We're bringing Pebble back!

I do not trust this. I want it to be true, but I feel like even as a FOSS OS... Maybe I'm an idiot (not maybe) but I had the rug pulled from under me once already,

Google rugpulls shit way too often for me to take the risk.

I wonder if there's any ESP32 boards that would work well for this. I know there's a mesh-tastic capable watch that's got to be super programmable.

Never trust or buy something from a Alphabet company. They will always cancel the project and leave you high and dry.

Their track record speaks for itself.

But this doesn't have anything to do with alphabet? They just open sourced the code.
- Fitbit bought Pebble then Google bought Fitbit.
Yes, true, but irrelevant in this case.

Nothing else ever really achieved what the pebble did. I just wanted a cheap second point of interaction with my phone.

After it went under the industry has doubled down on insane cost, pointless features, abysmal battery life.

I don't get it. Pepple made all the right trade offs and the third party support was incredible.

I hope this works out.

Does it let you buy stuff?

I just want a watch that lets me buy stuff, without Google, Apple, or anyone else tracking me. The closest I found is a Pixel watch with WiFi, which I only connect at home, and isn't connected to my phone most of the time (GrapheneOS). Google still tracks me, but only after the fact, and only when I reconnect to WiFi.

I honestly don't care about the watch function, I just want something I can wear when I'm on a bike ride so I can leave my phone and wallet at home but still pick up a snack or something.

If the Pebble can do that without phoning home, I'll get it. But I'm pretty sure that's impossible since it's baked into the Wallet app.
- I hate to be that guy, but if you're doing NFC payments, your card issuer is tracking you, AND selling your data. And of course, the merchant you're using is almost certainly tracking you and profiling you for more ads, too.
  
  There's no way to do any sort of electronics payment with 'nobody' tracking you.
  
  I trust Apple to be slightly less shitty than anyone else in the payment industry, but if you don't want to be tracked its' either cash, or you become one of those Monero dudes.
- Cash…. What you’re looking for is called cash.
  
  No way is any purchasing system going to allow you to walk away without checking that you are won you claim to be, and that you have the funds available to you to make that purchase.
- Yeah I'm pretty sure the banks would shut down anything that clones NFC payment functionality onto a device without them knowing about it.

Raspberry pi Pebble when?

I loved my PebbleSteel but the build quality just wasn’t there. Had two go bad after a very short time with button issues. When Pebble got sold i begrudgingly moved to an Apple Watch and have been ok with it. I do wish Apple offered an E-ink display tho. I’d gladly trade display colors and screen resolution for a multi-day battery and lower prices.

I’m all in on the Apple ecosystem but won’t get an Apple Watch for that reason. Besides the fact that I already get distracted enough, I can’t bear to have a wearable that won’t make it 24 hours without a charge. Resistance to that level of obligation is the same reason I never bought a Tamagotchi.
- I got a Tamagotchi when they were new and it was annoying as fuck, so I stopped playing with it after two days and enjoyed looking at the floating ghost.
- The newer watches can last up to 2 days I think at least my Samsung ones did I would assume apple is about par
I was looking into Pebble watches right before they got bought by Fitbit, was super bummed. Since then I've tried a Garmin (hated the app) and now on my third Apple Watch... I still don't love the Apple Watch and want an alternative. Between having to charge it all the goddamn time and after 10~ years it only having 3 usable watch faces I've been craving an alt. I signed up for the Pebble list - I'm ready. Pebble for every day and going to try out a Coros for fitness.
- I've been eyeing Amazfit's watches hard, ever since I saw a coworker with one. Wasn't interested in smartwatches before due to all the compromises each one makes but their watches seem like they're actually good from what I can tell.
- Not everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ve been enjoying my Withings watches for fitness tracking and everyday wear as well. They look like a decent, non-smart watch. Battery lasts about a month or so.

I'm just very unoptimistic that this won't come back as corporate garbage and not remotely resembling what it once was.

The people doing the revival have been working to keep the original pebbles working for years now. I think they're really passionate about the watch, and that gives me hope for the revival.
- It sounds like "the people" is just Migi, unless I'm misunderstanding. The guy who EEE'd Beeper.
The best part is you can make your own!
- With what? I don't own a watch factory.

