Pebble Time Round will arrive in November for $249.
Both technology and the company have come full circle, and Pebble presents the circular smartwatch “Time Round” to battle it out against rivals from Apple and Google.
It was described as the “new face” of Pebble, marking their first device with a round display, that’s closer to the classic watches than the squared design we have come to expect from smart gadgets.
Pebble Time Round has quite a couple of things to boast, including its sleek aspect that “blends into your life”, according to Pebble CEO and co-founder, Eric Migicovsky, while delivering “tiny moments of awesome every day”. It’s a much closer design to traditional watches, that might just pass off as one, though it’s certainly better performing and more high-end.
The watch has a 64-color display, with an e-paper panel with the usual LED backlight. Reportedly, unlike the LCD panels of their rivals, the screen on Time Round will always be on for users to glance at quickly determine the time. It’s what makes it a step closer to the classic watches, and a little further away from what we have come to see in smart wrist wearables.
As previous models, Pebble stays away from touch screens and offers more attention to physical buttons, making the most of the small display with colorful and fun animations to keep the user engaged. It’s voice command enabled, and brings notifications, calendar reminders or other ongoing actions, while keeping it perfectly in sync with your Android or iOS device.
Watch face customizations are still available for the user to control the aspect of their gadget and further personalize to their preference. The watch itself will come in several color schemes in black, silver, and rose gold, with leather or metal bands of different sizes, meant for both the use of men and women alike.
The bands will be sold at two different lengths of either 20 millimeters or 14 millimeters, though it should be noted that the rose gold will only come in the latter, as its likely more target toward their female customers.
One of the changes Time Round will feature from other Pebble devices will be its battery life.
While it’s boasted as the thinnest and lightest smartwatch in the world, with 7.5 millimeters and 28 grams, it also has the quickest depleting battery, lasting for a reported 2 days, while others from the same company could go on without charging for between 7 and 10 days.
However, even with that reduction, it beats out Apple Watch, and the company has boasted Time Round’s ability to charge 24 hours worth of battery life in just 15 minutes, so it wouldn’t stay too long idle. Unlike the others, it’s also not full waterprooft, but it’s instead just splash resistant.
The upcoming Pebble Time Round is currently available for pre-order for customers in the United States and Canada, with a starting price of $250, to arrive in November. It will also be available in the United Kingdom later on this year, and in Europe in 2016.
Image source: cnet.com