But... Isn't that what people buying apple devices want? They buy them because they don't want choice, they just want something that works from a single vendor. They want vendor-lockin, because they like the comfortable bubble, to just consume, without too much thinking and choosing between many different options. They don't want different ways to do things, they don't want custom ROMs, they don't like to self-host, or use open source software. They just want the shiny convenience of every device working seamlessly together. They don't care about open standards or interoperability. They like their gilded cage that keeps them save from the dangerous and difficult world. That is what Apple sells people, and people want that.
this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2026
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Pebble
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Pebble is back?! I used to have one, back in the day and was super happy with it. Then it was swallowed and shut down by Fitbit to reduce competition... Best thing about it was: it actually had watchglass, so it was impact proof and water resistant, while also looking elegant. I don't need a touch screen on my wrist: Give me a versatile, intuitive button layout and a watch that I don't need to replace every half year!
Edit:
They have physical buttons and promise a long battery life. The reason being, Migicovsky personally hates having to routinely remove his smartwatch to charge it.
I love this man.
I just wish he hadnt moved the charging contacts to the bottom. The Steel 1 could attach the magnetic charging cable while being on the wrist!
I've got the new watch, the Pebble Time 2 and I love it. I also have an OG Pebble which is fully supported by the new Pebble company and app, and they've open sourced everything. The whole thing is as good as you hope it is. I've pre-ordered the Pebble Round 2 as well, which will be my classy watch.
It actually never left :) the acquisition wasn't to remove competition, pebble as a company just grew too fast and didn't manage to survive well. I think Migickovski has been really open about the mistakes they made and where they think they failed. The acquisition by fitbit was mostly to save the leftovers and allowed to save all that was done for the community and allow the devices to keep working. Fitbit was quite nice towards the pebble community, and then google came to buy fitbit. And even that didn't end up being an issue. They even open sourced what they bought for the community to use.
You can also look into Rebble, which is the effort done by the community to keep all devices running even after all these years. So overall, the devices were still alive, and that was thanks to a lot of people. Thanks to that now the new release was easier and they are keeping all of it open for the community.
Thanks for the detailed timeline. I seem to remember that my watch stopped connecting to the server and I found a lot of mostly negative press about the acquisition, so I kinda stopped following it. I also didn't really have the capacity to get into the weeds of it. Good to hear that it was not as bad as I perceived it at that time, after all.
Well the way I put it is too optimistic in a way, easy to do now knowing how things have ended. Back in the day there were a lot of open questions and indeed periods of down time with the services. Also long periods of time when no one knew if the next android or ios update would break something… or worse, completely break the app without a way to get it working again. So your perception at the time was probably correct.
I have one of the pebble time 2. Had it for a couple of weeks it has been great.
This article is an ad. Good for Pebble, and I genuinely want some of that shit, but it shows how little integrity gizmodo have.
Oh all these tech sites suck ass
How would a good version of this article differ, in your view?
A review of the actual product.
Failing that an interview with someone who made the product.
Both are more substantial than this, which feels like a regurgitated press release tarted up with buy-me sprinkles on top.
They've made so many of those already.
"Tech journalism: product review or shut up" is an odd take, but okay. Also, the article was based on an interview they did with Eric. They buried that fact in the second paragraph.
Sure, but the vast majority of the things they say about the product are almost certainly quotes from the manufacturer, however they're not presented as such. So you can't tell the difference between product marketing and the author's opinion, because the author blurred the two together.
The article is not presented in interview form. It's presented as an advertisement for a product, disguised as an article.
I can't believe you made me do this but I count 17 obvious attributions to Eric across the 17-paragraph article. Sure, some paragraphs have zero and some have more than one, but these plus a bit of analysis from the author adds up to an honest accounting of what the new Pebble is doing, why it even exists, and why Gizmodo's tech enthusiast readers might want to know about these really niche, not-well-marketed products.
Gizmodo is 100% this type of content.
I looked into the Pebble, and it was not suited for my needs. It's still a smartwatch with a microphone. Everything I'd read about it seemed like a press release, but that sadly seems to be standard for anything with such a niche market. Maybe you'll find an independent review on a blog if you're lucky. I'm not sure if it's that these reviews aren't out there, or that search engines aren't finding them.
But if you don't have a microphone how could you use it like a walkie talkie to communicate with your mates as if you were spies???
On a serious note, at least this is open source, so you can inspect and understand exactly how it works rather than assuming the black box behaves as advertised, without doing something nefarious behind the scenes.
And if you're that bothered about that kind of thing being exploited against you, you should look into removing the hardware components. There are places that offer that as a service for phones (mainly removing cameras), so I'm sure some will do it for Pebbles. Assuming you don't want to DIY.
If you don't get it, it's not for you.
I on the other hand, have a pre order for the round and can't wait for it to arrive.
The point of the pebble is that it's a watch first, as in you can tell the time on it and all the other stuff is second. The new pebbles are all open source, from the board to the app and everything in-between.
If I was ever going to wear a smart watch, I think the time 2 would be it.
I had a Bangle.js watch but it was extremely underdeveloped and I ended up not using it, is this better?
I never used the bangle.js but I was tempted to get it a few times.
But IMO, Pebble OS feels quite well developed. The main parts of the interface are basically unchanged from the original Pebble Time if you're familiar with it or have seen it before. I think the community around it is also bigger, so a lot more community development, apps, watch faces, etc.
No one needs an apple watch and no one needs this.
Translated: "I don't want this and cannot imagine other people being different than me"
i think they succeeded in making it fashion, like traditional watches. other than tracking exercise or health and stuff, i can't think of a use for it that isn't gimmicky rn.
it ends up being a notification buzzer for your phone while most people could use less notifications.
Cause then if you actually want to see a notification you need to take the phone out of your pocket. That's too much work.