You may soon be able to pay for purchases with your Pebble Time smartwatch thanks to a startup known as Fit Pay and their smart watch strap. The Pebble Time line of watches can accept straps and bands that add functionality to the watch, and the Pagaré strap, currently on Kickstarter, is meant to add NFC payments. You can store all of your cards in the Paragé Pebble app, with the hope of offering both a convenient and secure payment option.
To pay with Pagaré, just hold your watch to the contactless payment symbol on a properly-equipped card reader. You can choose between your cards by pressing the side buttons on the Pebble Time, and you can add more cards in the Pebble Time companion app on your phone. Also in the companion app, you can set a default card, add new cards, deactivate old ones, and check your purchase history.
The Pagaré Kickstarter is expected to end on March 9, with a goal of $120,000. Fit Pay expects to start delivering to backers starting in July. They also list the expected retail price of the Pagaré band at $89, though early backers can get one for as little as $49.
Source: Pagaré (Kickstarter)
Reader comments
The Pagaré smart band could add NFC payments to the Pebble Time
Yep. Now make one of these for a nice looking smartwatch instead and boom you're a hit (I can say this, I have a pebble)
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Function over form. That's why I bought the Pebble. I'm consistently getting 8-9 days out of a charge on my Time Steel lol
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Considering that active NFC terminals still are few and far between. I don't see the point.
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We are going to hear a lot of "could" when it comes to NFC payments this year I bet.
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There are NFC terminals at most of the places where I shop these days.
NFC terminals THAT HAVE BEEN ACTIVATED AND ACTUALLY WORK, on the other hand...
Ahh, only if the rest of the world doesn't exist. Here in Australia for example, NFC terminals are literally everywhere. You'd be hard pressed to find a place that DOESN'T have one. It's like the only area of tech we're not lagging behind in LOL, they've been common for YEARS
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You can't beat that battery life and ability to see the time in the sun.
I was concerned about the drain of battery life with this smartstrap, so I emailed them and they got back to me within a half hour. Their response:
Fit Pay Inc. says:
Barely at all. The secure element and NFC hardware only light up when a transactions is taking place. There is an absolutely negligible amount of battery drain to your Pebble.
'Tis the beauty of NFC. Practically zero power drain when not in active use.
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So... Why do you write paragé, that didn't mean anything, or the actual name of the product, pagaré, which means "I will pay" in Spanish.
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I assume throughout your article you meant to spell it Pagare?!
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Ugly watch. Either way there are still too few places that accepts nfc payments
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Function over form. A smartwatch that can only go a day (or 2, just as bad) is a pretty terrible watch no matter how smart it is especially when the screen is OFF most of that time.
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That's funny. Pagaré means "I will pay" in Spanish.
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This is a genuinely good idea. Hope implementation is as sleek.
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Woo, the first (second) smartstrap ever. I was beginning to lose hope. It's a brilliant idea (month long battery life anybody?) But no one is doing anything about it. :(
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