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Comment by seltzered_ | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure you can put it in MBA language like 'specific pitch' or 'value add', you had to try it and see if it felt right for you.

The watch had a pretty coherent ux flow for a non-touchscreen device, and could be easily used with gloves on without even looking at the watch in some scenarios (e.g. shortcutting to music controls). It later paired some unique animations to make things feel friendly and a bit quirky ( https://www.slashgear.com/pebble-hires-webos-designers-for-u... ).

Also there was a pretty decent hobbyist/maker culture around the watch with the ideas of add-on accessories, etc.

The challenge from a business standpoint mightve been needing to provide vc-backed startup returns without killing the culture that loved the product. I think they were trying to find a way to do a subscription for extra services.

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Fair that I do seem to be asking for MBA speak. Not my intent.

For me, the big mental block is that I can't think of much I want to do from my watch. A readable screen is obviously nice. So is advanced battery life. But, if I'm going to be dipping into health tracking, it seems Garmin is the baseline there.

The UX flow is one that has me somewhat intrigued. How often are you interacting with the device? And for what reasons?

The big ones for me were/are media controls and seeing what's next on my calendar. Because of the physical buttons I can pause my music/skip songs/adjust volume without even looking at the screen.

Bluetooth headphones often have media controls but in my experience they tend to be hard to use on wireless earbuds due to their size. Using my Pebble is much easier. No other smartwatch I've used has done this quite as well.

I really enjoyed my Pebble for waking up in the morning (vibration feels much softer to me than a loud alarm) and media control, e.g. while showering. The display read well passively, and I only had to charge it every couple of days.

The only experience that came close were hybrid smartwatches (analog, but with vibrations, 3 programmable buttons and the pointers could move to indicate apps). Longer battery life, but very closed off (can't sync alarms from external sources) and the phone bridge stopped working after some time.

Same answer as this person.

Snoozing alarms and music controls without even looking at the watch (e.g. while in bed, or while walking/snowboarding/etc.) were really neat.

And it kinda begs a question of how much should one want from a device. What is 'enough' so that one doesn't get emotionally attached to it being so expensive it alters behavior with it?

I lost my pebble se after jogging one day, and haven't purchased another one yet (many were too heavy, big, or feature-laden at a much higher price). I sold my original pebble to a bus driver who happened to already have one and presumably just liked having a cheap simple smartwatch for handling notifications and alarms.

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