BARCELONA -- The Pebble Time Steel was a surprise announcement here at MWC: it's an all-steel version of Pebble's latest Time smartwatch.
The Pebble Time Steel comes in three colors: black, gold, and silver. It's available for $250 on Kickstarter now, or $299 when it hits retail this summer. The latter converts to roughly £195 or AU$385.
Two bands come in the box: a link bracelet and a leather band. The silver with link bracelet cuts a space-age look. The Gorilla Glass-covered reflective color screen is very visible in regular light.
Three buttons on the side navigate through Pebble Time's timeline-based interface: the screen doesn't use touch.
The Pebble Time Steel is a bit thicker than the regular Time, but it packs a better battery, with up to 10 days of battery life.
Future smartstraps, coming later this year, will use the Pebble Time's rear hardware port and could be used to add sensors, like heart rate or GPS, to the Time or Time Steel.
Both leather and metal bands will be sold separately, and could be used with either Time or Time Steel.
The black model with leather band.
All three. These are early pre-release versions, but they still looked good to us.
A view of the hardware port on the Pebble Time Steel: it's also the charging port, but straps will be able to plug into it to power extra features. LED band, anyone?
A side view of the gold model with red leather strap.
Two Pebble Time Steel models (left, middle) next to the Pebble Steel from last year (right). The new Time Steel has more curved lines and is a little wider, but isn't as sharp-edged and thick.
A look at the silver watch with stone band. The design differences between the Time and Time Steel aren't as drastic as those between Pebble and Pebble Steel.
Gold with red band, from Pebble's promotional photos. The back of the Time Steel curves a little to fit wrists better versus last year's Pebble Steel.
Black, with black metal link bracelet.
Luckily, those who already backed the Pebble Time on Kickstarter can choose to upgrade to the Time Steel and not lose their place in line.