Pebble launches Pebble Steel smartwatch; app store coming soon

New Delhi: Pebble, the company behind the eponymous smartwatch that ignited the market for wearable devices, announced a high-end version of its popular smartwatch called Pebble Steel. The new watch is slimmer than the original and is made of metal and glass, rather than plastic. The watch doesn't bring anything to the table in terms of specifications and capabilities, but it may appeal to those who don't like the plastic feel of the original Pebble. The stainless steel Pebble Steel feels more like a piece of jewelry. Along with a metal band, the watch features smaller side and top bezels for a slimmer profile. The Pebble Steel weighs 45 grams, two grams less than the original Pebble. The band is available in both brushed stainless steel and matte black steel, along with black leather.The face is covered in Gorilla Glass, so it is ultra scratch resistant. Inside it has the same E-ink display. The watch is supposed to get the same five to seven day battery life. The watch also features an RGB ED charging status light. Similar to the original Pebble, the Pebble Steel is also waterproof up to 5ATM.The watch has the same user interface as the current watch. You can link it to your iOS or Android device, and see notifications and control your music from the smartwatch on your wrist. Though there are smartwatches from companies such as Samsung and Sony, Pebble's has a much better battery life thanks to its use of an e-ink screen. The watch zips around noticeably quicker. For developers, the more interesting news from CES was that the recently announced Pebble appstore will open at the end of January, together with the general availability of Pebble SDK 2.0. The store will be made available as a software update to the Pebble mobile apps for Android and iOS. The App Store offers a centralized location for users to discover, manage, and install apps and watchfaces. It will comprise categories like Daily, Games, Notifications, Tools & Utilities, Fitness and Watchfaces.The smartwatch can be purchased on getpebble.com for a price of $249, with global shipments of Pebble Steel beginning January 28. At the same time Pebble also announced partnerships with Pandora, ESPN, and Mercedes-Benz in addition to existing ones with Yelp, Foursquare, GoPro, and iControl for new apps for its smartwatches.With competition in the wearable technology space heating up, Pebble has been smart to expand its appeal and establish a strong user base early on. The company claims that over 300,000 Pebbles have shipped so far, and over 3,000 developers are already committed to developing new watch faces and apps.