when the thing starts going off.\\n\\nThe haptic motor in this thing is one of the strongest ones I\u2019ve ever encountered. It vibrates really intensely. In fact, if I\u2019m not wearing it\u2014during a charge or in the shower\u2014it vibrates so hard that even though it\u2019s not an audible alert, I can still hear it from the sheer force of the vibrations against whatever surface it happens to be sitting on.\\n\\n<\/p>\n

Speaking of Showers<\/h3>\n

\\n\\n\"Book<\/a>For the first couple of months, I had the stock leather strap that came with the watch attached to it. If you do decide to buy one of these things, I strongly encourage you go the route of a stainless steel band<\/a>. After about a month of using the watch every day and sweating normally (I\u2019m hardly a fitness buff), the stock leather strap started getting a really funky smell. The steel one smells like\u2026 stainless steel.\\n\\nI couldn\u2019t set it on a ledge that had water exposure while showering with the stock strap, either. Now that I have the steel one, the watch can notify me if I\u2019m getting a phone call, text, Skype notification, etc. while in the shower. Now, I can\u2019t answer<\/em> the phone while I\u2019m showering. That\u2019s weird. But at least it lets me know if I have an important something to circle back on after I\u2019m done.\\n\\nAlso, I tend to get distracted by thinking about life, faith, and any other number of subjects in the shower. Having a small clock staring at me, reminding me I\u2019ve been in there for 30+ minutes, is a helpful reminder to conserve a bit of water. :-)\\n\\n<\/p>\n

Battery Life<\/h3>\n

\\n\\nDepending on the configuration that you pick for the watch, you can really pull off 5-7 days between charging without any problem. Some of the more intensive apps and watchfaces drain the battery faster. And if you get notifications frequently, the vibration motor tends to drain the watch battery quickly.\\n\\nRegardless of how fast you drain it, charging it takes very little time. Usually, I plug it in for 30 minutes or less and I get a green light (it\u2019s orange before it\u2019s fully charged). Granted, I don\u2019t let it get to empty before I plug it in, so that\u2019s something to consider, too.\\n\\n<\/p>\n

Notifications<\/h3>\n

\\n\\nThis is really the biggest selling point for this watch. The notifications mechanism is easily customizable, and it\u2019s also easy to tell the watch what time of day is your quiet time. That way, you can get instantly notified of the most important stuff and leave the rest of it for \u201cwhen you get to it.\u201d\\n\\nFor example: text messages and phone calls show up on my watch. Facebook posts and blog comments do not. Email does\u2014but only email that I consider more important.\\n\\nThe nice thing is, Pebble is cross platform. I\u2019ve got it hooked up to an Android device, but I imagine that the notifications configuration is just as flexible when hooked up to an iOS device.\\n\\n<\/p>\n

Price<\/h3>\n

\\n\\nI found a special going on when I bought mine, so I only paid $119 for it. But even at the price point of $150, this watch really does have the value sticker on it. While some parts of it definitely fall into the \u201cyou get what you pay for\u201d category, overall it\u2019s a really sleek piece of hardware that I\u2019m happy to wear for all occasions. In addition, you can use it with iPhone or Android<\/a>, which is a perk.\\n\\n<\/p>\n

Hardware Interface<\/h3>\n

\\n\\nUnlike many smartwatches<\/a>, this thing doesn\u2019t have a touch screen. But that doesn\u2019t leave me feeling like I can\u2019t use it successfully. The four buttons are easy to understand and handle all of the tasks that I want to accomplish with the watch. And they definitely don\u2019t detract from the overall look of the watch itself.\\n\\nOne thing to keep in mind with the steel edition (more specifically the watchband): it\u2019s brushed stainless, which means it does get scratched up a little bit too easily. This isn\u2019t a huge detractor for me, because the places where the scratches are don\u2019t really show up all that much. Plus, the body of the watch itself stays scratch-free, even though I\u2019m pretty abusive to it.\\n\\n<\/p>\n

In the Category of \u201cTake It or Leave It\u201d<\/h2>\n

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App Selection<\/h3>\n

\\n\\nThere\u2019s two apps on here that I really appreciate:\\n\\n<\/p>\n

    \\n <\/p>\n
  1. PlexFit\\n\n