Getting started with the Pebble Time on BlackBerry 10

The Pebble Time has been rolling out to those who backed the Kickstarter and recently became available to pre-order. I got mine and I've been enjoying it a lot. We know that Talk2Watch Pro has been updated to support the Pebble Time and the update came just about the time my watch shipped. I'll be going through the types of notifications can get with the Pebble Time on BlackBerry 10, so if it's a watch you've been thinking about getting, continue reading on for a hands-on look at how it works.

I won't go into a review of the Pebble Time here but will just briefly mention how I feel about it compared to the original Pebble. I definitely prefer the rounded corners on the Pebble Time and the overall design. It's lighter than the original and smaller than I expected it to be, which I like. The fact that there's small curve on the back of the watch makes it also feel nicer when it's on my wrist.

Getting started

When you first start up the Pebble Time, you need to set it up. For this you need the Pebble Time app. You can install it using such apps like Snap, or you can borrow an Android device to get set up. Once installed open up the Pebble Time app. One note to those who own a physical keyboard device - Passport, Classic or Q10 - you'll will need to change the view to Zoomed out Full screen, otherwise you won't see the option to say you have the Pebble Time.

Just tap I have a Pebble Time and then you're prompted to login. If you're a currently Pebble user, moving on to the Pebble Time from the Pebble, you'll have an account already, just login. If you're a new user tap Create Account to get setup. Once you've logged in, the Pebble Time app will search for a Pebble Time.

Tap your Pebble Time when it shows on the screen and then accept the pairing on both the Pebble Time and phone. You'll get a confirmation of the pairing on the watch. You'll then be prompted to update the firmware on your Pebble Time, just accept this. You'll see the progress of the update on your watch and in the app.

Once you've completed the set up, you can delete the Android Pebble Time app. If you didn't previously own the Pebble or Pebble Steel you're going to need Talk2Watch Pro in order to get the notifications functioning. Once you've it installed you'll need to connect your Pebble Time to your BlackBerry 10 smartphone. It's best to pair them using the device settings rather than through the app. To pair the Pebble Time to your BlackBerry 10 device go to Settings->Network and Connections->Bluetooth, turn on Bluetooth if it isn't already. Your device will start looking for Bluetooth devices. Your Pebble Time will be called Pebble Time XXXX. When it shows up in the devices section, tap it to connect to your Pebble Time. Note that there will be two Pebble Time devices that will show, do not click on the Pebble Time LE XXXX one. Accept the pairing when this pop up appears. After the connection has been made, tap and hold that connected pairing, when the overflow menu appears, tap Disconnect. Now, go and open up Talk2Watch Pro, the app will look to connect to your Pebble Time. If the connection is successful, your Pebble Time name should appear along the top of the app and your watch will also notify you.

There is also the ability to set predefined messages/templates, which can be used to reply to message that come through to your Pebble Time. To set these up, tap and hold the Text/Messages icon (third icon), you find a couple of templates there, to add more just tap the plus (+) icon on the bottom.

 

Setting up notifications

With Talk2Watch Pro, you can get notifications for calls, email, text, Facebook, Twitter, Calendar events and BBM. By default, calls, email/text and calendar are turned on. You know this as the icons are in color. To turn a notification on or off, just tap the icon. It is off if it is grey in color. You can tap and hold any icon to bring up the setting options for that particular notifications. Each account has their own set of options. For the Text/Email icon, you can choose which accounts you would like to get notifications for, which is great to just filter your more important email accounts. For Facebook and Twitter, this is where you login to those accounts and set up what type of notifications you want to get - Feeds and Chat for Facebook, Tweets, Mentions and DMs for Twitter. For Calendar, you can select which calendars you want to receive event notifications for.

You'll also find a BBM icon. Due to API limitation you won't be able to see the contents of the BBM message, you'll just be notified that you have a BBM message waiting. There is a BBM Contacts Manager where you can assign a contact or BBM group to an ID, so when you get a message from either, the contact or group name will show up. It takes a bit of setting up and works well when you don't have too many groups, it can get quite messy when you have lots of groups coupled with chatty groups, your watch will be going off a lot. You can take a look at one of our early videos on Talk2Watch to see how it works. The process hasn't really changed, except that you can't see the contents of BBM groups anymore.

A great setting option on Talk2Watch Pro is that you can turn of watch notifications while you are using your BlackBerry 10 device. You can find this option in the Talk2Watch Pro app settings, under Notifications, just tick the box against Only notify when phone is locked. Note that the word locked here means when the screen is OFF.

