Pebble watch gets Bluetooth 4.0, first batch limited to 85,000 units
The Pebble smartwatch Kickstarter project is the most pledged Kicktarter project ever, with over 9 million dollars raised so far. This has lead the project creators to make some additions to the watch, starting with it being water proof, and now also announcing that the watch will have Bluetooth 4.0 capability. Bluetooth 4.0 has a low energy mode that can make button cell battery powered devices last for a year, though it’s not the power aspect of Bluetooth 4.0 that the Pebble creators want to use – in fact they say it’s unlikely that it will improve battery life even on Bluetooth 4.0 devices, and it won’t even have it enabled at launch. Instead, Bluetooth 4.0 is a all about future proofing the device for an eventual upgrade to wireless censors, along the lines of heartrate monitors and other sports related things.
Another interesting bit of news from the Pebble team is that they’re limiting the number of Pebbles shipped as Kickstarter rewards to 85,000, leaving about 10,000 more to go before all rewards will be “sold out”, causing any further pledges to essentially be donations. I was actually on the pledge screen ready to put down $130 on a watch when I once again changed my mind because of how Kickstarter pledges are not actually pre-orders. As much as aI like Kickstarter, and as much as I feature it on the site, putting down $130 with no guarantee of getting something back is not something I do lightly. I don’t doubt that they’ll fill those last 10,000 slots though, which should put them well over the $10 million mark. You wouldn’t think a Kickstarter project would ever have to stop accepting pledges, but if there was ever an amount to stop at, that seems as good as any.
[Kickstarter]
