Hands-on: The Pebble smartwatch reboot looks great, but the Index ring is what I’m excited for [Gallery]

The Pebble smartwatch reboot is in full swing, with the Pebble Time 2 shipping soon and the newly-unveiled Pebble Round 2 not far behind it. After checking them out in person at CES 2026, I’m pretty stoked by the hardware, but it’s still the Index ring that makes me the most excited.

The Pebble reboot that stemmed from Google releasing the source code of PebbleOS has been great news for long-time fans of the platform. Finally, there’s a new Pebble on the market, with the “Pebble 2 Duo” being a solid continuation of the concept we last saw literally a decade ago.

Hands-on: The Pebble 2 Duo is a reboot ready to pick up where it left off [Gallery]

But while the Duo was a good start, it’s the Pebble Time 2 that really had everyone’s heart. And the hardware absolutely delivers. The metal chassis with its little splash of blue or red color (or black, if you want something more subdued) just looks and feels so nice. It’s a small watch by modern standards, but that’s not a bad thing. Compared to the Duo, the metal buttons feel especially nice, as does the glass over the screen.

Meanwhile, the Pebble Round 2 just proves how far ahead of the curve the original was.

The first Pebble Time Round was a stunning smartwatch back in the day, with a metal body that was far thinner than anything else. But, at the time, the compromise of its design came in the form of poor(ish) battery life and that massive bezel around the display.

The new model solves all of that, with much better battery life and an edge-to-edge display. The new design looks great in person, with that super-thin design really just feeling so foreign, and dare I say futuristic, compared to even modern smartwatches. The new face design doesn’t quite have the same charm in my book, but it’s hard to argue that it’s not a major improvement.

I’m still pretty excited to check out the Pebble Time 2 when it starts shipping in the next few months, but what I was far more excited about is the Pebble Index ring.

This smart ring is designed for exactly one purpose – to capture thoughts. With the click of its very tactile little button, a microphone goes hot and sends off data to the Pebble app on your phone. This means you can quickly jot down thoughts without unlocking your phone, opening a smartwatch app, or really doing anything else. Just click the button that’s literally sitting on your finger and you’re good to go.

Pebble Index – which I was told will support Google Keep in some capacity – just makes so much sense as a daily wearable. And I’m glad that the hardware actually makes it pretty viable. The Index is only marginally thicker than my wedding ring (one of those tungsten carbide rings), and the only part of it that sticks out is the actual button. While trying out the sizing kit, I found myself stuck between two sizes for a “perfect” fit, but it’s certainly close enough. I will say, though, that the size 13 limit is going to make this a non-starter for some people. I don’t have small hands, but I’d argue a lot of people are going to need a bigger size than I will to have it feel comfortable on an index finger.

The style is also going to be hit or miss for many. The black-on-black model is the only one I was ever interested, in part because it matches my wedding ring, but also because the gold model with its blue accent and the silver model with its white accent aren’t my cup of tea. From a material perspective, not having a matching color makes sense since it’d be almost impossible to match the color of a glossy material with one that’s more like rubber in a convincing way, but not everyone is going to love that look.

That said, I’m still incredibly excited for Index. I don’t think a Pebble smartwatch will ever truly be able to rip me away from the Pixel Watch lineup, but the Index is a wearable I can see adding to my daily carry.

The entire Pebble lineup – Time 2, Round 2, and Index – are all available for pre-order at repebble.com and shipping over the coming months.

More from CES 2026:

Hands-on: The Punkt MC03 might be the first privacy Android phone I’d actually try [Gallery]

Anker’s new Nano charger has a clever plug, but loses its biggest feature on Android [Gallery]

These new Android Find Hub trackers have paper batteries – yes, paper [Gallery]

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