Kickstarter seems to be the number one choice for upstarts with a smartwatch in mind to seek funding these days. Agent “the world’s smartest watch” is the latest in a long line that includes tech darlings like the Pebble. And actually, this new Agent watch seems like nothing more than a thicker (and potentially uglier depending on your taste in watch designs) version of the Pebble, but with one difference – it has Qi wireless charging built in. The promo video shows a watch with a “Memory” display that’s a combination of an e-paper and LCD displays, that can be paired with your phone and used to tell the time, show weather, control music players, act as a pedometer, and show you incoming calls or messages.

After watching the promo video we have included below, I’m sure you’ll understand why we are drawing the Pebble comparisons.

The creators of the Agent also teamed up with a watchmaker to come up with the design, which again is…interesting. Contrast stitching in 2013? OK. How thick is this bad boy? We heard comments from readers who thought the Pebble was oversized, so I can’t imagine what they’ll think of this one.

If you’d like to back this project, the early bird special will run you $129, but will jump up to $149 afterwards. See any reason to pick this over the Pebble? I don’t.

Via:  Kickstarter

Cheers Chris!

Agent Smartwatch Launches on Kickstarter, Like a Thicker Pebble That’s a Year Late to the Party is a post from: Droid Life

At this point, can we pencil in Google as guaranteed to be the next big tech company to create a smartwatch? We’ve already seen at least one patent filed for a watch, along with a report that the Android team is leading the charge on the project. So today’s patent filing doesn’t necessarily come as a surprise, but it does offer up details on how this new wearable wriststrap could work. 

Similar to how Google Glass works with its side touchpad, this patent talks of using the bezels around the watchface for accomplishing gestures like pinch-to-zoom, scrolling, and stretching. The patent says specifically that the bezel will be used to “provide a tactile-based user input to the processor.”

There are also mentions of a display, processor, battery, and wriststrap, along with dozens of mentions of this being a “smart-watch.” If you didn’t think that Google was working on one, I hope that you do now. Here’s to hoping it looks similar to this Google Time concept.

If you could choose, would you go Google smartwatch or Glass?

Via:  USPTO | Engadget

Google Files Patent for Smartwatch With Bezels as Touchpads is a post from: Droid Life

Click here to view the embedded video.

With the launch of the Pebble smartwatch, the tech world seems to be happily hopping on-board for wearable technology. We have seen a Google smartwatch concept before in the past that was based on a Google Now-like design, but this short video from T3 shows what a more Android-inspired watch might be like. 

We talked about whether we would use smartwatches on the Droid Life Show this week, but what about you? Would you get this watch if Google made it?

Via: Android and Me

Video: Would You Get a Google Smartwatch if it Looked Like This? is a post from: Droid Life

Pebble, the Kickstarter funded smartwatch of the moment, stuck to its word and released their Watchface SDK, today. Going forward, developers will have the opportunity to get creative with the watchfaces that can be shared and downloaded to Pebble. We’re already seeing a handful in the Pebble forums, but the list will likely grow tremendously over the next few weeks as developers have time to play with this release.

The Pebble team also released an OS update today to build 1.10.0.  The new software brings support for watchfaces created by the previously mentioned Watchface SDK, helps increase battery life on iOS devices, include an improved battery indicator, and more. They also squashed a bunch of bugs, all of which we have listed below. 

What’s New

• Added support for third-party watchfaces created by the watchface SDK (see the SDK release notes for more details).
• Resolved power-savings issues causing impaired battery life when connected to an iOS device.
• Improved the responsiveness and power-efficiency of several system applications.
• Improved battery indicator to be more responsive and accurate.
• Added an option to disable turning on the backlight using the accelerometer.
• Added an option to disable the vibrating motor when a notification arrives.
• Factory reset now removes all non-system applications and watchfaces.
• “Allow Pebble to communicate…” pop-ups occur much less frequently on iOS.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a crash that occurred when an email is sent over MAP on iOS with an empty subject.
• Fixed a crash in the music app that occurred when Bluetooth was disabled.
• Fixed a crash in the music app if tracks were changed too quickly when paired with an iOS device.
• Fixed an issue where non-fullscreen apps that aren’t animated don’t render properly.
• Fixed an edge-case where Pebble would not properly connect to an iOS device.
• Fixed an issue where multiple vibration patterns would run concurrently.

And last, the Pebble Android app was updated to also include support for the Watchface SDK. You’ll find a new settings menu as well.

Via:  Pebble Forums [2] [SDK] [Play Link]

Cheers Lake!

