[HN Gopher] Open source smartwatch integrates ESP32 MCU with e-p...
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       Open source smartwatch integrates ESP32 MCU with e-paper display
        
       Author : teleforce
       Score  : 101 points
       Date   : 2023-04-24 10:08 UTC (12 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (linuxgizmos.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (linuxgizmos.com)
        
       | tectec wrote:
       | I'd love a watch like this, but none of them seem to work with
       | iOS. I don't know if sideloading iOS apps would help with that.
       | Apple seems to keep the messaging and notification API's pretty
       | locked down.
        
         | solarkraft wrote:
         | > I don't know if sideloading iOS apps would help with that.
         | 
         | Likely. You currently need to do just that to install the
         | Pebble app and it's a huge pain.
        
         | Steltek wrote:
         | The list of hobbies, ideas, and stuff in my house that will
         | never work with Apple is endless. Once you choose Apple, you
         | stop getting more choices.
        
       | daneel_w wrote:
       | _" With only time keeping, Watchy should have a battery life of
       | 5-7 days, while with fetching data over WiFi, it should last
       | between 2-3 days."_
       | 
       | No thanks, that would be too vexing. Though I do see the
       | attractive novelty of this device.
        
       | kkoste wrote:
       | I wonder what the battery life would be on this. But I am too
       | lazy to do the math.
        
         | crims0n wrote:
         | Covered on the Wiki, 5-7 days normally, 2-3 days with WiFi:
         | https://watchy.sqfmi.com/docs/battery-life
        
           | epilys wrote:
           | I get 24 hours tops without wifi. Huh?? I thought it was
           | normal, will contact support.
        
       | crote wrote:
       | It is a cute watch, but Micro USB is inexcusable in 2023.
       | Especially at that price point: PS57 is $70 or EUR64.
        
         | schwartzworld wrote:
         | Micro USB is fine. Most people have a ton of them around, and
         | they are cheaper than USBC. You enjoy paying a premium to not
         | have to look at which direction you're plugging it in?
        
           | Findecanor wrote:
           | Cables with reversible Micro USB plugs exist. Those are the
           | only ones I use.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | blitzar wrote:
           | > You enjoy paying a premium to not have to look at which
           | direction you're plugging it in?
           | 
           | For that alone it is worth every single one of the 7c extra
           | it costs.
        
           | stronglikedan wrote:
           | Abso-effin-lutely!
        
         | fxtentacle wrote:
         | Fully agree. An USB-C connector is thinner and even at low
         | volume I can buy them for $0.04 each. And if you buy a full
         | 1600 piece reel its $0.02 each. Plus you NEED USB-C if you want
         | support for USB-PD (power delivery) or USB-BC (battery
         | charging) because both standards rely on the CC lines that A-
         | or B-type connectors lack.
        
       | DrThunder wrote:
       | Eh, as a hobby and something to mess around with I can see the
       | novelty of this. However, the main reason I use a smartwatch is
       | for the gps (typically I have a Garmin). I track my mountain bike
       | rides, hikes, runs etc.
       | 
       | Personally, I would just use an analog watch over something like
       | this. It seems to not be "smart" enough to actual be all that
       | useful.
        
         | capableweb wrote:
         | Yeah, I don't think this product (SQFMI Watchy -
         | https://thepihut.com/products/sqfmi-watchy) is sold as a thing
         | for consumers to just buy and passively use without being
         | curious about the platform itself and wanting something to hack
         | on.
         | 
         | And the seeing what the sources (linuxgizmos.com and
         | thepihut.com) are, kind of makes that point clear too, together
         | with the fact that it comes in pieces you have to assemble
         | yourself.
         | 
         | A bit like commenting on a story about a new gaming laptops
         | when all you use the Office suite and you don't see the value
         | in the laptop presented.
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | LeifCarrotson wrote:
         | You want OpenSmartwatch-gps:
         | 
         | https://open-smartwatch.github.io/watches/gps-edition/
         | 
         | https://github.com/Open-Smartwatch/open-smartwatch-gps
         | 
         | Admittedly somewhat abandonware due to difficulties in antenna
         | design... A year ago, I enthusiastically jumped on the project
         | and I've got a half dozen ESP32-pico-D4 and Quectel L96 GPS
         | modules on my desk, a breakout board for one GPS module that
         | only works with a powered antenna that's twice the size of my
         | Garmin Fenix 6 Pro, and a half-finished Kicad project to turn
         | it into a watch, a very dusty RF design textbook that I've not
         | read since 2011, and not enough time or energy to see it
         | through.
        
       | RobotToaster wrote:
       | Would be nice if it had some spare IO pins broken out so you
       | could add your own sensors etc.
        
