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Anyone else have one of these? Mine arrived yesterday and so far it's a nice toy. What I like: -Notifications of course are good. Impossible to miss emails, phone calls, and SMS/iMessage as long as I'm wearing it. -Some of the custom watchfaces are pretty awesome -Flick to turn on the backlight is useful -Music controls are basic but good to have -Pebble team is diligent about putting out firmware updates What I don't: -No support for UTF-8 at this time. I live in Japan so half the messages I get are in Japanese, unfortunately unreadable on the Pebble. Seems there's an app for that on Android but not on iPhone yet, I guess. I think the Pebble team said the Pebble itself has UTF-8 in the firmware but I guess they're too busy with other things to implement it at the moment. -It's pretty huge. My last watch was a Swatch Skin so maybe I just got used to small watches, but the Pebble nearly hangs off the side of my wrist. -The strap is boring. Lots of people talking about replacing it with a nicer one and I will too -- I tend to be allergic to whatever latex/rubber they're using in this. So I'll need to replace it with something using a different material. -Notifications are limited. In Japan most people use an app called LINE for chatting, not iMessage, and I get no LINE notifications at all. Still investigating this one. -I wish it would notify me when it loses connection with the iPhone. May also help if I leave my phone somewhere, since I would know as soon as I get out of Bluetooth range, rather than realizing after I've left the bar or whatever. Otherwise there's not a lot I can say that hasn't already been covered in the various reviews on the internet, but it's worth noting that a recent firmware update added support for 3rd party apps/watchfaces. This is one of my favorite parts! There seem to be a crapload of developers tinkering with it already, just as I'm typing up this post I see someone uploaded a calculator app. So far the best resources for 3rd party downloads appear to be: http://forums.getpebble.com/categories/watchapp-directory http://mypebblefaces.com/ Assuming you have the latest Pebble firmware and Pebble iPhone app, the process for downloading the new faces/apps is really easy (Android is similar I guess): 1) Browse around the above sites in Safari on the iPhone (Chrome doesn't work for iPhone) 2) Click the download link 3) Choose "Open in Pebble" 4) If you have an empty app/watchface slot, it will start to download 5) Switch to the watchface or app Some of my favorite 3rd party watchfaces: Revolution Boss - for when I'm feeling sophisticated Peb-L-Sketch - sorta hard to read but a good example of what's possible Bold Hour White - There's an inverted version as well but I like this one. Beer O'Clock - Just for comedy. Literally says "Beer O'Clock" all the time, never changes. Good for battery saving too I guess, if you're too lazy to just turn off your Pebble. There's also a watchface generator coming along, pretty interesting: http://forums.getpebble.com/discussion/4500/www-watchface-generator-de-preview-available/p1 So does anyone else have one? Impressions? zmcnulty fucked around with this message at 08:46 on Apr 18, 2013 |
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Apr 18, 2013 08:44
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I have to say, I really just don't "get" the Pebble. So basically, its main function is just to prevent you from having to take your phone out of your pocket? Thusfar I had not considered that to be a hassle in my life.
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Apr 18, 2013 15:27
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I have been toying with the idea of either getting a Pebble or an UP by Jawbone. Pebble looks more likely so far. Plus, I do take my phone out of my pocket often just to check the time. Being able to not only check the time, but see notifications or control my music sounds like a nice feature. I probably would have bought one already if they weren't on backorder or only shipping to the original backers. Preferably in a nice Cherry Red.
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Apr 18, 2013 16:16
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Are they planning on making the face out of Glass so it doesn't scratch.
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Apr 18, 2013 16:17
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Don Lapre posted:Are they planning on making the face out of Glass so it doesn't scratch. No, its plastic, which is a major problem with a watch as big as the Pebble is. I find I'm constantly knocking it into corners and places I never have with other watches. That being said, that's really my only drawback with this watch. The regular firmware updates for bug fixes and feature add-ins have been pretty great, the watchfaces and apps people have been releasing with the limited SDK have been pretty awesome, Revolution and LinesWatch are my favourite so far. Once the full SDK is released, developers will be able to communicate with the phone, and that's where I think the Pebble will truly start to shine.
