by Jason Snell
Pebble Time
A new Pebble Smartwatch appeared on Kickstarter this morning, and is the fastest Kickstarter project ever to a million dollars. After less than an hour, the project had already reached $2 million.
Pebble Time ($179 on Kickstarter, $199 when it goes on sale to the general public) has a color display (but still uses e-paper, so the screen stays on and battery life is strong) and is 20% thinner than the previous Pebble.
Of course, Pebble connectivity with the iPhone has always been hampered. The Pebble Time has an onboard microphone that works with most Android apps, but only works with Gmail notifications on iPhone. I think the Pebble Time looks fun—the new timeline interface is especially smart—but as an iPhone user I have my doubts about how well it will ever integrate with Apple’s stuff.
Still, full credit to Pebble for staking its claim to the sub-$200 watch space. Not everyone will want to spend $350 on an Apple Watch, and not everybody uses an iPhone.