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NavMe for Pebble?
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Popularity Score: 22
This app was mentioned in 31 comments, with an average of 2.65 upvotes
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Google Nav Me works well for the android google maps notifications. Automatically activates when you start navigation on the phone.
Pebble App: https://apps.getpebble.com/en_US/application/530a8f36fc62a5e01100001c?query=nav%2520me&section=watchapps Companion App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.batescorp.pebble.nav&hl=en
It's wonderfully designed as well! It vibrates and lights up when you are 2 miles away from your next turn, and then again at 0.2 miles.
It's perfect for those late night cross-country roadtrips when everyone's sleeping in the car and you don't want your GPS blaring "IN ONE MILE, KEEP GOING STRAIGHT" randomly. It also gives you piece of mind knowing you didn't pass your exit or take a wrong turn. Definitely best money I've ever spent on a Pebble app!
One small downside is that it seems to be a bit more power hungry. It's not voracious or anything, but I usually get 8 days or so out of my PTS and with running NavMe all day I'll get around 2-3 days or so.
EDIT:
Oh, another problem I have with it is~~, when the drive is over, the app will stay open on the watch with "Start Google Navigation" on the screen indefinitely. You have to manually exit the watchapp to get back to your watchface. I suggest that it should timeout after a few minutes of no navigation.~~
Nevermind! Apparently this was just a setting I was unaware of (see this comment response for details).
EDIT 2:
Here's the link to it in the Play Store, for the lazy:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.batescorp.pebble.nav&hl=en_US
Similarly using the Nav Me app makes using Google Maps navigation so much ~~easier~~ cooler. You can keep your phone's screen off (saving battery life), and get your navigation alerts right on your wrist.
It also makes you feel like James Bond for some reason.
> I gotta say, I LOVE the Pebble navigation much more than the android wear version
Are you taking about NavMe? If so I agree, great app. Can't wait till it's in full color for Pebble Time.
So the pebble isn't a navigation system itself. It's a smartwatch, so anything you do is going to need a plug-in app, and those differ depending on if you're an apple or android user. This particular one just shows what you see here. It's called "Pebble Nav Me" and all it's really doing is reading the Google Navigation service. I think there's one for iOS that will give you a small map, but the screen is small, so I'm not sure how helpful that would be. There are other apps that act more like bike computers, using the gps to give speed. No the the GPX and KML files. Everything hooks through the phone, so if you could do it on a ride tracking app, there's likely to be a companion app for the pebble.
The Mount is literally just the mount from another U-Lock. Nothing fancy, and it's not even screwed down. Basically a piece of plastic that wraps around.
I hope that's helpful. If you're curious about the pebble, /r/pebble is a great resource, and they just announced the next generation, with a full color screen. I'd imagine more of what you're asking for is lined up for the next year or so.
- Probably. Battery life can also be affected by your choice of watch face.
- I set my phone to "Do Not Disturb" mode which accomplishes the same thing. The only downside compared to Android Wear is it doesn't turn "Do Not Disturb" off automatically when you disconnect your watch.
- No. I find OK Google works way better on a phone anyway.
- Nav Me is a must have if you ever use Google Maps Navigation. I much prefer it over the Android Wear Google Maps integration: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.batescorp.pebble.nav&hl=en
>It is FRUSTRATINGLY hard to find confirmation of turn by turn navigation on current smart watches.
FWIW you can do this with any of the 4 square Pebble models (however you do need your phone connected), using this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.batescorp.pebble.nav&hl=en
Works great.
That said, it's not really a core use case / intended use of a Smartwatch FWIW. It's not a very good application of one. I also ride a motorcycle. I either use Voice navigation (turn by turn to my bluetooth headset), and/or I use my phone in a charging cradle, which I have mounted behind my windscreen (it also acts as a "dash cam then" which is great). I suggest looking into that as both work better than glancing at your watch will.
>Also does it work WITHOUT the phone being the actual navigation unit?
To do this, you need what's called a standalone smartwatch, which isn't a very popular form factor. Most smartwatches don't have GPS themselves, and in order to do this without your phone, you also need it's own cellular data connection. So these are basically cellphones on your wrist. They have their own SIM card slots.
There are only a few such watches. These are the ones I know off the top of my head:
LG Urbane LTE
Samsung Gear S
Neptune Pine
QOne Standalone
Omate TrueSmart Standalone
IMHO the only ones worth considering at this point, are the top two. You'll notice that all of these are relatively large, heavy, and expensive. You are buying a watch sized cellphone, not really a smartwatch.
It's called "Pebble Nav Me." 7 day free trial, then 2.99 after that. It opens automatically when Google navigation is active. It's awesome, but quite the battery drainer. I only get about 3 days if I'm using it consistently.
i use nav me the app works amazing and the developer answers emails pretty fast when i have an issue. its a trial i believe but there is a pay option and is well worth it.
"Used to"? My gmap still autolocates me to give directions somewhere, has voice navigations, and sends directions to my Pebble (via Nav Me).
Nav Me shows a direction arrow and also a text description of directions. You can see example screenshots on the app store page for the companion app here. I tried it last year for walking directions, and found that it took too long to read the text directions and compare them with street name signs to be very useful. It also tended to update slowly, although I suspect that this was the fault of Google Maps (which Nav Me relies on) rather than Nav Me itself. I didn't test what would happen if I took a wrong turning, since it works via Google Maps I assume that it would correct itself but I don't know how long it would take.
