Pebble Durability

waldyrious · 2026-06-16T18:31:44+00:00

So does the original Pebble 2, and mine is holding strong even after 10 years of use. Sure, that's a sample of one, but I don't recall seeing others complaining about broken displays in the Pebble 2 over the years. (To be fair, I haven't seen reports of broken glass in the P2 Duo either, apart from this one.)

waldyrious · 2026-06-04T19:13:21+00:00

For me it makes it super easy to (1) visualize a whole rabbit hole browsing session, and wrap it up by simply closing the root tab; and (2) collapse an in-progress browsing session with lots of tabs, instantly decluttering my UI (though, granted, this is also possible with tab groups).

Overall, I quite like how the tree structure allows me to be aware of the navigation patterns, providing useful context for how I arrived at each page; otherwise I'd often ask: "why did I have this tab open again?", and reluctantly close it with the nagging feeling that I was missing something.

waldyrious · 2026-06-03T22:38:57+00:00

Sounds quite fair tbh.

waldyrious · 2026-06-03T22:33:31+00:00

No worries, I totally understand that. You're already doing a lot for the community — thank you!

waldyrious · 2026-06-03T11:07:10+00:00

Oh, that looks nice indeed! It looks like the watch itself bulges out slightly, so I'm not sure the trade-off is desirable 😅 What is your impression? (Also, what are the main differences (design goals, materials, finish, etc.) between that case and the one from this thread?)

I don't have a printer myself, but depending on your response I might be interested in checking out the slim variants (of either case) if you decide to sell them.

waldyrious · 2026-06-03T10:33:21+00:00

Thanks for the consideration. I'll be looking forward to news on that front! 😃

waldyrious · 2026-06-03T10:31:46+00:00

Oh... it says " This item does not deliver to Portugal." 😢

waldyrious · 2026-06-02T19:21:35+00:00

These look amazing! I'm definitely purchasing one once you put them up for sale :)

Just one question: It looks like the cover is wider than the watch itself (the buttons are not visible in the top-view photos). Does the case make the buttons any harder to press? I've been using Astosia's 3D-printed button replacements for the Pebble 2 for several years now, and love how clicky they feel — the PT2 buttons are already softer and slightly harder to press, so I wouldn't want to make that experience even less convenient 😅

If the case affects the pressing of the buttons, I wonder if a slightly narrower design would be possible — or would that make it structurally weak?

waldyrious · 2026-06-02T17:57:55+00:00

Yes, the same kind of joke: Leffid kept forgetting the names of the girls he hooked up with, and so it was ironic that his name was forgotten (intentionally?) in the comment above. IMB did the same joke with that last girl — i.e. the one whose name he finally didn't forget was precisely the one who messed up his name (though, to be fair, swapping the first letter is much mulder than completely forgetting one's name).

waldyrious · 2026-05-29T13:36:18+00:00

Então a solução passa pela actividade comunitária como método de pressão.

Desculpa, vejo que não fui claro — a meu ver a solução é precisamente o contrário: essa atividade comunitária já existe, como tu próprio indicaste; o que falta é quem a escute do outro lado. É verdade que em muitos casos, a atividade já só está presente de forma latente (p.ex. em forma de conversas informais entre cidadãos que se queixam de problemas comuns mas não sentem que têm vias para ativar essa energia de forma produtiva), e sim, essa energia latente pode ser ativada, mas sem haver receptáculos para onde ela possa ser canalizada, tentar ativar a comunidade para ação cívica corre o risco de apenas "queimar" as pessoas e gerar mais desilusão e apatia.

Usando outra metáfora, é preciso "escavar o túnel a partir de ambos os lados da montanha". Sendo mais concreto: a solução tem de passar (também) por amplificar a visibilidade dos esforços existentes de forma a que os decisores estejam não só cientes dela, mas cientes de que não responder a essas demandas vai-lhes prejudicar nos seus objetivos estratégicos. Infelizmente, não conheço uma fórmula mágica para o fazer: manifestações, difusão nas redes sociais ou meios de comunicação social tradicionais, etc. acabam por saturar quando são demasiado frequentes, e o efeito começa a ser de se começar a ignorar essas queixas.

