Leaked image shows first colour Pebble smartwatch
Pebble's next-generation smartwatch will have a colour e-paper display
Pebble will today launch its first colour screen smartwatch, having (inadvertently or otherwise) leaked an image of the device on its website. For the past few days, Pebble has been running a countdown on its website, in anticipation of the launch of a new product. That countdown ends at 3pm GMT today, but the company has seemingly already let the cat out of the bag.
9to5Google uncovered an image showing a Pebble smartwatch with a colour screen that was poorly hidden on the company’s website, suggesting rumours of a device with a colour “e-paper” screen are true. The image shows a device with a portrait colour screen and a rather chunky black bezel, although the watch will reportedly be thinner than the current generation of Pebble smartwatches.
The big fear of moving to colour displays will be the impact on battery life, although the decision to go for an e-paper technology rather than LCD should conserve energy. Our recent review of the Pebble Steel smartwatch revealed that you could get three to five days of battery life out of the device, and 9to5Google says the battery life of the new colour device compares to the first generation Pebble. That should mean it won’t need a charge every night, unlike most of the smartwatches on the market, some of which struggle to even make it through the day.
The new Pebble won’t be a touchscreen device, but controlled like its predecessors via the buttons on the side. The smartwatch’s WebOS-based operating system has been completely redesigned, according to 9to5Google, but it will still support third-party apps.
Full details will, of course, be revealed later today. Although we’re pretty sure that the new image Pebble has put on its website in place of the leaked colour watch is just an early prototype…
