Sam Oliver
A disassembly of the new Pebble smart watch has found that the waterproof wrist accessory is nearly impossible to repair internally, but its infrequently charged battery should last for up to a decade.
iFixit was unable to take apart the Pebble without breaking its e-ink display, declaring that such a task would be "impossible." That's because the Pebble has "tons of adhesive" that helps to make it waterproof for tasks like washing dishes and swimming in shallow water.
But while internal repairs of the Pebble are "infeasible," replacing the device's watch band should be easy, as the smart watch uses a standard size.
In addition, the Pebble can go up to 7 days without being recharged, and those infrequent charges will increase the battery life of the device. Though the battery is inaccessible for repairs, iFixit said its Fullriver-branded battery, which is rated at 3.7 Volts and 130 mAh, should last for 6 to 10 years.
The solutions provider also got in touch with Pebble's design team to voice their concerns about end-of-life recycling of the accessory. The company informed them that they have a plan in the works for recycling a broken Pebble.
Components found inside the wrist watch in the teardown are:
- E-paper display with three LED backlights
- Micron N25Q032A11ESE40F with 32 megabytes of serial flash
- STMicroelectronics STM32F205RE high-performance ARM Cortex-M3 MCU, with a maximum speed of 120 megahertz
- STMicroelectronics LIS3DH 3-axis accelerometer
- Panasonic pan1316 RF module
- Texas Instruments CC2560A Bluetooth Controller, which does not support Bluetooth Low Energy
- Fullriver battery rated at 3.7 volts and 130 mAh
The Pebble gained considerable attention last year when it was introduced on Kickstarter, a crowd funding site for new products. Support for the accessory reached $10 million, and units began shipping to those who preordered earlier this year.
Smart watches have become a trend as of late, with other options like the MetaWatch and I'm Watch also currently available. There have also been recent rumors that Apple is working on its own so-called "iWatch," which could debut as soon as this year.
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
William Gallagher
Amber Neely
13 Comments
It could have an option see how long you have left before the need to trash it, one of those counting backward things ... 9 years 11 months and three weeks ....and counting
I canceled my order once the iwatch rumors picked up, and i'm glad i did, since this doesnt have bluetooth low engergy i was worried about the full power bluetooth on my arm all day
I canceled my order once the iwatch rumors picked up, and i'm glad i did, since this doesnt have bluetooth low engergy i was worried about the full power bluetooth on my arm all day
If the full 100mW power of bluetooth worries you, you shouldn't carry a 1 watts radio within your cells phones on you.
If the full 100mW power of bluetooth worries you, you shouldn't carry a 1 watts radio within your cells phones on you.
Besides, if it were 100mW all day, the battery would need the same capacity as a good D size manganese alkaline (Duracell) just for the BT
I'm actually kinda surprised by all this watch stuff lately. I used to wear a Casio databank back in my middle/high school days, but I got sick of wearing it (and being mocked for it), and I've not worn a watch in decades. I can't even imagine wearing one any more. Apparently gadget watches are more interesting these days? Are they cool now? That still won't get me to wear one again.