The e-ink Pebble watch (reviewed here 12 years ago) was a Kickstarter success story and much-loved by users who still appreciate its stylish simplicity. But it was soon lost to the smartwatch revolution and the company behind it went under in 2016. Nearly a decade on, it is being revived and the original software open-sourced by Google, which inherited the brand through its acquisition of Fitbit, which had bought Pebble for parts.
We are releasing most of the source code for the Pebble operating system. This repository contains the entire OS, which provides all the standard smartwatch functionality – notifications, media controls, fitness tracking, and support for custom apps and watchfaces – on tiny ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers. Built with FreeRTOS, it contains multiple modules for memory management, graphics, and timekeeping, as well as an extensive framework to load and run custom applications written in C, as well as in Javascript via the Jerryscript Javascript engine. The Pebble architecture allowed for a lightweight system delivering a rich user experience as well as a very long battery life.
To be clear, they are making new Pebble watches, and original founder Eric Migicovsky is again at the helm.,
I've tried pretty much every other smartwatch on Earth, yet I still wear my Pebble every day—nothing else matches its features and long battery life. I really, really, really hoped someone else would create a proper replacement, but no one has stepped up, and my stash of old Pebbles is dwindling!
