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A couple of years ago I jumped onto the smartwatch bandwagon with the Pebble Smartwatch, which I enjoyed. Last summer I had the opportunity to use an Apple Watch instead.

I enjoyed the Apple Watch but after several months I switched to Pebble Time.

Why?

I’m drawn to technology that is not overly complicated and I found that the Apple Watch offers more features than I needed. In addition, it’s not a watch.

The Apple Watch is an extension of the iPhone. It’s a watch as much as an iPhone is a phone. Sure, the Apple Watch can display the time but it does much more.

I certainly didn’t hate the device. I simply wanted a smart watch that did little more than provide some notifications on my wrist. Even while I had the Apple Watch I rarely used most of its capabilities. I used it the way that I used the Pebble, except it is not really well designed to be used in this manner.

The Pebble devices can last for several days without a charge whereas I usually had to charge the Apple Watch each night (simply a result of the hardware used by the different devices). The Pebble watches are waterproof while the Apple Watch is technically considered water resistant.

I didn’t need to view photos on my wrist, send canned text replies or talk to someone through the watch. I just wanted a device that would display minor details and vibrate when I receive a phone call, text message or important e-mail message. And behave like a watch when it wasn’t doing those things.

For myself the Apple Watch is overkill.

I’m not stating that it’s a bad device or that others would not love it. But if you just want a smart watch then a Pebble is a good way to go and it is also much less expensive. It bends to suit my life rather than working the other way.