The Pebble can be considered among one of the early successes in the arena of smartwatches. With over 300,000 sold and some 3 million apps and watchfaces downloaded so far, the company yesterday unveiled its plans for the upcoming year at CES 2014. The Pebble smartwatch itself is getting a new look with the introduction of the Pebble Steel, a new premium metal version. It will sell for US$249, US$100 more than the base model.
The Pebble Steel comes with a stainless steel case that is smaller and thinner than that of the original Pebble. It also comes with an RGB light to indicate charge status. Additional functions will be added in the future. The Pebble Steel is available in two finishes: Brushed Stainless and Black Matte. Both will come with matching metal band and a black leather strap.It remains the same internally including being waterproof up to 5 ATM.
The Pebble Steel is now available for pre-order for US$249 (including free courier shipping worldwide for early orders) directly from getpebble.com. Shipments will begin on January 28, 2014.
Pebble also announced that its upcoming Pebble appstore will open by the end of January. The curated store will offer apps in categories such as Daily, Remotes, Games, Notifications, Tools & Utilities, Fitness, and Watchfaces.
New partners that will offer Pebble apps include Pandora, ESPN, and Mercedes-Benz. For example, the Mercedes-Benz app will let you locate the car, check to see if doors are locked or not and control the audio system.
What do you think of the new Pebble Steel? Personally, I think it looks better than the original model but I would have preferred to see a smaller and less conspicuous Pebble logo on the face.
Source : Pebble Blog