The app works in conjunction with an iPhone or Android device that’s wirelessly connected to the Pebble. Instead of looking at the phone when running, Pebble owners can glance at their wrist for data such as pace and mileage.

The Pebble watch is somewhat unique for two reasons. First, it uses e-paper technology, which doesn’t use much power to display data on the watch face. Second, it was one of the most successful Kickstarter projects to get funded, raising more than $10.2 million through nearly 69,000 individual backers. RunKeeper was announced as one of the first software partners last year and with Pebble’s SDK maturing, more are sure to follow.

The RunKeeper folks show no signs of slowing their pace. Last week, RunKeeper joined up with the Jawbone UP device via that company’s software platform. And in an email conversation I had on Monday with Jason Jacobs, CEO and founder of the company, he told me to expect RunKeeper to appear on other wearable devices in the future. “Pebble is the first, but won’t be the only. I would expect us to work with other wearables as well in the coming months, on your wrist or elsewhere.”

The idea behind a connected watch app for exercise tracking is a smart one. And I say that as someone who has tracked more than 2,000 miles in the past two years while running with a phone in my hand.

I’d much rather have the phone in my pocket or on an armband for running efficiency. (Ideally, I’d love to leave the phone at home.) The problem with both of those scenarios is that I can’t easily see my real-time running data. Having a second screen for the app on my wrist is far more effective. For that reason, I gravitated towards a Motorola MotoACTV smart watch in 2012. Now if I could just get it to integrate with RunKeeper!

This post was updated at 6:18am to reflect the correct funding amount Pebble raised on Kickstarter.

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At the end of the week, Nvidia showed off the Real Boxing game title on Project Shield, focusing on in-game lighting, graphics and general game play:

Nvidia plans a continuing series of Project Shield videos, which will help to keep interest high. But regardless of how excited the Android and gaming communities could be based on demonstrations, success is likely to come down to the handheld’s price. I’m still hoping to see Project Shield debut at $250 or less, but many in the industry that I’ve spoken to expect a price at or north of $300.

If Project Shield isn’t big enough for you, perhaps the LG Optimus G Pro is: Phone Arena captured an image of the phone and  compiled a list of specifications of this handset with 5.5-inch display.

That’s as large as my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 phone, but LG is one-upping Samsung: The Optimus G Pro is expected to have a full HD screen with 1920 x 1080 resolution. Additional specs include a quad-core 1.7 GHz processor, 2 GB of memory, 13 megapixel camera 32 GB of internal storage and high-capacity 3,140 mAh battery. I’d expect the phone to run all day (and then some) on a single charge, even with the higher resolution display.

Unlike the Optimus G Pro, I can’t run all day. When I do run, though, I tend to use mobile apps or a smartwatch to track my exercise. This week, RunKeeper for Android got a refresh that improves on what I think was already a great app.

RunKeeper version 3 for Android has a new look and feel because the team used Google’s Android development guidelines for the redesign. The software also adds some new features including in-activity splits, a tab to view your personal goals and stats, improved audio cues in workouts and workout reminders. Many of these functions were already available in RunKeeper for iOS so it’s good to see the Android version catch up in this functionality race.

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According to RunKeeper CEO and founder, Jason Jacobs, the split of active RunKeeper users favors iOS devices 3 to 1. But in terms of RunKeeper newbies? “New users are approaching more like 60/40 iPhone/Android with Android continuing to gain,” Jacobs told me in an email this morning.

So what’s in the update for those Android users of RunKeeper, both new and old? According to a blog post on the company’s site:

• Visual redesign. Complete visual redesign from the ground up with Android design guidelines and best practices in mind.
• In-activity splits. Shows your pace per mile/km or workout interval throughout the activity (there was some serious celebration about this one around the office).
• ‘Me’ tab. Central place in the app to view your goal progress, personal records, and activity tally over time.
• Audio cue improvements. More robust audio cues.
• Workout reminders. The ability to schedule your next workout when you finish the last one, to provide an extra layer of accountability to make sure you get out there when you should.

Although I haven’t taken time for my run yet today, I’m looking forward to trying the updated version on my Android. The biggest improvement I’m looking forward to is the in-activity splits as well as the overall look and feel that uses more of Google’s Android design guidelines.

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The result is a sleeker user experience and an upgraded platform that will mean even faster updates in the future. Here’s a look at some of the improvements in 3.0, which is coming to Android soon.

The overall look, which de-emphasizes bold colors, has been cleaned up to create a more consistent UI that is easier to read and navigate. Users can now share in-app photos to Facebook and Twitter more easily at any time during their workout. Runkeeper photos are integrated with Twitter’s card system. It’s all part of an improved sharing and end-of-workout experience on Runkeeper.

