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

[mannythemammoth]

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@Len_Kawamoto: Can you view your emails completely (From, Subject, Body) on the Versa like the Pebble Time? 

[Len_Kawamoto]

The notification is pretty condensed (like 2 lines, I think) but you can tap on the notification and it expands out to show much more of the message.  I can't say for sure if you can see the full message, but I usually can decide by looking at the expanded view if I need to pull out my phone or if it can wait until the next time I have an opportunity to respond to the message.

I'll try to be more attentive today and see if I can get more useful info for you.

[Jayelo]

@dianewordsmith do you have an iPhone? I heard those who have iPhones can reject calls and those with androids cannot.

[Len_Kawamoto]

I got an email notification, so I took some pictures for you to see.

On my Versa on the notifications screen:

And then, when I tap on the message:

Here's the same notification on my Pebble Time:

And then when I select the message:

So it looks like I get the same amount of information, but not the entire message.

I hope that helps!

[dianewordsmith]

@Jayelo. Yes, I do have an iPhone. And I have heard the same.

[Zanadros]

Have you all tried the Ionic or Blaze? I used to use the Blaze for the past two years before recently switching to Apple Watch. The Blaze allowed me to reject calls, get most notifications from my phone and tracked sleep.

[mannythemammoth]

Thank you @Len_Kawamoto for the screenshots.. this helps. It seems there is some inconsistency with reading email notifications. I could not get my emails to show up completely. When I clicked, it just showed me one line and then it ended. In your case it does actually show the same length as the Pebble but it does not show the full subject line (missing "Community" in your case) but the Pebble does. 

I have heard from some of the other users about the inconsistency in reading complete notifications. Also, not having the call reject option on android is a real pain. 

I returned my Versa this weekend and plan to use the Pebble till something worthwhile comes along.

[mannythemammoth]

@Zanadros: Blaze does not (or will not ) have quick replies which is a must for me. Ionic is too bulky and sluggish and sits on the same OS as the Versa. So that does not work for me.

[magnums_ferrari]

Agree 100%. I hope Fitbit listens to our complaints because although I will keep the versa (upgrade from Casio) it doesn't even come near the pebble in functionality and UI experience. 

If Fitbit wanted an example of what most ex pebble users want, they should look at the amazfit bip. The watch is an exact replacement for the pebble. The only issue with it is the encrypted data sent to servers in China when you specifically asked it not log anything. 

So between my pebble being lost and the amazfit spying on me, I ended up with a versa. What a let down.

p.s. The green HR light can't be turned off cause it wants to know if you are wearing the watch, are you serious? Also, I turn off location services cause I want to. Stop nagging me to turn it back on.