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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Pebble Time 2 is a stripped-down smartwatch with limited features and great battery life.
- It’s simple and unpolished, and that’s part of its charm.
- However, there are some concerns with its durability.
I’ve been into the concept of a smartwatch since the first Pebble released back in 2013. At the time, there was something very compelling about taking a smartphone’s core functionalities like notifications, messages, and incoming call alerts, and slapping it all on my wrist.
While Pebble eventually faded away when its assets were purchased by Fitbit in 2016, which was then bought by Google in 2021, the Apple Watch arguably took up the smartwatch mantle in 2015.
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Since then, I’ve been a dedicated Apple Watch user, going all the way back to the (somewhat lackluster) first-generation version. Whether it was fitness tracking, taking phone calls from my wrist, keeping tabs on my notifications, or even turning it into a portable calculator, the Apple Watch became a key part of my life.
But lately, I’ve felt something shift. Whether it’s having a child or just getting older, I no longer want to be connected to everything all the time. Instead, I find myself actively looking for ways to avoid notifications that don’t truly matter, so I can be more present in the real world.
This is where the Pebble Time 2 comes in. The higher-end Pebble revival is a simple, stripped-back approach to a smartwatch — and as it turns out, the wearable I didn’t even realize I was looking for.
A delightfully simple smartwatch
The Pebble Time 2 features a 1.5-inch 64-color e-paper touchscreen, a stainless steel frame, a microphone, heart rate monitor, step tracking, and sleep tracking. You can’t take calls from your wrist; there aren’t any extra sensors like a blood-oxygen sensor, a depth gauge, or even built-in GPS. Even its design is understated and the opposite of attention-grabbing.
I can’t even respond to notifications on the Pebble Time 2 with my iPhone (you can on Android) — but I don’t care. In many ways, the Pebble Time 2 is just a standard watch with a few extra features, and at this point in my life, that’s exactly what I want.
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I have the Pebble Time 2 set up with my iPhone 17 Pro in a very straightforward way. It sends just a few notifications to my wrist, including phone calls, text messages, and Ring doorbell notifications. This allows me to put my phone away at the end of the day or on the weekend, while still receiving important notifications.
While I could triage my notifications with the Apple Watch in the same way, it always felt like a waste given just how capable the smartwatch really is. Over my past several weeks with the Pebble Time 2, I’ve found I really appreciate how this helps me disconnect from the digital world.
I also have a few simple watch faces I cycle through, including Straight, which I used way back with the first Pebble, Tictok, and my favorite Casio throwback watch face, 91 Dub. These simple watch faces show me the time, the date, battery life, and in some cases, the weather. This is all the information I ever need from a device strapped to my wrist.
Getting my hands on a modern Pebble has also reminded me just how vibrant the smartwatch’s community is. There are over 15,000 watch faces and apps you can install, and many of the apps from Pebble’s first run still work on the company’s modern smartwatches.
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There are dozens of useful apps out there, as well, including Voice Notes, silly games like Pixel Minder, dozens of timer apps, and even a compass app. Maybe I’ll get into them at some point, but for now, the Pebble Time 2’s simplicity is its entire appeal to me.
Then there’s the battery life: up to 30 days — an absolute dream compared to the 18 hours or so the Apple Watch Series 11 offers. Over the years, I’ve trained myself to always remember to place my Apple Watch on its charger at the end of the day, but not having to think about charging my Pebble Time 2 pretty much ever has been surprisingly liberating. I charge it so rarely that I can’t even remember the last time I needed to.
The experience isn’t perfect
While I’m a big fan of the Pebble Time 2, and I’m even considering picking up the upcoming Pebble Time Round 2 at some point, the wearable does have a few issues. First off, the smartwatch only has a 30-day warranty, which, almost amusingly, is as long as its initial charge is expected to last.
Pebble has even gone so far as to say that you shouldn’t buy the Pebble Time 2 if you need a “perfectly polished smartwatch,” stating that “things could not last as long as you’d like.” This doesn’t exactly radiate confidence. In a recent blog post, Eric Migicovsky, Pebble’s founder, says his company has replaced 330 Time smartwatches for free out of the 19,000 it currently has “in the field.”
I experienced issues firsthand, too. Roughly two weeks after getting my Pebble Time 2, the top corner of the smartwatch’s glass cracked. After reaching out to Pebble’s customer service, I received a replacement swiftly (I picked up a cheap screen protector to make sure I don’t run into display issues again).
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The glass-breaking issue is relatively widespread and appears to be related to the smartwatch’s display sticking out very slightly. It seems to make it easier to catch on objects accidentally. There have also been reports of button issues and minor deformations in the Pebble Time 2’s body (one of my replacement’s lower arms is slightly off-kilter).
The bottom line
Even with these issues, I don’t regret switching to the Pebble Time 2. It might sound a bit odd, but after using the extremely polished Apple Watch for so long, I’ve found the Pebble Time 2’s rougher edges are a big part of its charm. I like that its watch faces can sometimes be a bit wonky, and that updates for the wearable seem to arrive almost daily. I even appreciate that its design isn’t entirely perfect.
This is a grassroots revival of one of the smartwatch industry’s pioneers, and it’s genuinely great to see Pebble back in action. More importantly, I’ve realized the Pebble Time 2’s simpler approach to the smartwatch fits perfectly into my life.
