Pebble yesterday unveiled its first colour smartwatch, the Pebble Time. To say that the response was enthusiastic would be an understatement. The Kickstarter campaign launched to support Pebble’s new wearable immediately set records for a crowdfunded project.
Launching at 0944 ET on Tuesday, February 24th, the Pebble Time campaign met its US$500,000 target a mere 17 minutes later. It topped the US$1 million mark in less than an hour, making it the fastest project ever to hit that milestone. By 14:26 ET, the campaign had reached the US$5 million mark. The previous record holder had taken just over a week to reach the same milestone.
Some 36 hours later, the campaign has now topped the US$9.8 million mark. That translates to over 53,000 Pebble Time smartwatches having been ordered in just over 36 hours based on a quick tally of backer numbers for each reward level.
Only two projects have ever raised more money: The original Pebble with US$10.2 million and the Coolest Cooler with US$13.2 million. It should not be long before there is a new king of the mountain!
Meanwhile a few more technical details about the Pebble Time emerged today during a Reddit AMA. Among the details revealed today:
- It will be powered by a ARM Cortex M4 processor running at 100Mhz.
- The curved display offers a resolution of 144 by 168 pixels (180PPI). This is the same resolution as on the original Pebble. It is not a Mirasol display.
- The UI colour scheme will depend on the app. It will not be customizeable in the first release of the software.
- The Pebble Time will charge using a charging cable that magnetically snaps to the back.
- Apps will have access to 64KB of RAM
- The Pebble will sync approximately 48 hours (24h past and 24h future) of events. Apps will be stored on the watch so that they work even when the watch is disconnected.
- Timeline will use BLE exclusively with iOS devices, instead of the current BLE+2.1.
- Bluetooth to have a range of “50 meters or more in good conditions.”
- No NFC on the Pebble Time but it could soon appear embedded in a new strap option.
- Sensors: 3 axis accelerometer, 3D compass, ambient light sensor, microphone
- No LED unlike the Pebble Steel
With 29 days to go, how far do you think the Pebble Time can go? Let us know below.
Update (2/26/2015): Over 47,000 backers have now pushed the Pebble Time Kickstarter campaign over the US$10.3 million mark. In doing so, it has surpassed the original Pebble campaign. Most impressive is that there are 30 more days to go in this campaign.
Sources : Kickstarter (Pebble Time) // Kickstarter (2) // Reddit