A few days ago the founder of PebbleEric Migicovsky, officially announced the "Pebble Round 2", a device that marks the rebirth of the circular format within the company and completes the trio of releases alongside the Pebble 2 Duo and the Pebble Time 2.
This new smartwatch is not just a hardware upgrade, but the culmination of an open-source philosophy, running on PebbleOS, the operating system whose source code was released by Google in January 2025 after the acquisition of Fitbit.
El Pebble Round 2 was born with the mission of correcting the technical compromises that limited its 2015 predecessor.The Pebble Time Round. That model, although beloved for its ultra-thin design, suffered from short battery life and excessively large screen bezels. The new version maintains the characteristic thinness of 8,1 millimeters, lThis makes it one of the thinnest smartwatches on the market, but it eliminates wide bezels to integrate a 1,3-inch circular color e-paper touchscreen. This panel offers a resolution of 260x260 pixels, doubling the density of its predecessor and ensuring perfect visibility in direct sunlight thanks to its reflective nature.
One of the The most significant advances of this generation lie in energy efficiency.Leveraging the latest advancements in Bluetooth chip technology, the engineering team has managed to extend battery life to up to two weeks on a single charge. This represents a monumental leap compared to the limited autonomy of the original model and reinforces one of the brand's fundamental pillars: offering an always-on device that eliminates the anxiety of daily charging. The watch is housed in a stainless steel case that is water-resistant up to 30 meters. equipped with four physical buttons that allow you to operate the interface without needing to look at or touch the screen, an essential feature for controlling music or managing notifications on the go.
Under the chassis, The Pebble Round 2 incorporates a set of sensors and actuators designed for everyday utility and monitoring of health. It includes a accelerometer and a magnetometer for step counting and sleep monitoring, although the brand emphasizes that it's not a high-performance sports watch, but rather a smart companion for everyday life. The haptic experience has been refined using a linear resonant actuator (LRA), which replaces traditional vibration motors to deliver more powerful and quieter alerts. Furthermore, The device has a speaker and two microphones.One of them is dedicated to noise cancellation, which enables voice input to interact with artificial intelligence agents and respond to messages, a feature that is already active on Android and will soon arrive on iOS in the European Union.
The software ecosystem is perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of this release.Because it is based on a completely open platform, the Pebble Round 2 is a "hackable" device. By design, inviting the community to modify, expand, and customize its functionality. Design schematics and KiCad files from previous models are already available on GitHub, Those from Round 2 will be released once their development is complete. The app store already boasts over 15.000 apps and watch faces, inherited and adapted from the vibrant community that has kept Pebble's legacy alive. The companion mobile app, required for synchronization with iOS and Android phones, is distributed under the GPL 3.0 license, ensuring transparency and long-term support.
Commercially, The device is offered in three different finishes to suit different styles.: matte black, brushed silver and polished rose gold. Strap options range from 14mm to 20mm depending on the model. Using a quick-release system compatible with any standard strap on the market, the pre-order price has been set at $199, with an estimated availability date of May 2026. Currently, the project is in the Design Verification Testing (DVT) phase, and the developers are already working on updating the SDK to adapt existing applications to the higher resolution and format of the new screen.
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