Bought a pebble watch, saved my brain

In “Buy a watch, save your brain”, I wrote about how I hoped to buy a wrist watch (at the time, it was the rumoured “iWatch”), and reduce the amount of distraction I caused myself each time I checked the time on my iPhone.

Well, the “Apple Watch” announcement has come and gone, and (admittedly) after the hype wore off, I realised that I don’t really want the Apple Watch, for the following reasons:

I want a waterproof watch. I have a small child. Enough said.

I want an affordable watch

I want a watch, which is a fitness tracker, which monitors my sleep, which means..

I want a watch with a battery that doesn’t have to be charged every night

Apple Pay is unlikely to be a big deal in New Zealand, ever

So after much research, I bought myself the Pebble Smartwatch.

As it turns out, my timing was almost perfect. Although Pebble has been around for more than 2 years, it’s only recently (as in the last few weeks), that it finally meets all my criteria.

Pebble Firmware 2.6 was released, adding background activity tracking

Pebble dropped the price of the Pebble watch from $149 to $99

Pebble Firmware 2.5+ and iOS8 combined for reliable connectivity and dismissible notifications

(Note: I actually ordered my pebble before the price drop, but Pebble were good enough to refund me $50 on the purchase price. I promptly used this to buy a second Pebble watch for a geeky friend).

I did seriously consider the Pebble Steel, but at the time it was $250, and I decided against it because of the difficulty of obtaining aftermarket straps in New Zealand, and a fear that the sharp buttons would scratch my kids when I wrestle them (my dad used to have to take his watch off before he wrestled us). The one benefit of the Steel that I missed out on was the Gorilla Glass screen, but I’ve ordered a set of GadgetWraps’ Screen Protectors to hopefully protect the plastic screen a bit.

It’s been only a couple of days, and while there are some minor issues (MisFit app sync, I’m looking at you), on the whole I’m very happy with my decision, and have already noticed a decline in my smartphone habit.

So which faces / apps am I currently using on my Pebble? (there’s a limit of 8 slots for faces / apps)