Pebble

John Gruber posted an interesting tweet yesterday regarding how important the aesthetic design of a product is:

We’ve always judged cell phones by how they look, and we keep them in our pockets. Wearables — glasses, watches, anything — can’t be ugly.

— John Gruber (@gruber) January 6, 2014

Of course, some folks aren’t interested in the design of a product, but in general it holds true. Some of the appeal of the iPhone is how stunning it is to look at. Part of the appeal of the Moto X is how clean and simple the design is while still being highly customizable.

I backed the Pebble Kickstarter project on day 3 and was anxious for all 471 days of my wait. There are pros and cons with it, I find myself wearing it for a month or so, then not for the next 3 weeks. Torn in between the two worlds. Plenty of reviews have been written, so I’ll skip that.

I found one shocking side effect of wearing the watch that I had not expected, and it remains one of the largest sticking points for me. It isn’t the Pebble’s fault though.

TechCrunch - The War For Your Wrist

I largely agree here. The smartwatch thing just isn’t there yet. I like my Pebble (I was an early Kickstarter backer) but it isn’t something I can’t live without. It is too thick, iOS is admittedly limited with these types of devices, and the 3rd party app support isn’t what I hoped it would be.  There is hope for the market, but it is going to be a while before this takes off.