With other companies like Motorola and LG getting high praise for their round smart watches, Pebble has decided to step up to the plate with their own round face.
Design
At just a mere 7mm, this is a phenomenally thin and also very lightweight device, perfect for a smart watch. Another fantastic thing about this watch is just that, it looks more like a watch than any other smart watch I've yet to see. This is something that other manufacturers are struggling with, a watch, naturally, should look like a watch.
The all-metal casing wraps neatly around the edges of the watch for a very clean and elegant look. Housed under that pretty sizable bezel is a 1.25-inch e-paper display. E-paper is definitely not the best screen type in terms of color and contrast, but it's not supposed to be. We've seen these on the other Pebble watches and they are in the place they are to save battery.
Battery life on this watch is definitely great, but it isn't as good as Pebble's other products which could offer up to a week of battery-life. Unsurprisingly, the watch's greatest and worst feature are the design. While it looks absolutely gorgeous, it restricts the battery life immensely meaning that it can only last up to two days at full charge. The team at Pebble did address this problem in a very reasonable way: Quick Charge. If you can spare just 15 minutes you can expect 24 hours of battery life to be your reward.
Another "watered down" feature is it's water resistance capabilities. It can easily survive the rain or a shower, but if you plan on swimming, the Time Round will have to sit that one out.
New OS
This watch is shipping with Pebble's new Timeline interface that lays out the apps in chronological order. You can navigate the "past" and "future" event lists with the buttons on the side of the watch. New face designs are also in store with a new SDK being announced today which makes creating both circular and square apps easier for developers.
At a price of $249 USD, this watch is not the cheapest, but keep in mind that's in terms of looks as well as price. Pre-ordering has begun today, but don't expect to get it to soon, as shipping begins in November.
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Lesley Warren is a writer for the VAVEL USA Technology section.
