What if you like the idea of having a smartwatch, but just want something simple at a lower price point? Well, that's a niche Pebble has filled for the last couple years, and it's trying to keep that role with the new Pebble Time. Starting today, you can pre-order the smartwatch.
Best Buy is now taking pre-orders for Pebble Time in white, black and red options, ringing up for US$200 each. The more expensive steel version, which hit Kickstarter a week after the plastic version, isn't yet available for order.
Pebble only says that pre-ordering will get you Time "as soon as possible," while Best Buy shows an estimated delivery date of July 20 (though we'd take that with a few grains of salt, as Best Buy's pre-order dates have been off in the past).
This is essentially the second round of pre-orders for Pebble Time. You could view its Kickstarter campaign, which raised over $20 million, as a way for the established company to generate extra publicity and lock-in orders in the wake of the Apple Watch's launch.
The plastic variant that's now up for pre-order cost Kickstarter backers between $159 and $179 – a $21-41 discount over this retail pre-order price.
Pebble Time is clearly a step forward from the original Pebble, but it's facing much stiffer competition from the Apple Watch and a growing wave of Android Wear watches. We're in the process of reviewing Pebble Time right now, and will publish our full impressions before long.
In the meantime, you can read Gizmag's early impressions of Pebble Time.
Source: Pebble