- Smart Watch Prices Vary Greatly
- Smartphone Compatibility is Important When Choosing a Smart Watch
- Smart Watches Do Much More Than Tell Time
- Battery Life and Durability is an Important Consideration
- Pebble Has a Dedicated and Growing Community of Wearers
- When and Where You Can Get Your Smart Watch
Smartphone Compatibility is Important When Choosing a Smart Watch
It’s important to understand that many of the smart watches released to date have been very limited in terms of what they are capable of, and how well integrated they are with their smartphone counterpart. Both the Apple Watch and Pebble Time smart watches offer a variety of technologies and tools that are designed to work in conjunction with a smartphone and its Internet connectivity.
This brings us to another big differentiator between Apple Watch and Pebble Time. Apple Watch is designed to work exclusively in conjunction with the Apple iPhone 5, 5S, 6 or 6 Plus, with the latest version of the iOS 8 operating system installed on the smartphone. Pebble Time, however, will work with most iPhone models, as well as many Android-based smartphones.
While both devices offer a full-color display, Apple Watch features an interactive touch screen that comes in two sizes (38mm and 42mm). Pebble Time offers a 1.25-inch e-paper-based color display that is not a touch screen, but it does include a backlight, so it can be seen clearly in any lighting situation.
Thus, while physical interaction with the Apple Watch can be done via the touch screen, the watch’s buttons, or its proprietary digital crown, interaction with the Pebble Time watch happens mainly using the three buttons on the side of its casing. That being said, both watches have a built in microphone that allow for voice commands to be issued by the wearer. However, Apple Watch and Pebble Time utilize this voice control option in different ways.
Figure 4: Pebble Time has three main buttons on the side of its housing that are used to interact with the watch.