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Apr 18, 2013 16:29
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OP, thanks for linking to that Revolution watchface, I really like it. So far I'm slightly disappointed with the iOS integration. No consistent notifications aside from Mail/Messages/Phone is slightly annoying, as is the fact that the Caller ID doesn't show the caller name if it's over 12 characters. But things are improving pretty rapidly, and the latest updates did drastically reduce the amount of those annoying pop-up 'Pebble watch wants to communicate with Pebble app' messages. Plus if people are making Tetris apps and authenticators with the watchface SDK, I really can't wait to see what they'll do when the real app SDK comes out.
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Apr 18, 2013 17:07
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Elysium posted:I have to say, I really just don't "get" the Pebble. So basically, its main function is just to prevent you from having to take your phone out of your pocket? Thusfar I had not considered that to be a hassle in my life. I guess the main purpose is the notifications, yes. Personally I find that I miss a lot of phone calls while walking, so it's helpful for that at least. Also I use Bluetooth headphones while at the gym so being able to control music from afar is nice. Otherwise it's sort of useless at the moment since nobody in Japan uses iMessage, and I don't get any urgent emails to my personal address. I guess IFTTT could help. Don Lapre posted:Are they planning on making the face out of Glass so it doesn't scratch. No idea about plans for the next model, though I'm sure they already have something in mind. Personally I'd like something a lot smaller, and with Chortle posted:Once the full SDK is released, developers will be able to communicate with the phone, and that's where I think the Pebble will truly start to shine. Yes, would be nice to be able to get my calendar as well. Also when snowboarding I use an app called SkiTracks that shows your speed, elevation etc. so it would be nice to be able to see that on the pebble.
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Apr 19, 2013 01:46
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This seems like one of those transitional technologies. There was a time and place for beepers, and I feel like there's got to be a better way than a big ol' watch. The best part of having a clock on my phone is that I don't have to wear a watch.
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Apr 19, 2013 04:34
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I've had my Pebble for over a week now and I gotta say, I love it. I can go into great detail on why, but the short version is that it means I don't have to look at my phone. I had to spend too much time looking for good faces/apps for it, so here's what I've found. Faces  91 Dub you can get through the Pebble app and you should. I stick with it 95% of the time. LCARS v1. I'm not a big trekkie but it's functional and it's nice to use something with animation once in a while. Ninety_hank (German). An inverted 91 Dub, but with moon phase, German day names, sunrise and sunset, and an additional time zone. I wish it weren't white on black because it is harder to read.Apps/Games Pebloid. Arkanoid clone on your wrist. Works great. Pebblis. Tetris clone on your wrist. Again, works really well. Timer. There are a few timer apps, this is just the one I use, no problems or complaints. Really a necessary addition. Rolling Pebble. Simple but well-executed dice rolling program. There's a lot of crap out there, especially now that basic watch face generators are online, but I'm impressed with the quality of some of the development. Considering how young the platform is, I'm looking forward to what devs can do with a mature SDK. e: I forgot Musical Metronome. It's a little odd using a pulse on your wrist to keep time but it does the job. Nice for practicing singing/rapping on a beat, even works practicing guitar. Pro tip: Turn it so it vibrates against the inside of your wrist. Manky fucked around with this message at 13:53 on Apr 30, 2013 |
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Apr 30, 2013 13:45
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I've had mine since January, which has given me enough time to get over the newness and just get used to it. I don't hate it or anything, but I'm fairly disappointed in it. Right now it's just not living up to what they promised, largely due to the lack of a proper SDK and a really barebones firmware. I'm pleased with the hardware, especially the fact that it's waterproof, so I guess it's just about having patience until they get the software up to where it should be. It's handy having notifications on my wrist and all, but even that isn't being handled well. You have to look at them exactly when they come in, there's no history, and they only show up for a couple minutes before disappearing. If you get two of them back to back, you can forget ever seeing the first one. So yeah, right now the Pebble is only doing one thing out of the many things they promised, and it's not even doing that one thing well. In 6 months it'll probably be awesome, but for now it's a real beta-level product. Edit: Oh, and the screen does scratch and scuff, it's just a matter of time until you hit it against something hard/abrasive enough to do it. I was able to polish out a scuff on mine using a cheap tube of Polywatch and then bought a screen protector for $6. Normally I wouldn't care about a few cosmetic scratches, but scuffs make it hard to read in daylight, due to scattering the light or whatever. xamphear fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Apr 30, 2013 |
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Apr 30, 2013 15:31
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I am envious of you guys, if anyone has one that want to sell for what they paid hit me up via PM. Looked on ebay and 200+ dollars in kinda insane for this thing..
