Pebble is getting ready to announce something big next week. Exactly what the indie smartwatch maker is about to unveil we don't really know, though.
Pebble is counting down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until 10 a.m. Tuesday Eastern Time, during which Pebble will announce whatever it has been cooking up. On its website, the company features a countdown timer with the words: "Curious? I bet you are. We'll keep you posted." Anybody who wants to find out what Pebble has in store next week can enter their email address so the company can email them when the clock runs out.
The countdown was first discovered by 9to5Mac, which said it had multiple sources who claim Pebble is working on new hardware and software that will debut next week. According to the blog's sources, Pebble's new smartwatch will have a slightly wider screen featuring a color e-ink display encased in a thinner design. For the first time, Pebble will also have its own microphone and Nuance voice recognition system, indicating that Pebble will finally be able to receive voice commands.
Battery life on the new Pebble will still remain the same as the older Pebble and Pebble Steel smartwatches, which last approximately seven days on a single charge, the best battery life found in any smartwatch available. 9to5Mac said the smartwatch will also have a brighter backlight, although it will still have a non-touchscreen display.
The new device will also reportedly run on a "dramatically different" version of the Pebble operating system developed by the company's team of software developers poached from the LG team that worked on webOS. Although third-party apps will still continue to be a feature of the new OS, 9to5Mac says Pebble's new software will focus on alerts and notifications. One of the new features users can expect will be a list of recent notifications and a bunch of new animations.
In an interview with The Verge early this month, Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky said Pebble is shifting away from Apple and Google's app model to something different.
"We've found a new framework to use as an interaction model on the watch," Migicovsky said. "It doesn't look like what we have today, and it doesn't look like what's on your smartphone."
The new Pebble will reportedly run on a faster Cortex M4 processor and will have a six-axis gyroscope. It will be sold on Pebble's Kickstarter page instead of the regular website where the existing models are sold.
Of course, all this is based on speculation and it is possible that Pebble will be unveiling an entirely new thing altogether. We will know when the clock strikes zero on Tuesday.
