Design Philosophy: A Tale of Two Smartwatches
I'm sure that anyone who knows me, even a little, would say I am probably an "Apple Nerd" or "Apple fanboy." People who know me would probably also tell you about the long and loving rants I go on about my Pebble Smartwatch. While I can neither confirm nor deny these allegations, I do find myself constantly answering the question "which is better, the Apple Watch or the newly released Pebble Time Smartwatch?”
After getting asked this a few times I realized that there was no easy way to explain the differences. I would tell people about the variations in overall design, screen type, battery and software only to find myself talking for what seemed like an eternity (I'm sure the people I was talking to thought the same). After doing this a few times I found myself saying, in typical Waterloo entrepreneur fashion, "there has got to be a better way!"
I started my search for this better way by looking at the huge collections of tech reviews and articles online, but sadly only found more of what I had already been saying. In the end, I'm not sure if it was my interest in design, business or strategy that got me to the answer, but after a great deal of contemplation I eventually came up with my solution! In my opinion, the best way to describe these devices is by explaining the philosophy with which they were designed and built! Let me explain:
The Pebble
As I mentioned earlier, I own a Pebble. I acquired my original Pebble just after it's record setting Kickstarter campaign and had it for about a year and a half before receiving my new Pebble Time Steel. I mention this to give full disclosure that I have a lot of experience using a Pebble, and I love it.
So, how can this device be explained with philosophy? For me, the answer came from the CEO, Eric Migicovosky (whom I had the pleasure of meeting one time, might I add). Eric describes the Pebble as a device that adapts to you, the user, and your everyday life. Over at Pebble, they believe a watch should be there when you need it, and not get in the way when you don't. What does that mean for the consumer? It means that the Pebble team has made a series of design choices that they believe best emulated that philosophy, let me give some examples.
The battery of the Pebble is one of the most drastic differentiators between it and other Smartwatches (and is thusly discussed a lot on tech blogs and the like). While many Smartwatches average about a day on battery, the Pebble claims up to seven on the Time and up to 10 on the Time Steel. On my original Pebble, I usually got about five days or so depending on how popular I was that week (i.e., how many messages I received) and if I did any fitness tracking. Clearly then, the difference between a day (18 hours if we're talking the Apple Watch) and a week is a drastic one, but what does this have to do with the philosophy of the watch? As I mentioned, the Pebble is a device built to fit into your life and is therefore something that you shouldn't need to concern yourself with on a regular basis. Therefore, by giving the Pebble a battery lasting up to a week, people don't have to worry about charging it as often, or bringing an extra charging cable with them if they are away for a day or two. To Pebble, the battery had to last this long so that you can enjoy the watch as much as possible, while at the same time noticing it as little as possible.
This philosophy of Pebble carries onto other areas of the watch as well. The screen, for example, is an e-ink display. This means the display can remain always on while using very little battery and is easily readable in sunlight. Likewise the Pebble’s software, the "timeline," is a way of organizing information around what is most relevant to you, time. By structuring information this way Pebble is trying to give you useful information on your wrist, without you having to fiddle with the actual device that's giving you that information. The list of design choices goes on (the lack of touchscreen for example) however in the end what you have is a Smartwatch that, while perhaps is lacking that high-tech curb appeal, is a watch built to adapt to you and not you to it.
My advice to people considering a Pebble would be, if you want a Smartwatch that that can do basic Smartwatch things such as notifications, alarms, music control, tell the time and run apps, and do those things really well, go for a Pebble.
The Case for the Apple Watch
Second disclaimer, I've never owned an Apple Watch (although if someone were to send one my way I wouldn't be opposed to giving it a try) but I have tried one on in stores and I do love it. Admittedly the design took some getting used to, but I do believe the Apple Watch is an engineering and design marvel and should be taken into serious consideration if you're an iPhone owner on the market for a Smartwatch. Is it better than the Pebble though? That will depend on if you subscribe to Pebbles design philosophy, or Apple's.
Design is an ever important philosophy of Apple's and is ingrained in everything they do. Apple believes that everything they produce should be beautiful, and the Apple Watch is no different. Certainly, this is a very subjective area and you may think the Apple Watch looks terrible, but I do believe it looks stunning and is something that will certainly catch the eye of a passer-by. Regardless of anybody's opinions on it though, the design was a very important ideological move for Apple when they created this product. So if you tend to enjoy well-designed things (as I often do) then you may be interested in the Apple Watch.
In their keynote, Apple also mentioned how they think the Apple Watch is best utilized for short, quick interactions throughout your day. Such interactions could include sending a quick message, getting walking directions or paying for your coffee. While these are noble intentions, part of me worries the Apple subscribes to this philosophy a little too well.
Apple built the Apple Watch to perform a great deal of quick interactions giving it a great deal of functionality. This difference in functionality is perhaps the largest difference between the Pebble and the Apple Watch. The Pebble, in a way, subscribes to the same ideas, it can allow you to check a message quickly or call an Uber, but not much else. The Apple Watch can do all of these things and more! This sounds fantastic, on paper, but is I think a major flaw of the Apple Watch. Due to the fact that the Apple Watch is capable of performing many phone-oriented tasks such as checking your Instagram feed or playing games, people are trying to do those phone-oriented tasks on their watches and are finding themselves saying "why do I need this watch, my phone can do all of this, sometimes a lot better." This leads a lot of people to feel disappointed in their Apple Watch because it seems like they've purchased a very expensive gadget that just does phone things on a smaller screen. This leads to product dissatisfaction and a seemingly bad purchase. The Pebble never has this problem because it is simply not capable of those things, and is therefore only judged on its basic functionality, which it does very well.
Now certainly I could all be completely wrong and all of this could not matter. The Apple Watch is, after all, a resounding success for Apple and is in a marketplace that continues to grow, so perhaps I'm just bias. What I will say to any person considering buying an Apple Watch though, is just know what you want out of a SmartWatch. If you love high-tech products and you want a watch that can do some very fancy and very cool things in a beautifully designed package (as I sometimes do admittedly) then the Apple Watch may be your better bet. If you don't really care for the fancy features of the Apple Watch and want something easy and low maintenance, than the Pebble is your better option.