Pebble Updated Once Again, Watchface SDK Also Released is a post from: Droid Life

The crew behind Pebble (our review) – the e-paper smartwatch and Kickstarter darling – posted an update to their project page today to inform backers of the status of watch shipments. If you purchased a black version of the Pebble, you have great news to enjoy as all black orders have been manufactured and left the factory on their way to fulfillment. (Yay!) According to the Pebble team, that’s over 55,000 black watches. 

If you ordered a colored version of Pebble, the news isn’t so hot. In fact, the news is so bad that Pebble is allowing you to swap out your color order for a black model should you decide that waiting any longer is completely unacceptable.

In their post, they mention that they thought that red and orange model color perfection had been achieved, but an issue arrose during final assembly. That issue appears to have been fixed, but it cost them at least a few days of down time. This also means that the grey and white versions are delayed even further. To make matters worse, grey and white have proven to be even more problematic.

As of today, the Pebble team hopes to ship red Pebbles within 2-3 weeks. They do not have projected dates for orange, grey or white. They will ship in that order though, once they are finished.

If you’d like to switch your order to a black Pebble, do so through your Pebble account.

In somewhat enjoyable news for those who already own a Pebble, you’ll now find 12-hour versions of many of the popular digital watchfaces that were previously released. You’ll need to delete the older versions first, but should be able to find the new ones in the watchface library.

Sorry, colored backers.

Via:  Kickstarter

Pebble Update: All Black Watches Ready for Fulfillment, Colors Delayed Even Further is a post from: Droid Life

According to a report out of the Financial Times, Google is indeed preparing to enter the smartwatch arena. As unsurprising as that sounds, since every other major tech company has been rumored to be working on some sort of smartwatch product, it’s the particular team given the task of developing it that caught our interest. FT claims that the Android team will indeed be leading the charge on the project “to act as an extension to the smartphones using that operating system.” 

Their sources also claim that this project is separate from what Samsung is doing, which would make sense since they are completely separate companies…moving on.

If you haven’t figured it out, the smartwatch is the new frontier for tech companies just as tablets were a couple of years ago. Now that smartphones have found themselves in the pockets and purses of so many, and the iPad still reigns supreme in the tablet space, it’s time to look for what’s next. Wearable computing appears to be the hot topic of the moment, so to hear that Google’s Android team has been given the job is hardly surprising. It is exciting, though.

Finding a seamless connection between smartphone and watch is going to be of the utmost importance. So far, the smartwatch has been mostly a failed experiment because of a lack of apps and vision by early entries. Pebble may be the closest to a winner, but it has a long way to go. While I don’t know if Google can find a way to make magic in a new arena (Nexus Q, anyone?), we’ll be standing by with fingers crossed.

No time frame for a release or announcement of the project was given.

Via:  Financial Times

Report: Google Smartwatch Being Developed by the Android Team is a post from: Droid Life

Pebble, the hottest little indie smartwatch of the year (our review), received a software update this week to version 1.9.0. In the update, navigation has been revamped toa make more sense, new watchfaces were introduced, and the first game (Snake) is available for download. To grab the update, you’ll need to pair your Pebble with a smartphone, launch the Pebble app, and hit Menu>Check For FW Update, if it doesn’t prompt you automatically. 

The new navigation combines all of the watchfaces into their own category, so that you no longer have to thumb through them and settings categories in the main menu. You can also thumb through watchfaces on the fly from any watchface by using the up and down buttons.

Now that production is well underway, the SDK for watchfaces will be out in the second week of April, so at that time, we’d imagine there will be more watchfaces to choose from than you can probably keep track of.

In the videos below, you can see a walk-through of the new update from my perspective. After that, I recommend watching the Kickstarter update from Pebble, if anything, because it shows off Mario on the watch. That’s right, someone created a Mario watchface.

Last, check out this Pebble Concepts page to see where developers are planning to take the watchface game.

Still using your Pebble or have you not received it yet?

Overview

Click here to view the embedded video.

Update from Pebble

Via:  Pebble

Pebble Smartwatch Updates to Version 1.9.0 – Revamped Navigation, Plus Games and New Watchfaces is a post from: Droid Life

According to Samsung executive Young Hee, who spoke with media in Seoul this week, his company is “definitely” preparing to launch its own smartwatch. As you know, the smartwatch has been one of the hottest indie technologies to hit the market this year, so it makes perfect sense that bigger companies would look to invest in similar, wearable technology. Companies like Pebble have jumped out to a headstart in the category, but with an Apple iWatch grabbing rumor headlines over the last couple of months, Samsung needs to hurry to get something that can compete. 

