If you are trying to connect your Pebble 2 to your Samsung Galaxy Note 8, it just won’t work.  At first I thought I received a bad Pebble 2 so I returned it back to Amazon.  I received the new one 2 days later same error message.  It seem’s the device would get stuck on 63% of an update then just update failed.  I tried everything from resetting the watch, holding down the bottom right button it just doesn’t work.  Then I thought it was my Galaxy Note 8 device so I decided to try my wife’s Note 8.  Same exact problem.

When you get the Pebble 2 it seem’s its in some factory state and needs to download the latest firmware version.  Here’s how I was able to finally get my Note 8 connected to my Pebble 2 HR.  Hopefully you have an extra device laying around I did I had a cracked Note 5, so I powered it on an downloaded the Pebble app.  I let the smartwatch do its update and Viola!  The Pebble 2 HR was finally updated to the latest version.  I turned off my old device, went to the Pebble App on my Galaxy Note 8 and it was connected without a problem.

What a pain in the ass.  Hopefully this helps others that are having the same issue.

I first tried to just attach the watch to the handle bars which failed, then I tried to prop something so it would hold the watch in place.  I went on Amazon and figured someone had to have already created this product and sure enough there was a bunch.  I ordered several different brands.  The best one and cheapest solutions was the Suunto Bike Mount.

Click here to purchase the Suunto Bike Mount.

Everything worked perfect it sat on the handle bars nicely.  It was easy to remove and attach the Smartwatch.  Around 2014 I think the Pebble was the first Smartwatch, it’s now 2017 and there are a ton of great options available for smart watches with even more features.  Hopefully this post helps you with what I wanted to achieve in 2014.

What you will need:

Tasker

Secure Settings

Disable_Safe_Audio_On_Boot.xml

Steps:

Now that you installed the top (2) applications and downloaded the XML file from above.  The first step is to open up the Tasker android application.

At the top you should see “Profiles” you need to “Long Press” on this button so it brings up the import option.

Next click on “Import” so you can import the XML file you downloaded above.

If you have downloaded the XML from your mobile device it will most likely be in your “Downloads” directory.

So press the Back key and find the Downloads location.

Choose the “Disable_Safe_Audio_On_Boot.xml“

That’s it!  So this will always Search for the High Audio Warning on Samsung devices and it will bypass it.

Here is the description of what this XML file actually does inside of Tasker:

I guess you need to purchase the higher end upgraded model or the Platinum edition which is about $15,000 more for the feature.  After I did some research I saw the car had on-board AUX / composite hookup’s as well as a USB port.

I tried (2) different methods:

Method 1:  This involved a USB Bluetooth wireless audio adapter and 2 x RCA Male, 1 x 3.5mm Stereo Female Connector

HIGHFINE USB Bluetooth Wireless Audio

Purchase for $8.69 on Amazon

2 x RCA Male, 1 x 3.5mm Stereo Female, Y-Cable 6-Inch

Purchase for $4.89 on Amazon

So this was the first method I tried because I figured it would be the easiest.  However the Bluetooth adapter just plain sucked it took about 3-4 minutes to connect the phone and was so inconsistent.  Also I noticed I would have to type the RCA hookup because when it moved the audio would fade in an out.  So I ditched that idea and check out my Method 2 below.

Method 2:  This is actually what’s pictured in the posts image.  It’s a little messy but I didn’t clean or zip tie anything up i just wanted you to see the initial setup.  This setup also does not require the USB port however it requires you to use your Cigarette lighter for power.  My wife likes to charge her phone in the car so I figured I would buy a Splitter so it would control both.

Kinivo BTC450 Bluetooth Hands-Free

Purchase for $34.99 on Amazon

NOCO GC020 12V 2-Way Splitter

Purchase for $8.95 on Amazon

2 x RCA Male, 1 x 3.5mm Stereo Female, Y-Cable 6-Inch

Purchase for $4.89 on Amazon

So this method worked the best and surprisingly it worked better than I expected it to.  My Smartphone instantly connected to the Kinivo BTC450 Bluetooth Hands-Free device every time without any delays.  What’s cool if you have both your phone connected to your Cars “Bluetooth Calling” and the Kinivo device it will pause your music and allow you to answer the phone call (this was a must).  What kinda sucks is that you cannot use the steering wheel controls to control the Next/Previous playback.  However on the Kinivo device were ever you decide to mount it has controls for Next-Previous-Stop-Play.

Setting Up Your Smartphone to Auto Stream

My next step was I wanted my device to immediately start playing Spotify when the Bluetooth connection was present.

You need to download Bluetooth connect & Play on your Android Smartphone Device.

Then you want to choose the Bluetooth device in this case mine was the BTC450 then I had it Auto Play spotify.  You can choose whichever media service you are using from Google Play Music, Spotify, etc.  There are several other applications that will accomplish this from:  Trigger Task Launcher, Autoplay for Spotify  I’m still testing to see which application works the best and works all the time.  If you have any questions, tips or comments post below.

 As of 4/20/2017 T-Mobile has patched this in the latest update. Still waiting for a work around. 

I recently just purchasing my T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S8+.  One of the features I did not like was Samsung’s new service Bixby.

Bixby is an artificial intelligence system that’s designed to make device interaction easier, specifically designed to avoid the complexity of increasingly fully-featured devices. It will make its debut on the Samsung Galaxy S8 devices, but is designed to work across a range of Samsung products.

In it’s launch format on the S8, it encompasses a range of different features, Bixby Voice, Bixby Vision, Bixby Home and Bixby Reminder, for example.

On the side of Galaxy S8 & S8+ where the volume up and down buttons you now have another hard button.  This is to activate the Bixby service and ask it something.  I wanted to replace this button using the Google Now/Google assistant.  It’s actually very easy to do; there is rumors that a patch is coming which will not allow you to do this.

What Apps you will need to install:

Package Disabler Pro (Samsung)

bxActions (This will work after the update)

BixBye (This will work after the update)

BixRemap (This will work after the update)

All in one Gestures (This app is no longer working as of the 4/20/2017 update please use bxActions).

Step 1.  First open up the Package Disabler Pro application.   Under “Search Packages” we are going to stop all packages with the word “bixby“.  Like shown below:

Step 2.  Open up the bxActions application.

Clickon the “Remap” button and choose which application you would like to launch.

That’s it!  Your bixby button is now mapped using the Google Assistant.  Enjoy.

Please note ever since the patch Samsung released as of 4/20/2017 this method is still not 100% correct.  It seem’s very laggy and sometimes unresponsive.  I will update if I find a more stable release.