[HN Gopher] Watchy: The Hackable $50 Smartwatch
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Watchy: The Hackable $50 Smartwatch
Author : ystad
Score : 65 points
Date : 2021-03-02 20:53 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (spectrum.ieee.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (spectrum.ieee.org)
| ourcat wrote:
| I have a couple of the PS30 LilyGo 'TTGO T-Watch 2020' ESP32
| based 'watches'. Lots of fun to tinker with and has a colour TFT
| touchscreen which introduced me to the very impressive lvgl
| library to create UI. But the battery life is not great (though
| that teaches you how to write and use deep sleep modes).
|
| An e-ink display would naturally help with the battery life, but
| the screen refresh times can be an issue for some ideas beyond
| telling the time.
| xtiansimon wrote:
| Funny the picture shows a subway exit. One of the apps I want
| from a smart watch is a compass. I work(d) in NYC and I'm always
| turned around when I exit the subway at an unfamiliar stop.
| johnjboren wrote:
| When I lived in NYC during the Summers of 2005 and 2006 I
| carried a real compass for this exact purpose.
|
| Walking a block in the wrong direction before figuring it out
| was not worth going without.
| dheera wrote:
| I found compasses don't work well in NYC either. My phone's
| compass is always wrong in NYC.
|
| I really wish NYC would paint or engrave a N/S/E/W indicator on
| the sidewalk at every subway exit.
| kingbirdy wrote:
| Why does this article not have any pictures of the watch? It only
| has renders, even though the author supposedly has one.
| seism wrote:
| There are a few photos at
| https://www.instagram.com/p/CLfUCmVrChY/
| monocasa wrote:
| AFAICT, those are renders too
| ohazi wrote:
| Real pictures here: https://twitter.com/sqfmi
|
| (scroll down a bit)
| gardenfelder wrote:
| Great link. Shows the product has evolved from the video
| linked elsewhere.
| dandelany wrote:
| Photo (of mine) here:
| https://twitter.com/dandelany/status/1348224456640974850
|
| Just measured it at 9.3mm thickness with the battery - but it
| has no case.
| IrishJourno wrote:
| I'm the author of the article and the editor of the section: a
| while back we decided to use illustrations rather than
| photography for this section of IEEE Spectrum--it was a style
| choice, but it gives us more options in terms of showing
| components and process diagrams.
| jore wrote:
| There is an assembly video at https://youtu.be/PCPxTS1aF3w
| mumblemumble wrote:
| There are some on the manufacturer's website:
| https://watchy.sqfmi.com/gallery
| tyingq wrote:
| I suspect they are having trouble with their claimed 9mm
| thickness...thinner than the Apple watch.
| Sodman wrote:
| Very excited for something like this! I can think of a few fun
| projects to try that would be useful to me nearly everyday but
| are too trivial or niche for an Apple or a Samsung to ever spend
| time actually building. Some ideas off of the top of my head:
|
| - Vibrate a bunch and notify me on-screen if my usual commuter
| train is running late or cancelled (but only if I haven't left my
| house yet). Also the same, but in reverse for my commute home
|
| - One-button touch activate my IoT devices (toggle houselights,
| garage door opener etc)
|
| - Show me how many bikes/docks are left at my local citibike
| station
|
| - One-button touch to fake a phone call to my phone to get me out
| of a meeting/conversation in a pinch
|
| - Show me how many minutes until it's predicted to rain
|
| Nothing life changing, but a fun side project that will continue
| to be useful once it's finished by saving me 5-10 seconds here
| and there!
| sfRattan wrote:
| Maybe I'm a curmudgeon, but I have subzero interest in
| smartwatches, even hackable or open source models. I want my
| watch to tell me the time, and I want it to do so 10, 20, and 30
| years from now without having to fiddle with software.
|
| I love Linux. I cut my teeth on it in high school after one too
| many viruses on Windows XP made me bite the bullet and try
| debian. I love my Raspberry Pi. It went from retro-gaming console
| to brief dev environment to Pi-hole server. There are tons of
| other hacked up solutions in my home.
|
| But sometimes I just want a tool that does one thing, essentially
| unsupervised, essentially forever.
|
| Apple Watch, Android Wear, Pebble, and now Watchy... All these
| devices will be e-waste in 30 years (most in less than 10). My
| Seiko automatic will still be ticking (and, as I wear it almost
| every day, I only wind it once or twice a year).
| pthreads wrote:
| I feel similarly. I bought a hand-wound mechanical watch. And
| my electric blender - does only one thing i.e. blend. Then
| there is the stone knife sharpener.
|
| I am making a list of things along similar lines i.e. devices
| that do one or two things really well, preferably mechanical,
| well-built etc.. Suggestions?
| jakecopp wrote:
| I currently own a Pebble Time Steel, but I love the idea of
| getting an open source watch I can build my own (very simple)
| UI for that might outlast the hardware.
|
| I guess it's a bit like the itch of building your own desk or
| some beautiful wooden furniture - I like the idea of slowly
| refining my own watch software until it's perfectly suited for
| me.
| jagger27 wrote:
| I found I had to wind my Seiko far more often than that. Is
| this because you wear it daily and the self winder keeps it
| going? How often do you have to adjust the time?
| sfRattan wrote:
| I adjust the time maybe once every three months, which has
| naturally fallen into a pattern that lines up with daylight
| savings time. My watch gains at most few minutes over that
| interval. There's a single complication for date (1-31) that
| I adjust on the first day of every month.
