OG smartwatch fans rejoice, the Pebble smartwatch is making a comeback this year. With his new company Core Devices, the creator of the original modern smartwatch, Eric Migicovsky, has announced the imminent launch of the Core Time 2 and Core 2 Duo.
They might have new names but these are still very much Pebble watches at their core. They will run on the newly liberated PebbleOS and will feature all the best bits from the original watches, with a few new tricks too.
Bag a new Pebble
The Core 2 Duo is the cheaper of the new devices (so far) with a $150 (R2,720) price tag. Its name has nothing to do with Intel but rather the intentions of Migicovsky with this comeback. “It’s almost exactly a Pebble 2, upgraded with modern chips and new tricks. Duo is short for ‘Do-over’,” writes Migicovsky.
It will feature the same 1.26in black and white e-paper display as the old Pebble 2 and comes in the same polycarbonate frame as the original. That frame houses four physical buttons, acceleration and gyroscopic sensors, as well as compass and barometer functions.
One of the biggest upgrades over the original appears as extra battery life. The Core 2 Duo will supposedly last up to 30 days on a single charge, which Migikovsky says is thanks to the efficiency improvements in Bluetooth chips over the last ten years.
It will also track your steps and sleep and sport a microphone and speaker, presumably for talking to your imaginary friends AI assistants. You can already pre-order a Core 2 Duo, shipping is expected to commence in July.
The Core Time 2 will cost a little more, coming in at $225 (R4,076), and is expected to ship a little later in December this year. As Migicovsky puts it: “It’s everything Pebble Time 2 was going to be and more!”
It has a larger 1.5in 64-colour e-paper display that supports touch input. Its CNC-milled Aluminium frame will house mostly the same bits as the Core 2 Duo with the added benefit of heart rate monitoring. It claims the same 30-day battery life and IPX8 dust and water protection as the Core 2 Duo. Well, at least that’s what they’re aiming for.
The progression of these smartwatches was much quicker than we (and even Migikovsky himself) were ready for. He says there will only be a limited quantity of both devices, so it’s probably best to secure yours sharpish.
“I’m not building a company to sell millions of these,” he says. “The goal is to make something I really want.”
