Hands On: Pebble Steel smart watch

   

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

As an early supporter of Pebble and its smartwatch, I’m very impressed at how the device has managed to evolve with the times and not just remain relevant despite the sudden surge of competition but maintain its place as the best cross platform option for a smart watch in the market.

I’ve owned the original Pebble and had a chance to try the more elegant (although functionally identical) Pebble Steel which is available from Future Shop along with various metal and leather strap accessories.

The Pebble Steel takes all the best features of the original Pebble but smoothens out the rough edges.

The metal and glass enclosure is dressier and feels more compact and less whimsical than the original Plastic Pebble designs as well as the newer techno-raver inspired colours.

I liked the black metal version which comes with a black leather strap. The look is definitely understated and is dressy enough to be worn with casual clothes or a suit.

 Pebble also includes a matte metal bracelet and even throws in a mini-screwdriver so you can install it yourself if you wish.

 You can also take the whole kit and caboodle to your friendly watch repair store and they will be able to make the switch for you without scratching your device.

If you’re an iPhone user, the Pebble is the best option right now for notifications and apps. Until the Apple Watch comes to market, Pebble really fulfills many of the notification and synching tasks most users would want from a wearable. Even when the Apple Watch ships, I still see the Pebble and Pebble Steel as viable companions to iPhones.

    Pebble smartwatches are also more reasonably priced than Android Wear devices and have been compatible with many Android devices since day one.

Of course, the functionality and range of coloured screens on Android Wear devices makes them look and feel more exciting, but trust me, this wears thin after a while, specially if you need to keep charging the device. 

For my use case, the Pebble Steel works just fine. I can get the date and time at a glance thanks to my Weather Channel watchface, I can also quickly get NBA scores on the fly thanks to sportscentre app.  When I used to use Foursquare (I don’t anymore because having two apps to do one thing is ridiculous), Pebble allowed me to check into places with a touch of the button.

The Pebble Steel can also be used with health tracking apps like Misfit and Jawbone among others. As a Jawbone UP24 user I have the option of leaving my bracelet at home while going on a jog. While the Jawbone UP24 will be more accurate (being a dedicated device) it is good to know I can offload my step tracking to the Pebble if I so desire.

Pebble’s ecosystem of apps has also opened in the past months and there are now more faces, companion apps and standalone widgets for all sorts of functionality.

You also can’t beat the 5-day battery life on a single charge which beats any Android Wear device out there right now.

It is for all these reasons that the Pebble Steel remains my iPhone smartwatch companion of choice and one that has proven its reliability and functionality time and again.