Were on the cusp of an explosion of wearables,The smart card has a memory chip embedded in it that, and the smartwatch will be one of the first styles to go big. By all appearances, the iWatch is happening. And even if it doesnt happen, the Google watch will, or perhaps the Galaxy watch. Where does that leave the little guys, the Pebbles and the MetaWatches of the world? Are they primed to compete?
Dipping your toe in the primordial ooze of the smartwatch industry isnt easy. Ive had various MetaWatches for a year and a half now; Pebble, though, is a different story. Having stayed on the sidelines for Pebble's Kickstarter last year, I only just now managed to get one over the weekend by walking into a Best Buy. I really wanted the white model, not the black-on-black that Best Buy is carrying, but beggars can't be choosers.
The watches are remarkably different for having basically the same goal: turning your wrist into a primary destination for notifications from your iPhone or Android device. In most ways, that diversity is a great thing. I've long maintained that watches are fashion accessories and extensions of the wearer's personality, and sameness is the sworn enemy of that philosophy. But these products still make it crystal clear that we're still very early in the smartwatchs formative years. Some might even argue theyre betas. Were still at the point where everyone can learn something from everyone else.
I have limited latitude to criticize a watchs aesthetics different strokes for different folks but theres an exception: when a manufacturer only offers one design, its got to be universally appealing and universally good. In that regard, Pebble delivers a mixed report card.
Where Pebbles design succeeds is in its no-frills simplicity; a watch that isnt overwrought is less likely to offend, and the glossy, curved face and plain black wristband are about as simple as they come.Transportation China IC card Applications Ceremony. There are no bells or whistles, no extraneous flourishes. People who steer clear of the giant, chunky watches that have been trendy as of late wont be bothered by the relatively lithe Pebble. (I actually think its too small, but I love a really big watch.)
But the Pebbles cheap materials betray the designs true intentions: the watch looks simple not because its elegant, but because there simply wasnt much thought put into it. The entire thing is glossy, Samsung-esque plastic (not a compliment) paired with a low-grade rubber watchband, physical evidence that engineers poured resources into circuitry and software while racing against the clock. Its 90 percent technology, 10 percent aesthetic. Its clear it was produced by a technology startup, not a watchmaker.
The buttons are no better. These are some of the worst-feeling buttons Ive ever experienced on any product, ever theyre wobbly hunks of plastic that offer no tactile confirmation that youve actuated a command. I actually dread pressing them. They feel like they could break at any moment.
But then theres the display. A smartwatchs prime directive is to be "glanceable," meaning you can spend no more than a couple seconds looking at it and get all the information you need without needing to interact. It needs to be able to serve that need 24 hours a day for several days at a time, bare minimum, between charges. To pull that off, Pebble uses a monochrome e-paper display that delivers a really reasonable level of contrast.
The MetaWatch, meanwhile, uses one of the most objectively awful, exceedingly low-res displays Ive ever seen on a consumer device. It's called a "polymer network LCD," chosen for its low power drain. The tradeoff, though, is that it has an extremely low contrast-ratio, which means you simply can't see it in many lighting conditions. The problem is compounded when it's dark by a crappy single-bulb sidelight, reminiscent of digital watches from the 1980s. I have very vivid memories of owning a sweet Timex Ironman before the advent of electroluminescent lighting; this is a lot like that,where cards are embedded with chip card and a cardholder. and not in a good way.
MetaWatch treats its devices as slaves to the phones that theyre connected to there are no "watch apps," per se. Instead, third-party apps on the phone can use MetaWatchs SDK to push pixels directly to the watch and receive button and sensor input back from it over the ever-present Bluetooth connection (fortunately, the watch can still keep time if the connection is lost). Pebble, meanwhile, is very actively promoting the development of apps that run directly on its watches games, for instance.
In these early days, theres another philosophical difference between these products that has a much greater impact on the users experience: the "watch face," the home screen, whatever you want to call it. MetaWatch divides its square screen into four slots of equal size; using the MetaWatch app on iOS or Android, you can select various first- and third-party widgets to occupy one, two, or all four slots. For instance, you could have the time in the upper right, the weather in the upper left, and upcoming calendar events occupying both of the bottom two slots. Its versatile and user-friendly. Pebble, meanwhile, requires that the user select a single watch face.
Out of the box, none of the watch faces include any information other than time and date, nor do any of the extra faces that can be installed through the official Pebble phone app its far less flexible. Granted, there are some pretty watch faces available, but if all Im going to see is the time when I glance down at my wrist, Id just as soon wear a traditional watch that looks and feels a lot better. Third-party faces with more functionality can be installed from other sources, but that adds a layer of complexity that an average watch-wearer shouldnt have to deal with.On balance, Id like MetaWatchs four-slot widget concept paired with Pebbles superior UI and a better database of watch face designs (in fact, MetaWatch really only offers one design). And Id like it on a MetaWatch Frame with the higher-resolution, higher-contrast display of the Pebble. Id also like inductive charging while were at it at present, both devices require proprietary charging accessories that are just begging to be lost.
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