For the first time in its history, smartwatch maker Pebble will sell a round-faced version of its watch.
“We wanted to make something small and classic looking,” Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky told Coins2Day. Born from that mindset was the company’s first smartwatch to buck the popular rectangular design. True to its namesake, Pebble Time Round is, well, round and measures 38.5-millimeters.
In another first, the company will also start selling a women-specific version of the watch, which features a 14-millimeter band, in addition to the standard 20-millimeter version. In an attempt to woo female smartwatch users, the women’s version will come in rose gold, alongside the more traditional black and silver models for the larger band.
Pebble isn’t the first tech company to start selling devices in rose gold (a.k.a. Pink): Apple also recently announced it would launch a new Apple Watch model in the same shade, alongside its iPhone 6s and 6s Plus smartphones.
Over the years, one of Pebble’s biggest selling points was its battery life that could last for days. With Time Round, however, Pebble has opted to forgo battery life for the sake of design. At 7.5 millimeters thick, the battery is significantly smaller, leading to an expected battery life of just two days. For comparison, the Time Steel offers a 10-day battery life, and the standard Time model offers seven days of use on a single charge.
Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky says the company opted to keep the smartwatch more affordable at $250 (plus another $50 for the band), which leaves Apple (AAPL) and Android Wear manufacturers to fight over marketshare on the high-end (the Apple Watch starts at $350, the new Moto 360 at $299).
Meanwhile, a new software update to the original Pebble smartwatch is nearly ready for release, said Migicovsky. The update will add the company’s timeline characteristics, adding feature parity between the original Pebble and its latest crop of devices.
Pebble is also close to releasing an update to its application program interface (API), which developers can use to create new apps. The new feature will also give developers the ability to access the smartwatches’ microphone. With access to the microphone a developer could release an application that enables voice-activated Google searches, or that allows users to record voice memos.
Pebble’s latest device comes at a time of increased competition in the smartwatch market, which is currently dominated by Apple Watch and Google’s Android Wear. According to the latest IDC report, Apple is expected to end 2015 with a healthy 58.3% marketshare, while Android Wear will see an impressive 17.4%, with Pebble expected to end the year with 8.7%.
It’s unfortunate Pebble has dropped battery life in favor of a slimmer design. As found in Coins2Day’s previous review of Pebble Time, not having to recharge a smartwatch on a daily basis was the device’s most appealing feature.
Pre-orders for the $249 Pebble Time Round begin today on Target, Best Buy, and Pebble.com. The device will begin shipping November 8.
Sign up for Data Sheet, Coins2Day’s daily newsletter about the business of technology.
For more about the growing smartwatch market, check out the following Coins2Day video:
