My only experience with the iWatch is hearing CGP Grey talk about it in his podcast with Brady Haran (creator of Numberphile and other educational YouTube channels).
He definitely doesn’t see it as a watch. He uses it primarily for the silent alarm feature, which allows him to be notified easily without disturbing others. He also uses it to go on walks as it can use that system to tell him where to go. He uses the fitness stuff because it’s there and integrates well with his other Mac products. And he occasionally uses it to tell the time.
In fact, he’s said the watch part is the most lackluster, since Apple won’t let you use custom watch faces, so he’s stuck with simulating real watches, which he says misses the point.
I also agree they are way too expensive–especially the bands. And they seem over engineered if they are using Swiss design for a digital watch.
Then again, I think iDevices are over engineered in general since they use glass screens. My cheap plastic screen touch screen phone won’t break.
I’ve had a Pebble Steel – with the stainless band – for a little over a year. I love it. I had a black original Pebble for a while, but the plastic bezel looked cheap and I wasn’t crazy about the rubberized band. When the Steel came out I gave the plastic Pebble to a friend, and upgraded. This one looks and feels much more like a “real” watch. It’s a little bulky and masculine, but looks better on my wrist – and looks better at work – than the plastic Pebble.
Anyway, like I said, I love my Pebble. It’s a watch first: the display is always on, and I only have to shake it or press a button for the backlight. I like the different available watch faces, and I’m still amazed at how quickly I got used to getting notifications on my watch. It’s awesome to be in a meeting or driving or something and not have to look at my phone to read an email or a text message or see who’s calling (I can decline a call from my watch, but can’t take a call with it). It doesn’t bother me that the screen isn’t color or that I can’t take calls on it, because I’m not trying to replace my phone with a watch. The Pebble is more like companion tech for my phone. But it does do some tricks: I can reply to text messages with it, and I can pay for Starbucks with it (what’s really important! :)). There are actually many apps for it, but I only have the Starbucks one installed because I mostly just want the time and notifications.
The battery life is good: I only have to charge it every few days. I turn notifications off at night, plus I don’t get many notifications in general, so that might help with the battery life. And it’s water resistant to 5 ATM/50 meters as long as you don’t press any buttons while it’s submerged. I haven’t tested that yet, though: the only time my watch gets wet is if I’m caught in the rain.
I haven’t seen an Apple Watch yet, and my phone runs Android, so I don’t personally know how the Apple Watch and the Pebble compare. But I’m really happy with my Pebble.