Just want to shout out my PineTime. no one seems to be talking about it. Its a nice piece of kit for $35.

Yup. I've been rocking the PineTime since my Pebble crapped out. It does what I need it to do without any of the invasive stuff. But, still excited about this Pebble news.
I just went to take a look at it, its €65, I don't see a price anywhere near $35?

and then i saw they had an e-reader and got all excited... They charge €610 for that thing, holy crap that's stupid expensive.
- Maybe the bangle js 2 is interesting for you? https://banglejs.com/
- Skill issue?
PineTime has been the only watch I've liked since my pebble, but it is a downgrade to my overall experience. If I want a good battery life (great, even) I can't have an always on screen, and I miss the physical buttons for interacting without looking. The vibration motor is solid, though.

I will miss my 28 day long battery when I leave it. Hopefully a new pebble can achieve a similar battery life.
I picked one up, just to check it out, but I guess I don't really see much use for it. I just wear an analog watch.

I all keep going back to my Pebble Time. The battery life and focus on productivity are second to none.

Under the Apache License 2.0 license, no less! Nice!

I ran my Pebble Time into the ground, so I'm hyped as fuck for this. I bought it in my early highschool years and wore it nearly daily until last year when the rumble motor finally gave out. Still wear it from time to time, but it not buzzing for notifications is a bit of a deal breaker for me.

I bought a replacement and it's so pristine I didn't want to risk slowly damaging it at work, but now I'm charging that bitch up and running it into the ground until new Pebble comes out. Thanks for sharing OP, this news made me week!

Bonus, here's what mine looked like as of a few years ago right when the vibration went out. You can see I slapped a skin on it to cover up the bezel scratches, but the screen still looks totally fine!

Interesting to see if it will be better than Bangle JS 2, the spiritual successor to Pebble. That's the one I've been using a few years and I still like it a lot.

Somehow I missed out on this device when searching for open watches, thanks for the info.

Which business model are they going for - screwing over their former employees? Or selling access to something that doesn't belong to them? Or are they going to try to combine them both this time?

The former pebble employees at Google worked hard to get the OS open source, so I think it's fair to assume they were hoping for this outcome. And the repebble team (who are the ones"bringing it back") have been working on providing support and keeping the original pebble watches going for years now.
I’m confused what you’re asking. Google opens sourced the pebble code, which they acquired from their purchase of Fitbit, who acquired it when they purchased pebble. Repebble is an open source project that has been trying to keep the original pebble watches working since Fitbit shut pebble down.

I miss my Pebble Time Round every day, it's the only smart watch that I owned that I actually liked. I even bought a second and got it running via Rebble.

They both died due to a swollen battery but I've been pining for something similar for years! Hope this pans out

Same. I bought one of those ifixit kits and tried to repair mine, but it turns out the wires are very small and I couldnt get everything hooked back in.
- I thought about trying but decided it wasn't worth it. IIRC there was like ONE guy who had the batteries and could do it if you mailed it to him lol.
  
  All on I actually bought 4 time rounds in addition to my OG Pebble, as my wife had two as well. She's just as stoked as I am. Big Pebble fans all around!

I'm not in to smart watches, but I'm happy this is happening. A couple of friends really liked the pebble and were sad to see it go.

If you click "no" on the website it takes you to the Google pixel watch site. My goodness that thing is ugly.

we've got pineWatch so why not pebble? PineWatch is OK but it's.not pebble. It was an amazing low tech that was actually extremely useful

Finally

Definitely interested in trying this. I've got an Android smart watch and I'm really disappointed in the lack of customisation and integration with stuff.

Loved my pebble watch, got burned with kickstarter campaign for pebble 2 (bid lost money gone when it was cancelled because fibbit taking over right at this moment).

Since then I went back to Casio and will not look at a computer on a wrist anymore, not even Apple Watch or repebble.

I ♥️ my Casio F-91W
- Picture taking a dump;
  
  Pants down;
  
  Is that a g-string?
  
  Great watch though
- Ayoooo nice g string cuz
- I've been enjoying my modded Casio W-800H for the last few years. It's a nice sweetspot where it's cheap enough that I don't need to worry about it but it has the features I want (namely a countdown timer).
- Just got my kids the same, and they were stoked when I told them it would probably last longer than they want it to.
- Approved, gshock here 🙂