Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have been using my Pebble Time Steel for 3-4 weeks now and I really like it. Is it perfect? No. Does it do everything I need it to? Yes. What I wanted in a smartwatch was time, battery life, notifications, and something that looked a bit more mature compared to the original Pebble. This new Pebble Time Steel is exactly what I wanted. It was simple to setup with my iPhone 6 and setup watch faces right away. Instantly I am getting all of my text notifications through my watch. Starting with the new look, lets get the elephant in the room out of the way. Yes, it has a big bezel. It doesn't bother me personally as all of my notifications are easily read in all lighting conditions. Sure I think it would have been awesome to have more screen and less bezel but for the Pebble Time Steel specifically, I think it looks great and it's not something I think about at all. Getting past the bezel the black version is nicely coated in more of a gun metal steel color. The watch is smaller and thinner than the original pebble and feels great on the wrist. The buttons have knurling on their faces so they feel very nice and adequately squishy with a light click. They are not loud and feel very high quality. The screen is gorilla glass and is an improvement from the plastic one of the original. Although it is supposed to be scratch resistant I bought a Skinomi skin from Amazon to cover it up and it looks great and provides some peace of mind. The new color screen looks great. It seems ever so slightly muted compared to the old screen but the face is easy to read and although the colors aren't as vibrant as say the iPhone screen, the colors add a lot of character and depth to the many different watch faces you can choose from. If you prefer sticking to black and white you can but adding just a bit of color to your watch face can go a long way to highlight certain things or to just make things less dull. The Pebble OS with timeline has been great so far. It is very easy to check on notifications, old notifications, or look at events you have coming up on your calendar. It does everything I want it to with a push of the right button. There are also alarms you can use or a wide variety of apps available for certain watch faces or alerts, or things as simple as a stopwatch. I won't be covering the apps or watch faces because there are just too many to cover. In general the OS makes things very easy. You can mute your notifications with a long hold or you can setup shortcuts to take you to certain apps or features with long holds of other buttons. You can now change the intensity of the back lighting and length of back lighting or the intensity of the vibration which is a very welcome feature. You can also now set a feature that puts your watch to sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity so it shuts down bluetooth connection until you move it again. It isn't a super robust OS but this isn't a super robust smartwatch, yet... With the Pebble Time you have the hope at more and more as time goes on. Even from the release of the watch until now, newer versions of the OS have improved things a lot and look to continue to do so. The OS was worked on for a while but it is still in its infancy with a lot of opportunity to mature through the community. Also, the potential option of smart bands or smart wrist straps could increase the potential even more and there are some promising projects on the horizon. However, we are here now and most people are buying the watch it is today and not the one it could be tomorrow. All that potential could honestly go nowhere. I believe it will become a more robust smartwatch and OS but as of right now, it is simple, and I like it because of that. For me it doesn't over complicate things. I don't need a camera on it and I don't need a fancy screen that last all of a day. My Pebble Time Steel lasts me about 8-10 days on a single charge and it recharges within a couple of hours. I don't have to think about battery life and I prefer it that way. It buzzes when I get a text message and it is easy to read and determine whether or not I need to get my phone and address that message. When I need to know the time it is as easy as turning up my wrist and looking at the always on screen. I'm not saying that I wouldn't want more, but just that I am happy with what I currently have. To the price. This is where it gets tricky. $250 for the watch and the leather band. I paid that for the kickstarter with two bands and it is still kind of pricy. You can pay roughly the same if not a bit more for the Microsoft Band 2 or a Samsung Gear watch. Both those watches have gorgeous screens and all types of features that the Pebble Time might not have now or ever. If you want to compare things that way it gets difficult. The Pebble Time has most of the functionality you need, always on and easy to read screen, more than a week solid of battery life, a lot of customization. and the possibility for a good deal more in the future. If that is all you want and maybe you prioritize battery life and ease of use over a lot of flashy features and a beautiful LED or LCD screen, than the price of admission isn't too much to ask. If you want that screen, you want the heart rate monitor, you want all those features now, then the Pebble Time isn't for you and for around the same price you can get what you want. The Microsoft band 2 has a heart rate monitor, a nice screen , interesting style, a two day battery, and a lot of nice features. The Apple Watch works really nicely with your iPhone and has some very unique features and an awesome screen. There are other options but the people that want the Pebble Time Steel are the ones who appreciate its beauty in its simplicity and functionality. It works and it works well. You'll get your notifications, you'll have a nice display, total water resistance, and up to 10+ days of battery life in a classy little package. Only you can say whether or not its worth the $250 but I don't regret my purchase a bit and look forward to more from Pebble. BRACELETS: Considering I just received my metal bracelet today from Pebble I wanted to briefly go over the quality of both the metal and leather bracelet. The leather bracelet is a nice soft leather. It feels very nice and high quality and the color matches the black watch face well. The quick release works great and the sizing is decent for me. I used it for an hour before changing it out for another watch bracelet I use. The metal bracelet came today and I'm still debating whether or not I want to use it. The color looks nice and matches the casing of the watch. It is stiff and heavy but feels very high quality. I should note that sizing is done with screws instead of the standard push pin style and the screws proved to be somewhat of a pain in the butt when it came to removing them. After about 15 minutes I was able to size the band appropriately and overall it is heavy but comfortable. The single lock feels durable and reliable and the overall style matches the watch perfectly. Both bands have the quick release and neither feel or look like an after thought. I recommend the Pebble Time Steel as long as you are clear on what it offers. If it was priced at $150-$200 I think this would be an easy 5 stars but considering the competition, it seems a little expensive in the market. UPDATE: The Steel Band proved to be too heavy and not very comfortable since it was heavy, stiff, and pinched my arm hair. UPDATE 2: Was trying to size my friends steel band for his Pebble Time Steel and it was a test of patience. The screws were either too hard to take out or to put back in. Either way, the trouble to size it was not worth it considering how much I didn't really care to use it. The leather band is still good but you might just look past the steel band. Also, I wanted to mention that for the past two weeks I have been using airplane mode which can be found in settings/bluetooth. If you set one of your shortcuts to settings, one long press of a button followed by two short presses of select will take you in or out of airplane mode in just a couple of seconds. When I get home from work I turn it on airplane mode which disconnects it from bluetooth entirely. I haven't charged my watch since at roughly two weeks since the last charge and looking at my battery now, I still have 60%.