Hee mentioned that they have been preparing a watch product for “so long” and that they are working “very hard to get ready for it.” While he wouldn’t specify any features for the product, it’s clear that they need to make it powerful enough to make it a worthwhile purchase for consumers that is also affordable. The smartphone market is said to be nearing saturation, so wearable products like a smartwatch could help Samsung or Apple make money off of a new product line, assuming they do it right.

It should be an interesting battle over the next couple of months as Samsung and Apple look to conquer this new category. Apple essentially revolutionized and created the MP3, smartphone and tablet worlds, but if Samsung can beat them to the punch with a smartwatch, they may find one of their greatest achievements to date.

Via:  Bloomberg

Samsung is “Definitely” Preparing a Smartwatch Says Company Exec is a post from: Droid Life

Smartwatches seem to be all the rage these days. From indie Kickstarter funded projects like Pebble to big dogs like Sony and Motorola, everyone is taking their stab at second displays that attach to your wrist. As if the giant 5.5″ screened-smartphones weren’t convenient enough, we need another screen that can be viewed with the lift of an arm to give us up-to-the-minute information. And it certainly makes sense, especially as technology has improved (read: shrunken in size) so that wearing a smartwatch doesn’t mean you’re the calculator watch guy from the 90s.

But are the majority of people, especially those in this community, all that interested? Over the last year, as we’ve featured almost all of them, including this random concept of a Google-powered watch, we’re definitely seeing mixed opinions. And what do we do with mixed opinions? Get them in a poll.

Thursday Poll: Interested in a SmartWatch? is a post from: Droid Life

After using the Pebble E-paper Smartwatch for five days, I’d say I’ve spent enough time with it to give you all my final impressions. And when I say that I’ve used it for five days, I’m not kidding. This sucker has been attached to my wrist from the time I wake up until my face hits my pillow at night. I’ve tried to make it as much a part of my daily life as I would a smartphone to see if there are any real benefits to having a smartwatch. So far, I’m seeing a lot of potential here. But is potential enough?

Design

Overall, I really like the look of Pebble. It’s simple, minimal, and not obvious. I chose the all-black version, which features a semi-glossy exterior and matte-rubber watch band. It may not stand out as the flashiest watch on the planet, but sometimes that’s a good thing, especially when the point of a smartwatch is to be constantly staring at it. The face is slightly curved (outward), the buttons on each side stick out just far enough to be pressed with ease, and the entire watch fits perfectly onto my wrists, which I do not consider to be big by any means. The size matches up to many of the standard watches these days, and does not fit into the “oversized” watch category in my opinion

Build

The Pebble is supposed to be waterproof and scratch-resistant. While I have yet to take it swimming, I’ll assume they aren’t lying when they added that spec to the feature list. As far it being scratch-resistant, all I can say is that I haven’t scratched mine to this point. With that said, we are hearing reports of others scratching theirs “with normal use.” I’d definitely take care of the display of this like you would a smartphone, as I do not believe it to be the most scratch resistant substance on the planet. Outside of the display, the unit itself feels solid and like it won’t die after a single drop. And actually, I just dropped it from my desk to hardwood floor while writing this and it survived.

Battery Life

The Pebble team claims that their watch with its E-paper display will last for up to 7 days on a single charge. As of writing this post, I’m at 5 days and counting on my first full charge. I don’t know if it’ll last the full 7 days, but I’m pretty happy with it at least getting me through a work week. There is a problem, though – it doesn’t have a battery meter. Unless we see an update that includes one, you have no idea how much life your Pebble has left in it before it dies.

Update:  In the menu, my Pebble is now showing a low-battery icon. This is the first time this has showed up, so I’ll assume this means that I should charge the watch or it will be dying soon. At least they notify you that death is near – would still like an ongoing battery meter.

Update 2:  Battery did die today, the 5th day of the first charge. Assuming the battery will get better over time, I can’t complain.

Notifications

The star feature of Pebble is its ability of it to show you notifications from your phone as they come in. It does a great job of populating your screen within seconds of a notification arriving. For now, Pebble can show notifications for incoming calls, SMS messages, calendar reminders, emails, Gmail messages (multiple accounts), Google Talk messages, Google Voice messages, Facebook messages, and WhatsApp messages. There will likely be more as developers build out support for Pebble.

While I mentioned that Pebble does a great job of notifying you immediately upon arrival, there are some limitations that I hope to see addressed before long. First, emails are limited to a certain number of lines or characters. If you are a power email user, you may find that a bit frustrating. For me, I eventually just had to use Pebble as a way to preview emails and to decide if I actually needed to pull my phone out or not. Then again, that’s sort of the point anyway, since you can’t actually reply to anything from the Pebble.