|
| Seiko watches aren't the absolute best, but as long as I
| don't leave it on the shelf for more than 24 hours the self-
| winding mechanism still works. I'd call them the Toyota of
| watches.
|
| I'm not a watch-o-phile per se (is there a better word for
| that hobby/interest?)... More like a /r/BuyItForLife [1]
| person. Seiko fits the bill to buy it for life without
| spending luxury good money.
|
| [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/
| drewzero1 wrote:
| I feel the same about my Casio Tough Solar. I've had it around
| 6 years and it feels like it'll never get old. For the last
| year or so I've been wearing a Pebble Time Steel and while I
| appreciate the extra features I know that one day it will stop
| working, and I'm sure my Casio will be there waiting.
|
| About the Pebble -- I am definitely a fan, and haven't yet seen
| another smartwatch with its particular appeal. After playing
| around with a lot of watchfaces I ended up almost always
| sticking with an analog face which I'm finding helps me
| visualize the passage of time a lot better than a digital
| readout.
| zepto wrote:
| Will it?
|
| My guess is that you will need to have it serviced somewhere in
| that time period.
|
| I am with you in regards to how great an automatic watch is,
| but unless your seiko has an oil-free escapement of some kind,
| e.g. silicon or DLC coated, 40 years seems like a stretch.
|
| https://www.rwsmithwatches.com/journal/roger-announces-nano-...
|
| https://www.sinn.de/en/DIAPAL.htm
| sfRattan wrote:
| I'll take one servicing in that period over replacing my
| watch every 3-5 (2-4?) years as the software becomes obsolete
| and all support vanishes into the myopically short tech
| upgrade cycle. It's why I say 'essentially' unsupervised and
| 'essentially' forever. The point of comparison with
| smartwatches is so far to the other extreme that I believe
| the language is largely justified.
| Sodman wrote:
| Sounds like this watch is absolutely not for you then, and
| that's totally fine! For me, in 2021, a watch needs to display
| more than just date/time to earn a place on my wrist. I'm also
| ok spending another $50 every 3-6 years on a new watch, that
| doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
|
| Conversely, I'm not keen on the idea of having to manually wind
| my watch, or remembering to fix the date at the start of every
| month.
|
| More options is good for everyone though, so I'm glad both
| exist!
| dillondoyle wrote:
| Has anyone found a good fitness metrics watch that is more open
| source (no monthly fee)?
|
| Oura looks new with no monthly subscription fee. It looks like
| horrible to wear for serious sport though.
|
| I have Whoop but will cancel the monthly fee once my intro period
| is over.
|
| But Whoop would be worth it for me if instead it would be a flat
| price own outright + they allow 3p access to all the data not
| just heart rate.
|
| The whoop in theory is great but it doesn't capture my sport's
| 'strain' well and the heart rate lags my treadmill band. I can't
| verify the sleep but it seems to be more accurate at least
| measuring my interruptions. But if it was flat rate not $30 a
| month i think it would be good enough.
| obenn wrote:
| In development: https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/
| djrogers wrote:
| This looks interesting, but I'm always leery any time I don't see
| any photos of the product - the linked article and it's source
| both just have drawings. That's kinda concerning.
| mumblemumble wrote:
| https://watchy.sqfmi.com/gallery
| dividuum wrote:
| Relevant link to the project:
| https://www.crowdsupply.com/sqfmi/watchy
| airbreather wrote:
| Lily Go have had something cheaper and maybe better, ESP-32 and I
| think there is a LORA version, that is something worth having
|
| https://www.banggood.com/LILYGO-TTGO-T-Watch-2020-ESP32-Main...
| statenjason wrote:
| For another hackable smartwatch, see the PineTime.
|
| https://pine64.com/product/pinetime-dev-kit
| renewiltord wrote:
| Cool device. A bit short on the sensors, but I understand why for
| a first iteration. Hope it's successful enough that later
| revisions will include a few things I'm keen on:
|
| * Pulse ox
|
| * Continuous heartrate
|
| * GPS+Compass
|
| But it's a cool device anyway.
| mwambua wrote:
| Adding those would be awesome (Especially if they could still
| keep the price under $100). The primary reason I use a
| smartwatch is for all the health-related features. I'd
| otherwise just wear a dumb watch whose battery will last me 10
| years.
| airbreather wrote:
| This is a bit bigger, but GPS and LORA, accelerometer, color
| screen, still cheaper
|
| https://www.banggood.com/LILYGOTTGO-T-Watch-ESP32-Chip-Progr...
| Black101 wrote:
| There are no open LoRa alternatives yet?
| mlillie wrote:
| Comment there says they're only selling the "Basic" which
| doesn't include GPS or LORA
| airbreather wrote:
| Search around, AliExpress as well, I think it is just that
| particular vendor is out.
| barbs wrote:
| Looks interesting! Any word on battery life? Couldn't seem to
| find anything...
| dandelany wrote:
| I have one... The battery life is currently OK but not great -
| something like 55 hours. But I think this can be improved with
| some firmware changes - and the firmware is open source.
| gardenfelder wrote:
| are those batteries available anywhere, or just form them?
| geoffhill wrote:
| For cheap esp32-based smartwatches and wristbands, I've had good
| success with LILYGO and the esp-idf toolchain.
|
| $18 T-Wristband:
| https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000527495064.html
|
| $26 T-Watch-2020:
| https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000971508364.html
|
| esp-idf: https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf
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(page generated 2021-03-02 23:00 UTC)