Popular Kickstarter smart watch project Pebble, which broke records by raising over $10 million in its funding push, has announced at CES today that the device will begin shipping to Kickstarter backers on January 23. With over 85,000 orders placed, it will take approximately 6-8 weeks to fulfill the Kickstarter orders, after which the watch will be available for general sale.
Pebble is just one of a growing number of smart watches, and Apple has even been rumored to be working on its own project. But Pebble's relatively large e-paper display and an API for app developers have generated considerable buzz for the project.
Pebble supports both iOS and Android devices via low-power Bluetooth 4.0, with iOS devices requiring a minimum of iOS 5 for basic compatibility and iOS 6 for the full set of features. When paired with an iOS 6 device, Pebble can display many of the alerts that typically pop up in Notification Center. Pebble is also working on building out a cloud infrastructure that would allow users to sign in to a web site or web app with their Pebble accounts and receive notifications from the site pushed to their watches.
Top Rated Comments
Hand in your nerd/geek card.
One use: On a 35 mile bike ride. My iPhone is in my Camelbak. I want to see my speed, distance and heart rate. I can just glance at the watch. Later in the ride, I get a text. I can look at it to see whether it's worth stopping to reply. Or a phone call. I can see who's calling to see if I want to stop and answer, or even call back right away. That's why I backed it. Will it replace my Movado on work days? No. But it has its uses.
Not for $400 it doesn't.