Pebble Time smartwatch users are getting a few notable updates today including a redesigned iOS app alongside the latest firmware for the watch itself that brings new features, fixes and enhancements.
Pebble smartwatches just got a little smarter, allowing some iPhone owners to reply to text messages directly on the watch – something that has so far been possible only on the Apple Watch.
Pebble is excited to introduce Text Reply for iOS, a beta feature making us the first non-Apple smartwatch to bring voice and text replies to our iPhone users […]
After setting things up, users can respond with a voice reply or pre-defined text to incoming items from the iOS Messages app.
There are, though, a few disclaimers …
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Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel both launched earlier this year to mixed reviews, and now the company behind two of the most-funded Kickstarter projects ever is at it again. Today, Pebble is launching the Pebble Time Round, its first circular smartwatch…
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Pebble Time is an interesting smartwatch. This is a bit different from anything else out there in the sense that it’s super low-tech. There’s absolutely nothing flashy about it. As far as smartwatches go, this is as barebones as it gets, but is that bad thing?
Image via <a href="https://twitter.com/mgbnet/status/605505402885672960/photo/1">Martin B. on Twitter</a>
[Update: Pebble says its app for Pebble Time users has been approved and should hit the App Store in 2-3 hours if you can’t see it yet.]
Despite its official release at the end of May, Pebble’s new Pebble Time watch is not yet fully functional for iPhone users, as its required iOS synchronization app is not yet available in the App Store. The Pebble Time Watch application allows users to set up the Pebble Time wearable, install new applications, watch faces, and software updates, but backers who have received the hardware have taken to social media to complain that there’s no iPhone app to use with it. Android users are unaffected as their version of the app is available on Google Play.
Pebble has used its Kickstarter page to pin the delay on Apple’s App Store review process…
Pebble has updated its Kickstarter page, advising that the first batch of Pebble Time smartwatches will begin shipping on 27th May, and that all orders placed through Kickstarter will ship by mid-June.
Great news: the first batch of Pebble Time shipments are scheduled to go out Wednesday, May 27. With things moving along at this rate, we expect all Pebble Time Rewards to be manufactured by the end of the month […] Every backer with a Pebble Time included in their selected reward tier should receive a tracking number from us by mid-June.
Despite raising $20M from the Kickstarter campaign, however, TechCrunch is reporting that the company is having trouble raising additional funding “in order to stay afloat” …
WIRED has posted a new story on the Apple Watch, which revolves around interviews with Apple human interface designer Alan Dye and Apple’s VP Technology Kevin Lynch, who heads Apple Watch software. The piece shines new light on the foundation of the smartwatch project at Apple as well as some new details about the product — which ships later this month.
Amusingly, Lynch did not know what he would be working on when he accepted the Apple job. He walked into the role with the project already underway; early ‘experiments’ from the iPod team with click-wheels and such. Dye says that the idea for a watch blossomed during design meetings for iOS 7, Apple’s major software overhaul.
Update: Less than 30 minutes after launching its Kickstarter campaign, the Pebble Time is fully funded.
Pebble has this morning announced the next generation of its smartwatch, called Pebble Time. The device, as we reported last week, sports a color e-paper display, a thinner design, a microphone on board, and a completely revamped ‘timeline’ interface. Pebble Time is launching on Kickstarter with early bird pricing tiers at $159 and $179, but the device will retail for $199.
