Versa is neither a replacement nor an upgrade from the Pebble

[mannythemammoth]

I waited this entire year for the versa to come out hoping it would be a replacement for my long standing Pebble classic (1st generation). I purchased one yesterday evening and now I plan to return it less than 12 hours later.

My needs were simple.

1. Get notifications on my watch which I can read completely without pulling out my phone

2. Reject calls from my watch

3. Get a week's battery life from the watch

4. Track activity like sleep and steps

Pebble did this beautifully! and what did fitbit do? It killed it.

Notifications are pointless on the Versa. Cant rejects calls. Battery is ok ...atleast better than most in the market. Tracking is also ok.

If there was someone in the market that could really continue the Pebble legacy, it was Fitbit.. or so my hope was. You had the pebble technology for more than a year now and have incorporated absolutely nothing from it. Whats the point of making a watch fancy if its you cant provide the basic features?

Sales of Ionic were abysmal, dont see that picking up for Versa.

I am sorry to say I feel Fitbit purchased Pebble to kill off competition.

Sincerely,

Disappointed Pebble User

[jskimberlin]

Couldn't agree more. I have an older Pebble Time and it still works great. Seamless integration with my phone. My basic need is to also reject calls on my watch. 90% of the time my Versa doesn't even notify me that my phone is ringing! Then if it does, it won't let me reject the call! I could also reply texts with simple messages. No option for this on the Versa. Finally, it would allow me to quickly and easily control the music on my phone. The Versa is very clunky at this and barely works. I was also optimistic and excited about this watch, but it's probably going back to the store. 

[mannythemammoth]

Versa says it will introduce quick replies to text messages with 5 pre canned messages but whats the point of it if I cant read messages or emails properly? Pebble has an amazing set of canned messages and emoticons! You can literally respond to any kind of notification..no restriction. I loved this feature.

I would not spend typing a message on my watch obviously so the Pebble was perfect in that regard. Surprisingly, noone in the budget friendly market has come close to allowing quick replies to any form of notification. the ones that do are expensive or have a really poor battery life.

[Terrafit]

I completely agree with your points on what is needed and missing.

It's worth saying however that Fitbit neither bought nor killed Pebble. From what was said at the time, they picked up some of Pebble's assets after Pebble collapsed (and presumably was selling assets to cover debts) and hired some of the staff made redundant from Pebble. It also seems from reports at the time that the assets and staff were more to do with the app/app gallery side than hardware or even firmware development.

In my opinion a missed opportunity- they should have bought more of Pebble's designs/firmware etc in order to properly implement exactly the things you've pointed out as working so well on Pebble and so poorly on FitbitOS.

[mannythemammoth]

@Terrafit I agree that fitbit should have acquired a lot more than what they actually did. Had they been able merge Pebble's features with Fitbit's, this company would have been unstoppable. They would have my support for sure.

My reason for mentioning Fitbit actually killed Pebble was more out frustration than facts.

[JTSmagic]

I'm returning mine.  After having Pebble for so long, this is like having my left arm tied behind my back. 

• when I clear the notification on the Versa, I still have to clear it on the phone
• Can't archive read email in gmail
• can't control music from the watch, though it's supposed to
• can't reject calls from the watch
• quick replies are coming, but when?

I want something with full functionality so that I don't have to take my phone out of my pocket all the time.  This watch doesn't help and I'm not sure if there are any out there right now that would.

[JTSmagic]

I forgot one!

• can't have phone on DND and versa still receive vibrating notifications

[Jujube289]

Chalking up 200 phantom steps while sitting down for 2 hours.

[jskimberlin]

After 3 days with the Versa and missing notifications, I took it back to Best Buy. I sucked it up and paid an extra $100 and bought the Samsung Gear Sport. So far, it's a VAST improvement over the Versa as a smart watch. It's also waterproof, GPS enabled, music and notifications work flawlessly. I had high hopes for the Versa having Pebble influences, but they have many improvements to make. 

[mannythemammoth]

Good for you! I want to try the samsung too but my issue is with the battery life. Let me know how the battery life is with the sport. I hate charging my phone almost everyday, will be pain if I have to do that for the watch too.

[dianewordsmith]

Just want to note that you can reject calls from the Versa by tapping the red icon on the top right of the screen.

[jskimberlin]

It won't reject calls with an Android phone. The versa rarely even told me that the phone was ringing. 

[Cutie_pie]

Agree.

I was using the Pebble time round, but needed a replacement as the battery died.

Tried the Samsung gear sport, but didn’t like the dial.

Is the problem with my phone or with the Fitbit os?

Notifications are practically nonexistent with the Fitbit os, although I can send a test notification. Using a third party app is better, but not consistent.

[mannythemammoth]

Yes notification are non existent for the most part:

1. Text messages do not show up completely if its a really long message. Granted messages will not be too long so this is fine. NOTE: Pebble showed the complete long message

2. Emails: This is the worst. I could only see the sender's name and a little part of the subject line. This really grinds my gears. I can read a complete email atleast 99% of the times with my Pebble

Dint stick around to test any other notification.

[faerieflyinfree]

I haven't had a problem with my notifications. I will state in the information regarding the Versa it states it has a 4 day battery life (not 7) and you will not be able to take calls. 

My notifications began to work after I turned off all day sync. 

My watch has been notifying me of calls and text messages. I have had mine since April 16.

[Kathleenld]

I agree with you.  I love my pebble time and hoped Fitbit would keep the pebble functionality and expand on it but they disappointed again.  I like the look and size of the Versa but it can't compare with what the pebbles could do.

