Things I Carry: A Pebble (Not In My Shoe)

I've been carrying my most essential item for a scant two weeks. But I already mark time as Before and After the Pebble Watch.

It's very rare for a new tech category to emerge — to go from something nobody thought they needed to instantly useful. The last example was the iPad, which changed our relationship with the computer in a way not seen since the advent of the PC.

Pebble may never sell as many watches as Apple has iPads (more than 100 million in three years). But it is easily the most important item I've added to my go bag since the iPad. And it has quickly become the item I use more than any other.

As I noted in my Reuters review, Pebble doesn't do much — and that's a good thing. What it does is extremely powerful: It relays messages received on my iPhone to my wrist, alerting me with a gentle vibration nobody else is aware of.

This is almost indescribably liberating. I no longer have to be one of "those" people who keeps my phone face up on the table at every social and business occasion. I don't have reach for my phone in a meeting to divert a call — Pebble displays Caller ID and sending to voicemail is a discreet button push.

I get a steady stream of e-mail, texts and Tweets— sound familiar? About 1% require immediate action but 100% interrupt what I'd rather or should be doing. Now I ignore the 99%. By only relaying VIP mail I'm no longer a slave to my inbox, which I can now check at a more civilized pace.

Forget about smart — Pebble is wise. Unlike smart watch mis-fires of the past Pebble isn't trying to be a wearable computer. The best way to classify it is as a smart appliance; it depends entirely on the phone you depend on.

As a watch it's pretty nifty too. Because it syncs time with your phone you have what amounts to an atomic watch (also, fwiw, easier to access on your wrist than the pocketwatch that is your mobile phone). Unlike your smartphone, Pebble's vibrating alarm wakes only you. There are a handful of easily-swappable faces — my favorite is "Fuzzy Time," which updates in very laid-back five-minute intervals and displays "ten to noon" and "half past eleven," the way humans tell time.

Smart watches are suddenly all the rage -- the rumor mill began with the Apple iWatch and then Samsung said: "Me too." Even Google, which is developing something of an identity crisis, is reportedly coming up with one. But these are unicorns. In the here and now there is Pebble (well, the wait is up to three months).

Pebble has become a marriage counselor for me and my phone. The "hate" part of my love/hate relationship is gone. The only downside? Everyone I talk to in person thinks I'm bored with the conversation and am constantly checking the time ...

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