{"id":2740,"date":"2014-04-16T10:36:07","date_gmt":"2014-04-16T00:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/?p=2740"},"modified":"2014-04-17T15:49:52","modified_gmt":"2014-04-17T05:49:52","slug":"from-geek-to-chic-the-pebble-steel-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/reviews\/from-geek-to-chic-the-pebble-steel-review\/","title":{"rendered":"From Geek To Chic: The Pebble Steel Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Aston\"<\/div>\n

After years of seeing \u2018sporty looking\u2019 wearable tech products like the Nike Fuelband, Fitbit, Jawbone Up, the Sony Smartwatch, Galaxy Gear and even the original Pebble\u2026 I was desperately hoping that the Kickstarted kids at Pebble had finally cracked the tech vs fashion issue. And I think they have. Mostly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Almost three months to the day since I ordered it, I finally got the DHL text message I\u2019d been waiting for \u2026 and a short time later that morning an unassuming brown cardboard box arrived on my desk. Pebble\u2019s second attempt at designing a Bluetooth smartwatch, and my second crack at entering the brave new world of wearable technology \u2026 enter the Pebble Steel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now I haven\u2019t always been overly concerned about fashion and appearance. I grew up on acreage where the only souls around to pass judgement on my fashion sense were my parents, the dog, the kid next door, and a swag of cows in the paddock behind us. It wasn\u2019t really until I met my highschool sweetheart (and now wife) that things started to turn around a bit.<\/p>\n

Despite being quite content with my choice in clothing and shoes, it became apparent over the first few years of dating that Ren\u00e9e wasn\u2019t overly impressed by my combination of jeans, Snoopy (Peanuts) T-shirts, white high-top Lynx sneakers, and a black rubber banded Lorus digital watch with fancy orange plastic buttons.<\/p>\n

In the many years since then she\u2019s gradually got me into more classy collared shirts, tailored pants, and funky casual dinner jackets. Brand names like Ben Sherman, R M Williams and Georg Roth now call my wardrobe home. The problem with all this is, although I embrace and delight in the way Ren\u00e9e has styled me, this new found style is often at odds with my inner-geek and the types of products I like to play around and tinker with. This is fine most of the time. If I buy a new audio mixer or home theatre system, this has no bearing whatsoever on my physical appearance. Wearable technology on the hand, does.<\/p>\n

The Original Pebble dilemma<\/h1>\n

So around late November last year\u2014despite the general lack of approval from my style queen, with her final comments via email being \u2018Get one if you really want to nerdling!\u2019\u2014my craving for one of the record-breaking Kickstarter watches<\/a> finally got the better of me. And straight away I was hooked with how it worked: the battery life, the screen that stayed on all day like a watch should, the changeable watchfaces, the apps \u2026 everything about it tickled my geeky fancy. After only a few days of wearing it, I couldn\u2019t imagine living life without it going forward.<\/p>\n

\"OldVsNew\"<\/div>\n

The only issue I had with it was the physical design of it. After years of having the 1980\u2019s beaten out of me, I just couldn\u2019t get over the fact it was a little bit too plasticy for my taste, the rubber band looked a bit plain and nerdy \u2026 and overall it just looked too big sitting on my arm. Just before Christmas I got a leather Fossil band for it, which helped quite a bit. The size of the band helped to disguise the size of the watch, while the mix of leather, stainless steel and the polycarbonate of the Pebble all worked quite well together. And this was fine on weekends when I had a polo or T-shirt on. But come weekdays at work, or nighttime when we were heading out to dinner, the plastic Pebble just didn\u2019t quite fit in. Not only wouldn\u2019t it fit under the cuff of a long sleeve shirt properly (with the added thickness of the Fossil band) but the black just didn\u2019t suit most business or dinner outfits\u2014particularly when wearing tan pants, brown shoes and a brown belt!<\/p>\n

“After a week of deliberating and punching kittens in the face, I put my pre-order in\u2026”<\/p>\n

Then, not much more than a month after I\u2019d bought the original, the lads at Pebble announced at the 2014 CES<\/a> that they had something new. Fearing the worst, I tweeted:<\/p>\n

\n

If they really are announcing a 2nd-gen @Pebble<\/a> \u2026 I\u2019ll probably need to go punch some kittens.http:\/\/t.co\/dXC21RB6QF<\/a><\/p>\n

— Ben Johnston (@BenJohnston_) January 6, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n