[mannythemammoth]

@faerieflyinfree: I agree there is no issue with getting notifications or calls on the watch. Issue is interacting with the notifications. Like i said previously, I cant read emails completely as there is no body information of the email which is really important for me in a wearable. Text messages show up but do not stay archived so if you dismiss it, its gone from the watch. Pebble holds on to historic notifications till its reaches its buffer limit.

And, the battery life of 4 days is pretty good even though its less than the 6-7 day battery life of the Pebble (used e-ink).. one of the reasons why I selected this watch. But along with getting call notifications I would like to reject calls from my watch (cases when i not near it ) which I was not able to. I dont really care about accepting calls using the watch (as you cant talk through it)

I am glad you are happy with the watch.. I wish I would have been too.. pinned a lot of hopes on this model.

[faerieflyinfree]

My text messages stay, if you swipe down it'll show all the notifications. I did read that they are automatically cleared after 24 hours.

I definitely understand that convenience for sure. I had an Apple Watch previously and I am the type of person that didn't actually use it to its capability. 

I have read that a lot of people had the Pebble previously and this is a device that I haven't even heard of. If Fitbit wants to compete with Apple, I can see they will definitely have to step up their game.

[MDLynch]

I started a similar thread with complaint about the Versa, but it was renamed by a moderator to "bluetooth connection," then simply shut down, for some ridiculous reason like "it's not helpful to the community." Really can't help but feel that Fitbit's reaction to these complaints has been to just shut people up and pretend the issues don't exist.

Related to your complaints, I don't understand how Fitbit can't manage to do what other companies have done for years. I remember back to my Moto 360 smartwatch from September 2014(!), which could control music playback, fully respond to notifications, answer and reject calls, and track my steps. For just $250!

I switched to Fitbit a few years back because I wanted a device where I could compete with friends cross-platform, but Fitbit's repeated missteps (pun intended) with the Ionic and now the Versa have me questioning whether wearOS is the way to go.

[Len_Kawamoto]

I bought the Versa on Monday evening and am coming from the Pebble Time.  I wore both watches for 2 days (to be sure I didn't miss any important notifications), but today I started to wear the Versa exclusively.

I've had a slightly different experience than the OP (and a few others that have concurred with the OP), so here are my notes in case it helps others.

Here are my needs (in order from most to least important):

1. GentleWake, or a similar application.  Vibration alarm with advanced features to prevent heavy sleepers from falling back asleep.

2. Google Authentication or similar application to generate and display time based one time pass-code for two factor authentication -- preferable standalone.

3. Notifications (Phone Calls, txt, IM, email, etc).

4. Quick reply to TXT/IM messages.

5. Reject/Pick up phone calls.

6. Ring my phone regardless of phone's current ringer volume settings.

7. Weather application.  Display a summary for my current location, preferably from DarkSky.

8. Track my sleep.

9. Track my steps.

From my use of the Versa so far, tracking my steps and sleep seem comparable to my Pebble Time.  I do like the way the Fitbit mobile app displays the break down of the sleep cycles.  So, my needs #8 and #9 are met, as far as I can tell.

Now onto my issues with the remaining needs:

#1:

The Versa's default Alarms application is not a complete replacement for "GentleWake" (on my Pebble Time).  Where GentleWake has many configuration options like increased vibration strength, one time alarm, and (my favourite) "Konami code", the Versa's default Alarms application is a simple alarm and offers no advanced configuration in the case it might be used as a wake up alarm for heavy sleepers.  As there's too much risk of me simply dismissing the alarm and falling back asleep, I'm currently wearing my Pebble Time and using GentleWake as my backup alarm.

#2:

I found in the Fitbit apps "store" an Authenticator application (by Laura Barber) but I can't seem to get any of my accounts to work.  Though I've only spent less than an hour to configure it, so it's likely "pilot error".  I'll try to configure the application again when I've got some free time to sit down uninterrupted.  It's important to point out (in case there are others interested in this application) that this is NOT a standalone application.  It requires connectivity with the phone, where the companion application does the (re)calculation of the auth codes.  Even if I'm able to successfully configure this application, I guess this need will be "partially" met.

#3:

I haven't (yet) missed any notifications on the Versa.  I *did* however not get ANY notifications initially, but was eventually guided by the Fitbit mobile app to (I think) Android's app specific notifications settings to enable Fitbit to send notifications.  Once I set the slider button to enable that feature, I started getting notifications.  I'm just curious how I missed that step during the initial setup of the Versa and it took a few hours before I was able to get it set correctly. So far, I have not had any missed notifications -- I periodically check my Pebble Time (which is in my pocket for now) to confirm this.

#4 & #5:

I can't wait for these feature to be available.  I REALLY miss not having this functionality.

#6:

Not available as a built-in feature nor third party application.  I suspect I'll miss this functionality the next time I misplace my phone.

#7:

The default Weather application sources AccuWeather only.  I wish we could configure it for other data sources, as my phone is set to DarkSky and I hate to see one set of weather data on my phone's home screen and then a differing set of weather data on my watch.  Additionally, I like to use what's referred to as "Mixed Units" -- distance in miles and temperature in celsius.  It appears that configuration is not possible as the Weather application gets its temperature unit from the Fitbit user profile's distance unit preference inside the "Advanced Settings" section.  On a related note, this configuration (I believe) should be done in the Weather application's configuration rather than buried multiple levels deep.

In general, I like the Versa so far, but I'm not shutting down my Pebble Time yet... and it looks like I'll need to wear both at times.