May 18, 2024

iFixit Tears Down the Pebble Smart Watch [Images]

Posted March 13, 2013 at 3:04pm by iClarified · 9076 views
iFixit has posted a tear down of the Pebble Smart Watch.

Welcome to the future of watch evolution. The Pebble E-Paper Watch is the "first watch built for the 21st century." It can track your bikerides, display your text messages, and even tell the time! We had no choice but to bust the Pebble open and see what made it tick.

Tech Specs:
● 144 x 168 pixel display black and white e-paper
● Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR and 4.0 (Low Energy)
● Vibrating motor
● 3-axis accelerometer with gesture detection
● Micron N25Q032A11ESE40F 32 Mb serial flash
● STMicroelectronics STM32F205RE high-performance ARM Cortex-M3 MCU, with a maximum speed of 120 MHz
● STMicroelectronics LIS3DH 3-axis accelerometer
● Panasonic pan1316 RF module
● Texas Instruments CC2564 Bluetooth Controller
● Fullriver battery is rated at 3.7 Volts and 130 mAh

Highlights:
● To protect the Pebble from water damage, the front portion is tightly fitted with a clear plastic frame and sealed tight.
● It's impossible to separate the cases without compromising the display.
● The small display only requires three LEDs (controllable by a wrist gesture) to light its face.
● Since the cable houses all 4 buttons, 3 LEDs, and the Bluetooth 2.1 antenna, replacing an individual component will be impossible
● Removing the backlight guide panel from the device grants us access to the motherboard/battery/vibrator assembly that is held together by very delicate soldering. If any one of them fails (most significantly the battery), they will all need to be replaced as a single unit.

Unfortunately, it appears that internal repairs on the Pebble are not feasible. To see the full tear down hit the link below...

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