iFixit has taken the Pebble smart watch apart, and while they say it’s nearly impossible to repair internally, it is built to last, with a battery that should be good for up to 10 years!
iFixit was unable to take apart the Pebble without breaking its e-ink display, declaring that such a task would be “impossible.” That’s because the Pebble has “tons of adhesive” that helps to make it waterproof for tasks like washing dishes and swimming in shallow water.
Replacement of the watch band on the device should not be a big hassle however, as the unit uses a standard size band.
As the Pebble can go up to seven days between battery recharges, the infrequent trips to a power source for recharging should increase the battery life of the watch. iFixit reports that the battery should last for 6 to 10 years.
iFixit also queried Pebble’s design team as to an end-of-life recycling plan for the device. The company replied that they do have a plan in the works for recycling a dead Pebble.
Components that iFixit found inside the wrist watch in the teardown are:
- E-paper display with three LED backlights
- Micron N25Q032A11ESE40F with 32 megabytes of serial flash
- STMicroelectronics STM32F205RE high-performance ARM Cortex-M3 MCU, with a maximum speed of 120 megahertz
- STMicroelectronics LIS3DH 3-axis accelerometer
- Panasonic pan1316 RF module
- Texas Instruments CC2560A Bluetooth Controller, which does not support Bluetooth Low Energy
- Fullriver battery rated at 3.7 volts and 130 mAh
While iFixit initially expressed concern that Bluetooth 4.0 was not supported on the device, Pebble has responded with a post on Reddit, (via MacRumors).:
Many chip vendors make silicon consistent between product lines but simply flash different firmware to enable features. Our chips were labeled CC2560 because TI asked us if we wouldn’t mind using them with CC2564 firmware to speed up our order. Pebble most definitely has Bluetooth LE support, though it has not yet been enabled in our operating system.
The Pebble was introduced to the world via Kickstarter, the crowd sourced funding site for new products. The device gained huge amounts of attention, and the project reached $10 million in funding. Units began shipping earlier this year.
The Pebble is not the only smart watch available, as other options such as the MetaWatch, and the i’m Watch are also currently available. Apple is also rumored to be readying to enter the smart watch market with their own “iWatch.”
