Anyone return Gear 2 Neo for Pebble?
- Thread starter U4icLab
- Start date
No...seriously. I'm totally bummed about the lack of apps. Take starbucks for example. The Pebble at least HAS an app for payment. Then there's strava, runkeeper, google my tracks. I'm having buyers remorse and I'd like to hear other's input. No need to condemn my post...
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Posted via Android Central App
jordo487
Well-known member
- Jun 7, 2011
- 220
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The Pebble apps rock. They're simple and.....exist
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NOPE, love my Gear 2. It will come around. It's a new product.
I have a Pebble, and it -currently- can do more useful stuff for me than my Neo. BUT, I would not go from Gear 2/Neo to Pebble at this time. Voice command is such a big thing on a smartwatch, that after testing a Neo's voice features (and I'm not even talking about speakerphone), I've made the realization that any new wearable I get will need the mic/speaker combo for interacting with the watch. I sincerely believe Pebble's offerings will be irrelevant if they don't add that in their next hardware iteration.
1812dave
Well-known member
- Sep 9, 2010
- 3,133
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just curious, given how it was worded. peace!
I can't blame the fustration. If Samsung just stuck with Android we would atleast have the apps from the first gear to work with
I had a Pebble just for fun. Even though I had A Galaxy Gear I got it on sale at Christmas time. Ended up putting back in the box after a day and giving it to my nephew.
Problems:
1. The display has so few pixels and is so rudimentary it can't even draw letters and numbers with smooth edges. The fonts remind me of a 1980s video game.
2. No touch screen. You have to work three buttons to make much of anything happen. People have complained it takes a two swipes and a tap to access something on the Gear 2. On a Pebble: Try Center button to access general menu, down button 7 or 8 times to sub-menu, center button to select that, down button 2 times and then center button to select the setting you want. Seriously.
3. No color screen.
4. No camera/video.
5. No voice control. No ability to search the Net. No ability to respond to a text except for templates. (No S-Voice)
6. No stand alone music player (at that time no music at all, I don't know about now.
7. No ability to make our receive calls.
8. And in December, because it was a new device, and already swapping to 2.0 software, hardly any apps.
So...in my opinion, the Pebble was inferior to the basic Galaxy Gear in December. The idea that the Pebble is somehow better than the Gear 2, or even slightly comparable, is simply preposterous. Put down the crack pipe fellas.
Frustration goes hand in hand with being an early adopter. I guess some of you didn't get the memo. Trade your Gear 2 for a Pebble Steel if you wish. Save your $50. Then join the Pebble forum and leave us be.
Much love. :-*
Problems:
1. The display has so few pixels and is so rudimentary it can't even draw letters and numbers with smooth edges. The fonts remind me of a 1980s video game.
2. No touch screen. You have to work three buttons to make much of anything happen. People have complained it takes a two swipes and a tap to access something on the Gear 2. On a Pebble: Try Center button to access general menu, down button 7 or 8 times to sub-menu, center button to select that, down button 2 times and then center button to select the setting you want. Seriously.
3. No color screen.
4. No camera/video.
5. No voice control. No ability to search the Net. No ability to respond to a text except for templates. (No S-Voice)
6. No stand alone music player (at that time no music at all, I don't know about now.
7. No ability to make our receive calls.
8. And in December, because it was a new device, and already swapping to 2.0 software, hardly any apps.
So...in my opinion, the Pebble was inferior to the basic Galaxy Gear in December. The idea that the Pebble is somehow better than the Gear 2, or even slightly comparable, is simply preposterous. Put down the crack pipe fellas.
Frustration goes hand in hand with being an early adopter. I guess some of you didn't get the memo. Trade your Gear 2 for a Pebble Steel if you wish. Save your $50. Then join the Pebble forum and leave us be.
Much love. :-*
Last edited:
I did the opposite. Returned a pebble for a G2 Neo. for 150$ the build quality was so shoddy it was laughable, the gear 2 neo is 500% higher quality. I do miss some of the features of the pebble, like some of the weather watchfaces, ability to send ALL notifications, etc. But thats about it, without any voice interaction and with such crappy build quality and outrageous price its a no-brainer. The gear 2 does everything i need, its just not very intuitive, yet. I'm hoping things will improve with time, but even if they dont its still a better investment than the pebble.
1812dave
Well-known member
- Sep 9, 2010
- 3,133
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but, but, but, battery life would have taken a BIG hit if they stuck with Android, according to the reports on battery life on Tizen vs Android. The watch is already on the large size--I wouldn't want it even bigger to accommodate a ginormous battery to get decent life.
Samsung is really screwing up in what is going to be a HUGE market. You hear that sound Samsung? That was the sound of another angry user returning his gear 2.
I purchased gear 2 and returning a pebble steel mostly because the bluetooth kept loosing it's conection to my note 3 and pebble support just wasn't there for me. Gear 2 has a dynamic screen and the notifications are great. Only disappointment is lack of applications but I believe that will come.
Posted via Android Central App
Posted via Android Central App
I had a Pebble just for fun. Even though I had A Galaxy Gear I got it on sale at Christmas time. Ended up putting back in the box after a day and giving it to my nephew.
