PebbleSmartwatch
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Pebble owners can now use PayPal on their smartwatch
Starting today, you will have access to PayPal right from your Pebble. The payments company announced earlier that there's now a compatible application for the smartwatch, which is available free of charge from Pebble's app store. Once installed, it can be used to make payments at any PayPal-friendly location around you, including restaurants and other local brick-and-mortar businesses. There's also support for notifications, allowing you to use the Pebble wearable to easily, and at a glance, keep up with your account. A few months ago, PayPal became one of the first apps to come to Android Wear, so the company has definitely made sure it is well covered in this space.
The Weekly Roundup for 01.21.2013
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 7 days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Pebble smartwatch review
More Info Pebble smartwatch hands-on Pebble smartwatch unboxing Pebble smartwatch raises $100,000 in two hours What is Kickstarter? The answer you'll hear, as long-winded as it may be, will likely touch on Pebble. If it doesn't, you'll probably want to ask someone else -- with more than $10 million pledged, the people's smartwatch catapulted past the crowdfunding site's records and the startup's own expectations. It achieved a $100,000 funding goal in two hours, and it was clearly a favorite among our readers. Of course, there were doubts that Eric Migicovsky, the company's founder, would deliver such an appealing and seemingly powerful product for $125, but following our first look during the company's CES press conference, that dream became real. So, what is Pebble? It's not a smartphone for your wrist, as we've seen attempted before. In fact, it's far less sophisticated than you might expect -- the lightweight device reads out basic text, lets you skip through music tracks and, of course, displays the time. It's hardly the greatest achievement of our generation, or even the device of the year. It's become incredibly popular, sure, but despite the hype, you certainly don't need to own one. Yet, somehow, even the most technologically inept people in our lives have heard it mentioned on morning talk shows, FM radio stations or from pre-teens anxious to impress their friends. Having a smartphone alone isn't enough anymore. Or is it?
Pebble smartwatch unboxing (video)
It's here! After nine months of waiting and a whopping 31 project updates, our very first Pebble smartwatch has finally arrived. Despite all of the excitement surrounding this device, the unboxing itself was rather anticlimactic -- there's nothing but a watch and USB cable inside, and the box took all of 10 seconds to open, despite an unexpected cardboard zipper failure. The packaging is very similar to what Amazon uses to ship its Kindles, and we definitely don't mind the no-frills design, especially considering that it's efficient, made from recycled materials and dead-simple to open. If you're a Pebble backer, your device is coming soon, if it hasn't arrived already -- that doesn't mean you can't unbox one with us, though. There's a gallery below, followed by a quick video after the break.
Pebble Smartwatch app hits the App Store
Just hours after Pebble announced that it shipped out its first few hundred units of Pebble watches to early Kickstarter benefactors, Pebble Smartwatch, the companion app to the device, has hit the App Store. Users don't need the app to use most of the features of the watch, however the app is required for software updates and installing timepiece faces. The app works on the iPhone and iPod touch but is not optimized for the iPad. From the Pebble Smartwatch app description: PEBBLE - E-PAPER WATCH FOR IPHONE AND IPOD Pebble is the first watch built for the 21st century. It's infinitely customizable, with beautiful watchfaces and useful internet-connected apps. Pebble connects to iPhone and iPod using Bluetooth, alerting you with a silent vibration to incoming calls, emails and messages. While designing Pebble, we strove to create a minimalist yet fashionable product that seamlessly blends into everyday life. The Pebble app provides a dashboard for your Pebble smartwatch: - Notifies you when software updates for Pebble ready to install - Installs and remove custom watchfaces onto your Pebble - Sends ping test messages to your Pebble - Helps you troubleshoot issues Pebble Smartwatch is a free download. Pebble watches are currently available for pre-order. They cost US$150.
The Daily Roundup for 01.23.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
The Daily Roundup for 01.09.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Live from Pebble's CES 2013 press event!
Welcome to Pebble's press event at CES, brought to you live from the Las Vegas Convention Center! We've heard plenty about this smartwatch -- it entered the Kickstarter hall of fame last year, after all -- and today might just be the day it finally makes it to market. Join us as we live-blog the first eyes-on of this much-anticipated device.
