I bought so many because I lived pebble, it's features and price point. When it got bought I didn't think we'd ever see another pebble, so I bought a bunch to last me hopefully the rest of my life.
To the point of your question, the main issues I've faced since are battery over time and crashing. The only pebble 2 I bought failed in a year because the buttons got worn through, and water ruined it. Makes me wary of the newer upgraded pebble 2s

Oof, I actually really liked the square screen design of the preliminary images. It had a much cooler retro sci-fi vibe to me previously, now it looks a bit forgettable and basic.

I want to know the thickness, because I might just cancel based off this redesign. Which is unusual for me but ya, I'm not digging it.

Time uses a normal display connector, it doesn't suffer from the pebble screen tear as it's known.
You can still damage the display, either by force or with moisture ingress, but it's not at all the same type of an issue - zebra connectors require pressure to stay connected, and over time they lose their squishiness and the connection gets unreliable.

I mean, inflation is one thing. How much have wages gone up since then?

I love the changes they have done. I loved the pebble time steel, and personally the design of pebble time 2 was not my thing and I was devastated that pebble time 2 was dropped. This new design manages to marry the pebble time 2 and the pebble time steel incredibly well. And the color options seem really great actually... It's going to be difficult to choose.

And furthermore, it is a relief to have again the metal buttons. I'm going to have to dig out the time steel to see if I can use it to test the new version to see if I can get back to developing some watchfaces.

Is it though? Nearly 10 years ago they were going to sell them in retail for 200$, now it is 225$, and its going to be so much better. My time steel lasted for so many years... And it was wonderful, I miss it so much. After the battery started to get too weak I started the search for an alternative, there's so little offering what pebble offers. Ended up with a Garmin, which is... OK, but the price makes me nearly consider it not worth it, around two years ago it cost me 350€, and it was the cheapest version. It's probably great for super sporty people, but I just want a basic watch that helps me get notified and check a bunch of things.

In my opinion what pebble offers is incredibly good for the price, specially compared with what there is in the market currently.

Relative to 2016-dollars, wages have gone down.

But that's not the watches' fault.

Agreed on all accounts.

The video in the link has some really good shots from the side, it looks pretty thick, but this will be my first, so I'm not sure how thick is too thick.

He also says that they're gonna email all the pre-orderers before with the finalized design and let you swap to the smaller one without losing your place in line, if that's an alternative that might interest you.

The screen tearing was actually a hardware issue specific to the original Pebble and Steel models (with the zebra strip connectors). The Time series used different display technology that fixed this isssue completely. If the new model keeps the same display connection method as the Time, you should be good to go!

There was no $70 alternative back then. There is now. Hell, my first smart watch was 30€.

https://en.nothing.tech/products/cmf-watch-pro-2?Colour=Dark+Grey

Same, I just pre ordered one the other day and now with this redesign I am considering canceling it. It's not that bad for me, I just really loved the old design. But I do love they are adding more features, I was bummed the time 2 wasn't going to have a compass.

Did you watch the video where the creator talks about adding more features? I also got the ick from that lol. He talked about throwing in a cheap compass module and not being able to promise how good it was and then said "you're welcome". Maybe I'm being a Karen lol (oh god I should have died a hero), but I didn't like that whole exchange. If I recontextualize it to "a friend of mine shooting the shit about his project" it's not bad at all - just my lazy friend complaining about some feedback. But the fact that it's the founder making his supposed baby and having no interest in making the most jam packed, high quality product, makes me a bit upset.

There's that Kickstarter knife going on right now, and watching their video where they're obsessed with putting a whole bunch of bullshit into this knife and doing it elegantly - idk... Felt like a stark contrast from that to this "your welcome for a cheap compass module" attitude.

Idk. I buy things based off of vision and belief in execution right now and this guy makes a slim epaper watch vision feel like a vision of money bags instead. And now the execution misses the mark for me. Vibes are all off. RIP, might get one after reviews now but ya writing this out has convinced me to cancel.

I hope it still slaps for everyone and it's successful. I want more epaper everywhere - love the tech.