The Daily Roundup for 04.15.2013

Posted on 15/04/2013 by David Fishman

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Pebble smartwatch hands-on (video)

Posted on 09/01/2013 by Myriam Joire

It's hard to believe that nine months have elapsed since we first wrote about Pebble. The smartwatch quickly became one of Kickstarter's most successful campaigns -- raising $10 million in a few short weeks -- only to miss its original shipping date. We knew things were looking up when the device recently cleared the FCC and today at CES 2013, Allerta confirmed that Pebble will be shipping to its backers on January 23rd.

We spent some time with the smartwatch here in Las Vegas and came away extremely impressed with the level of polish the company's achieved. Pebble's most visually striking feature is its colorful multi-layer polycarbonate face / bezel, which looks fantastic. The device is incredibly light (just 38.2g / 1.35oz) but still manages to feel solid. Build-quality is top-notch -- Allerta's clearly put a lot of care into the hardware. The sides and back are black and completely sealed (Pebble is water-resistant to five atmospheres). On the right side you'll find the up, select and down buttons, while the left side is home to the back button and a magnetic power connector, à la MagSafe. Speaking of which, battery life is rated for a lofty seven days per charge.

Gallery: Pebble smartwatch hands-on

Continue reading Pebble smartwatch hands-on (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables, Mobile, Apple, Google

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Pebble watch gets updated to Bluetooth 4.0 before it even arrives

Posted on 08/05/2012 by Mat Smith

What are you going to do when you get an unprecedented response from your new Kickstarter project? You throw in some extra features to keep your new fans happy. Allerta, the same company behind the InPulse smartwatch, has announced that its new Pebble smartwatch will now arrive with low-power Bluetooth 4.0 compatibility. The watches will still interact with Bluetooth 2.1, but inclusion of the latest version should ensure a better degree of future-proofing, with a view to hooking up with wireless heart monitors in the near future. The new feature will be built into the watches ahead of its release and enabled with a later software update. Better still, the makers promise that these Bluetooth plans have been in the pipeline for a while and shouldn't affect the watch's launch date.

Pebble watch gets updated to Bluetooth 4.0 before it even arrives originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 May 2012 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pebble smartwatch raises $100,000 in two hours, retires on a beach

Posted on 12/04/2012 by James Trew

It always pleases us when interesting Kickstarter projects do well. Especially ones that fly as well as this. Just two hours after launching, the Pebble watch from Allerta landed $100,000 in pledges. Two. Hours. When you consider the phone-friendly e-paper timepiece was being offered at $115 a pop, that's a lot of individual supporters, and therefore pre-orders to fulfill. Of course, we like to think we played a small part in this story, but the credit ultimately has to lie with the product developers themselves, who clearly captured people's imaginations. And then some. At time of writing, the tally's run to well over $1 million with 36 days still to go.

Pebble smartwatch raises $100,000 in two hours, retires on a beach originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Allerta intros Pebble smartwatch, inPulse’s attractive younger sibling

Posted on 11/04/2012 by Myriam Joire

Remember the inPulse Smartwatch? Say hello to its attractive younger sibling, the Pebble e-paper watch. Allerta's latest creation -- which is launching today on Kickstarter for $99 in three colors -- is "the first smartwatch to offer full iPhone and iOS compatibility". It features a 1.26-inch 144x168-pixel black and white e-paper display with backlight, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, four buttons, a vibrating motor and a three-axis accelerometer. The battery is expected to last more than seven days on a charge.

Pebble receives call, email and message notifications from iOS and Android devices over Bluetooth. It supports downloadable watchfaces and activity-specific watchapps for controlling music, cycling, running and golfing. Allerta's even teamed up with Freecaddie to create a rangefinder app for over 25,000 golf courses worldwide. The timepiece can run several watchapps simultaneously -- these can be installed over Bluetooth using the Pebble App for iOS and Android (2.3 or higher) and developed using the Pebble SDK.

Color choices include white, black, red and a fourth hue to be voted on by early backers of the project -- hurray to crowdsourcing. Pricing is $99 on Kickstarter today and $149 at retail later this year. Want more info? Check out the gallery below, then hit the break for the PR details and the Kickstarter link.

Gallery: Allerta Pebble smartwatch PR shots