Pebble Time vs Pebble Steel Specs Comparison: Price, Features Review - Two Very Different Smartwatches

Virginia D'Cruz Saturday, February 28, 2015

The Pebble Time, first two images from left, versus the Pebble Steel | PEBBLE

The Pebble Time is a new offering from Pebble which is very different from Pebble's first smartwatch, the Pebble Steel. One of the many differences is that Pebble Time has a color screen.

Design

The Pebble Steel looks like a sophisticated piece of jewelry and has a rectangular stainless steel watch face. The watch comes with either a black or silver finish and has a default leather strap. However, a steel strap can be bought separately even though this cannot be replaced by any standard 22mm strap. As for Pebble Time, it also has a rectangular watch face rimmed with steel and comes in three colors: black, red and white. It also features a pin which allows for easy swapping out of its strap with any standard 22mm strap. As for the two devices' dust and water resistance capabilities, the Pebble Steel has a 5 atmosphere rating and is waterproof up to 50 meters underwater. The Pebble Time has no official data on this but it is expected that it will have a similar rating as the Pebble Steel.

Display

The display on the Pebble Steel is a black and white e-paper screen measuring 1.26 inches with a resolution of 168X144 and a density of 176 pixels per inch. As for Pebble Time it has a colored e-paper display. Reports said it will have the same amount of pixels as the Pebble Steel.

Specs

The Pebble Steel comes with a 120 MHz single core processor with an onboard memory of 1 MB that can run eight apps at a time. As for Pebble Time, it will come with a Cortex M4 processor. Its operating system is able to skip apps and therefore the number of apps loaded could go up to 60.

Sensors

The Pebble Time will come with a six-axis gyroscope. Like Pebble Steel, it does not have a heart rate sensor. However, Pebble Time will come with a port that can be used to add additional sensors.

Price

The Pebble Steel is priced at $199, while Pebble Time is currently available on Kickstarter for $159. Its price is expected to rise up to $199 later in the year.