Pebble Watch + Car Bluetooth?

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jason.hamilton

Senior Member
Jun 25, 2010
517
45
Dallas
I am thinking about purchasing the Pebble SmartWatch. I am curious to if I will be able to connect the watch to my phone while my phone is connected to my truck's bluetooth radio or Bluetooth headset (one at a time). All the reviews i have seen shows it just playing through headphones or the phone's speaker, not through another bluetooth device. Anyone have any experience w/ the pebble watch? 150.00 is alot without confirming that it works.
 

setzer715

Senior Member
Jan 29, 2009
1,236
209
North Phoenix
I am thinking about purchasing the Pebble SmartWatch. I am curious to if I will be able to connect the watch to my phone while my phone is connected to my truck's bluetooth radio or Bluetooth headset (one at a time). All the reviews i have seen shows it just playing through headphones or the phone's speaker, not through another bluetooth device. Anyone have any experience w/ the pebble watch? 150.00 is alot without confirming that it works.

I don't think the phone can maintain more than one bluetooth connection at a time. Though my car stereo can so I guess it is possible and just a software issue. Maybe there's an app out there or maybe a Dev could figure it out. BUT since a car stereo connects as a headset MAYBE it could connect to a second device as a data connection (Watch)?

I don't think it's available for the public yet, only shipping to "backers" at this point. Still says "Pre-Order"
 

KiNG OMaR

Senior Member
Sep 20, 2010
1,713
421
Chicago
My car doesn't have A2DP so I run 2 simultaneous connections and it works perfectly fine. One connection to the car's phone and another for audio through an A2DP device connected so I can listen to music as well as take calls from the car. The phone hands each off just fine. The N4 is perfectly capable of handling multiple Bluetooth connections at a time.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
 

kpjimmy

Senior Member
Jan 20, 2009
5,032
1,143
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San Antonio TX
Nothing Phone 1
Google Pixel 7
I don't think the phone can maintain more than one bluetooth connection at a time. Though my car stereo can so I guess it is possible and just a software issue. Maybe there's an app out there or maybe a Dev could figure it out. BUT since a car stereo connects as a headset MAYBE it could connect to a second device as a data connection (Watch)?

I don't think it's available for the public yet, only shipping to "backers" at this point. Still says "Pre-Order"

Th phone can be connected to two things at once. I have my Parrot Minikit Neo and also the HTC stereo stick connected at the same time. So when a call comes in, the Parrot will pick up the call and then when ended, my HTC Stereo stick will continue to play/stream from my phone.

I'm just running PA 3.1 and no audio add-ons/hacks. Using Poweramp and sometimes N7 player to play from my phone.

And I am a backer as well. I have the Grey one on order, and from my understanding, will be one of the last ones to be shipped because they begun shipping only the black pebbles at this point and is approx 30% done with it's backer rewards. So I'll probably get it in May lol.
 
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setzer715

Senior Member
Jan 29, 2009
1,236
209
North Phoenix
Th phone can be connected to two things at once. I have my Parrot Minikit Neo and also the HTC stereo stick connected at the same time. So when a call comes in, the Parrot will pick up the call and then when ended, my HTC Stereo stick will continue to play/stream from my phone.

I'm just running PA 3.1 and no audio add-ons/hacks. Using Poweramp and sometimes N7 player to play from my phone.

And I am a backer as well. I have the Grey one on order, and from my understanding, will be one of the last ones to be shipped because they begun shipping only the black pebbles at this point and is approx 30% done with it's backer rewards. So I'll probably get it in May lol.

Good to know that the phone can handle multiple connections at once!

I just added one of the watches to the cart to see ship time and it's stating a ship time of April-May. I think as a backer you will get it sooner. I'm not getting one, $150 is quite a bit but my wife cannot use her phone at work. It's tough for me to get a hold of her so I was thinking for her. She's an Apple user though so she may just wait and see what Apple releases this year.
 

diablos991

Senior Member
Mar 14, 2010
622
58
Good to know that the phone can handle multiple connections at once!

I just added one of the watches to the cart to see ship time and it's stating a ship time of April-May. I think as a backer you will get it sooner. I'm not getting one, $150 is quite a bit but my wife cannot use her phone at work. It's tough for me to get a hold of her so I was thinking for her. She's an Apple user though so she may just wait and see what Apple releases this year.

I am a backer and I don't expect to see mine until April. lol
They are putting off color orders and producing more black than anything. Their production isn't where they planned on it being either. I expect that April-May shipment for pre-orders to become June-July.
 

kpjimmy

Senior Member
Jan 20, 2009
5,032
1,143
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San Antonio TX
Nothing Phone 1
Google Pixel 7
Good to know that the phone can handle multiple connections at once!

I just added one of the watches to the cart to see ship time and it's stating a ship time of April-May. I think as a backer you will get it sooner. I'm not getting one, $150 is quite a bit but my wife cannot use her phone at work. It's tough for me to get a hold of her so I was thinking for her. She's an Apple user though so she may just wait and see what Apple releases this year.

There's a kickstarter called Embrace+ a notifying bracelet. I don't think it will get funded. It has a lofty goal of $250k and it's about 22k into it with 25 days to go lol. Good idea! But sadly won't get made.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/embraceplus/embrace-1

---------- Post added at 10:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:01 AM ----------

I am a backer and I don't expect to see mine until April. lol
They are putting off color orders and producing more black than anything. Their production isn't where they planned on it being either. I expect that April-May shipment for pre-orders to become June-July.

What color did you get?
 

diablos991

Senior Member
Mar 14, 2010
622
58
There's a kickstarter called Embrace+ a notifying bracelet. I don't think it will get funded. It has a lofty goal of $250k and it's about 22k into it with 25 days to go lol. Good idea! But sadly won't get made.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/embraceplus/embrace-1

Just remember people, Kickstarter is not a store. These investments potentially have much more risk involved.

