The Pebble smartwatch and its Steel companion are getting permanent drops in price to celebrate impressive growth since launching in 2013. The base model now costs just $99 and the Steel version is $199. Yesterday, these prices were reflected at Best Buy in what was originally believed to be a sale.
The device already has a presence online and in retail stores across the country, but you will start to see more of Pebble. Sam's Club, Fry's Electronics, and Sprint are all carrying Pebble. Outside of the United States, prospective buyers can expect the same amount of availability at new locations.
With the new and improved pricing in place, Pebble gets updated software. It gets compatibility from other services like Jawbone, Misfit, and Swim.com to become an excellent fitness tracker. Pebble will operate in the background for around-the-clock tracking. There are other much smaller changes, but a focus on fitness is definitely the most notable.
Here is what's new with Pebble Firmware 2.6:
- NEW: Activity. Activity tracking apps (e.g. Jawbone, Misfit, Swim.com) for Pebble now work seamlessly in the background. View installed Activity apps and toggle preferences in the Pebble Settings menu. An Activity icon is visible within Pebble menus when a compatible app is installed and running.
- NEW: Quick Launch. Set shortcuts from a watchface to your favorite Pebble apps with a long press of the Up or Down buttons. Enable Quick Launch and set app shortcuts in the Pebble Settings menu.
- Battery icon is now persistent within Pebble menus.
- Select button once again dismisses notifications when paired with an Android device or iOS device on iOS 7 or lower. iOS 8 users get notificaion dismissal for both Pebble and the paired device when pressing Select.
- Bug fixes and improvements.
Play Store Download Link
Source: Pebble
