Pebble Steel review

Apps and watch faces

As useful as notifications are, you can expand what the Pebble is capable of by installing applications and watch faces on it. With the latest Pebble Steel 3.0 software, the previous slightly arbitrary eight app limit was removed. You can now install more than before, but the exact amount will depend on the type and size of your apps. If they’re too big, any extras will be saved in the Pebble app. There’s a great choice out there, with some big companies starting to support the platform: you can check your heating out with the Honeywell Evohome app, for example. You’ll also find apps for pretty much everything from weather reports and public transport updates, through to the Misfit app, which is a full-on activity tracker and sleep monitor.

You can’t do much with the apps that you install and most of them simply display information; those that let you interact generally only let you perform simple functions, such as skipping a track. However, this makes them quick to use and, if you need more than the watch app can give, you can always pull out your phone.

There’s a huge selection of watch faces on the app store. We’re a fan of the Modern face, which looks like a traditional analogue watch, but also displays the temperature and date.

We generally found the apps very reliable, but would occasionally suffer them not updating properly, presumably because they couldn’t get an internet connection through our iPhone. This tended to happen more in the morning after we hadn’t touched the watch all night, although re-launching the Pebble app would force the connection to reconnect.

All apps and watch faces are configured from the Pebble app on your smartphone, which makes sense as it’s easier to use a touchscreen interface for this kind of operation. While most apps will work with Android and iOS, there are some limitations and some are designed for just one platform. For example, Glance for Android pulls in your missed call list, SMS and email message counts, and calendar appointments. As this uses specific calls to the Android OS, it can’t and won’t work with iOS. Smartwatch+ is the nearest iOS equivalent, although it provides access to less information, as Apple’s OS is more locked down.

Fortunately, the Pebble App only shows you applications that will run on your phone, so there’s no chance of installing anything useless on your watch.

Battery life

While other smartwatches struggle to last a day, the Pebble Steel will give you up to five days of use. A lot of this depends on how much you interact with it and how many notifications it has to display, but the worst we’ve had out of ours is three days. That’s exactly the kind of life that this kind of product needs, as you don’t have to remember to constantly charge it; it’s much more like owning a normal watch.

Charging is via USB and the proprietary magnetic connector on the side. It’s a shame that Pebble didn’t opt for Micro USB (although that may have made it harder to make it waterproof), as lose or forget this cable and you can’t charge it.

Conclusion

While the Pebble Steel (and any smartwatch for that matter) isn’t going to replace an expensive ‘real’ watch as a designer piece of jewelry, it is a great everyday watch. Its simplicity and monochrome screen are its strengths, giving you a long-lasting watch that complements your smartphone, while apps and watch faces help you extend its capabilities. That all said and done, it’s fairly expensive compared to the original model and the proprietary charging cable is a little annoying. There are no perfect smartwatches at the moment, but the Pebble Steel comes close and it’s a model we’re happy to wear all day every day.