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May 13, 2013 01:34
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xamphear posted:I've had mine since January, which has given me enough time to get over the newness and just get used to it. I don't hate it or anything, but I'm fairly disappointed in it. Right now it's just not living up to what they promised, largely due to the lack of a proper SDK and a really barebones firmware. I'm pleased with the hardware, especially the fact that it's waterproof, so I guess it's just about having patience until they get the software up to where it should be. I feel the same way. It's awesome being able to control music from your watch, but having it only be able to control one music app at a time is just annoying. On top of that when I was driving today, I was controlling Pandora from my Pebble but it wouldn't update... and would show the last song I added on Google Music. Sometimes I've had situations where I've received a text message on my pebble that did not come through at all on my phone. Other times I'll be actively texting and my arm won't stop vibrating which can get annoying. The phonecall vibrate thing for me just doesn't work very well. I've had phonecalls where I've ended it and the Pebble will keep vibrating thinking that I haven't answered yet. Oh, and the permanent notification drawer icon is annoying too, and totally worthless. It lets you know when your Pebble is connected and disconnected... Except sometimes your Pebble is "connected" when nothing is going through and you have to cycle Bluetooth on and off. If it was a single toast that I could easly swipe away that would be nice, but I don't need to know the status of my Pebble 24/7. When the Pebble works though, it's beautiful. It's so much easier knowing you have a phonecall if you are in a noisy area and never have your phone vibrate. Controlling music from Google Music works very well too. The screen is prone to scratches, and I have a pretty deep gouge on mine already. Oh, and mine has a injection molding defect that I emailed their support about. My Pebble has a white blemish that is noticeable in normal lighting, and just plain obvious in sunlight. It's a giant white streak going down the side of the black watch. Pebble responded saying thanks for the pictures, we will use these for QA, but won't be RMAing your Pebble because cosmetic defects aren't covered.  Oh, and if you're looking to get more notifications on your pebble and have Android, try Pebble Notifier.
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May 13, 2013 06:54
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I saw Madness's thread in SA mart and said "you know, there needs to be a pebble thread". For it being 1+ years out and them earning so much money, I am basically shocked they didn't consult like, anyone else who has ever released a product, or fixed dumb poo poo like every notification saying "new mail" with a letter icon. My favorite face is this domo kun "noms" face because it chomps the time every minute.  If you're talking to someone in the car (a passenger) while a GPS app like google maps is directing you somewhere, it's nice to enable notifications for it so that you can see the next street on your wrist. I wonder if I can get a small sheet of Invisible Shield or something to apply to the face. Mine doesn't have any scratches (that's rain in the img) but I have a feeling it might soon. kuskus fucked around with this message at 16:11 on May 15, 2013 |
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May 15, 2013 16:08
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I've had mine since February. It's gotten quite a bit better since then, but the implementation still leaves a lot to be desired IMO, but being able to read texts and control music is quite handy. It's actually at its most useful notifying me of incoming calls when I've taken my phone out of my pocket and forgot to take it off silent. I haven't had any real problems with scratches. At one time I thought I had scratched it pretty badly but after a good clean it disappeared. It's not spotless but it's much harder to pick up than little scuffs than, say, the low resolution of the e-ink display. I do wish it was significantly higher res. Notifications on iOS needs a lot of work. I've had absolutely no problems with missing notifications or anything on standard iOS stuff, but 3rd party apps are a pain in the rear end. They work, but only if you a) pair the Pebble, b) select the app in notification centre, c) select a different notification style (eg. Banners instead of Alerts), and then d) set it back to what you actually want. If/when your Pebble loses connectivity, you have to do it all over again for each app.