Runkeeper Elite users ($19.99 per year) can also enable live activity tracking so friends can follow a user’s progress. Signing up for Elite is also now enabled right from the app. The new Runkeeper also does a better job incorporating improvements over the last year such as the ability to track progress against set goals and compete with friends in the app.

Under the hood, Runkeeper touched up every page in the app as part of an overhaul of the codebase. By refactoring the code, Runkeeper can boost the performance of the app and push out new releases much faster.

RunKeeper CEO Jason Jacobs said the redesign touched almost every employee at the company, which has grown to 38 people, up from 12 a year ago. He said hitting this release on time gives the company confidence it can maintain an aggressive timeline into 2013, as it plans a lot more improvements.

The company, one of the first GPS tracking fitness apps for the iPhone, continues to grind away, thanks in part to $10 million raised a little over a year ago. It’s now up to 14 million users, with half a million new users jumping onboard each month. With the New Year upon us, the update to 3.0 should get a lot of new sign-ups from resolution-setting users.

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In an email conversation with Founder and CEO, Jason Jacobs acknowledged a shortfall in the short-term revenue stream, although that’s not a priority, nor an issue:

“[W]e’re not really revenue-focused right now.  Our biggest priorities are product excellence, building a large and engaged userbase, and a vibrant ecosystem of apps/devices/services integrated seamlessly via our Health Graph API.

Instead of quick-hit money from users, RunKeeper is continuing its push on the freemuim model to build a happy audience for its wares. As the user-base grows, monetization will follow is the thought from Jacobs.

As a competitive runner — disclosure, I’m a happy RunKeeper user that pays for the yearly $20 Elite service — I was always interested in the training plans. But I had other training options available to me through my running magazines, on-line training plans and local running gurus. Now that the plans are free, I may use one because I like what I see.

Each plan has a clearly stated goal; run a 3:30 marathon, for example. The number of daily workouts and a goal end date are also part of every plan.

I’m currently half-way through my own 16 week marathon training plan so it’s too late for me to try one from RunKeeper, but I’ll surely give one a chance after my next race.

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RunKeeper is announcing with Pebble that when the watch become available this fall, it will have RunKeeper integrated into the watch. That means users will be able to start their RunKeeper runs, monitor their progress and stop their activity, all from their watch with their smartphone tucked away. The phone will talk to the Pebble watch over Bluetooth.

Jason Jacobs, RunKeeper’s CEO told me that Pebble’s founder Eric Migicovsky first reached out to him four to five months ago before the watch raised close to $8 million on Kickstarter. The two stayed in touch and after the success of the Kickstarter campaign, they talked about how RunKeeper could get early access to Pebble’s SDK. Now, RunKeeper will work with the Pebble team to get the app integrated for launch, which is expected in September.

While RunKeeper has integrated with more than 65 devices and apps, Pebble is its first smartwatch partnership. Jacobs said RunKeeper users have been pushing for the integration in the company’s support forum.

“This is the first smartwatch that harnesses the full power of the smartphone but in a form factor that’s much more conducive to inactivity training,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs said he’s interested to see how the first integration works and he’s open to going even further potentially building a standalone app for Pebble that doesn’t rely on a smartphone. That would likely take improved hardware from Pebble because the watch currently doesn’t include GPS.

The RunKeeper integration validates Migicovsky’s plans to turn Pebble into an app platform. And getting a well known name like RunKeeper should attract more developers interested in the opportunity.

Migicovsky told me a couple a weeks ago that the company is working on Pebble’s open SDK and expects to have it out by August, a month before launch. He said at the time that there were already 32,000 visitors to the developer forum in its first week. With all the extra funding coming through Kickstarter, he said there was an opportunity to make the SDK even more robust, which could in turn attract even more developers. With more than 53,000 watches pre-sold through the Kickstarter campaign, it’s likely other developers will also want to get in on the action.

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Ironically, instead of wearing it solely to track exercise, I’ve unexpectedly found myself wearing it every minute of the day since I bought it. Why? I didn’t realize until using the MotoActv that’s its essentially equal parts FitBit health tracker, iPod Nano and [insert your favorite smartphone exercise app here].

