Pebble Smart Watch Hits Retail Stores in US

The Pebble E-Paper Watch campaign, run in April last year, is the most highly funded in Kickstarter history. Having set their initial goal at $100,000, the creators raised a whopping $10,266,845. The second most successful, if you're curious to know, is that of 'OUYA: A new kind of video game console'.

Selling itself as 'the first watch built for the 21st century', the Pebble is compatible with both iPhone and Android. It's also fully customisable. The wearer can choose from an array of watch faces, making changes as often as desirable. The designers write that they 'strove to create a minimalist yet fashionable product that seamlessly blends into everyday life'.

The selection of apps is growing all the time, from biking and running monitors to golf rangefinders to music software. Bluetooth enables connection with a nearby smartphone, which means that the Pebble can access GPS, and communicate notifications from social networks and email accounts. The phone weighs in at 32 grams and its black and white screen offers a resolution of 144 x 168 pixels.

Drawbacks include the tendency to reduce a smartphone's battery life, by up to 10%. Plus, owners of a Blackberry, Windows 7 or Palm phone don't have any chance of compatibility yet.

Following delays, the first Pebbles were shipped to Kickstarter supporters in January this year. On July 7, they (the watches, not the supporters) became available on shelves in America's consumer electronics store, Best Buy.

[via mashable]