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Comment by jey | Hacker News Reader

Who's the target audience for this? Doesn't nearly everyone have a smartphone with an accelerometer, or will very soon?

If you don't want to bring your big expensive smart phone with you while running, this could be an alternative. But as a runner I love having my pace on my wrist watch - it has fundamentally changed how I run. So I think they missed the boat on this (because it doesn't apply to me) but in reality there are a lot of runners who don't care about pace and might love such a device.

And additionally I don't like taking my phone with me - not because it is big but because after a few miles I can't directly interact with it via the touch screen because my fingers are too sweaty. So they might be on to something if the UX of the device turns out to be nice.

I agree. It seems like they are close, but not quite there yet. I don't bring my phone on my runs (6 plus), but there have been times (few) where i really could have used it.

I don't see this replacing my Garmin watch anytime soon.

The Core is made to be combined with the watch, so you should be able to have pace on your wrist without having to carry your phone.

>Core provides real-time stats via audio cues while exercising

So you might be able to get pace through audio.

I mean I run with my garmin 735, which cost $450.. not that much cheaper than my smartphone.

But really, who is going to run a triathlon with a pebble. I doubt it's battery could even last an entire race if it was playing music and using GPS. Also, I imagine you can do HRM with the core but it didn't mention it.

According to the page they're aiming for 9 hours battery life with location tracking and offline music. Although it doesn't seem waterproof so a triathlon might be out of the question.

Many runners don't like carrying a heavy smartphone during exercise. The iPod shuffle form factor does have a certain appeal to those.

The bad news (for pebble) is that runners have been using wrist mounted gadgets literally for decades (HRM watches go back to the 1980ies), so they are trying to leave the wrist in the single market where wrist-worn computers are actually established.

I don't think they're leaving the wrist. The Core only has 2 buttons, so all the UI is on the Pebble on your wrist. (Or on your phone.)

True. The pebble core should probably be seen as an alternative "server backend" that can stand in for the smartphone whenever one of the "fat client" smartwatches would be used in standalone mode. As that, it makes a lot of sense, literally filling a gap in the pebble lineup. And yet it may still find a market amongst non-smartwatch wearers as the "spotify shuffle".

I actually wanted exactly this, because my gigantic smartphone would probably be uncomfortable to run with strapped to my arm.

However, my SO introduced me to the Flipbelt, and that kind of solved all the problems.

I don't fancy running with my 5.7" phone, to be honest.

I didn't until I bought a running belt (flipbelt). Its a tight spandex belt that you wear around the top of your shorts. My phone stays pressed flat against my back and I forget it is there. The belt is hidden by your shirt so it doesn't even look like you are wearing it.

I was looking at Pebbel the other day as sort of an entry into the smartwatch world for one.

Running and sleep tracking were secondary reasons. I'm glad I chose not to buy as I would have remorse with the "new version" of sorts being presented on Kickstarter.

Nobody wants to run with a phone on them. It's not comfortable at all.

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