Pebble’s original Kickstarter campaign is the stuff of legend. As the original smartwatch Pebble garnered a lot of attention, and as such garnered a lot of financial backers for the project. A few years and a generation later Pebble has decided that Kickstarter was still the best place to launch a new product and began a new Kickstarter campaign last week. The new Pebble Time, as it’s called, promises a color screen, 7-day battery life and a brand new interface that’s still compatible with both Android and iOS. Among the new features is a voice recording feature that allows users to not only leave quick personal notes for yourself but also gives users the ability to respond to emails, text messages and more via their voice.
While all these features were great Pebble still has an image issue when it comes to the way the watch itself looks. There was plenty of criticism to Pebble’s new Pebble Time design language and most of it seemed to be that it still looked like a toy rather than a watch that looks good on an adult’s wrist. Now Pebble is answering that criticism in the same way they did with the original Pebble by announcing the Pebble Time Steel. Pebble Time Steel features a premium build with premium materials including metal and a bigger battery. It will also come in three different colors: silver with stone leather band, gunmetal black with a black leather band, and gold with a red leather band. This bigger battery in turn gives the Pebble Time Steel a 10-day battery life rating instead of the 7-day the Pebble Time has.
In addition to this Pebble is announcing a brand new open platform for smartstraps, so the watch itself isn’t the only thing that’s smart this time around. This platform will allow hardware developers to build electronics and sensors that can interface directly with the Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel for additional features in the future. Pebble will be shipping two regular straps with the Pebble Time Steel including one leather and one stainless steel strap, all for $250. This is included in the same Kickstarter as the Pebble Time, which is located in the source link below, and those that have already pledged and want to upgrade can do so. The regular retail price for the Pebble Time Steel will be $299, so early backers get $50 off. Check out the video and galley below for more information.
