The Pebble team is continuing to pump life into their monochromatic smartwatch, and it's now rolling out an update that toggles on a few new features. Version 2.5 of the Pebble firmware brings support for emoji, enables compass functionality, and introduces iOS 8 compatibility (one of the items on this change log impacts us less than the others). Just like the previous updates, you get the goods by firing up the Android app and making sure it's paired with your watch.

Once everything's up to date, emoji that arrive in message alerts will actually display properly. A smiley will show up as an image of an actual face, not a set of symbols. The latest firmware also opens up the Pebble's magnetometer to developers, so they can introduce compass and wayfinding functionality into their apps.

The aging watch isn't getting any sexier, but this update finds way to make it more useful. That, in its own way, is still a nice thing to see.

What's new:

  • Added support for popular emojis, with more to come!
  • Added magnetometer support, enabling compass and wayfinding apps.
  • Added iOS 8 compatibility: dismissing notifications from Pebble now clears them from Notification Center on devices running iOS 8.
  • Bug fixes and stability improvements.

[EMBED_APP]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.getpebble.android[/EMBED_APP]

Source: Pebble