       | sprash wrote:
       | I have one of those. It takes a lot of work writing embedded C
       | code to make it do what you want. In my case it was displaying a
       | calendar and the moonphase. The default software is _very_ bare
       | bones. Battery life is 1.5 weeks for me when using ntp sync once
       | a Day and a display update every minute without any further
       | wireless communication.
       | 
       | I find the PineTime more attractive because it has an aditional
       | heart rate sensor and a color display with similiar battery life.
        
         | daneel_w wrote:
         | The schematic shows an RTC in there, does it really need to
         | have its timekeeping syncronized every day next to startup?! Or
         | it's just something you do to cover for eventualities?
        
           | sprash wrote:
           | Maybe I'm doing something wrong but the RTC lags about a
           | minute every three days. At least for my device a regular ntp
           | sync is therefore absolutely required.
        
           | charlesrocket wrote:
           | Some v1 units got defective RTCs so one would have to
           | frequently sync time. My version had around 2 weeks of
           | battery life (no ntp/etc). I can see getting way beyond that
           | with accel and on-demand refresh instead of 1min intervals.
        
       | polishdude20 wrote:
       | Wireless connectivity is great but the esp32 has terrible power
       | consumption due to the wifi.
       | 
       | A lot of times you can get by with Bluetooth. Of course, one then
       | needs an app and a phone or other host device but the power
       | consumption on Nordic Bluetooth chips is just miniscule.
        
         | steve_adams_86 wrote:
         | I guess you could toggle wifi on and off to conserve power. The
         | S3 uses about 20mA without wifi, which isn't too bad. It's on
         | par with the Pi Pico and Arduino Nano Connect as I recall. They
         | all guzzle power when wifi is enabled, otherwise idle fairly
         | low and peak around 80-120mA depending on processor power.
        
           | jareklupinski wrote:
           | i just finished an esp32 design with incredibly aggressive
           | power savings as the primary goal
           | 
           | it saves persistent variables to non-volatile storage and
           | deep-sleeps at 15-20uA according to my power profiler 2,
           | waking up on a timer
           | 
           | when it wakes up, connects, checks battery, and updates
           | display, it can peak 350mA, but mostly stays around 100-150mA
           | while it works
        
         | cuttysnark wrote:
         | The official Watchy firmware is designed to put the esp32 into
         | deep sleep and only wake to update the display, which being
         | e-ink doesn't need any further power to hold its position until
         | the next update. In deep sleep no radios are on and the esp32
         | uses very small amounts of power. In my experience, I usually
         | have to plug it into charge every ~10 days.
         | 
         | As far as bluetooth on Watchy goes, it's more useful for OTA
         | updates than anything else. When in this mode, Watchy's
         | firmware can be sent as a .bin over bluetooth. This takes only
         | a few minutes and then the ble radio is turned off. No real hit
         | the battery.
         | 
         | The other [quicker] way to flash the firmware is via usb,
         | during which time the battery is charging.
         | 
         | What I like about Watchy is that it requires no phone or apps,
         | is running firmware I wrote and flashed, and occasionally calls
         | _my_ server for data if I need it.
        
       | analog31 wrote:
       | I discovered much to my chagrin that the ESP32 Bluetooth module
       | consumes a lot of power, affecting my quirky keyboard project. Is
       | there a better method for syncing to a PC or phone?
        
         | solarkraft wrote:
         | If it's the actual radio: No. But if you want to optimise the
         | time spent active (where most of the gains are), ESP-Now and
         | BLE would be good options (though I suppose you're already
         | using that?). Aside from that, NRF and Silabs chips have very
         | low power radios with advanced features (advertising while the
         | rest of the chip is sleeping).
        
       | boffinAudio wrote:
       | I have one of these, alongside a couple of PineTimes, some
       | ESP32-vending machine clone 'smart watches', and even an
       | Oscilloscope Watch, which uses the same CPU.
       | 
       | Alas Watchy looks great on screen and in pictures, but on the
       | wrist it is very bulky and uncomfortable. I would not rate the
       | case design very high.
       | 
       | I much prefer my PineTime Watch instead, its just a nicer form-
       | factor. And it has an app store with tons of interesting stuff.
       | 
       | One thing I wish these open source watches would do: agree on an
       | API/ABI that would allow us to run apps from PineTime on Bangle,
       | and vice versa.
       | 
       | Someone should put Lua on all these machines and let us side-load
       | bytecode, darn ..
       | 
       | EDIT: s/PrimeTime/PineTime/g
        
         | seszett wrote:
         | > _PrimeTime Watch_
         | 
         | Do you mean PineTime, or is there a "PrimeTime" smartwatch that
         | I don't know about?
        
           | boffinAudio wrote:
           | Sorry, thats a typo - yes I meant the PineTime Watch. I'll
           | edit ..
        
         | bmsleight_ wrote:
         | Same here - loved Watchy, built my own watchface. But it is not
         | waterproof and kill a couple of Watchy(s) in the sea/shower.
         | PineTime is not as good and harder to hack and contribute back
         | to the firmware. But Pinetime is waterproof.
        
