The Pebble watch will work with both Android and iOS, for starters (but then again, so does Android Wear devices now too... leaving just the Apple Watch to only support Apple products).
It's SDK is in Python or C, and it makes it really easy to write up basic apps for yourself or others (no special hardware, licenses, or fees necessary to start developing your own apps).
Battery life kills all other smart watches. The always on screen is very nice too (makes it usable as an actual watch, for instance).
So called "Smart Straps" allowing 3rd parties or the OEM to produce different wrist straps capable of different functionality (sensors, additional battery, etc...) - And they are swappable/upgradable.
Even for non-developers, it's easy to create watchfaces using http://www.watchface-generator.de/. Upload a photo, customize your text and download the app to your watch (credit to Paul Rode, a 3rd party developer for this)
I had a Pebble Time and put a number of months into using it full time. The screen is a color e-ink display that is always on, which is really nice. When I chat with my Apple watch friends, the biggest gripe is the battery life. With my Pebble Time, using notifications and using it to respond to text messages, while wearing it all night to monitor sleep, I charge it about every 5 days for a couple hours.
Everyone I know personally with an Apple Watch complains that the battery hardly lasts a day and they're forced to basically charge every night, which I guess gets annoying.
Right now, I think the battery life thing is a major issue with smartwatches like the Moto 360 and the Apple Watch. The Pebble models, the Basis models, and the Garmin models all seem to have this ironed out.
I guess everyone has their own experiences, but nearly all of the reviews and anecdotes I have heard -- and my own experience -- is that the Apple Watch can get through a full day just fine. Of course, you do have to charge it every night.
(And this is coming from someone who returned it and hated it for lots of reasons).
Sorry if I was unclear. Basically, I meant to say that for Apple Watch owners that I know personally, they're able to get through a 24-hour period, but since the watch would be dead the next day, they charge at night. Which in my opinion makes the watch essentially useless for sleep tracking unless you charge mid-day at the office or something.
Does that charging strategy have any impact on the battery's life? I know batteries are rated for a certain number of recharge cycles but I don't know enough about the technology to know if multiple partial recharges have a neutral or negative impact.
Obviously this is just a personal preference, but the Apple watch is ugly. The Moto 360 was the only other watch that I think that comes close to not looking like a smart watch.
Also the e-ink display is a different strategy. I hate the the watch display isn't on all the time so you can't just glance at it without moving your arm.
Yeah, this is huge for me. It also charges super fast, so when it runs out, I can slap it on its magnetic charger, and pull it off 5-10 minutes later if I need to run, and it'll have enough charge to get it through to a time when I have 30 minutes to charge it.
It's more like comparing a Nokia brickphone to an iPhone.
Different target demographic, but even more rabid fans because nothing else gets close to checking all the same boxes. (Unlike "iPhone vs Android", Nokia is more or less uncontested)