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May 16, 2013 03:46
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frumpsnake posted:Notifications on iOS needs a lot of work. I've had absolutely no problems with missing notifications or anything on standard iOS stuff, but 3rd party apps are a pain in the rear end. They work, but only if you a) pair the Pebble, b) select the app in notification centre, c) select a different notification style (eg. Banners instead of Alerts), and then d) set it back to what you actually want. If/when your Pebble loses connectivity, you have to do it all over again for each app. You can actually just toggle notifications off and on for each app instead of switching styles. I find it easier just to double-tap that button.  edit: i tried it your way and I think yours is better since it's faster to tap the different notification types than wait for the phone to draw the notification menu when toggling the notifications CoasterMaster fucked around with this message at 20:40 on May 16, 2013 |
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May 16, 2013 07:11
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Hopefully mine comes in later this month. Does anyone else use Spotify on their Android and is the pebble able to change tracks with the app? I hate the Spotify lockscreen buttons to change tracks because they are very small and difficult to press when you're eyes are on the road or while running. Also, here's a screen protector I found a few weeks ago http://www.skinomi.com/pesm.html
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May 18, 2013 09:26
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On Amazon Skinomi seems to be selling them for $7 + 3 shipping. That seems doable. e: Now with Prime. kuskus fucked around with this message at 17:49 on May 20, 2013 |
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May 18, 2013 18:23
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I didn't think it would be worth the wait, but I'm loving my red Pebble. Some of the various watch faces available around the Web are just fantastic.
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May 19, 2013 15:21
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Black_Plague22 posted:
This should be part of the default app. I downloaded this and in about 30 seconds all my notification problems were handled. It essentially pipes notifications to your Pebble on a selectable per app basis.
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May 19, 2013 15:47
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I want a Shazam or Soundhound app on the Pebble, where if I'm driving I can hit two buttons and have my phone tag a song so I don't have to take it out of my pocket.
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May 20, 2013 05:06
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I preordered a Pebble a few months ago and haven't gotten any notification of whether it's ready or not, or even to set up payment. There's not really any ETA on the site other than "it'll be here when it gets here". If anybody else preordered and got it already, how long did it take?
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May 20, 2013 05:40
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They haven't even finished shipping Pebbles to backers of the original Kickstarter, have they? Might be quite a while before they get to the preorders.
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May 20, 2013 06:19
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I pre-ordered mine back in August and my estimation was March and then pushed back to late May. It's now late May and their orders shipped status has yet to be updated afaik. I am not an original kickstarter backer. Also, does anyone know about the Spotify question I posted earlier? On whether or not the tracks can be changed with the watch?
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May 20, 2013 09:47
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SyRauk posted:I pre-ordered mine back in August and my estimation was March and then pushed back to late May. It's now late May and their orders shipped status has yet to be updated afaik. I am not an original kickstarter backer. You can download the pebble app from google play and in its settings under "Music" it'll show all the music related apps you have installed that it can control. I don't have spotify installed so I couldn't tell you.
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May 20, 2013 15:37
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SyRauk posted:It's now late May and their orders shipped status has yet to be updated afaik. I am not an original kickstarter backer. Edit: From @pebble twitter yesterday: "We are currently planning our transition to pre-orders, among many other things." My batch of 4 kickstarter coworkers have only gotten 2/4. As I understand it, no Pebbles will ship to anyone outside of backers until they're finished with their color processes. I think what they're up to right now is finishing red and orange, then gray and white. They should have a ample supply of black. What color did you get? The number one place I go for Pebble status information is their "updates" page on their original Kickstarter page. They don't tend to respond on Twitter unless you're praising it. kuskus fucked around with this message at 20:00 on May 20, 2013 |
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May 20, 2013 17:59
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Does anyone know if you can have it matched to multiple phones at the same time? I have an iPhone for work and an android for personal use and being able to see notifications from both at any given time would be awesome. Also I take it the Bluetooth range is such that I can be a room or two away and still receive updates to my watch and it doesn't stop working completely if out of range of a phone? My other question is I can switch the band to something like a nato band with minimal hassle?
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May 20, 2013 20:13
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Black.
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May 20, 2013 20:14
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The Throwback Kid posted:Does anyone know if you can have it matched to multiple phones at the same time? I have an iPhone for work and an android for personal use and being able to see notifications from both at any given time would be awesome. Also I take it the Bluetooth range is such that I can be a room or two away and still receive updates to my watch and it doesn't stop working completely if out of range of a phone? My other question is I can switch the band to something like a nato band with minimal hassle? Not sure on the first two but they designed the watch face so that you could easily change out the band.
