Recently, I've been interested in buying a smartwatch, as I, indeed, like the features it generally has to offer, but I've been also oscilating between Pebble and Samsung. It was a hard choice to make, but I've managed to do it after scrutinizing the whole internet to reach the peak of my potential worthwhile acquisition. Please, see the downsides and upsides of each ("+" is for positive aspects, "-" is for negative ones and "+ -" is for neutral aspects). Notice: The review is based on Internet research mostly, but I also have a friend that has bought the implicated smartwatches from this review, so I can express myself as non-biased as possible, hopefully. - Pebble hasn't been around us for too much time, and I doubt their abilities to be around in this very disputed "gold-mining" market, because they lack experience mostly. + Samsung's specialized in everything, literally. They've even implicated themselves in making tanks for the South Korean army, so that pretty much says everything about their overall products' quality. - Pebble usually brings gimmicks to their smartwatches, meant to mislead the people who want an overall worthy smartwatch but they actually fall for their very well-made marketing strategy (I can't truly blame them for that, but they shouldn't make it rather obvious either) + Samsung has truly implicated themselves in this market, and they've managed to genuinely attract their buyers rather than misleading them, like Pebble has done. Also, for everybody that may be interested, they have got friendly customer support which would happily assist you with any questions and concerns you might have regarding any of their products, including smartwatches, obviously. - One of my friends has got a Pebble smartwatch, and from the day of her acquisition, she can solely complain to me regarding the fact that she has made an utter mistake to buy that "utter piece of burden", like she likes to call it. That clearly says something, in my opinion. - I will give Samsung a minus this time because they're rather closed to actually giving testimonials for their buyers, for a reason or another. Also, none of my friends have got any smartwatches made by them, so I can't really express myself regarding others' experiences. - The Pebble's interface resembles Nokia's long-gone Symbian OS which had a dreadful interface, for me. Now it is encompassed in this tiny device as well. Really?! + - Although Samsung hasn't really offered any updates recently and some of the interface's aspects need some fix, I will give a neutral rating because they haven't got any factory-released flaws which might really affect one's experience. Demanding an update would be more of a caprice than a pragmatically-wanted one, honestly. + The Pebble is very comfortable on your wrist without any doubts, it seems as it is perfectly made in all the aspects regarding the exterior. - - Regarding the Samsung's comfort abilities, I would say they're low-to-average, and I will give it two minuses because you will permanently have it with you everywhere you'd go and it needs to be flawless at this chapter. + Pebble's price for value is perfect, but don't expect something spectacular from it, in consequence. + - Samsung's one is average, but it isn't news that they make everything expensive in the first months, after they slowly make it cheaper. In conclusion, Pebble has more minuses overall, but it is worth for people who want to have a risk-free smartwatch attached to their wrist, without actually paying too much for such a tiny device. Samsung is more specialized, but I have my doubts regarding this particular product, even though they produce tanks and such things. I've chosen Samsung after all, because it is more reliable and I can say this because I've had other good past experiences with their services. Pebble feels too ambiguous for me.
Being the owner of a Pebble watch, I can say that I like what it has to offer, but it is barely the first iteration of this wearable trend. TO be honest, for either of these makers, they will need to innovate frantically over the next few years ot stay on track with what I'm expecting to happen. In short, unless you love being an early adopter of technology (like me) stay away from this first run of smartwatches; watch what happens and buy in about two years.