         | solarkraft wrote:
         | > One thing I wish these open source watches would do: agree on
         | an API/ABI that would allow us to run apps from PineTime on
         | Bangle, and vice versa.
         | 
         | I've looked far and wide for a standard embedded OS that can
         | just load binaries and didn't find much. IIRC Zephyr has a
         | seemingly barely-supported feature for it and so does NuttX.
        
       | biggedyb wrote:
       | I've got one of those. Hated the in-box case though so printed
       | one of these: https://github.com/sqfmi/watchy-
       | cases/tree/main/Flipped%20Ch...
       | 
       | Also didn't like the watch face so made my own from the default
       | one, changed layout and font and stuff.
       | 
       | Oh and replaced the strap with a velcro strap.
        
       | tyingq wrote:
       | I'm pleasantly surprised the case itself manages to be ~ 15mm
       | thick, which isn't exactly thin, but not bad. And it looks like
       | there's opportunity to shave that down with different connectors,
       | sinking the battery into the pcb, etc, as they iterate.
        
         | fxtentacle wrote:
         | About 2 years ago, me and some friends produced a small batch
         | of similar watches, but we used a different LiPo connector and
         | USB-C to make it thinner and then we could get the cases down
         | to 11mm thickness, which is comparable to the thinnest Apple
         | Watch. So in general, ESP32 and e-ink is a pretty great basis
         | to start from. Since this appears to be open source, you could,
         | in theory, apply these modifications to their design and then
         | produce your own batch of thin e-ink watches... If you do,
         | please send them a pull request ;)
        
       | solarkraft wrote:
       | Why does almost nobody use the Sharp Memory LCDs the Pebble Time
       | used? They're close to perfect. The only other product with them
       | I can think of is the Amazfit Bip/Banglejs.
        
         | addaon wrote:
         | Sharp even has some nice round color memory LCDs at this point,
         | that still stay under 1 mA even at 20 fps, and are way under
         | that for once-per-second updates. Besides the usual memory LCDs
         | downside (25:1 contrast is truly bad, need a side-light for
         | many use cases just like old-school digital watches did), I
         | suspect the color reproduction is muddy as best. I'd still love
         | one for a few use cases.
        
       | crims0n wrote:
       | Really surprised someone has not filled the gap that Pebble left.
       | Projects like this get close, but it still boggles my mind that
       | over a decade ago we had a polished and commercial e-ink
       | smartwatch with a 1-week battery life, 5 atm waterproof rating,
       | integration with Android and iOS, a vibrant developer community,
       | and a robust app store... and it all just, disappeared.
        
         | tpoacher wrote:
         | > "disappeared"
         | 
         | you mean bought and killed
        
           | tesseract wrote:
           | It was already dead when it was bought. The founder wrote a
           | postmortem: https://medium.com/@ericmigi/why-pebble-
           | failed-d7be937c6232
        
         | michaelmior wrote:
         | I personally really like my Xiaomi Mi Band. It's much cheaper
         | than many alternatives (Apple Watch, Wear OS devices) at
         | <$50USD for the most current model. I get notifications pushed
         | from my phone, step tracking, heart rate monitoring, sleep
         | detection, among other things. Battery life is multiple weeks
         | and it's waterproof (not sure to what pressure).
         | 
         | It's not as customizable as I'd like, but Notify for Mi Band[0]
         | helps a lot. For example, I'm able to connect my watch to Home
         | Assistant so I can use watch controls for my smart home
         | devices.
         | 
         | [0] https://mibandnotify.com/
        
           | dirtyid wrote:
           | This, low effort Chinese smart band/watchess with 2-3 week
           | battery life that does 80% works well for my use case.
           | Upgraded to a huawei GT because it has 1 physical short cut
           | button I use to pull up media controls. IMO that's really
           | what's missing, a simple band with 4-6 programmable buttons.
        
             | michaelmior wrote:
             | Agreed. Thats really what I want. Something with hood
             | battery life and some buttons that I can program via
             | Tasker. That said, I think the market for such a device is
             | fairly small. Most users will want something that works
             | well out of the box.
        
         | Steltek wrote:
         | My Pebble watch and my dumb-as-bricks LCD TV. Elegant
         | simplicity of a past generation that I can't let go of today
         | because the modern replacement sucks.
         | 
         | There's gotta be other things that fall in that category. 3.5mm
         | headphones? Cars with tactile controls? Non-electric bicycles?
        