What makes this possible is all of the sensors and connectivity options found inside the MotoActv, which is a 46 mm (about 1.6-inch) capacitive touchscreen square that’s 9.6 mm thin. Here’s a rundown of what’s inside this watch-like gadget that’s based on the Google Android operating system:

• Accelerometer
• GPS
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 4.0 with ANT+ compatibility
• FM radio

With this combination running on custom software, the device tracks your daily calories, as computed by your level of activity as well as your age and weight. Caloric data is reset daily at midnight and the device calculates calories even when you’re sleeping. The accelerometer counts your steps, just like a digital pedometer.

The GPS is used for outdoor exercise such as running or cycling, similar to smartphone apps such as RunKeeper, Strava, Endomondo and others. The key difference is that you don’t need the smartphone used by these apps due to the integrated GPS inside the MotoActv. And of course, with 8 GB of storage for the model I bought, I can listen to any number of digital music tunes I’ve loaded up.

Based on my limited use, here’s what I like and dislike about the MotoActv so far:

• I love the ability to track daily calories and steps, even though that’s not why I bought the device. It’s an added bonus.
• Once setup with a home Wi-Fi connection, the MotoActv automatically syncs all data to the MotoActv website for viewing. There’s no need to manually sync the device.
• You can wear this as a watch if you buy the optional watch band. I didn’t as it’s slightly too big for my small wrists, but I could see many people wearing this on an arm. Also, there are several watch faces to choose from.
• The device comes with a small clip, just like an iPod Nano, which is a great way for me to wear daily. Ladies: You can clip this to the inside of your pants or throw it in a pocket and nobody will be the wiser.
• The GPS radio typically finds satellites in 15 seconds or less for me.
• With an Android phone, you can receive incoming Caller ID, calendar reminders and SMS messages on the MotoActv.
• The device tracks what music you listen to during workouts and can create a custom playlist of the songs that make you run or bike faster. Tap the lightning bolt icon when flagging during a workout and this turbo-charged playlist fires up.
• The battery life drops to 80 percent on a day when I don’t exercise, which is great. On a 5k day (with music playing) it dropped to 70 percent. I’ll be testing it on longer runs such as 10 milers and half marathons in the coming weeks.
• I can use my low-powered Wahoo Blue HR heart rate monitor with the MotoActv and add that data to my online log.
• I don’t see the point of the Route view on the small screen. You can’t zoom or see anything meaningful.
• The in-ear coaching is sometimes hard to understand and doesn’t yet give me the metrics I want during a run. Smartphone apps are often better in this regard, but this is a fixable problem if Motorola chooses to improve it.
• Similar to other online exercise tracking platforms, I can see the map of my running route. However, I see no way to make the map private, meaning: If you want to share your running data (which I do), it’s an all or none share from what I can see.

Overall, I’m impressed with the device — as you can probably tell due to more likes than dislikes. It’s not quite perfect, but for the first time in two years, I’m comfortable leaving the smartphone behind as I run.

Even better, I’m tracking health-related measurements when I’m not running. These functions, combined with the fact that I can wear this device anywhere, make it worth every penny of my purchase price so far. After all, I wanted a wearable device to track exercise and I ended up getting that plus a smartwatch and an MP3 player.

Disclosure: Fitbit is backed by True Ventures, a venture capital firm that is an investor in the parent company of this blog, Giga Omni Media. Om Malik, founder of Giga Omni Media, is also a venture partner at True.

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Here’s a descriptive list of the nine titles:

1. Fleetly: Lets users track and improve their Fitness Level in a social game.
2. Pedometer Ultimate: Turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a powerful GPS stopwatch.
3. Nexercise: An interactive game that makes fitness fun.
4. CleverRun: Predicts your target time for your next race and compares your runs to runs of the same distance.
5. Cycle Log: Helps cyclists track performance with GPS mapping, interval timers, voice cues and more.
6. Coachya: Helps coaches provide training plans, track, manage and bill their teams and athletes.
7. Vitogo: Lets you log your strength training with coaching, motivation and social support.
8. Weighty: Allows you to submit your weight and fat percentage to the Health Graph.
9. Scosche myTREK: A wireless pulse monitor that is worn on your forearm and lets you manage your pulse, training type, calories burned, distance/speed/pace and more.

Although these software titles vary by function, they can all feed into a RunKeeper’s user data. By combining such data, and allowing for user choice of preferred software, RunKeeper can aggregate activity and health data from a nearly unlimited number of sources, not all of which are software; the wearable FitBit device and the Withing’s Wi-Fi scale are two hardware examples.

What was once a fairly niche app is now riding the growing wave of health-tracking gadgets and apps. There’s no lack of these, but RunKeeper has found the “secret sauce” to best leverage the opportunity. With its HealthGraph effort, RunKeeper is fast becoming the method all of these many devices uses to talk to each other in the same language.

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