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Google recently open sourced Pebble and today, Repebble has put some of the watches up for preorder.

  • Ulrich@feddit.orgEnglish
    319·
    2 months ago

    I’m still very confused about why we needed PebbleOS for this. It’s been like 10 years and no one could come up with any comparable software? They whipped up the hardware design in a few months.

    • "no" banana@lemmy.worldEnglish
      331·
      2 months ago

      From what I’ve read from Eric since this relaunch was announced, he just wants a new pebble and so do some of the userbase. This project isn’t really intended as a viable, polished product. Rather it’s a niche thing made for a Core audience of nerds.

      Disclaimer: I’m one of the nerds this is intended for. I instantly pre-ordered a watch because it’s a pebble. I7

      • Ulrich@feddit.orgEnglish
        421·
        2 months ago

        he just wants a new pebble

        I’m sure that’s what he wants you to believe.

        • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.caEnglish
          8·
          2 months ago

          I had a Pebble Time Steel and it was the best watch I’ve ever head. I want another Pebble. So does Eric. So I gave him money to make me one.

          • Ulrich@feddit.orgEnglish
            23·
            2 months ago

            Yeah, I get that. My question is why Eric (or literally anyone else) didn’t just re-make the Pebble (or similar) under a different name at any time in the last 10 years? Why did they wait for the OS to be open sourced instead of just making a new one?

            • Synestine@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              3·
              2 months ago

              Methinks you underestimate the complexity.

              And all the other watch makers I’ve looked at are not doing, or even considering, what Pebble did.

              • Ulrich@feddit.orgEnglish
                11·
                2 months ago

                Methinks you underestimate the complexity.

                Maybe I do. But there are dozens of Chinese no-name companies who developed entire smartwatch ecosystems.

                • Synestine@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                  1·
                  2 months ago

                  Dozens? Name three, and be sure to include number of aps in each ecosystem.

                  I’m sure there are dozens of Chinese smart watches, but most that I’ve seen are white-labels and sorely missing an ecosystem.

                  • miguel@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
                    1·
                    2 months ago

                    To interject a bit, as both an original pebble and current re-pebble backer who also has tried most of the other watches (no-name chinese ones and samsung) The no-name ones actually aren’t bad. But none of them have anywhere near the build quality - which is frankly a bit shocking. They also have nowhere near the interoperability - I can (and did) crank out faces and apps for my pebble to suit my own personal use case. That’s possible with some of the big-name ones (like the Samsung), but certainly not the chinese knockoff ones.

                    So for me, personally, having effectively a backup to my time steel is a good deal and I’m down for it. I’d actually prefer nothing else about it change much - aside from going to normal lugs. The weirdo ones are why I still am using the same slightly ratty band all these years later.

            • Abnorc@lemm.eeEnglish
              2·
              2 months ago

              Making a new OS isn’t easy as others have said, but it’s also helpful that Pebble OS has a bit of a following. There are still people who are very vocal about how much they love/loved their pebble watches. Making a new OS that’s inspired by PebbleOS would be met with more skepticism than just releasing a watch with an OS that people already know that they like.

              Assuming that he made no major changes to the software, pebble fans almost already know what they’ll be getting out of this product. You couldn’t say the same for a watch with a new OS.

            • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.caEnglish
              2·
              2 months ago

              Some reasons:

              • It’s a lot of work no one wants to do given there are half-decent proprietary alternatives
              • Eric wasn’t sitting twiddling his thumbs
              • The corporate landscape wasn’t nearly as hostile to users until the last few years
        • "no" banana@lemmy.worldEnglish
          6·
          2 months ago

          Probably. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

          I don’t usually make dumb decisions with money, but when there’s a potential pebble involved you could sell me an idea of one and I’d go for it. Especially after all this time.

    • something_random_tho@lemmy.worldEnglish
      271·
      2 months ago

      PebbleOS was awesome, though. Such a well thought out system for end-users, and it already has tons of apps. Developing for it (in C!) is also super easy because it has an amazing SDK.