Pebble Bluetooth Watch ‘Talks’ to iOS, Android Apps

The Pebble “e-paper” Bluetooth watch connects to your iOS or Android smartphone via Bluetooth wireless, its display (144×168) face is great for use in direct sunlight, and it’s powered by an ARM processor. To keep the Pebble watch powered up you recharge it every week or so by pluggin in the included cable to a standard USB port.

The Pebble has a three-axis accelerometer for orientation, and it vibrates for notifications. The e-paper display is visibile in the dark thanks to a backlight. And it has four navigation buttons.

The Pebble is a Kickstarter project, and its funding goal has already been reached. But you can still preorder the device for $150, and more than 85,000 Pebble gadgets have already been purchased, according to the Kickstarter page.

One of the coolest things about Pebble is that you can load multiple apps onto it.  You can download apps to control the music playback on your smartphone or access GPS setting to monitor your speed and distance traveled. Apps that use your smartphone’s mobile data connection can also be used.

The Pebble can be configured to display various types of notifications for functions including incoming Caller ID, Facebook Messages, Twitter mentions, calendar alerts, weather alerts and a vibrating alarm. Developers can also use the Pebble SDK to create custom apps.

Pebble is water resistant, and it supports Bluetooth 4.0 (Low Energy) for low power consumption.

Unfortunately, it does not work with BlackBerry or Windows Phone devices at the moment; the gadget is for iOS and Android only.

The Pebble team put up an update video a couple of days ago showing the GUI that is currently being developed. You can watch a preview of the video on Vimeo here.