by ANDREW E. FREEDMAN Jul 25, 2016
It comes to me as no surprise that Pebble wants you to use your smartwatch all the time. After all, if you fall in love with it, you'll be more likely to buy another or recommend it to friends. It doesn't hurt that some of Pebble's watches are our favorites in the category. But Pebble head of industrial design Mark Solomon is taking time off of creating more beautiful watches to develop a hoodie that makes it easier to use your smartwatch.
How? It has a hole in the sleeve. Or as Pebble calls it, a "smarthole." I don't think anyone vetted that name. I'll let Pebble explain the concept:
If you are wearing anything with long sleeves, especially long sleeves with a tight cuff (like a hoodie), you cannot simply raise your wrist to your eyes to see your screen. You have to use other hand to lift away material to access your watch. This all makes pulling out the phone a better, easier alternative to dealing with sleeves, and limits how you use your Smartwatch.
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Translation: Lifting your sleeve makes wearing a watch hard. This is a (quote unquote) problem that has (quote unquote) plagued watches since watches were invented.
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Solomon is proposing four different design options: "just the hole," which is exactly what it sounds like; a "double cuff" that folds up to reveal the hole; a "flipper" that acts like the double cuff, but is a different shape; and the tastefully named "up yours," which lets you roll up your sleeve to easily reveal the hole.
Credit: Pebble
Credit: Pebble
The Smarthole Hoodie also features a new, novel feature: pockets! The hoodie has a pocket inside for your smartphone, as well as a channel in the shoulder to thread your headphones into the hood. I could see needing a place to keep your phone and headphones close while exercising in the cold, but it's a limited use for this hoodie. In day-to-day life, people will want to access their phone even if they use a smartwatch, and that internal pocket makes it tough.
The hoodie is currently on Betabrand, which lets users vote on products they would be interested in crowdfunding.
What frustrates me about the Smart Hole is that it's lazy. Pebble made a smartwatch that's friendly and inviting, but one its designers is creating a special hoodie that he thinks makes for a better experience. Pebble is a tech company, and they should be looking for tech solutions. Maybe a watch should read certain information out loud if I tap it through a sleeve, for example.
If you're going to make clothes, go all out. I'll still have this "problem" while wearing my winter coat or a suit jacket. As far as problems go, wearing a sweatshirt and having to pull up my sleeve to see who called is a minor inconvenience that I can live with.
It comes to me as no surprise that Pebble wants you to use your smartwatch all the time. After all, if you fall in love with it, you'll be more likely to buy another or recommend it to friends. It doesn't hurt that some of Pebble's watches are our favorites in the category. But Pebble head of industrial design Mark Solomon is taking time off of creating more beautiful watches to develop a hoodie that makes it easier to use your smartwatch.
How? It has a hole in the sleeve. Or as Pebble calls it, a "smarthole." I don't think anyone vetted that name. I'll let Pebble explain the concept:
If you are wearing anything with long sleeves, especially long sleeves with a tight cuff (like a hoodie), you cannot simply raise your wrist to your eyes to see your screen. You have to use other hand to lift away material to access your watch. This all makes pulling out the phone a better, easier alternative to dealing with sleeves, and limits how you use your Smartwatch.
Report this Advertisement
Translation: Lifting your sleeve makes wearing a watch hard. This is a (quote unquote) problem that has (quote unquote) plagued watches since watches were invented.
MORE: Modobag Lets You Zoom Around Airports While People Point and Laugh
Solomon is proposing four different design options: "just the hole," which is exactly what it sounds like; a "double cuff" that folds up to reveal the hole; a "flipper" that acts like the double cuff, but is a different shape; and the tastefully named "up yours," which lets you roll up your sleeve to easily reveal the hole.
Credit: Pebble
Credit: Pebble
The Smarthole Hoodie also features a new, novel feature: pockets! The hoodie has a pocket inside for your smartphone, as well as a channel in the shoulder to thread your headphones into the hood. I could see needing a place to keep your phone and headphones close while exercising in the cold, but it's a limited use for this hoodie. In day-to-day life, people will want to access their phone even if they use a smartwatch, and that internal pocket makes it tough.
The hoodie is currently on Betabrand, which lets users vote on products they would be interested in crowdfunding.
What frustrates me about the Smart Hole is that it's lazy. Pebble made a smartwatch that's friendly and inviting, but one its designers is creating a special hoodie that he thinks makes for a better experience. Pebble is a tech company, and they should be looking for tech solutions. Maybe a watch should read certain information out loud if I tap it through a sleeve, for example.
If you're going to make clothes, go all out. I'll still have this "problem" while wearing my winter coat or a suit jacket. As far as problems go, wearing a sweatshirt and having to pull up my sleeve to see who called is a minor inconvenience that I can live with.
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