Pebble team posts UI preview, provides an early look at how you'll interact with the E-Paper Watch
Sadly, Pebble won't be making its way to backers by its original September estimate, but the design team wants you to know that it's hard at work, traveling the world to source components, running shipping tests and spending time refining the user interface in order to provide a top-notch experience once you do receive your device in the mail. To that end, Martijn, the UI designer, has dropped by Vimeo to provide us with a "sneak peek" at the device's operation, including some demos on iOS and a connected prototyping board, using a custom tool that sends designs to the Pebble screen from any graphics program in real-time (a feature that will reportedly also be available in the SDK). From what we've seen, there appears to be plenty of space on the screen to show incoming calls, read emails with eight lines of text at a time, view appointment details, select songs and control volume, and, of course, see the current time. Commenters seem to be quite pleased with the design so far, and we have to agree -- it's a pretty slick UI. Jump past the break to see it in action.
Pebble smartwatch will miss September shipping date, blames darn popularity
The latest update sent to Pebble's Kickstarter backers (and a few Engadget editors) is a double-edged one. After announcing that the smartwatch will be available in a new orange edition, the makers admitted that the crowd-funded wrist candy won't be shipping to its backers on schedule in September. No new date has been disclosed just yet, but the delay was attributed to the project having to abandon early plans of making just 1,000 smartwatches. The level of production has now ballooned, meaning the factories involved are aiming to hit 15,000 Pebbles per week "as soon as possible."
Pebble smartwatch outs SDK preview at Google I/O, gives developers a kickstart on apps
If you invested in the Pebble e-paper smartwatch -- and who didn't? -- you'll be happy to hear that the firm has unleashed a preview of the Kickstarter darling's SDK at Google I/O this week. That'll give developers a head start on creating apps for the ARM-powered e-paper device, allowing them to learn exactly how it receives data from Mountain View's robot OS. The company said the new kit supports multiple program languages to boot, allowing developers of all skill levels to create Pebble-enabled apps. The document is still a work in progress, of course, but advances like this should help keep it from getting trampled by the cavalcade of smart wrist devices now coming out. Check the source link if you want to grab it.
Pebble smartwatch sells out initial supplies, enters Kickstarter hall of fame with $10m raised
It looks like adding Bluetooth 4.0 was just the trick for taking the Pebble smartwatch over the edge -- and by over the edge, we mean to an insane level of Kickstarter success. The watch not only crossed the $10 million fundraising mark -- it aimed for a paltry $100k -- but its initial 85,000 units are now sold out. The campaign still has eight days to go, and though additional backers won't get in on that first wave of Pebbles, there's a second batch on the way. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Pebble watch gets updated to Bluetooth 4.0 before it even arrives
What are you going to do when you get an unprecedented response from your new Kickstarter project? You throw in some extra features to keep your new fans happy. Allerta, the same company behind the InPulse smartwatch, has announced that its new Pebble smartwatch will now arrive with low-power Bluetooth 4.0 compatibility. The watches will still interact with Bluetooth 2.1, but inclusion of the latest version should ensure a better degree of future-proofing, with a view to hooking up with wireless heart monitors in the near future. The new feature will be built into the watches ahead of its release and enabled with a later software update. Better still, the makers promise that these Bluetooth plans have been in the pipeline for a while and shouldn't affect the watch's launch date.
Allerta intros Pebble smartwatch, inPulse's attractive younger sibling
Remember the inPulse Smartwatch? Say hello to its attractive younger sibling, the Pebble e-paper watch. Allerta's latest creation -- which is launching today on Kickstarter for $99 in three colors -- is "the first smartwatch to offer full iPhone and iOS compatibility". It features a 1.26-inch 144x168-pixel black and white e-paper display with backlight, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, four buttons, a vibrating motor and a three-axis accelerometer. The battery is expected to last more than seven days on a charge. Pebble receives call, email and message notifications from iOS and Android devices over Bluetooth. It supports downloadable watchfaces and activity-specific watchapps for controlling music, cycling, running and golfing. Allerta's even teamed up with Freecaddie to create a rangefinder app for over 25,000 golf courses worldwide. The timepiece can run several watchapps simultaneously -- these can be installed over Bluetooth using the Pebble App for iOS and Android (2.3 or higher) and developed using the Pebble SDK. Color choices include white, black, red and a fourth hue to be voted on by early backers of the project -- hurray to crowdsourcing. Pricing is $99 on Kickstarter today and $149 at retail later this year. Want more info? Check out the gallery below, then hit the break for the PR details and the Kickstarter link.
