Were you around during the age of the Pebble smartwatch? If you weren’t, you’ll find it interesting to know that Pebble was the primary smartwatch choice before any Apple or Android smartwatches were birthed into the world. You’ll need to throw your calendar all the way back to 2012 when the watches were crowdfunded on Kickstarter.
If you were a big Pebble fan or you wish you could have a chance to relive the hype from that era, then there’s some pretty good news for you. The creator of Pebble has taken full advantage of the recent open-sourcing of PebbleOS to release two spiritual successors: the Core 2 Duo and the Core Time 2.
Core Devices, a Company From the Pebble Creator, Releases Two Pebble-Adjacent Smartwatches
Are you familiar with the name Eric Migicovsky? Probably not. That’s the man behind the original Pebble smartwatch, which took the tech world by storm in 2012. Those watches ran on the PebbleOS operating system and were very popular, selling over 2 million units. However, just four years later, the brand closed, and what was left was swallowed up by Fitbit, its biggest rival at the time (and that was later swallowed by Google).
It was rather an abrupt end to such a major smartwatch platform, but the tech world can be brutal at times. However, Eric never forgot about those smartwatches that he created, which were particularly valued for a simple interface—something modern smartwatches can’t exactly boast of. Fortunately for him, Google very kindly decided to open source PebbleOS in January this year.
Now, under his new company, Core Devices, Eric Migicvosky has just released two new smartwatches running on Pebble OS: the Core 2 Duo and the Core Time 2, and these watches are spiritual successors to those old Pebble smartwatches, in every sense of the word.
The Core 2 Duo
The first thing that jumped out to me about this smartwatch is that it is named identically to an Intel processor that younger people have probably never heard of. But that aside, it is also very similar to the Pebble 2 from back then.
The Core 2 Duo utilizes a 1.26-inch e-paper display, which does miracles for battery life—30 days, to be exact, which is much better than the Pebble 2. You still get access to over 10,000 apps and watchfaces, IPX8 water resistance, a mic, step and sleep tracking, and a polycarbonate build. However, it gets a speaker, better haptic feedback, more reliable physical buttons, and a barometer and compass. That’s exactly how an upgrade should feel.
The Core Time 2
Remember the Pebble Time? Maybe not, but that smartwatch sadly never got a successor despite the fact it had been planned out. It has been brought to life now, though, and Eric states that the Core Time 2 is his dream smartwatch, so let’s look at some of the features it has to make it such.
First off, it has a 64-color 1.5-inch e-paper touchscreen, access to the entire 10,000+ catalog of apps and watch faces, 30-day battery life, IPX8 water resistance, a mic, a speaker, and step and sleep tracking. However, it also packs in much more premium features such as a metal frame and metal buttons, flat glass over the display, and a heart rate monitor. It sounds like it does everything right.
Pricing and Availability for the New PebbleOS Smartwatches
If you want to get your hands on either of these smartwatches, the major thing that might or might not make them worth it is their pricing. Thankfully, I don’t think it is that crazy for those who really appreciate the simpler experience.
The Core 2 Duo will be available starting in July and will set you back by $149. However, you’ll need to wait much later for the Core Time 2 as that will be released in December and will cost $225. Pre-orders for both devices are open now.