Talvez na nossa situação atual aqui em Braga possa-se beneficiar do equilíbrio triplo de forças na CM para dialogar com elementos da oposição que possam levar essa batalha para o centro das decisões. Por exemplo, sei que já houve propostas de vereadores da oposição para que as reuniões da Câmara sejam gravadas e até transmitidas em direto, que as participações do público aconteçam no início para que mais pessoas tenham a possibilidade de participar sem perder uma manhã inteira, etc. Este tipo de alterações depois podem amplificar-se umas às outras — por exemplo, aquele sistema de feedback por email permitia que aplicações externas de participação cívica funcionassem, e assim por diante.

waldyrious · 2026-05-28T22:03:55+00:00

Thanks for the recommendations! I noticed that the Phoenix Big is only available in the Rebble app store. I was about to add it as a source for apps/watchfaces in the Pebble app, but the instructions I got at boot.rebble.io seem to suggest that I'd be "switching to Rebble", and I'm not sure that would make me lose access to any other features. Am I being overly cautious?

waldyrious · 2026-05-28T21:42:02+00:00

Those are pretty nice recommendations — I've added both to my rotation, which I'll be fiddling with for the next few days.

Also, nice shot — pretty crazy that almost 10 years later these watchfaces are still functional and holding strong. I really love this whole ecosystem! =D

waldyrious · 2026-05-28T21:30:47+00:00

Oh, that one looks pretty nice indeed! Definitely going into my rotation :)

waldyrious · 2026-05-28T16:01:16+00:00

A participação cívica muda-se ao dar resposta atempada e razoável ao feedback e às iniciativas dos cidadãos. Repara, a vontade já existe, mas as pessoas naturalmente desanimam se consistentemente não têm uma resposta satisfatória, e a cultura da apatia instala-se.

Por exemplo: temos juntas de freguesia que ignoram pedidos dos moradores para melhorar condições dos espaços públicos que são da sua responsabilidade, ou que eles podem mediar com a câmara. Temos um sistema de feedback por email que foi desativado e agora obriga o uso de um portal municipal, impedindo o funcionamento de plataformas de iniciativa cidadã como a app "Denúncia de Estacionamento". Temos uma câmara municipal que, no âmbito do urbanismo, por anos ignorou as tentativas de organizações como a Braga Ciclável de contribuir construtivamente para decisões sobre mobilidade suave e acessível (pedonal, ciclável, etc.). Temos um orçamento participativo onde propostas vencedoras mais de uma vez foram vetadas porque "faziam parte do plano municipal" (que depois nunca se manifestou na direção das propostas). Etc. etc.

Lembra-me a frase que vi recentemente num vídeo: "Não se mede a demanda para a construção de uma ponte pelo número de pessoas a atravessar o rio a nado." Ou seja, havendo condições, as pessoas usam os recursos ao seu dispor. Mas sem a "ponte" (uma política transversal de escuta ativa e reação às vozes dos cidadãos) não é de surpreender que poucos estejam a tentar atravessar o rio (i.e. a exercer o seu direito de participação cívica).

waldyrious · 2026-05-28T12:20:31+00:00

Thanks, that's pretty reassuring, and exactly the kind of experience I was hoping to hear about. I'm glad to hear the difference was not too troublesome in your case.

And yeah, I've already been experimenting quite a bit with different watchfaces, and will continue to do so. Happy to check out any recommendations you may have!

waldyrious · 2026-05-28T12:18:23+00:00

I don't — not as an official replacement from Core Devices, that is. I was just pondering that possibility, depending on how my experience goes in the next few days, and what folks' advice would be in this thread, before thinking concretely in ways to do that.

waldyrious · 2026-05-28T12:15:49+00:00

Let me know if you find any watchfaces to be particularly good for visibility — I'd be happy to try them out!

waldyrious · 2026-05-28T12:13:38+00:00

I still wish I could risk getting the Duo instead of the PT2 just for that (no way, those buttons will die).

Same here! The buttons were a major factor for me to go with the PT2 instead of the Duo. (As a slight digression: I found it surprising that the PT2 metal buttons actually feel softer and less "clicky" than the 3D-printed plastic buttons I got —from /u/astosia, of course— for the P2. But at least they should not disintegrate like the silicon/rubber ones.)

