This could be the next Pebble watch (and it has a color screen)
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2015 8:55 PM IST
Pebble, maker of the popular Pebble and Pebble Steel smartwatch, has something up its sleeve. Visit the company's website right now and you're greeted by a countdown timer, and a pixel-art style Pebble watch with a smiley face.
The timer runs out on February 24, just a few days before the start of Mobile World Congress 2015, and perhaps more crucially, a month or so ahead of the Apple Watch's release. What could it be planning? Could Tuesday's announcement be a new watch?
Updated on 02-23-2015 by Malarie Gokey: Added in leaked image of a Pebble watch with a color screen.
It seems very likely that Pebble will reveal a new device on the day. Especially because just one day before the countdown clock reaches zero, a photo of a Pebble watch with a color screen leaked on Pebble's own site. The image, spotted by 9to5Mac appears to show a somewhat redesigned Pebble with a square screen in bright yellow.
The report also hints that the next Pebble will be thinner, but the trade-off will be that it has a larger bezel to house the possible color, E Ink screen. The watch may also be powered by a Cortex M4 processor and sport a 6-axis gyroscope for activity tracking. The Pebble watch operating system is said to be redesigned to suit smartwatch users' needs perfectly. Luckily, in spite of all these changes, the battery life is expected to be about the same as earlier Pebble watches.
Pebble is giving absolutely nothing away. Community manager Joseph Kristoffer tweeted about the countdown, saying little more than it's “counting down to something,” and all will be revealed next Tuesday.
Earlier this month, Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky said we should look out for new software and hardware this year, but no exact details of timeline was provided. In the last few days, Pebble has released a software update for its Android companion app, enabling Android Wear notifications, and wider support for earlier versions of Android itself.
The Pebble is one of the few cross-platform smartwatches on sale, with the majority of other examples running Android Wear so are incompatible with the iPhone. The impending arrival of the Apple Watch could have a severe impact Pebble's sales, and it may feel the need to come up with something new before Apple swoops in.
We'll keep you updated with all the Pebble news between now and February 24.
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