Two new PebbleOS watches (ericmigi.com)

Article summary

Two new PebbleOS watches, the Core Pebble 2 Duo and Core Pebble Time 2, have been announced with features such as e-paper displays, long battery life, and compatibility with thousands of Pebble apps. The Core Pebble 2 Duo starts shipping in July for $149, while the Core Pebble Time 2 starts shipping in December for $225. Both watches are available for pre-order and will be sold exclusively through the rePebble store. The watches are designed to cater to fans of the original Pebble watches, with a focus on simplicity, hackability, and a long battery life.

Main themes

• PebbleOS watches
• Smartwatch design
• Open source software
• NFC payments
• Home automation
• Watch hardware

What commenters say

• Some users find NFC payments on their smartwatches to be a highly useful feature, while others do not see the utility in it.
• The lack of NFC payment support on the new Pebble watches is a disappointment for some users, but others suggest using NFC-payment straps as a workaround.
• There are differing opinions on the convenience of using a phone versus a watch for payments, with some preferring the ease of tapping their watch and others finding it easier to use their phone.
• The open source nature of the PebbleOS software may allow users to hack together a payments app using the NFC capabilities of the watch, but this would require significant technical expertise and may not be feasible.
• Some users are interested in using the watches for home automation purposes, leveraging the supported protocols such as Thread, Zigbee, and 802.15.4, but this would require further development and support.
• There are concerns about the limitations of the watch's hardware, including the potential resource constraints of the nRF52840 SoC, which may limit the ability to run multiple protocols in parallel.