I'd really like an app that shows a large-scale map with route and current position overlayed like the Google Maps Android app, that I could glance at quickly, but as far as I know nothing like this exists yet.
Meh... I already use Nav Me on my Pebble Time. It does turn by turn on my wrist and vibrates to indicate when to turn. No silly device to add weight to your bike.
It's not a Pebble app. It's only an Android app and will turn up on your Pebble as soon as you use Google Maps to navigate. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.batescorp.pebble.nav&hl=en
NavMe still works great, essential if you ever use Google Maps navigation: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.batescorp.pebble.nav&hl=en_US
I use Nav Me. I find that it works well, I purchased it after the trial period.
Look in the Play Store:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.batescorp.pebble.nav&hl=en
Excellent answers. I think a Pebble - any of their 4 models - will be a great choice for you.
>I have a Blackberry
Pebble works with Blackberry, with limited, third party support. I wouldn't expect much, but it isn't useless on that platform at least. So you might be able to use it for a bit before you upgrade.
>probably will be getting an android.
This would certainly be the way to go (support for actionable notifications with Pebble or an Android Wear watch), and I'd highly recommend you check out the LG G4 - IMHO, it's the best smartphone on the market right now.
>I'll have my phone with me, in my jersey pocket.
I asked this because many Smartwatches, including Pebble, do not have their own GPS chip. They can however, use your phone's GPS via Bluetooth - if it was on your person.
>Price isn't a problem but preferably not the priciest thing on the market.
Right now you can officially get the original, classic, plastic Pebble for $89 (on sale from $99) and the Pebble Steel for $149. The Pebble Time's pre-orders just started today, for $199 - and if you can wait (a month or so) and can spend a little more, the Time is the one to get.
However, you can find some fantastic deals on the already released models. For instance, AT&T has the Pebble Steel on sale at their stores for $75 - and apparently Best Buy will match that price if you call them, or if a nearby AT&T store has stock. That is a killer deal, half off of current MSRP - for a watch that was originally $199 when it launched!
If you want a smartwatch today, a Pebble Steel for $75 is certainly the route to go!
>GPS mapping
Here is a great navigation app for Pebble, for Android, as an example. That app can automatically open itself on your watch, any time that you start navigation on your phone. Really cool.
>phone notifications
One of Pebble's 3 core functionalities, is notifications. The whole watch is designed around this. If you're on Android 4.3 or higher you can also interact with notifications (dismiss, reply, etc), and if you get the Pebble Time, which has a mic, you can even do voice replies.
>decent sized screen
Pebble's screen is transflective, so it's extremely daylight visible, it's great for bicycling.
Speaking of which, this is another app that I think you'd be very interested in!
Ah, I was looking on the Play Store, where they are not: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.batescorp.pebble.nav&hl=en
If you're not interested in other features of Android Wear, you could try a Pebble and use this app to show Google Maps directions from your phone on your wrist.
There are some Pebbles going for quite cheap on Ebay. Here's one such example.
Is it https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.batescorp.pebble.nav i am looking for?
I'm not referring to Transit. The NavMe app does what you want.
I assume NavMe would work for the directions part, although not independent of the phone.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.batescorp.pebble.nav&hl=en
There's a navigation app for Pebble, supposedly it's pretty good. Haven't tried it though.
Serious question. What do you plans for using it?
Notifications? Weather? Activity Tracker?
For me, it allows me to look at my phone less. Notifications and to-dos are on my watch saving time and avoiding the distraction of checking a million other things after I hop on my smartphone.
I don't have a lot of apps on my watch. Notifications, a weather watchface or two and the battery tracker are what I have on it now.
Occasionally, I'll load Nav Me for easy driving; Pebby for baby minding on weekends; Get Back when I plan on parking my car in an unfamiliar spot.
Expect to play around with it for a few days.
The new Pebble Time, or Pebble Time Steel, meet or exceed all your requirements, and are, IMHO, the best all around smartwatches regardless. So they would be my top recommendation. Specifically:
>Sunlight readable (easily).
Pebble's displays are all transflective, which means they reflect ambient light back thru the display to illuminate it (so they only need a backlight in the dark).
This means they actually get brighter, and easier to see, the brighter the light is, especially in sunlight. This is the opposite of most displays.
>Can do navigation
I'm assuming you're on Android. If so, there is this great app for Pebble for Navigation: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.batescorp.pebble.nav
>Not "huge" - mainly in thickness, will be under jackets/sleeves
Pebble Time is the thinnest smartwatch out there AFAIK. It's only 9.5mm thick (0.37"), and it's watch case is curved, to hug your wrist even tighter.
It's small in all directions, and also very light. Wear it with a light band (like the silicone one it comes with) and it's hard to notice you're even wearing it.
Pebble Time Steel is 1mm thicker than the base Time, (10.5mm) which is still very thin, and it's also curved. This makes it still thinner feeling than most smartwatches. The extra thickness also bumps it's battery life up to 10 days instead of 7. It is however, much heavier.
>Scratch resistant (no plastic faces)
Of the 4 Pebble models, only the original, classic Pebble, has a plastic face. All 3 other models, including both time models, have a gorilla glass lens and stainless steel bezels.
>Water resistant (ip67 or better)
All Pebble models are water "proof". At least 30M water resistant, you can swim with them, shower with them, etc.