Also, notifications themselves aren’t handled well when you receive one after another. If you are looking at an email on Pebble and a Google Talk message comes in, the email disappears forever and you are left with the Google Talk message or whatever is newest. There is no way to return to the previous notification or manage say, your last five or ten notifications. At this point, Pebble can only handle one at a time.

User Interface

The user interface of Pebble is not incredibly advanced, and that may be a good thing. Since it doesn’t have a touchscreen, you rely on back, home/select, up and down buttons to navigate. It doesn’t take long to figure out, so for those concerned that it may be too advanced shouldn’t worry. There are a couple of simple screens – the clock face and then the menu. As you can imagine, you use the back button to get out of options, the home/select to choose them, and the up and down to navigate the menu. The UI is much better explained in the video review below, so I’ll spare you from me trying to explain it here.

What I will say, is that in world where we touch everything, it does seem like somewhat of a step backwards. Maybe this was how they kept it somewhat reasonable on the price?

Price

At $150, the Pebble is not necessarily cheap. It may carry the “smartwatch” tag, but it still needs to pack in a robust feature set in order to get people to want to commit to such a product at that price. For now, it lacks some features that we would like to see in the very near future (like pairing with workout or GPS-enabled apps). Give me Nike+ support with Pebble, and you won’t need to go out and buy a separate watch, just for exercising. The problem right now, is that we don’t know if apps like that will ever work with Pebble.

I should point out that you can buy a product like the Sony Smartwatch for as little as $100. It also handles notifications, does social media, controls music, and has a touchscreen.

Gallery

Video

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Verdict

Overall, I’ve definitely enjoyed my time with the Pebble. I love the idea of having notifications for emails or messages appear on my wrist so that I don’t have to pull out my phone all of the time. I’ve also been able to use it during the course of a normal workday, as it has allowed me to avoid having to dive into email every 30 seconds. Instead, I can look at my wrist for a second and decide if the email is important enough for me to take a deeper look at. It has a subtle design that makes it look like nothing other than a typical black watch, phenomenal battery life so far, and could turn into one heck of a product assuming developers decide to build out support for it through their apps.

On the downside, Pebble needs to fix the watch’s handling of multiple notifications and expand email output. They also need to convince those previously mentioned developers to build out support for their apps, so that this watch can be taken to the next level.

At $150, I wouldn’t necessarily say that the Pebble is overpriced, but I’m also not sure it’s priced to grab the average tech user. This is for early adopters and tech geeks, like myself that will have some patience as this eventually turns into the watch we all dream of it becoming.

Pebble E-paper Smartwatch Review is a post from: Droid Life

It’s time for the Droid Life Smartwatch Showdown. Not really, but over the next few days, Kellex and myself will be playing with these new toys and seeing if we can get into this whole new phenomenon where even a person’s watch needs to be connected to their phone. Kellex will be handling the Pebble and I have the Metawatch STRATA. So let’s dive into it. 

The sleeve that goes over the box that holds the watch is your typical packaging. Simple picture of the watch with some logos and nothing special. After opening the all-black box that the watch is stored in, you find just the watch itself, USB charger, and a small brief instructional guide. Being the person I am, I quickly threw the guide out the window and dove right into the watch. The Android community has already built a few great apps and plugins for the Metawatch and more are sure to come. This software ranges from additional themes for each icon the device supports, stock apps, and even little screensavers that remind me of Nyan Cat. Sure, the screen saver is basically worthless, but it’s cute.

Hooking it up to my phone was easy enough. After turning on my Bluetooth, the phone easily found the device and I entered in the super secure “0000″ password. Once connected, you are ready to customize the look of the watch. There is an official Metawatch app for Android from their team, but it doesn’t support many third party apps and plugins, so if you get one, go for the Community Manager app. Right from the app’s homescreen, you can set which widgets you want shown, what app pages you want, and can change every other setting the watch offers.

In terms of what the watch can offer, the list is quite extensive. Much like the Pebble, it shows you notifications for emails, texts, and phone calls. Since I’m still learning how to work the device, I am still trying to figure out how to read individual texts and emails or if that’s even a possibility. Starting to wish I read that starter’s guide. Oh well.

The watch has six buttons on its sides. Three on each. One lights the LED that illuminates the face, making viewing at night or other poorly lit areas (my cave) much easier. Others control which app you are using. For example, I have a page dedicated to my Music app. I can control my playlists, start/stop music, skip tracks, and all of that jazz right from the watch, which is a fantastic feature when my hands are full while walking the monsters.

