Pebble is today announcing an upgrade to its fitness tracking features initially launched earlier this year. The Pebble and Pebble Steel will now be able to track a wearer’s steps and sleep activity in the background, letting users count their steps and use any watch face they please. Prior to this, a Pebble wearer had to keep the Misfit app open the entire time to count their steps. Additionally, Pebble is officially dropping the price of its watches to $99 for the standard watch and $199 for the Pebble Steel, a drop of $50 and $30, respectively, from their earlier prices.
Pebble, the buzzy company behind the smartwatch of the same name, is dropping the price of its devices and adding new fitness-tracking capabilities thanks to software from big names in the space like Jawbone, maker of the UP bands, and Misfit, maker of the Shine fitness tracker that was featured in an Apple commercial this summer. Starting Tuesday, the entry-level Pebble will cost $99. The Pebble Steel, which is basically the same device as the regular Pebble but comes encased in a metal body, will cost $199. Pebble watches work with both Android phones and the iPhone and can show you incoming notifications like texts, tweets, calls, and emails. Pebble also has its own app store that lets you install apps on the watch. It has a black and white screen, but that allows the watch to last about five days on a charge. Most color smartwatches, like those made by Samsung, can only last about two days.
