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With the Pebble Steel, the Pebble smartwatch is not only one of the most functional smartwatches available, it's also one of the most attractive.
In its first 12 months of availability, the original Pebble has found its way onto over 300,000 wrists and become one of the most recognizable names in the burgeoning smartwach space.
See also: The Complete Guide to the Pebble Smartwatch
A lot can change in a year. When Pebble hit the market, it was one of just a few startups trying to take on the space. In the last few months, we've seen smartwatches from major companies, including Sony, Qualcomm and of course, Samsung. At CES 2014, there were dozens upon dozens of smartwatches, all from different vendors, all trying to grab a piece of the wearable market.
These smartwatches are not only going after Pebble on specs — many have full-color touchscreens and more advanced electronics — they're also competing on design and fashion.
This is what the Pebble Steel was designed to address. As when we previewed the device at CES 2014, the Pebble Steel takes everything that was great about the original Pebble and combines it with a slick new design.
If the original Pebble's design was more akin to a sports watch or fitness accessory, the Pebble Steel is definitely trying to be more like a piece of jewelry and looks much closer to a real watch.
The Pebble Steel is available in matte black or brushed stainless steel. Our review unit was the former, paired with a matte black metal strap.
Although we didn't get a leather strap with our review unit, all customer devices will come with both a metal strap and a black leather strap. When I previewed the Pebble Steel at CES 2014, I found that the combination of the brushed stainless steel with the leather strap to be quite elegant. As a woman, I could see myself wearing the silver model with a black or white leather strap as a day-to-day watch without it feeling or looking too masculine.
The black matte watch is definitely more of a man's watch — especially with the metal band. Still, I was impressed that I could make it fit my wrist. A simple trip to a watch repair shop to remove some excess links and the watch fit my incredibly small wrists with relative ease.
Same great Pebble taste, new real-watch center!
From a distance, you might mistake the Pebble Steel for a regular analog watch. Even up close, it looks much more like a regular time piece than something that talks to your smartphone.
The e-paper display is covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 2. This helps give the Pebble Steel a more professional look and it also looks great under direct sunlight.
One of the new Pebble apps is Foursquare. From your watch you can check-in to your Foursquare location with just the tap of a button.
The new ESPN Pebble app makes it easy to check the score on the latest game across a host of leagues.
The Pebble Steel comes with a leather and metal watch band. The metal band matches the face of the Pebble (matte black or brushed aluminum) and has standard watch links.
The Pebble Steel with its metal watch band weighs about three times as much as the original, plastic Pebble. That makes it feel more like jewelry, but could also make it harder to use while running or swimming.
The Pebble Steel is rated at 5ATM, which means you can take it up to 50m deep.

The charging connector on the side works like a MagSafe connector, just apply the magnetic cable and charge from microUSB.
The chunky side-buttons from the original Pebble are replaced with smaller, more ergonomic buttons that feel better in the hand and fit better with the style of the device.
The Pebble Steel manages both style and substance.
Showing the watch to colleagues and my husband, the consensus was positive, even amongst those that typically jeer smartwatch fashion. When paired with an analog watchface, the Pebble Steel really does look and feel like a regular watch.
Compared to the original Pebble, the e-paper display is the same size but the screen itself feels more compact. The team has removed a lot of the excess bezel from the watch. Moreover, because the face is now more square than curved, it feels more compact on the wrist.
Because the watch is made of stainless steel, it's heavier than the original plastic Pebble. The Pebble Steel weighs about 99 grams with the metal watchband, compared to the 38 grams of the original. In my use, the extra weight wasn't a problem, but I could see it being less ideal if you primarily want to use the Pebble while running or jogging.
The buttons on the right side are now smaller and easier to press. Pebble continues to use its MagSafe-like contact-charging system, but if you have an original Pebble your charger won't work on the Pebble Steel and vice-versa.
The Pebble Steel is almost exactly the same as the original Pebble inside. The processor is the same — which means it will run all Pebble apps without a problem.
The e-paper display is covered by Corning Gorilla Glass 2. It has the same backlight and accelerometer of the original watch and still has a waterproof rating of up to five atomspheres. The glass screen is a nice addition because it really shows off how readable the e-paper display is, especially in bright sunlight.
One technical difference is that Pebble Steel has a tri-color LED on its face. Right now, this just comes on when you plug the Pebble in to charge. In the future, however, developers will be able to use the LED to configure different types of alerts.
Internally, the only modification is with the available application memory. Technically, the Pebble Steel has room for twice as many apps and watchfaces. For now, however, that extra memory isn't unlocked, which means you're still limited to having eight apps or watchfaces installed at one time.
Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky told me at CES 2014 that it was important for the company to keep the Pebble platform the same so developers only have to worry about building one app. He joked, "We can fragment next year!"
Battery life is rated at five to seven days and in my tests, that feels accurate.
Our Pebble Steel review unit shipped with the Pebble 2.0 software and Pebble app store.
Pebble 2.0 is a big deal and will allow developers to create more apps that can pull in data from other sources across the web without necessarily needing a separate companion app running on the phone.
We'll have a separate article about Pebble 2.0 and its software changes, but it worked great out of the box with the Pebble Steel.
In addition to the new app and integrated app store, we also got to play with some new apps from Pebble partners, including Yelp, Foursquare and ESPN. GoPro has an app, too, which lets you use your Pebble as a GoPro remote.
The Foursquare Pebble app is one of my favorites because it lets you check in to Foursquare from your wrist. The app simply connects with Foursquare's API using the GPS on your phone. You can scroll through a list of nearby places and check-in with a tap of a button.
The Yelp app is equally convenient. It uses the phone's GPS to poll the area for nearby bars, restaurants, coffee shops and more. You get the location, distance from where you are, and you can even read reviews right on the Pebble's screen.
The ESPN app pulls in real-time sports scores from various leagues and can update at various intervals — say, every 30 seconds — so you can make sure you're connected with what's happening with a game, without having to pull out your phone.
These apps really signify the potential of not just Pebble, but the smartwatch category in general. Pebble already has over 6,000 registered developers and nearly 1,000 apps are in the Pebble app store.
At $249.99, the Pebble Steel is an attractive and very capable smartwatch. It's more fashionable and more professional-looking than the original and feels like a much more polished commercial product.
For anyone looking at a smartwatch in 2014, the Pebble Steel should absolutely be on your list.
Now, what about existing Pebble users? This is where it gets a little more tricky. If you got your Pebble in early 2013 and have enjoyed it — it might be worth considering upgrading to the Pebble Steel if you really want a watch that comes across better as a fashion accessory.
For users who got a Pebble more recently, however (possibly as a Christmas gift), I tend to think that the Pebble Steel, while beautiful, isn't worth tossing the old Pebble away. Instead, look at some sites such as Gadget Wraps for various stickers that can alter the Pebble's appearance for cheap. Combine that with a new band and you might end up with a good enough experience.
As a piece of fashion, I think the Pebble Steel hits all the right marks. As a woman, I might prefer something a little more rounded a feminine, but I can't fault the design cues of the Pebble Steel as it exists right now.
What's Good
Feels like a quality product; looks like a real watch
Access to the growing ecosystem of Pebble apps
Great battery life
What's Bad
Weight makes it less than ideal for running
Metal band won't look as a good on female wrists
Bottom Line
With its new design and the great ecosystem of apps — not to mention the new capabilities of the Pebble 2.0 SDK — the Pebble Steel is a winner.