A Nostalgic Take On Modern Functionality

In 2025, a brand new Pebble smartwatch — ePaper show, battery lasts for weeks, and serves up notifications with enjoyable little animations — would have appeared quaint, particularly when in comparison with one thing just like the Pixel Watch 5. But I’ve been carrying the Pebble Time 2 for every week, and it’s something however. There is an actual worth proposition right here. It’s the whole lot you bear in mind from the elder Pebble watches, and extra.

The ePaper remains to be there. The enjoyable animations are nonetheless there. The reliability — the rock stable reliability — remains to be there. The battery life remains to be there — I did not trouble to cost it after I took it out of the field. Now the watch additionally has a little bit of well being monitoring and a touchscreen.

What’s additionally there may be the software program; all the earlier apps and watch faces nonetheless (principally) work out of the field. The working system is similar, open sourced by Google, so there was no have to recode any of the apps or faces. So, now the query must be requested — do you have to purchase a Pebble smartwatch in 2026? Let’s discover out.

When I spoke with Eric Migicovski concerning the return of Pebble, he famous that the {hardware} would not at all times have the identical degree of polish that you simply’d get from a contemporary smartwatch. I can put his fears to relaxation — the {hardware} is completely wonderful. If there’s something within the match or end that is not as much as snuff, it is going to take a extra discerning eye than mine to search out. I’ve some notes although.

The Pebble Time 2 has a full colour e-paper display screen with a backlight, one button on the left of the face, and three buttons on the precise. The watch can use any 22mm watch band when you do not wish to use the included silicone bands. The total vibe of the watch is mainly the identical because it was with the unique extremely-repairable Pebble Time. The buttons are responsive with good journey. It’s a really well-put collectively watch. The buttons are additionally programmable — you’ll be able to press and maintain them to set totally different features to your style. I really like that.

I’m not a fan of the frequency that the backlight activates — it isn’t typically sufficient. There have been instances I might have hassle seeing the display screen at night time with dim lighting, till I tapped the display screen to activate the backlight. I would really like that to be extra automated. The pogo charger dongle that ships with the watch has a USB-C plug on it — that is good — and a string tether, however I’d prefer to see a stable hook on the tip to firmly connect it to a keychain or one thing, quite than only a loop of thread. It’s a proprietary charger, so you do not wish to lose it.

Beyond these notes, I actually dig the {hardware}. There is another be aware I might give…so I’ll.

The Pebble Time 2 has a touchscreen, which is a superb addition to the system. A left to proper swipe dismisses notifications and serves as a again button. A double faucet prompts the backlight. You can even swipe up and down on menus, however that is it. That’s the checklist.

Pebble could be very reliant on its buttons to navigate. All of the gestures I described have button equivalents. That’s additionally nice — keep true to your roots and all that. But within the yr 2026, loads of us have discovered that gestures are the best way. A protracted faucet on the display screen might can help you change watch faces. A swipe down or up might can help you go to the timeline to see these screens. A swipe a technique or one other might shortly entry settings. None of these features are there.

That’s not a dealbreaker, in fact. Pebble can have its watch to no matter it desires or does not need. That’s truthful. But for individuals who may be in search of a extra touch-based interface, you will not discover it right here — however there are many different choices.

One of the very best issues concerning the Pebble Time 2 is that all the apps and providers are nonetheless there. The Pebble Time 2 makes use of the identical software program as its predecessors which implies builders needed to do mainly no further work to get their watch faces and apps to work. That’s the excellent news.

The dangerous information is that lots of these apps and providers are not performing at 100%. Notably, lots of the watch faces that I downloaded have settings that both do not load or do not work whenever you change them. I think many of those apps and watch faces are merely languishing within the app retailer, forgotten by their builders. So, they’re there, they usually appear to perform on a fundamental degree, however any try and customise or change them merely will not work.

Again, that is not a deal breaker. There are lots in that that also work wonderful. I believe when/if Core Devices turns into a much bigger entity than it’s at present, some type of app retailer administration system may very well be put in place to vet these faces appropriately — be certain that they’re being maintained, and so forth., — however the firm is not there but, and that is one thing a shopper ought to concentrate on stepping into.

Like another smartwatch, the Pebble Time 2 requires a cellphone app to be able to hook up with its host cellphone. According to Core Devices, the app works significantly better with Android than iOS due to the constraints that the latter places on wearables by corporations not named “Apple.” I related mine to my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, and it labored nice.

It ought to most likely go with out saying that there aren’t any 4G choices for this watch, so a bunch system is important. Anyway, that app works fairly effectively, and it provides well being monitoring to the watch this time round. You can sync your knowledge to Google Fit, which may then sync its knowledge to Google Health — Core gadgets would possibly wish to minimize out that intermediary sooner or later — so you may get your sleeper monitoring, steps, and coronary heart price.

The charts that Pebble generates are wonderful and practical, however fundamental. There are some good concepts although. On any of the charts, you’ll be able to drag your finger throughout them to see what you have been doing hour by hour; it’s extremely intuitive.

What you will not get is GPS, or any type of train monitoring. That’s wonderful for me, however when you’re a runner, and even somebody who periodically will get off the sofa, you may need extra.

The Pebble Time 2 is out there from the Pebble website for $225. It’s accessible in 4 colours, and there are a number of equipment you may get for it together with the Pebble Index 01, which is a hoop/microphone you may get to go with the watch. I used to be not in a position to check the Index 01 in time for this overview.

Overall, $225 isn’t a nasty worth for this smartwatch. It’s totally practical and does 90% of what most different smartwatches do. The Pebble working system is clear and environment friendly and does not really feel scattered like RTOS, which is one other standard OS that watch makers use due to its lengthy battery life. Pebble was designed with intention, nevertheless it nonetheless has room to develop. I really feel such as you get extra helpful performance out of this watch than you’ll on one other RTOS watch which may price a bit much less.

The e-paper is novel, and the colour is nice. The performance, battery life, and even the well being monitoring is true on. But with extra superior metrics coming down the pipe, like blood stress monitoring, it is potential this watch will not be capable to sustain in that regard. If you do not care about such issues, that is truthful, and this can be a nice watch. If you are of a sure age, these issues would possibly develop into extra necessary to you. But that is future discuss. For now, this can be a nice smartwatch that falls into a pleasant area of interest of nostalgic prospects who nonetheless need present capabilities.