I have one, and this is accurate. The only benefit is being able to see notifications on the wrist without having to take the phone out of my pocket. That being said, it is a huge and amazing benefit. I hate watches, and feel they have no purpose, but now it does.
The thing is I think this article understated the horribleness of the notification bug that is supposedly Apple's fault. It's a huge pain in the ass. The only feature that matters on the Pebble is seeing notifications on the watch. Sometimes my phone buzzes and the Pebble does not. Unless the Pebble gets 100% of the notifications reliably, it becomes a frustration instead of a boon.
If that is fixed, then oh yes. If it's not fixed soon, I'll be trading pebble for the rumored Apple watch. Heck, I might do that anyway. But still.
As the guys from The Bugle (a satirical podcast) said while describing this product: "we've definitely come a long way when there's a need to develop a complete new piece of expensive hardware just to avoid having to take your phone from your pocket. Meanwhile, no solution to the global hunger problem."
As much as I nerdgasm at how cool this device is, I have to wonder if, as a species, we haven't 'jumped the shark'.
Where do you draw the line between necessity and greed?
Do I need a 40" TV? Not really, 14" is big enough to watch, it's just less enjoyable. But then TV is purely there for enjoyment anyway, so perhaps just owning one is jumping the shark when one could equally read the news online.
This watch might be excessive, but then so are the phones that this connects to (how many people actually need a smart phone? Even for corporate use, 'dumb' feature phones can send and receive e-mails). And it's greatest use is to check notifications when driving (I don't need to drive, I could get the train) or chatting to friends down the pub (I don't need to drink).
Plus lets not forget that progress and technology is generally invented for 1 of 3 reasons:
1) to kill each other
2) to cut costs in companies (usually resulting in job losses as technology replaces human beings)
3) to make our lives more luxurious.
Personally I'd rather see more 'pointless' smart watches than job losses and smart bombs.
Wristwatches were adopted by the military to avoid having to take out a pocketwatch which was clumsy and time-consuming. The military decided that being able to tell the time quickly was important enough to develop a new piece of expensive hardware. And that's just a single piece of information. Why is having knowing how many emails you have at a glance any less valid than having to know the time at a glance?
It's true that creating a watch that means you don't have to take your phone out of your pocket isn't as "worthy" as solving world hunger.
But that's true of the vast majority of modern human activity. If we only ever spent our time on creating/doing things that are at least as worthy as solving world hunger, we wouldn't be making pretty much any form of consumer electronics, any clothing beyond the most basic required to survive, playing any sports/games, or creating any art/films/music/books, or satirical podcasts.
If we've jumped the shark by focusing on our personal non-essentials before worrying about the basic needs of the rest of humanity, then we did it a long, long time before this watch came along.
This is Pebble v1. Technologies like this act as a bridge to something grander. Because OP and others forked out for that little convenience, Pebble the company can continue to innovate and continue to do more groundbreaking work.
The thing is I think this article understated the horribleness of the notification bug that is supposedly Apple's fault. It's a huge pain in the ass. The only feature that matters on the Pebble is seeing notifications on the watch. Sometimes my phone buzzes and the Pebble does not. Unless the Pebble gets 100% of the notifications reliably, it becomes a frustration instead of a boon.
If that is fixed, then oh yes. If it's not fixed soon, I'll be trading pebble for the rumored Apple watch. Heck, I might do that anyway. But still.