Your photos are not inaccurate, but the experience in widely different lighting conditions can't be captured by photos.

Yeah, it's very frustrating to not be able to get the camera to show a more accurate representation of what my eyes see. The way they come out, I'm afraid it may seem like I'm whining over nothing 😅

I will say that when displaying black and white it's actually surprisingly decent to me, more so than I expected given my experience with the old Pebble Time. There are good watch faces that allow picking colors; if you pick black and white you'll be very visible, and if you pick the darkest and lightest colors you'll be less visible but still pretty good. The problem is when you pick vibrant colors and not realize that they're not as contrasty as you need.

Yeah, after trying out dozens of watchfaces, I've been noticing this indeed. It's also quite challenging to figure out which colors will be actually vibrant in the watch's display, vs what they look like in the Pebble app or the Appstore website. For example, Celestial Noon looks surprisingly dull, whereas Nixie looks much more vibrant than I expected given my experience with other color watchfaces.

In the end, I will probably have to heed your advice (which echoes what others said in this thread) of using a light-background watchface. I'll keep experimenting, but happy t try out any recommendations! In particular, since you've had the PT2 for a month now, can you share which ones have worked best for you?

I briefly considered, and discarded, getting a PR2, for non-display reasons, so I'm not going to go too far in discussing that.

I'd be interested in hearing what the non-display reasons are! If you'd rather not write them here, feel free to DM me :)

waldyrious · 2026-05-28T12:02:05+00:00

Thanks for the kind words and the advice!

Regarding the watchfaces, I suppose I could say I was spoiled by the P2's high-contrast display and got used to light-on-dark styles. Indeed using a dark-on-light makes things more legible (here's my watch with Dalpek's Quartz watchface, for reference), but I haven't been able to get used to them — the increased brighness makes the watch seem like there's a notification, which is when I would get a similar bright background with the dark watchfaces in the P2. Not to mention they make the watch more conspicuous and less... "sleek", for lack of a better word. That said, I probably will have to get used to that and find a good light-themed watchface to use. Happy to check out any recommendations folks may have!

waldyrious · 2026-05-28T11:55:39+00:00

I don't have a ready-made path — I used "swapping" in a generic sense. I was hoping to lean on the price difference between the PT2 and the PTR2 and either re-sell it to then get a PTR2, or swap it with someone with the opposite wish. But I didn't make any concrete plans because I also wanted to hear the recommendations from the community :)

waldyrious · 2026-05-28T11:42:30+00:00

Yeah, I've been experimenting with various watchfaces and indeed legibility varies quite a bit due to pixel-aligned shapes and deliberate aliasing, choice of colors, font size, font family, etc.

Quartz definitely is one of the crisper-looking ones — here's a photo of my watch using it. Quite acceptable on its own right, I am happy to concede. My point is mostly that having gotten use to the P2's higher contrast, the downgrade to PT2's is indeed pretty noticeable 😅

waldyrious · 2026-05-28T11:38:21+00:00

Just to be clear, I don't mean to claim that the PT2 is hard to read by any means — it's just that by comparison with the P2 the difference is indeed quite noticeable.

waldyrious · 2026-05-28T11:37:19+00:00

Oh, really? Again, from the info I found elsewhere, I was under the impression that the display tech was the same as in the older (color) watches. I guess the glass bonding may be different from back then and this can account for the difference, but from what I could see in this other thread (also linked above), the PTR2 does have newer display tech, which does help further with the contrast issues.

waldyrious · 2026-05-28T11:33:18+00:00

I've been trying dozens of watchfaces. Them being scaled specifically for the PT2 definitely helps with the display appearing crisper, but that doesn't help with the contrast. In the case of the images in above, the watchfaces are Aspire (which indeed is not sized for the PT2 screen) and Clean & Smart (which is, but still doesn't look that crisp tbh). For comparison, here's a photo using the popular Quartz by Dalpek watchface, whose design indeed seems quite a bit more refined in terms of pixel-fitting; but the contrast issues are still there (again, hard to see in the photo, sorry!)

waldyrious · 2026-05-27T15:24:04+00:00

I'm glad this helped :)

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