In terms of being a watch, it feels pretty nice on my wrist and usually, I am pretty picky about my watches. When switching through pages, there seems to be a little lag after a button is pressed, but it’s nothing that I can’t get over. All in all, after a single day’s usage, I am very impressed. Over the next few days, I will be putting it through the paces and will see if it can keep up.

They are already on sale through their site for $179. Kind of pricey if you aren’t using it to its full potential.

Metawatch STRATA Smartwatch First Impressions and Gallery is a post from: Droid Life

As an early backer of the Pebble E-paper Smartwatch on Kickstarter, it looks like I was lucky enough to receive one from the first batches that were created. Yep, mine arrived late last night, though I am just now having a chance to play with it. As you can see from the pictures, I went with the standard black to keep it a bit more classy and timeless. So let’s talk about my first impressions.

In the box, you get the Pebble and a USB cable with magnetic tip for charging the watch. That’s it. The only instructions ask that you head over to go.getpebble.com where you’ll find instructions on syncing through the Pebble app on your phone via Bluetooth. It took all of 1 minute to set up, sync, and start testing.

The watch itself, is a great size. The first few times I saw the device during the Kickstarter campaign, I thought it might be too small, but now that I have one in hand and on my wrist, I can say that I think they picked a great size. Gone are the days of the ridiculously oversized watch, folks. Pebble clearly understood that.

The black version is a polished plastic with matching matte black rubber wrist band. The device itself has four buttons:  back, home, up and down. And then there is the charging port, which again, only works with the cable in your box since it magnetically attaches to the watch. In other words, do not lose this thing.

On a software front, the watch does as advertised for the most part. While I have yet to fully sync with my device to start testing emails, texts, calls, the Pebble app allows you to send test messages so you can at least see what notifications would look like. When receiving each, your watch will do a little vibrate in order to notify you. From there, you can view messages, scroll and read them, or decline incoming calls. I can see how this could be handy.

At this time, Pebble can accept notifications from Gmail, Email, Google Talk, Google Voice, Calendar, WhatsApp, Incoming Calls, SMS, and Facebook.

Unfortunately, the Pebble team still has a ways to go when it comes to other apps. In the campaign on Kickstarter, they showed it tracking workouts such as runs or biking, but those have yet to be built in. It does allow you to control your music, though.

On a first impression basis, I’d say that Pebble is off to a good start, but it’ll take some time for me to fully review and decide if you should drop $150 on one, which is the retail price now that it’s out of Kickstarter and on its own.

For now check out the gallery and video below.

Gallery

Video

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pebble E-paper Smartwatch First Look and Hands-on is a post from: Droid Life

At CES, the folks behind Pebble told the world that their Kickstarter funded e-paper smartwatch would begin shipping by January 23. They stuck to that today, announcing to backers of the project that batches of the watch are on pallets and ready to go (see image above). Their email to backers also included a mention of “some kinks and issues” that still need to be worked out, but we’re assuming they are minor if Pebbles are shipping. 

On Thursday, January 24, the Android app will hit the Google Play store. So if you backed and receive one of the first Pebbles, you will have access to all of its power. iOS users on the other hand, they’ll have to wait until Apple gets around to approving the app, which was submitted two weeks ago.

At this time, they are producing around 800-1,000 per day, but are working hard to get that up to max capacity – 2.4K per day. Today, they’ll ship just 500 Pebbles.

Pebble E-paper Smartwatch Begins Shipping Today, Android App Arrives Thursday is a post from: Droid Life

Smartwatches are all the rage these days. Everyone seems to want to feel more connected to their smartphone, a product we already can’t peel our eyes away from for two minutes. We have seen Pebble, one of the more highly regarded products, along with I’m Watch, what may be one of the worst smartwatch attempts in history. There are choices to be had, but what if one was completely Google-inspired? Take this Google Time concept for example. 

UI designer Adrian Maciburko took the idea of a smartwatch, along with Google’s current UI scheme for a variety of products, and transformed it all into this concept. He walks through notifications, responding to messages (Google Talk and Google+) via voice, weather forecasts, accessing homescreens, clock themes, and more.

It’s a product that again, is only a concept and will likely never become a reality, but it’s still pretty cool to follow along with his vision. This is definitely the type of smartwatch I’d be interested in.

Managing Notifications

Pinch-to-Zoom to Enter Homescreen

Swipe From Top to Enter Homescreen

Thoughts on the current infatuation with smartwatches? If there were to be a Google-inspired watch like this, would you be interested?

Via:  Dribble | Maciburko

This Google “Time” Smartwatch UI Concept is Neat is a post from: Droid Life