A new version of the Pebble smartwatch’s software has been released, bringing with it several new features and a selection of bug fixes and other improvements. Pebble announced the update over its Twitter account, adding a festive theme by saying it has, “Been working hard (like elves in a workshop) on fresh firmware for Pebblers to enjoy.”
So what have we got? It’s listed as v1.14, and the headline feature is a Do Not Disturb mode, which can be found under the Settings and Notifications menu on the watch itself. This works in a similar way to the identically named feature in iOS, where you can set a period where notifications are blocked from reaching the watch. After switching it on, you can set a start and finish time, right down to the minute.
Notification alerts can be tweaked in v1.14 too, with two new options added to a new Notifications menu. Wearers now have the option to filter the notifications to only include phone calls, or switch them all off entirely. This is an improvement over the previous system, which forced you to turn off Bluetooth to avoid being disturbed.
The alarms setting has also been updated, with the option to add more than one alarm. Once you’ve set several up, it’s possible to go back in and edit them, or toggle them on or off without deleting the alarm entirely. A snooze feature has also been added to the Pebble’s alarm, and the snooze time can be customized on the watch.
Pebble has been working on improving the response time when the watch is connected to an iOS device, and promises notifications will be delivered more quickly using v1.14, plus there should be no more dropped Bluetooth connections.
The release of v1.14 comes just a few weeks after v1.13 dropped, and potentially a short time before a major firmware update. Version 2.0 of the Pebble’s firmware is currently in beta, and is being tested by developers, with the public release promised before the end of 2013.
