• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 

2

Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics

3

Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'

1

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 

2

Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics

3

Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'
TechPebble

Pebble Time Round Offers Form Over Function

By
Jason Cipriani
Jason Cipriani
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Jason Cipriani
Jason Cipriani
Down Arrow Button Icon
November 5, 2015, 1:00 PM ET
Courtesy Pebble

A few short months after successfully ending its second Kickstarter campaign, smartwatch company Pebble announced another addition to its Pebble Time lineup, the Pebble Time Round.

The small, circular watch is the first of its shape from the company. Just like its Time siblings, the Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel, the Time Round features a color e-paper display and runs the company’s latest OS, complete with a timeline feature for keeping tabs on upcoming appointments, weather, and sports scores.

Pebble Time Round was available for pre-order in late September starting at $250. Pre-orders will begin shipping November 8, coinciding with retail availability at Best Buy (BBY) and Target (TGT). It’s available in silver, black, and rose gold.

For the past week, I’ve been wearing a black Pebble Time Round with the 20mm leather band. I’ve tested it on both Android and iOS during my brief stint with the watch. Pebble is also selling a smaller version of the Pebble Time Round, featuring a 14mm watch band that’s designed for women.

With a housing that measures 38.5mm across, and 7.5mm thin, the first thing you notice about the watch is just how small it is. For comparison, the original Moto 360 measures 46mm across at 11.5mm thick. Apple’s (AAPL) smartwatch comes in two sizes, 42mm and 38mm.

The downside to reducing the overall size of a smartwatch—something that’s already inherently small—is you have to make concessions. One such concession of the Time Round is battery life, with Pebble estimating (and my tests confirming) roughly two days of battery life on a single charge.

Pebble has long touted the battery life of its products as a differentiating factor when compared to its competitors. The Apple Watch has enough juice to get through a day, with most Android Wear smartwatches following suit. Pebble’s Time and Time Steel offerings provide battery life in the range of five to seven and seven to 10 days, respectively.

In an attempt to make up for the smaller model requiring more frequent charging, Pebble claims you can gain a day’s worth of use from just 15 minutes of charge time. I wasn’t able to effectively test the company’s claim, but did see a 30% jump in battery percentage in the allotted charge time.

Another downside to the smaller footprint of the Time Round is its screen size. The watch housing isn’t entirely filled with a display, as other round smartwatches are. Instead, the Time Round features a bezel around the display, making the screen roughly 25.4mm, or one inch. (The standard Pebble Time’s screen measures 1.25 in., or 32mm on the diagonal.)

The bezel adds a decorative flair to the watch, and little else. When I asked Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky back in September why the screen didn’t take up the entire watchface, he chalked it up to a design decision.

I wish the company hadn’t made that design decision, opting instead to fill the entire housing with a screen. The overall experience would have benefited from a larger display. A larger screen is capable of displaying more lines of text and valuable information at a glance, instead of the cramped feeling invoked by the small screen on the Time Round.

Outside of shorter battery life and a smaller screen, the Pebble Time Round provides the same smartwatch experience Pebble is known for: A watch that connects to your phone, putting important notifications on your wrist. On Android, those alerts are actionable, meaning you can do things such as reply to text messages using your voice. On iOS, you’re limited to viewing incoming notifications and little more.

Pebble’s app catalog continues to grow. Most recently value was added with a section for voice-enabled apps. Still, the app offering is somewhat limited right now, with most apps adding some sort of note-taking functionality.

Furthermore, not all apps are going to work with the new screen shape on day one. ESPN, for example, is in the process of updating its app (I used a beta version during my review), with Pebble telling me an update should be available by the end of the month.

After my time with the Pebble Time Round, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone looking for a smartwatch. Pebble offers a better experience, for less money mind you, with it’s $199 Pebble Time.

Unfortunately, Pebble picked form over function when designing the Pebble Time Round.

Check out the following Fortune video for an entertaining debate on the future of smartwatches:

Subscribe to Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the business of technology.

About the Author
By Jason Cipriani
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

Samuel Corum/Getty Images
Big TechSpaceX
Elon Musk’s proposed pay package in SpaceX’s IPO filing reveals what the company actually is: a $1 trillion monster built to colonize Mars
By Eva RoytburgMay 20, 2026
2 hours ago
elon
SuccessIPOs
SpaceX IPO targets $28.5 trillion total addressable market, mission to ‘make life multiplanetary’ and understand ‘true nature of the universe’
By Nick LichtenbergMay 20, 2026
4 hours ago
Jensen Huang, chief executive officer of Nvidia
AINvidia
Nvidia tells skeptical investors that AI is ready to go mainstream
By Ian King and BloombergMay 20, 2026
5 hours ago
SpaceX finally files IPO prospectus, reveals revenue is up–but losses are too
Big TechSpaceX
SpaceX finally files IPO prospectus, reveals revenue is up–but losses are too
By Allie Garfinkle and Alexei OreskovicMay 20, 2026
5 hours ago
Elon Musk sits with his fists together, looking up.
Commentaryspace
SpaceX will be worth trillions, but the space station that made it possible is worth even more — if we don’t squander it
By Tejpaul BhatiaMay 20, 2026
5 hours ago
Antler CEO Magnus Grimeland says Silicon Valley doesn’t have a monopoly on tech: ‘People can innovate from almost anywhere’
AsiaAsia Agenda
Antler CEO Magnus Grimeland says Silicon Valley doesn’t have a monopoly on tech: ‘People can innovate from almost anywhere’
By Angelica AngMay 20, 2026
5 hours ago

Most Popular

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
Workplace Culture
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
By Preston ForeMay 19, 2026
1 day ago
Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics
Future of Work
Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics
By Mike Householder and The Associated PressMay 17, 2026
3 days ago
Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'
Success
Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'
By Preston ForeMay 20, 2026
11 hours ago
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
Politics
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
By Jake AngeloMay 12, 2026
8 days ago
Spirit Airlines apologizes to all the Americans who can't afford any summer vacation flights as it shuts down
Travel & Leisure
Spirit Airlines apologizes to all the Americans who can't afford any summer vacation flights as it shuts down
By Rio Yamat and The Associated PressMay 18, 2026
3 days ago
Dr. Bernice King on why companies that walked back DEI were never truly committed: 'If you retreat that quick…that reveals who you really are'
Workplace Culture
Dr. Bernice King on why companies that walked back DEI were never truly committed: 'If you retreat that quick…that reveals who you really are'
By Preston ForeMay 19, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.