Pebble Time Steel: Display dim but superb battery life

Pebble Time Steel: Display dim but superb battery life

The Pebble Time and the Pebble Time Steel are very similar - the latter has a stainless steel case.

Both Pebbles feature a 1.25-inch (144 x 168 pixels) always-on, e-paper display with 64 colours.

The cheaper Pebble Time ($329) is available in red, black and white models. The Pebble Time Steel, which is not sold in Singapore yet, comes in gold, gunmetal and silver. I reviewed the gold version.

Pressing the top right button toggles through past events, while the top left button allows you to scroll through future events. The events can include appointments, missed calls, Instagram posts, the weather, and sunrise and sunset timings.

Notifications appear with vibrations. Setting the watch to "Quiet Time" prevents notifications from showing. The Pebble Time OS offers a myriad of watch face designs, as well as apps and games that you can download.

My quibble with the Time Steel is its dim e-paper display, which is difficult to read unless you are outdoors and in bright sunlight. To activate the backlight, you have to twist your wrist quite vigorously.

The Time Steel is water-resistant to 30m depth, but the leather strap is not water-friendly. You can replace this with a standard 22mm rubber watch strap that is more suitable for swimming.

Battery life is superb for a smartwatch, lasting nearly a week before it needs recharging.

TECH SPECS

PRICE: US$249.99 (S$353), available from www.pebble.com
CASE MATERIAL: Stainless steel
COMPATIBILITY: Android 4.3 or higher and iOS 8 or higher
WEIGHT: 62.3g (with leather strap)

RATING

FEATURES: 3/5
DESIGN: 3/5
PERFORMANCE: 4/5
BATTERY LIFE: 5/5
VALUE FOR MONEY: 3/5

OVERALL: 3/5

Verdict: The Pebble Time Steel is a smartwatch without bells and whistles like GPS or heart-rate sensor, but it has good water-resistance and long battery life.


This article was first published on December 23, 2015.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

This website is best viewed using the latest versions of web browsers.