Great news for Pebble users. The greatest smart-watch available on today’s market has just received a major OS upgrade to 2.0. The new version brings a lot of improvements, but the most notable one is the launch of Pebble App Store. Now we don’t need to go to third party websites to get a new watch-face or apps for our smart-watch. At the day of launch, more than 1,000 watch-faces and apps are available to download through Pebble App Store, integrated with Pebble app.
I’m happy that my favorite watch-face (Modern) receives an update to show temperature. After few minutes of browsing the new app store, I find a lot of interesting watch-faces, some of them finally provides battery indicator without the need of companion app.
Apps are categorized into 6 categories: Daily, Tools & Utilities, Notifications, Remotes, Fitness and Games. In Daily, the most notable app is Foursquare. Yes, not we can check-in to Foursquare directly from Pebble. The interface is simple and it allows us to choose the location names. In Tools & Utilities we have battery indicator, digital dice, stopwatch, timer, currency exchange rate and many more.
In Notifications category, we have apps that will buzz our Pebble for their specific use like tracking packages or checking sports scores. In Remotes, we can download apps to control VLC, GoPro or other devices. We can even control our iPhone’s camera, not just triggering the shot, but also viewing what the camera sees. Fitness apps are mostly integrated to various fitness products. Some of them requires companion app to work.
Last but not least… Games. I’m not a fan of playing game in a 4-buttons device. But I must say that it does impress me to see how far people can take the idea. So far I have spotted few interesting games like Orbtime, Chess, Pebloid and even Sudoku Solver.
The official Pebble app has received major redesign. Instead of just simply connecting our phones to our smart-watches, the app now does a lot more. Since Pebble can only hold 8 watch-faces (or apps) at the same time, I always had problem in choosing which ones to keep and which ones to delete. When I deleted a watch-face or Pebble app, I need to somehow keep the file so I can use it again in the future if I feel like it. Now I don’t need to worry about that anymore. Pebble app introduces the concept of “Locker”. Deleting an app or watch-face only removes it from the watch, not from the Pebble app. Removed apps (or watch-faces) will be stored in Locker so we can freely exchange which apps (or watch-faces) to use.
It’s still the same device, but I feel like I just got a brand new smart-watch !
This upgrade is currently available for iOS users. According to their website, the Android update is coming very soon.
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