What color did you get?

Gray.
 

irishtexmex

Senior Member
Sep 27, 2010
399
56
Austin, TX
For the love of everything that is holy I have been trying to find this solution for so long...

I'm basically looking for an Android compatible version of something like the Kensington LiquidAUX setup. For older cars that don't have built in bluetooth but DO have an auxillary in cable, this solution lets you plug the aux in cable into a bluetooth receiver and also gives you a remote that attaches to your steering wheel that can change music tracks. You can see what I mean from these pictures:

1c58nd9l.jpg


oottdoh.jpg


I have been searching and searching and searching and have never found anything that will accomplish this with an Android phone. I had privately always wondered if a Pebble watch could achieve this.
 
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kpjimmy

Senior Member
Jan 20, 2009
5,032
1,143
51
San Antonio TX
Nothing Phone 1
Google Pixel 7
I got my pebble on Friday and have been playing with it all weekend :laugh:. I do love it! I slapped on a skin protector and matte black. Oh and for those who reads the entire thread, I did initially order the grey one, but the colors especially the grey was going to take longer than the black ones, which were produced in abundance and was the first to be produced. Pebble offered to switch to black, which I did and I decided I wanted matte black skin which look awesome IMO. The glossy face looks off with the band. And I am looking at a few cuff bands to house this sucker!

Back to topic. So far the bt plays well with the phone. I can now control my music tracks using my V-Moda M-100's, and also my bt setup in my truck using an HTC Car Clip, which is plugged into my aux port on my head unit. That is paired up with my N4 for playing my tracks. Now I can use my Pebble to skip through tracks! Love it!! No need to wake the phone to swipe.

Also my parrot minikit neo works as well. No conflicts with any of them so far. I will report back if something happens lol.
 

Impulses

Senior Member
May 19, 2010
267
23
Guaynabo
For the love of everything that is holy I have been trying to find this solution for so long...

I'm basically looking for an Android compatible version of something like the Kensington LiquidAUX setup. For older cars that don't have built in bluetooth but DO have an auxillary in cable, this solution lets you plug the aux in cable into a bluetooth receiver and also gives you a remote that attaches to your steering wheel that can change music tracks. You can see what I mean from these pictures:

1c58nd9l.jpg


oottdoh.jpg


I have been searching and searching and searching and have never found anything that will accomplish this with an Android phone. I had privately always wondered if a Pebble watch could achieve this.

Ran across this old thread randomly while reading about the Pebble, I know it's blatant necromancy but I felt compelled to post and mention that Kensington made a standard Android compatible version of that device, same name and everything. Only difference is that instead of having the 20 pin cable sticking out it has a USB port down there that will charge any old phone...

The thing is old as dirt and it's actually discontinued I think so good luck finding it, wasn't even meant for Android per se, I've been using mine for the better part of three years! Worked fine with my last dumb phone (a Sony Ericsson) as well as my last three Android phones. The only occasional issue is that it'll lose power if wiggled but that could just be the fault of my 2007 Civic's janky 12V port (never bothered to try it in another car). The brilliant part about this thing is really that wireless remote, I didn't even use that wheel bracelet it comes with, just Velcro'd it to a slot on my Civic's steering wheel and it damn near looks stock. I've no idea what kinda wireless protocol they use or whether it communicates with the phone or directly with the base, I'm pretty sure it's the latter...

There's lots of Bluetooth devices like this one meant to sit in the dash or discretely below it, some might even be better suited if your aux jack and 12V port aren't immediately adjacent (I've seen smaller devices) or if they're pretty hidden (the mic on the LiquidAux isn't great), but I've NEVER seen one with a wireless remote like this (they often don't even have any kinda music playback controls)... And I've looked around occasionally too cause I've got several friends with semi recent 2009-2011 cars without BT built in for whom this would be an awesome gift (plus I'd kinda like a backup, I'm gonna be stuck with my Civic for a few more years still!).

If anyone knows of an alternative I'm all ears, I guess something like the Pebble (not necessarily a $150 smartwatch) that can control playback while another device handles BT streaming would sorta work but it seems like a workaround... I've no idea why Kensington stopped making this thing, it was kinda ahead of it's time IMO since piping music over BT wasn't anywhere near as common or popular when it came out, Android was barely catching on and iOS BT support lagged dumb phones...

In fact I remember being mildly annoyed that my Sony Ericsson dumb phone fully supported the playback controls on the remote yet iOS on my IPod touch (2nd gen) only allowed play/pause but no track skipping (things like that soured me on iOS, that was the one and only Apple device I owned, tho I'm glad to have tried it out). There's tons of BT-less cars on the road for which this would be a perfect solution. Someone oughta petition Kensington to bring it back or put out a rip off thru Kickstarter... I remember paying like $45 for it during a CompUSA sale (before they first closed, yes it's really that old, pretty sure it preceded the iOS version), beats the heck out of replacing your stereo deck just for BT IMO.
 
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    For the love of everything that is holy I have been trying to find this solution for so long...

    I'm basically looking for an Android compatible version of something like the Kensington LiquidAUX setup. For older cars that don't have built in bluetooth but DO have an auxillary in cable, this solution lets you plug the aux in cable into a bluetooth receiver and also gives you a remote that attaches to your steering wheel that can change music tracks. You can see what I mean from these pictures:

    1c58nd9l.jpg


    oottdoh.jpg


    I have been searching and searching and searching and have never found anything that will accomplish this with an Android phone. I had privately always wondered if a Pebble watch could achieve this.