Pebble toughens up its smartwatch with Steel

One of the surprises from CES this year has been an update to one of the world’s first smartwatches, as Pebble strengthens its electronic wristwatch. Literally.

The watch that literally kickstarted smartwatches from other companies will be proceeding without the help of Kickstarter for its next addition to the line-up, adding a new model that can both be ordered and will start shipping shortly.

Adding to the first Pebble with its rubber band is the Pebble Steel, a model that aims to address some of the issues with the last model, focusing mostly on design and durability.

 

Currently, there are over 300,000 Pebble watches that have been sold and are in use around the world, and the next model aims to bolster the watch in a premium way.

For the Pebble Steel, the most of the same technology is being used, with an electronic ink display, waterproof design and build, and a battery capable of lasting around five days, but Pebble is making the casing even better this time, moving from plastic to stainless steel.

The original Pebble on the left, and the Pebble Steel on the right.

In fact, one of our complaints about the weak glass coating previously used in the first Pebble is one of the first things being fixed in the Steel, relying on Corning’s scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass and including an anti-fingerprint coating to make it more resistant to both fingers, keys, and anything else you accidentally bump your watch into.

The casing will keep everything together, and the customers will get both a stainless steel band and a leather band, making it easy to change the style of the watch when they want to.

Pebble will also roll out more apps for the smartwatch through the “Pebble Appstore” which will include apps from Pandora, GoPro, Yelp, Foursquare, and Mercedes-Benz, which should make the smartwatch a lot more interesting.

Pricing for the Pebble Steel comes in at $249 US, and while no local availability or pricing has been announced, like the first model, Australians can go online and buy it, with free worldwide shipping this time around.