Pebble's (Bad) Time(ing)?

The folks who brought us the Pebble Watch are at it again, today announcing the new Pebble Time, a
"Color e-paper smart watch with up to 7 days of battery and a new timeline interface that highlights what's important in your day," on Kickstarter. Features include:

• We're announcing a new watch called Pebble Time with a new timeline interface.
• Pebble Time features a new (64) color e-paper display and microphone for responding to notifications.
• No compromises on what you love about Pebble: up to 7 days of battery life, water resistance and customizability.
• Pebble Time is fully compatible with all 6,500+ existing Pebble apps and watchfaces.
• Three colors available exclusively on Kickstarter. Pebble Time starts shipping in May.
• Extra special engraving for our original Kickstarter backers who support us again ♥♥♥

The first thing we notice is, of course, the color screen. Nice touch, but it is not a touch screen. The Time is still button-driven. It does have a microphone built in to allow some level of voice control or response (although for iOS, this is so far limited to Gmail notifications, but no doubt this will improve. The presence of the tiny hole for the microphone renders the Time water resistant, but not water proof like its elder siblings.

The OS is redone with WebOS underpinnings. It's nice that the now defunct revamped Palm platform has landed somewhere useful.

It's a little cartoonish, but it should be useful, customizable, and still run all the old Pebble apps (and I suppose watch faces too.)

As with all Pebble software, we’ve built an open platform. You can allow apps and developers to add ‘pins’ to your timeline, so you can keep track of things like upcoming events, sports, weather, traffic, travel plans, pizza specials and more.

The Pebble operating system has been re-imagined with a new visual style. While all existing Pebble apps will still work great, we’re inviting developers to upgrade their apps to support color. More details coming soon!

Had you been on the stick, you could have had one of the first 10,000 watches for $159, but they went fast. Pebble has raised $4 Million within hours (minutes?) of the Time's debut. You can still get in at $179 if you act fast. The retail price will be $199.

So why haven't I jumped on this? Two words...Apple Watch. In some ways, this is an apples and oranges (pun intended) comparison. The cheapest Apple Watch will be the aluminum sports version, at about $350, or so the pundits say. The stainless steel model will be $500, and the Gold Elite Apple Fan Boy edition will be $5,000.  But the AW is a whole 'nother animal. Its build quality is likely to be a step beyond the Pebble's, the functionality will be far greater, at least for iPhone owners, the screen will be better and touchable, there will be heart rate sensors (maybe not active initially), and so on. On the other hand, the Pebble Time will be cheaper and supposedly will go 7 days between charges. The Apple Watch apparently will barely make it through the day with moderate use.

I love my original Pebble, which works very well within its parameters. The Time will most likely do so as well. I have high hopes for the Apple Watch, which should be in my hands sometime in April, just before the Time ships. Time will tell, eh?