Pebble Time 2 design unveiled: E-ink watch will cost $255

Pebble is preparing to return to the smartwatch market, and this week, the brand’s founder Eric Migicovsky showed the final design of the new Pebble Time 2 model.

Back in March, he showed preliminary sketches and announced the revival of PebbleOS. However, the final version has a more refined and premium look. Pebble Time 2 has a rectangular 1.5-inch screen and a set of hardware buttons: three are located on the right, one on the left. The case is made of 316 stainless steel. It is available in black and silver, as well as four color options.

The key feature of Pebble Time 2 is a color e-ink touchscreen display instead of OLED, as in the Apple Watch. This screen is capable of displaying 64 colors and consumes significantly less power than traditional IPS or AMOLED panels. Therefore, the battery life of this watch is expected to be up to 30 days — this is many times longer than most modern smartwatches.

The model also features multi-color LED backlighting, a compass, two microphones, a built-in speaker, and water resistance. The device has a built-in heart rate sensor and supports pedometer and sleep tracking.

Pebble Time 2 smartwatch with E-ink display will go on sale in December at a price of $225.

Pebble’s history is not easy: in 2016, the company went bankrupt and was sold to Fitbitafter which the release of the planned Pebble Time 2 and Core 2 was canceled. Today, Migicovsky is committed to implementing those projectswhich were not released at the time. At the same time, he recognizes a problem for iPhone users — due to Apple’s limitations, third-party watches cannot fully replicate the functionality of the Apple Watch. Android is more open in this regard, so owners of smartphones on this platform will have more opportunities. Migicovsky even urged potential Pebble users on iOS to “speak up” or consider switching to Android if maximum integration is important to them. Last year, Migicovsky had a bold idea: to bring the world back to simpler and cheaper smartwatches using PebbleOS as the basis. Google agreed and opened the source code of the operating system.

Source: macrumors