 

Receiving notifications

Once you have set everything up just the way you want you'll start to get notifications sent to your watch. With email notifications, you'll find some actions that you can carry out from the watch. When an email notification comes through, you can press the middle button on the right side of the Pebble Time. This brings up two options - Dismiss and Reply - pressing the top button executes the Dismiss command, pressing the bottom button executes Reply. Dismissing the notification will mean it marks the message as Read in the Hub. The Reply function sends a predefined template that you can set within the Talk2Watch Pro app. To reply, just press the bottom button on the right, then the center button to accept. You'll then have three options - Voice, Template and Emoji. The Voice option does not work, so that's not something we can use as BlackBerry 10 users, at this moment in time anyway. Selecting Template will display the templates you have set within Talk2Watch Pro (see above). Just select the one you wish to use using the top and bottom buttons to scroll through them. Choosing Emoji from the list will present you with a bunch of smileys you can send as a reply. The very same process can be applied to any SMS messages received.

If you have turned on Twitter notifications, there a few things you can do from the watch too - Retweet or Favorite. When a Tweet comes through to your Pebble Time, just press the middle button to bring up the Retweet and Favorite options. Just choose the action you want to carry out using the top or bottom button.

With BBM messages that come through to the Pebble Time, you can't really do much as you can't see the contents of the message either. It was something added by the developer of Talk2Watch to give users BBM notifications. At the very least, you know you have BBM messages waiting for you to read and who they have come from.

 

Installing watchfaces

With Talk2Watch Pro, you know have access to the official Pebble appstore, so there is no need to have the Pebble Time Android app installed. To get to access the Pebble appstore, just swipe down from the top when in the Talk2Watch Pro app and tap App store - the last icon. The default view is My Pebble which shows a list of your currently installed watchfaces. The Pebble Time has no limit to how many you can install so you won't see the App Locker anymore. You can then tap on Watchfaces or Apps to browse through those sections of the Pebble appstore. If you find a watchface you like, just tap Install along the bottom, the watchface will install and you'll see a progress bar in both the app and your Pebble Time. Once installation is complete, the watchface will be the activated and becomes the currently used watchface.

You can install apps but apps that require an internet connection don't seem to function. I have got the Swarm app to work, for checking in to Foursquare. If you come across any other apps that function properly with BlackBerry 10, give them a mention in the comments, or head over to the Talk2Watch discussions in the CrackBerry Forums.

You can use the search function too if you want to look for something specific and by searching BlackBerry, you can find a few BlackBerry themed watchfaces.

 

Music Control

Talk2Watch Pro also allows you to control your music. Just head into the Music section on your Pebble Time - press the middle button to go into the watch menu and then press the middle button again to select Music. You can play, pause, go back and forward tracks, as well as control the volume. You'll also have the track details displayed on the watch too. To change tracks just press the top or bottom buttons on the right side of the Pebble Time. To play/pause a song, press and hold the center button on the Pebble Time. To change the volume, press the center button, you'll see the forward and back icons change to a speaker icon, press the top or bottom button to turn the volume up or down.

 

Scripts

Talk2Watch Pro offers the ability to use Scripts. These are predefined actions you can carry out from your Pebble Time - battery percentage of your phone, take a screenshot, activate the sports function. If you know how to write scripts, you can add your own. Scripts aren't something I play around with a lot but you can head into the forums to discuss more. The developer is very responsive.

To activate the scripts and go into Script Mode go into the Music section on your Pebble Time and then press the top button 3 times quickly. Actionable Scripts will then be displayed. Just scroll through them using the top and bottom buttons, use the center button to select a Script.

 

Timeline

With the Pebble Time, one of the new features Pebble brought was the Timeline where you could scroll through upcoming evens as well as events that have already occurred. From the main watch screen, pressing the top button on the right will show you the events that have past and pressing the bottom button will scroll through your upcoming events. Currently it will display weather and calendar events.

As far as apps are concerned, not all apps are working yet. Swarm works for me and I can check-in from the Pebble Time. Other apps that require internet connection do not seem to work. Apps such as ESPN and Evernote. However, they will work if you use the Pebble Time Android app. The problem with that is you then can't use Talk2Watch Pro as they will conflict with each other. Hopefully, they will get working without the need for the Pebble Time Android app but as of now that's the only way you can get them to work.

That's your lot. Are you ready to get a Pebble Time?

There's a lot to discover with the Pebble Time and hopefully the experience can only get better as developers put in the dedication into making apps for us on BlackBerry 10. Talk2Watch Pro is available for all BlackBerry 10 smartphones and costs $4.99 and as any Pebble/Pebble Time owner will tell you, it's well worth it.

Learn more / Download Talk2Watch Pro