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May 21, 2013 04:43
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The Throwback Kid posted:Does anyone know if you can have it matched to multiple phones at the same time? I have an iPhone for work and an android for personal use and being able to see notifications from both at any given time would be awesome. Also I take it the Bluetooth range is such that I can be a room or two away and still receive updates to my watch and it doesn't stop working completely if out of range of a phone? My other question is I can switch the band to something like a nato band with minimal hassle? I know you can have two phones on it but I'm not sure if you can have it maintain sync with both of them simultaneously. If no one's answered this by the time my spare phone has charged I'll let you know.
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May 21, 2013 07:45
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Black_Plague22 posted:Oh, and the permanent notification drawer icon is annoying too, and totally worthless. It lets you know when your Pebble is connected and disconnected... Except sometimes your Pebble is "connected" when nothing is going through and you have to cycle Bluetooth on and off. If it was a single toast that I could easly swipe away that would be nice, but I don't need to know the status of my Pebble 24/7. That's more of an Android OS issue than Pebble design. Stuff that has an icon on the notification bar has higher status and is a lot less likely to be killed to free up memory. They stick it there to make sure their app stays running. Tasker does the same thing, though they have a transparent icon so you don't have to actually look at it.
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May 21, 2013 09:11
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stevobob posted:I want a Shazam or Soundhound app on the Pebble, where if I'm driving I can hit two buttons and have my phone tag a song so I don't have to take it out of my pocket. You can do this now (on android at least), look here. Pebble tasker has been released, so now you can run tasker jobs through a menu on the watch. I have the identify songs button above, another button that starts and stops podcasts (so i can keep using the music app just for music) and a sub menu that sends canned texts as replies to the last SMS I received. You could set up spotify to be controlled through this app if you wanted, as well as pretty much anything else you can think of.
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May 23, 2013 06:07
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drat, Android starting to look like a much better platform for the Pebble.
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May 23, 2013 06:17
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Smithersnz posted:You can do this now (on android at least), look here. EXCELLENT. Thanks for this!
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May 24, 2013 04:06
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stevobob posted:EXCELLENT. Thanks for this! It just got better too, check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9idWN1er1io You can set different lists of tasks based on profiles, the example used is being plugged in gives you nav/music controls etc. Also, Glance is pretty good as well, has a whole lot of stuff built in if you don't want to deal with tasker, like preprogrammed SMS's you can send to your recent contact list and weather on the watchface.
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May 26, 2013 11:54
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Pre-ordered a Black Pebble. I can't wait for 2015!
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May 30, 2013 11:39
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That Skinomi one aside, what kind of screen protectors are y'all using? None of the stores around here in Taipei seem to have anything for smartwatches, and they just take one look at go "nope, it's curved, no dice." I bought an iPhone one and cut it down to the size of the screen proper, but that's kind of a half-assed solution.
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May 30, 2013 12:31
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TetsuoTW posted:That Skinomi one aside, what kind of screen protectors are y'all using? None of the stores around here in Taipei seem to have anything for smartwatches, and they just take one look at go "nope, it's curved, no dice." I bought an iPhone one and cut it down to the size of the screen proper, but that's kind of a half-assed solution. I've got this one, and it seems to be holding up pretty well after almost three months.
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May 30, 2013 18:17
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PirateDentist posted:That's more of an Android OS issue than Pebble design. Stuff that has an icon on the notification bar has higher status and is a lot less likely to be killed to free up memory. They stick it there to make sure their app stays running. Tasker does the same thing, though they have a transparent icon so you don't have to actually look at it. Is that still necessary even on 4.2? At the very least they could make it an option to run in foreground/background like it is in Tasker.
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May 31, 2013 04:57
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So how do I get either Plus or Readebble to work? Most of the messages and emails I get are in Chinese, so right now all I get from those is squares.
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May 31, 2013 06:27
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I always wear a watch already anyways, and I don't like pulling my phone out at work. Is purchasing a pebble still A Dumb Idea? Or is it solid enough that I won't be upset by using mostly for just time and notifications?
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Jun 5, 2013 21:13
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