Pebble working on a new thinner smartwatch with color display?

Pebble has put out a teaser on its website showing a countdown timer below the picture of a watch, hinting that there will be some announcement from the company when the timer becomes zero i.e. at 10AM EST on next Tuesday. Earlier in the month Pebble’s CEO Eric Migicovsky had said that the company would be releasing a new software platform and a new product line this year.

Now 9To5Mac has received information from multiple inside sources that Pebble has been working on major updates to both the hardware and the software of its watch and they will be ready to roll out next week on Tuesday. Pebble’s new smartwatch is reportedly thinner in size but with a wider screen and a color display looking like e-paper. However, it will not be a touch screen like the Apple Watch is supposed to have.

Although the new watch will be thinner and brighter than the earlier models, the battery will reportedly remain the same as the current models. It will sport an improved backlight for the display and a microphone which could lead 3rd party developers to create new apps for the Pebble platform. A heart rate monitor is a part of the company’s long term plans but not just yet.

The new Pebble watch will have a redesigned brand new Pebble OS. It will offer a timeline view showing recent notifications and several new animations in the user interface. The watch will have a new Cortex M4 chip and a 6-axis gyroscope. Its pricing is expected to be similar to that of Pebble Steel.

Of course, the Tuesday’s announcement may be for entirely another reason, we can’t say for sure. But if not now, Pebble’s new smartwatch is certainly expected sometime in the near future. So far, Pebble has been facing tough competition from Android Wear smartwatches and now it will have added competition from Apple Watch that is expected to release in April this year.

Source Pebble

Via 9To5Mac

Pebble working on a new thinner smartwatch with color display?

Pebble set to take on Apple Watch with a new Software Platform and new Smartwatches

Pebble has been quite successful in the competitive wearables market having sold more than a million smartwatches till date. The company’s millionth smartwatch was shipped on 31 December 2014, taking its sales to more than double the figure for March that year. The company has been quietly improving its product, adding new features and had also offered some price cuts later in the year to boost sales.

So far, Pebble faced the biggest competition from Android Wear watches including those from Samsung, LG, Motorola, Sony and others. Their 2nd and 3rd generation smartwatches will be coming to the market this year. And now all eyes are set on Apple Watch that will be released this year, probably in April. Apple Watch is sure to provide a tough challenge to Pebble.

Pebble’s CEO Eric Migicovsky says that the company has plans to release a new software platform and a line of new products this year. He says that unlike Android Wear and Apple Watch that are more focused on apps like the smartphones, the new software platform being developed by Pebble will be totally different.

“We’ve found a new framework to use as an interaction model on the watch,” says Migicovsky, adding that although Pebble will have apps, they will not be the main focus. “It doesn’t look like what we have today, and it doesn’t look like what’s on your smartphone“.

Pebble’s has had a lot of success in getting support from 3rd-party developers. The company’s newly launched web-based emulator allows developers to build and test apps without the need to install software on their computers. Pebble has as many as 25,000 developers writing apps for it worldwide and currently there are about 6,000 apps and watchfaces available on its current software platform.

The company has increased its employees from 30 to 100 for developing its new software platform which also includes some web designers from LG. It is obvious that Pebble is fully geared to take on any competition, buoyed by its 1 million sales and the promising new software platform in the works.

 

Source The Verge

Pebble set to take on Apple Watch with a new Software Platform and new Smartwatches

Pebble’s Android App 2.3 update brings support for Android Wear Notifications on Pebble Smartwatch

As a gift for the holiday season, makers of Pebble Smartwatch have come out with version 2.3 of their Android app. The new update brings Android Wear notification compatibility to the Pebble Smartwatch and allows the users to respond or act on the notifications from the Pebble watch itself.

The update has some new features built into it that perform certain actions which even the Android Wear devices cannot. You can use an emoji to reply to a Hangouts message. You can send cash to friends who send you Square Cash requests. For these new actions, Pebble’s Android app uses actions that are already integrated into Android Wear, so whatever actions you can perform with Android Wear, you can do with Pebble too.

If you want to try out the new Android app v2.3 update, you have to join Pebble’s Beta Testing Group. No invitation is needed and you can sign up directly to the group, but to use this update, your device must be running Android 4.0 or a higher version. Your Pebble must also be running the Beta version 2.9 of the firmware to be able to use the new features in the Android app 2.3. Otherwise you will have to update your pebble accordingly.

The Android App version 2.3 takes care of issues with notifications from WhatsApp. It also includes bug fixes, stability improvements and allows installation of update apps and watchfaces on the Pebble Smartwatch when it is in charging or is otherwise idle.

Check out the two videos below:

Source Pebble

Pebble’s Android App 2.3 update brings support for Android Wear Notifications on Pebble Smartwatch

Pebble dominates the smart wearables sector in Q1 2014:Canalys

From Smart Phones to Tablets, NotePads and Phablets and now to Wearable Bands, the market for smart gadgets just keeps growing. Buzzed as the next big thing is the technology market, the Wearable Bands, both basic and smart versions, are small devices worn on the body, monitoring and providing statistics on a variety of attributes, especially on fitness, lifestyle and health.

Canalys, an independent analyst company covering technology sectors, in its recently published country level quarterly estimates, expects a total of 2.7 million wearable bands shipped worldwide in Q1 2014, with smart bands making up close to 500,000 units.  Pebble Technology leads the market for the smart wearable sectors, followed by Sony and Samsung, with shares of 35%, 29% and 23% respectively.The interesting stat from the popular research firm’s report is that Fitbit holds a whopping 50% market share and is dominating the basic (fitness) bands segment with its wearable products like Flex,Zip,One,Force and Aria Bands.

Pebble started as a crowd-funded project on Kickstarter and they surely didn’t expect it to be so successful. Pebble and Pebble Steel are definitely one of the best smartwatches out there at this time. They’re about to get some stiff competition when Android Wear devices from LG,Motorola and others coming later this year. Apple is also entering smartwatch arena with iWatch, but for now they’re leading the pack.

But Canalys warned that market share in the nascent smartwatch/smart band segment can be very fluid and will likely “continue to change frequently as new products are released and will continue to do so throughout 2014.”

Pebble is doing a great job so far and we hope they’ll continue on doing that. Does it surprise you? Do you own a Pebble or maybe another smartwatch?

 

 

 

 

Pebble dominates the smart wearables sector in Q1 2014:Canalys