***UPDATE 12/7/2016***

Fitbit is buying out Pebble:

Fitbit will maintain services so that Pebble devices continue to work as normal until at least the end of 2017. Pebble functionality and service may be reduced in the future. Pebble Time 2 won't come to life at this point now will the core.

This is truly sad as I loved my first gen and I really like this watch. I am happy with it but the Heart Rate monitor is currently flawed. I don't think I could recommend buying this watch at this point but I might buy another Pebble 2 without the HEart Rate Monitor if they go on discount before they disappear forever.

All over the tech blogs people are talking about the death of the smart watch section and how they failed to materialise anything worthwhile. I really couldn’t disagree more but I had the first gen pebble for over a year and pebble 2 for over a month now. I am sad that they are now defunct but it represented what a smart watch was supposed to do. It fit great battery life, I only missed call or the notifications I wanted if my phone was off(on android I heard apple was a different story but that’s because of the walled garden), and it didn’t try to do things it shouldn’t like lower me doodle on a tiny screen on my wrist. The only feature that I really doing it lacking on was NFC/mobile wallet, however that had the potential to be addressed if smart straps had come to fruition before pebble died, sadly that will never be the case now. I really blame the people that review smartwatches for this demise in part besides any fault of the company. They promote apple or Samsung but so few ever even wrote about pebble, good or bad. Don’t get me wrong the pebble 2 had it’s flaws, the great rate monitor is a joke but overall it is the best smart watch out there at the moment. The time 2 looked great too, I’m sad I’ll never see one. That’s just my two cents but I agree most of the avast watches out there are gimmicky and fall short, but that category didn’t your coverage did. I’m hoping by the time my pebble 2 needs to be replaced there will be something worthy out there

My original review:

I was one of the Kickstarter backers for the P2. I got mine in Black/flame. Previously I had an original pebble smart watch that I really loved and I wanted to upgrade it after a few years on my wrist. There was nothing wrong with the old watch, which I think speaks pretty well for Pebble and the product they made. This review is specifically written comparing it to the first gen Pebble. This review isn't to convince you that you need a smart watch, I like mine as I can keep my phone on silent 100% of the time but I don't miss calls, and I can see when important notifications come through. I love my pebble because it gets good battery life so I don't have to worry about charging it every other day and it just "works" I don't need to constantly tinker with it. Because of the battery life it is the only smart watch I would consider. I consider Pebble smart watches to be the best smart watches out there, I don't need a touch screen or to doodle on my watch, it exists to prevent me from taking out my phone every time it buzzes or I need to log in with an authentication key and this watch does that perfectly

Please feel free to ask any questions and I will answer if I can!

Design / feel in hand / on wrist

So this is much sleeker than the first gen Pebble, more compact and it feels much nicer on the wrist, moving the charger port to the back makes it looks much sleeker. The case watch feels very nice, the tolerances are all very tight and the buttons all have a nice satisfying click. The mic works well for voice texting, I haven't tried it to much outdoors but it works well every time I have tested it. The band feels nice and is very similar to the first gen band which I also thought was very high quality. The real difference here is the gorilla glass screen is slightly raised compared to the flat surface of the entire first gen Pebble. It doesn't take anything away from the watch the only problem I could see would be it would be harder to add a third party skin like I did on my first gen, however this watch looks really good in black / flame so I'm not looking for a wrap at the moment. If I do I will add what I add and what I think of it

Software

So this is a huge improvement from the first gen watch. The main settings menu is a bit flatter and gives you battery life right on the settings line in a 10% (it goes by 10% increments) It also gives me the local forecast on the main settings page when (see the attached picture for clarity) I don't run a ton of apps on my Pebble, the main one I use is the QuickAuth app to run my google authentication key. I would highly recommend this app. I use MisFit instead of Pebble Health because my work health program can sync with MisFit and not Pebble so it imports my steps to Virgin Pulse. A small bonus, otherwise I would use Pebble Health, it seemed that for the day that I had both turned on Pebble Health seemed to track fewer steps than MisFit but I am not sure which is more "accurate" I don't really care about that one way or another. Allowing to luanch quick launch off the center and back buttons is also nice as it lets you get to 2 more apps quickly. 4 is more than enough for my personal uses but of course that is personal preference

Battery Life

So from my attached picture you can see I am at 30% battery, that should last me easily until tomorrow when I will charge it before I leave work for the day. I could most likely go 2 more days and charge it in the morning when I first get to work. It was last charged 5 days ago. I would rate my usage of it as moderate so I am well within the battery range advertised. I actually think it gets slightly worse battery life than my first gen pebble but I also have the weather app enabled so it is pulling that data from my smart watch more often. I also am playing with the new "toy" more often so I can't say with 100% certainty. Of course it could always have more battery life but I am very content with the battery life this watch gets over all. I also have Pebble Health turned off (and the heart rate monitor) as I use MisFit to count steps for my company fitness program. If Virgin Pulse would every sync with Pebble Health I would drop MisFit in a heart beat but that is another matter. I imagine this has a positive impact on my battery life not having the heart rate sensor enabled

Overall I am very pleased with this watch, it was a great upgrade from the first gen Pebble and I would buy another hands down, I wouldn't mind getting a Pebble Time 2, but that isn't in the budget any time soon this will happily stay on my wrist every day for the next few years. The software upgrade and the sleeker form factor are much appreciated and the price point is very reasonable, if you don't care about the heart rate sensor (which I don't) they are even coming out with one that is just the Pebble 2