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5.0 out of 5 starsComparison of Pebble's three metal-housed watches: Original Steel, Time Steel, and new Round
ByJanaMayon November 14, 2015
Comparison: Pebble Steel Smart Watch for iPhone and Android Devices, Pebble Time Steel(this product), and Pebble Time Round 20mm Smartwatch for Apple/Android Devices - Black/Black (Pictured below: Original with black band, Time Steel in yellow gold w/red band and Round in rose gold w/pearl white band)
I have access to all three Pebbles: I own the Time Steel and the new Round and my roommate has the Original, so I'm comparing them here:
Look and Feel: The Pebble Round looks most like a watch, coming in at just smaller than the Timex Weekender. It's really light and comfortable, no heavier than a Swatch. There's a cool, chunky retro feel to the Original Steel, but it's too big for my wrist. The Time Steel FELT slick and small until the Round came along! I can still dig the Time Steel for its nerdy-cool look, though. The Original Steel has a black-and-white LED screen with a distinct bluish cast. The Time Steel and the Round have color e-paper screens. All three have always-on screens that can be viewed really well in bright light, as well as a backlight. The backlight adds a bluish cast and tones down the contrast on the color screens. (see pic below)
Winner: Round
Usability/Accessibility: All three Pebbles use a four-button system of navigation that is really intuitive and easy. If you balk at the lack of a touch screen, think again. With a touch screen, there's always an element of uncertainty (did I tap it hard enough? Did my finger slip? Did I hit the right tiny image?) and you have to wait to see it react and then choose your next thing. With buttons, you go back to the ease of your old digital watch- you can reach down and press a button to pause your music or stop an alarm-you don't have to flick it on, swipe to the control screen, and press the tiny "cancel" dot.
Winner: Three-way tie. Just wanted to point out the awesomeness of going back to buttons.
Battery: The Time Steel wins this one by a landslide. They promise 7-10 days. If you use sleep tracking or an animated watchface it's on the low end of that, but it's pretty accurate. I've had it go ten days several times. The Original Steel gets about 4-5 days on a charge, and the Round runs down in two days (but can be charged in 15 min).
Winner: Time Steel, definitely.
Apps/OS: All three Pebbles work on iOS and Android by downloading the Pebble control app and then downloading apps inside the control app. The Original uses an older control app than the other two, but it's fairly easy to switch between them. The Original Steel still has the old OS, meaning that you can only install 8 apps at a time and there's no insta-calendar (called the Timeline by the Pebble folks). There has been an update promised; Pebble has said that they're bringing the Timeline OS to the old Pebbles, but as of this writing it hasn't happened yet. The timeline OS and unlimited apps is a key part of my enjoyment of the Pebbles. The Time Steel functions perfectly, every time, in my experience. It's never stalled, lagged, frozen, did something unexpected, or needed a reboot. The OS is just really, really good. The Round is so new that most of the apps in the Pebble store aren't optimized for it yet, so the apps are pretty limited. This will probably get better as time goes on, but right now...
Winner: Time Steel
Water resistance: The Original Pebble Steel is water resistant to 5M. I've never worn this in the water, so I can't say. The Pebble Time Steel is water resistant to 30M. I've gone swimming and showered in this watch and it's fine. The Round is listed as "splashproof;" I haven't tested that either.
Winner: Time Steel
Microphone/Voice input: The Original Pebble Steel has no microphone. The Time Steel and Round can take voice input to answer texts, add items to the timeline, or take quick voice notes (all available with different apps in the Pebble App Store). I've had great results with the voice recognition on both; I don't know if it's my imagination, but the Round's voice recognition seems slightly better.
Winner: Slight edge to the Round
Bands: All three Pebbles have removable bands, but the Time Steel and Round have quick-release bands, while the Original Pebble has a split-band that's a little harder to find.
Tie: Time Steel and Round
Overall winner: The Time Steel still takes the gold for me because of its battery life, water resistance, and full app suite. When the Round's app list catches up, though, it's gonna be a killer. It's lovely. The Original Steel is nifty-retro, but until you know if the Timeline OS will be ported over there I'd avoid it. The 8-app limit is a bummer.
TIME STEEL FOR THE WIN!