Pebble's new Time smart watch with color display to ship in May
The company said Time is about 20 percent thinner than the original Pebble smartwatch, and has a slightly curved body to better fit your wrist. It combines the Pebble's plastic body with the Pebble Steel's metal body for a new look the company hopes customers will like. Pebble also said Time will sport a seven-day battery life, just like its other smartwatch models.
Time includes a built-in microphone for recording short messages, and Pebble has designed a new interface to make viewing important information easier. The company is working on bringing Time's interface to the Pebble and Pebble Steel, too.
Pebble has teamed up with companies such as Evernote, Jawbone, Misfit, Pandora and The Weather Channel to push information into the watch's timeline, and more will come over time.
Pebble's decision to return to Kickstarter to fund its new smartwatch seems like an interesting move considering the company is well established now, and has over 100 employees. Instead of being a project funding move, using Kickstarter feels more like a marketing promotion—in essence, using Kickstarter as an advertising tool to generate more interest in Time before it ship, and ahead of April's Apple Watch launch.
Pebble is offering Time in three colors (black, red, and white) for US$159 for early Kickstarter supporters, $179 for later Kickstarter backers, and $199 in stores after it ships.
Update: It took only 20 minutes for Pebble's Time Kickstarter to fully fund. Looks like there's a lot of interest in the company's new smartwatch.