Just over a week ago my Pebble smartwatch arrived and I wrote up my initial thoughts. Having used it for a week now I thought I’d write up some further observations.

I said that my initial reason for buying the Pebble was so I could use it as actual watch and I’m slowly getting used to doing so though out of force of habit I still find myself reaching for my phone sometimes but I assume over time this will change.

One aspect that I hadn’t thought about originally (but pointed out by Mother) was that of safety; wandering around late at night in areas of London I’m not as familiar with I do feel more comfortable quickly changing song with a few pushes on my wrist rather than pulling my phone out of my pocket and showing it off to anyone watching. I’ve already developed some muscle memory to quickly change song without looking at my wrist.

I’ve also developed some muscle memory when it comes to knowing where the buttons are and how much force to exert with my thumb in order to register a change of state in the menu. I still think you need to push a little too hard but I don’t think a touch screen is necessarily a better solution.

I’ve now become used to having something on my wrist (this is the first watch I’ve owned) though I may change the strap at some point so I can have custom hole placements as I’m finding the two holes on the strap the Pebble comes with that I use the most are either ever so slightly too lose and so the watch slips or ever so slightly too tight so I’m conscious of that the watch is there.

The word Pebble is now part of my vernacular and everyone else around me because I keep yammering on about it. Therefore I’ve pretty much settled on not referring to it as a watch and just calling it “my Pebble”.

I’ve been running beta versions of the 2.0 firmware and the better iOS app and there are some nice goodies that have been added:

• Apps; I’ve got apps for getting bus, train and tube time. All immensely useful.
• I’ve been trying the [7 minute workout exercise methodology] and there is an app for that.
• I bought an app called Smartwatch Pro on the iOS AppStore which works as a “companion” to it’s Pebble app. With this I can access my calendars, tweets, reminders, setup and execute custom HTTP requests (useful if you’ve got smart light bulbs for example) and also make my phone make a loud noise if I can’t find it in my flat (I’m disgusted at myself for how much I’ve already used this - normally I have to eat into my Skype credit to call my mobile to find it).

Beta 6 of the firmware is still a bit buggy but I’m sure they’ll iron out the kinks shortly.

All in all I’m still very happy with the Pebble, for the £90 or so it cost me it’s provided excellent value for money and a definite place in my digital life.