Why I gave up my Apple Watch and went back to Pebble.

I guess you could say I like Apple products. I own two iPads, 3 Macs and my whole family uses iPhones. The two things I like the most is Apple’s focus on the overall product ecosystem as well as their design-first thinking. As a classically trained industrial designer who now spends more time in UX/UI, I appreciate Apple’s attention to detail and the overall aesthetics of all of their products.

Those that know me would also say I’m an early adopter of new technology — not necessarily bleeding edge rather more cutting edge. That’s why I bought one of the first Pebbles (just not the Kickstarter version).

The early versions were a pain to set up, but once setup, the Pebble worked pretty well, assuming it stayed connected to my iPhone. I immediately began to love my Pebble. The two things I liked the most: alerts and perfect in-sync time. Because the display was always on, I could feel the ‘buzz’ and read messages instantly and with a glance. Most of the time the person with me didn’t even notice me do it. If it was dark, a subtle shake of the wrist turned on the backlight making it even easier to view the time and incoming messages.

The things I didn’t like included the 3–4 day battery and the crappy display.

Two things eventually persuaded me to give up the Pebble. The first and main problem was the display was of such poor quality that it just quit working. I bought a second but the same thing happened about 8 months in. Bummer. The other mitigating factor was the Pebble’s inability to stay connected to the iPhone via Bluetooth. Pebble said it was Apple’s fault and Apple was conspicuously quiet on the matter. I suppose it was true as according to the forums, Pebble stayed connected to Androids without issue.

So, I eagerly awaited the arrival of the new Apple Watch. I bought one the first week (OK maybe that was a bleeding edge move).

Initially I was somewhat disappointed in the form factor. It was too fat and too soft — reminded me of the jellybean car bodies aka Taurus of the 80’s and 90’s. Still the CMF (color, material and finish) was outstanding and lot’s of innovation in things like how the strap connects to the watch body. Brilliant, though buckling the silicon strap was more than difficult.

I bought a black 42mm aluminum body and started using it. The style grew on me and after purchasing a second band (for $150!), I started to enjoy it. It had so many features and more apps would ‘arrive’ each day! After a month or so, I figured out I really didn’t use many if any of these apps much. I really couldn’t watch YouTube on the watch when it’s available in my pocket on my iPhone. Just about every Watch app was grossly inferior to it’s iPhone counterpart — so I figured why bother?

Then I just got tired of the whole motion: rotate arm up, wait 1 full second and see if the face turns on. If not, repeat. The 1 second lag after the arm rotate was an incredibly more difficult experience than how the Pebble worked. Plus it made it to obvious to everyone around you that you were now focused on your watch.

My Dad had also purchased an Apple Watch and he eventually “bit the bullet” and tapped the display to wake it up each time — a two handed operation which reminded me of the LED watches of the 70’s which you had to press a button to see the time.

The whole motion was actually more interruptive than just leaving your phone on the table. I finally got used to NOT looking at my watch — for anything at all.

An update or two later and now my watch was interrupting multiple times a day asking me to breathe. Really? Perhaps ask me to move to Cupertino too? Not to mention it kept tracking and alerting me with the number of steps I have yet to take for that day. I’m glad Apple can read my mind. At least the bloatware on PCs didn’t bug you multiple times every day even when you weren’t in front of it.

I finally just deleted all message alerts from my watch and used it to only tell time. Even that it does particularly bad. First off, the watch needs charging once a day. If you forget, then you don’t have a watch to wear.

Secondly, the designers at Apple (Steve Jobs must be doing flips) got WRONG the single most important thing a watch is supposed to do. Tell time. Easily. Effortlessly.

I can’t get over how hard it is to just find out the time on an Apple Watch. Sometimes it will display with a flick of the wrist. Other times it needs a full rotator cuff, elbow, and wrist turn. Plus, it’s never instant. It takes a second or two before it may show. It’s sorta like speak recognition — just not good enough to get it right 80% of the time.

So, I recently went back and purchased a Pebble Time. Certainly not as ‘beautiful’ nor is the display near as nice aesthetically. Still, the Pebble JUST WORKS. The Bluetooth issue is evidently now worked out and I assume they’ve worked out the QA issues with the display. I paid $90 for it and am once again very, very happy with my watch situation. Tells time perfectly. 3–4 days per charge now seems an extravagance and I’m in love with some of the new features like “Quiet Time.”

I believe Apple is slipping. I’ll write another post on that soon.