Problems:
1. The display has so few pixels and is so rudimentary it can't even draw letters and numbers with smooth edges. The fonts remind me of a 1980s video game.
2. No touch screen. You have to work three buttons to make much of anything happen. People have complained it takes a two swipes and a tap to access something on the Gear 2. On a Pebble: Try Center button to access general menu, down button 7 or 8 times to sub-menu, center button to select that, down button 2 times and then center button to select the setting you want. Seriously.
3. No color screen.
4. No camera/video.
5. No voice control. No ability to search the Net. No ability to respond to a text except for templates. (No S-Voice)
6. No stand alone music player (at that time no music at all, I don't know about now.
7. No ability to make our receive calls.
8. And in December, because it was a new device, and already swapping to 2.0 software, hardly any apps.
So...in my opinion, the Pebble was inferior to the basic Galaxy Gear in December. The idea that the Pebble is somehow better than the Gear 2, or even slightly comparable, is simply preposterous. Put down the crack pipe fellas.
Frustration goes hand in hand with being an early adopter. I guess some of you didn't get the memo. Trade your Gear 2 for a Pebble Steel if you wish. Save your $50. Then join the Pebble forum and leave us be.
Much love. :-*
I guess that depends on your priorities. The Gear 2/Neo is shiny and is nice for showing off, but usability wise it is not close. It's like comparing iOS to Android - one is pretty but simple, the other not as pretty but much more powerful.
Your complaints about Pebble display are valid - to me it's a trade off for the battery life. I'd rather have an always on lower-res (but legible) monochrome display rather than a colorful touchscreen that has to stay off to give usable runtime. If I have to touch a button or the screen or raise my arm just like so to get info, that is no longer convenient. It is striving for an aesthetic ideal while sacrificing the prime utility of the device.
You complain about the buttons on the Pebble, but really the buttons aren't a problem as much as the nested interface is cumbersome. The saving grace is that hitting the buttons to navigate is very fast and responsive so there's no swipe and wait - or tap on the wrong thing like I do w/ my Neo. Also, buttons are easy to push without having to look at the watch, so when I use it as a remote for my home theater playback and have to pause so I can take a ****, or working out and want to change the track on my phone, it's so easy without having to look down and focus on a small watch and make sure I swipe and hit the right target.
I bought a Neo because to me, the camera on the Gear 2 is just a gimmick. Unless you're a creeper, then it's probably used all the time.
Music player? Also a gimmick to me - I'll just stream from my phone, thanks. Also back to the hard buttons on the Pebble are easier to use when working out than stopping and trying to focus on tapping the right place on the small touchscreen with sweat in my eyes.
It took awhile for them to get where they are, but app-wise it's sooo deep now. I've literally fallen asleep at my keyboard browsing through all the apps and watchfaces at night looking through the catalog. I can have my Evernote to do and shopping lists, control my XBMC, monitor my downloads, pay for starbucks, control my home automation (ac/heater/lights), fire off tasker events, etc. They've gotten so much dev support that are churning out new apps and that's REAL usability to me - not whether I can take selfies with my watch.
If I can't get these functions that I can do w/ my Pebble, I'm not keeping the Neo.
Finally, the reason I actually have been convinced of moving on from the Pebble is the mic/speaker being able to fire off voice commands is missing on that platform. The speakerphone is nice on my Neo, but I think when you have the limited screen and controls of a smartwatch, voice control just takes it up another level in convenience and comfort. This has been proven to me with demoing the Neo these last few days - I will not invest in a smartwatch without this feature going forward. Now I must weigh whether I can find workarounds for my issues w/ the Neo and become confident that app development won't stagnate or return the Neo and wait for Android Wear in a few months.
As much as I think the S-Voice is handy on the Neo, I still have to use my other hand to invoke it - which is not always convenient. But if you take that always listening, touchless control of voice assistants like S-Voice/Google Now where you can just speak your command without fiddling with the watch first - that will be a game changer for smartwatches.
The Pebble apps rock. They're simple and.....exist
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Lol. NO. The Pebble is garbage. They added steel to polish an already ugly turd. No thanks.
Well said. Thanks for your take! I'm in the same boat : /
Posted via Android Central App
When I got the pebble at release it didn't have any of those apps. It took several months for those apps to become available. If you have buyers remorse because there are no apps for a watch thats only been out a week you should return it and use your pebble for a few months then try again.
By the way, I LOVE the pebble! It is a very nice watch not to mention that it was cutting edge when it was released. For some people it is exactly what they need! I proressed to the 1st Gear and now to the 2nd and for me personally that is the way to go.
I wouldn't go as far to say that it was "cutting edge". It did some great things but even then it was a bit crippled from the start and took a while to get off the ground. And not that it matters but they botched the launch. I was one of the original Kickstarter backers that got boned as I still waited for my fulfillment while they provided Best Buy with stock to sell in stores. Angered a lot of us. I don't see Pebble surviving much longer into this year as Apple is expected to debut their watch and Motorola and LG coming out with their own flagship watch as well.
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