Pebble Time Round is a Great Smartwatch for People Who Hate Smartwatches

For someone who spends all day on the internet, I am surprisingly averse to technology. Years ago I turned all of the push notifications on my phone off except for phone calls, and I periodically delete apps like Twitter and Facebook from my devices entirely for a respite from constant social activity. With my perpetual struggle to simplify, the idea of strapping something to my wrist that would give me more notifications has always sounded like my worst nightmare, so I've been extremely reluctant to try smartwatches and other wearables.

Enter Pebble Time Round, the first device I've used to put cracks in that resolve. The light, sleek smartwatch is hardly noticeable on my wrist and integrated into my life relatively seamlessly. The device is the latest for Pebble, which has sold more than 1 million units since it launched its first iPhone and Android compatible smartwatch on Kickstarter in 2012.

Eric Migicovsky, founder and CEO of Pebble, said at an event in New York City in October that customers like me who don't necessarily want to add another gadget to their lives are exactly who company is trying to reach with the Pebble Time Round.

"The big thing for us is that there are more than a million people who have a Pebble today, who use it and love it, and one of the things we are experimenting with is are there other people who might have use in their lives for Pebble?" he said.

He added that the company wants Pebble Time Round to appeal with users with smaller wrists, including women, who have found past models and other smartwatches too heavy. This model does a good job of that: with its smooth design and round watch face, it is decidedly more watch-like than similar devices, including Pebble's past models like the Pebble Time, which I found to be too plastic-looking, bulky, and generally unstylish for daily wear.

Pebble claims the Pebble Time Round is the world's lightest and thinnest smartwatch. It has a polished and sophisticated easy-to-swap band that comes in two sizes and several colors of leather including red, white, and tan as well as gold and silver stainless steel. The round watch face comes in three potential finishes: black, silver, and rose gold.

The value of the Pebble watch perhaps lies not in what is, but what it is not. The Pebble watch is not trying to replace your phone, Migicovsky said.

"I think we are pretty self-admittedly not going after people who want to see a smartphone on their wrist," he said. "I don't think Pebble does that, and if we are being honest, you'd probably be better served just buying an Apple Watch at that point. [Pebble] won't be the only tech thing you have at one time, but it's going to be there to help you on your run or to track your sleep or if you're traveling and want to see what's coming up next. Those are the situations where it's cool to have a good at-a-glance feature."

That is good news for users like me. Quite honestly, I can't think of many tasks that would be better accomplished with a smartwatch than my phone. Browsing the web from a tiny screen on my wrist sounds like the least appealing use of technology I can think of, and I would rather not type out a text message with one hand on my wrist.

Pebble is built to be useful in other capacities. It is easy to set it to "quiet time" so I don't get notifications except for phone calls. It has beautiful watch face options and simple apps like stopwatches, timers, and an alarm clock that wakes me up by buzzing my wrist in the morning. The gadget is particularly useful when I'm biking to work and want to see texts or change my music without pulling out my phone. Its at-a-glance functions are great for when I'm at a party and want to leave my phone in my bag but scan notifications here and there.

A downside to the thin, light model is that its battery only lasts two days––a huge decline from earlier Pebble models that last more than seven days, but still longer than the Apple Watch, which lasts only 18 hours.

Another drawback is that the watch isn't waterproof, and its leather and metal bands don't seem great for working out––a bummer if you want to use fitness apps popular on the other Pebble models. There also aren't many apps for the Pebble Time Round yet, only about 100, but I'm not sure I'd use more of them anyway. Previous Pebble models have more than 10,000 apps available for download, but this device is the first with a round face, requiring some updates by developers.

The Pebble Time Round retails at $249 and goes on sale in the US this month. If you are looking for the Next Big Thing––a new gadget that will direct you to work, automate your day for you, or ultimately replace your phone, this is not the device for you. But if you want a little piece of the future that will make your daily life less stressful and not more, the Pebble Time Round is a great choice.