           | tonymet wrote:
           | this comment deserves a [Ask HN] post. There is a huge
           | untapped market for tactile, responsive, simplified & elegant
           | products / tools / appliances / vehicles. We just need to
           | articulate & define the market segment well. "Responsive
           | Utility" or "Full Control Appliances" . Unfortunately the
           | positive qualities of "simple, long lasting, " and to a
           | lesser degree "intuitive" are presently lost to many/ most
           | consumers.
           | 
           | My dream would be resurrecting 1990s mazda with 3 models: the
           | hatchback, 90s-size pickup truck , and the miata. All tactile
           | control interior. Modern drivetrain efficiency ( direct
           | injection, variable timing) . Primitive ICs (just air/ fuel
           | mix, ABS, and minimal ODB-II features) .
           | 
           | There is a huge market of guys who just want usable, long-
           | lasting, responsive & intuitive tools
        
             | vaidhy wrote:
             | Let us do this - car in a box. If you are in Pacific NW, we
             | can start it as a side project :)
        
           | derekp7 wrote:
           | Digital Cable / TV. It used to be that you could sit back
           | with the remote and flip through the channels to find
           | something good on. Now it takes a few seconds for the next
           | channel to "start up" that you can't quickly scan through
           | them. Oh, and the proliferation of "junk" channels on cable
           | means that you still couldn't channel surf because of all the
           | crap you have to wade through, and the half dozen channels
           | out of several hundred that might have a show you are
           | interested in is more likely than not to have a commercial
           | running when you land on it.
           | 
           | Yes, we have more choice with more channels, and streaming,
           | and independent media, but I'd almost rather have limited
           | choice of higher quality than to have a choice of thousands
           | of "meh" options.
        
             | zikduruqe wrote:
             | > Digital Cable / TV
             | 
             | Remember when you paid a subscription NOT to watch
             | commercials?
             | 
             | something, something, Pepperidge Farms meme....
        
           | wwweston wrote:
           | > 3.5mm headphones?
           | 
           | Yes. For over 30 years, consumer electronics had a Just
           | Works(tm) standard for stereo audio. No pairing issues. No
           | charging issues. No dongles for different devices.
           | 
           | For some situations (jogging, gym, housework, etc) I get that
           | no-wires is also convenient, but others (like the car) make
           | no damn sense, and even the situations where it does make
           | sense aren't a reason to remove the feature.
           | 
           | But we did it anyway because it makes Apple more money.
        
             | beagle3 wrote:
             | I actually like it that my phone stays in my pocket or
             | backpack when I enter the car, and it just works; also the
             | car keys stay in my pocket and I can just start it.
             | 
             | The wires do work if I need them through CarPlay, or
             | AndroidAuto. And I do use Waze on the car's built in
             | display sometimes. But mostly - I just enter the car and
             | start driving. No need to put the key in the ignition, or
             | the headphone jack in the phone.
        
             | smashed wrote:
             | When you add microphone support to the 3.5mm jack, there
             | has been 2 competing standards.. one eventually won but to
             | this day I still stumble upon that old device or headphones
             | that is incompatible..
             | 
             | https://hardwarerecs.stackexchange.com/questions/15086/how-
             | d...
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | dontlaugh wrote:
             | For cars wires make sense, but the lack of controls
             | doesn't. There's no standard for play/pause/volume, or even
             | in general a widely used wired digital standard.
             | 
             | Ideally we'd get rid of analog and have the same digital
             | standard that works wires or wireless. In practice, I use
             | Bluetooth and CarPlay.
        
               | wolrah wrote:
               | There is a widely used standard, actually two, that solve
               | this problem just fine over a single pure digital
               | interface.
               | 
               | USB Audio Class has been almost universally supported in
               | computing devices for literally decades at this point, as
               | has USB HID Class which supports media controls.
               | 
               | I have no idea whether Apple allows it to work on iOS
               | devices, but a car head unit could easily expose a USB
               | audio class device and it'd "just work" with Android,
               | Windows, MacOS, etc. devices. Add a USB HID "keyboard"
               | that can send media/telephone inputs and you're good to
               | go without any new tech required to be invented. Works
               | with anything that doesn't go out of the way to prevent
               | it from working. All you'd be missing compared to
               | Bluetooth A2DP/AVRCP would be communicating media info
               | back to the head unit, which is more of an optional
               | nicety rather than a necessity.
               | 
               | Plug a USB cable in to whatever computing device you want
               | to source audio from and it would work great.
               | 
               | Unfortunately the majority of the non-technical
               | community, and a surprisingly large amount of the
               | technical community, acts like they're allergic to wires.
               | I honestly do not understand the demand for wireless
               | charging, wireless AA/CP, etc. when a single cable works
               | better for both. It's not that hard to plug a phone in
               | when you sit down in your car.
        
               | dontlaugh wrote:
               | Not sure why, but cars don't generally support that.
               | Maybe because "digital keyboard" is too generic compared
               | to "play/pause/next/previous/volume"? Then there's also
               | the phone call controls.
               | 
               | Wired CarPlay is pretty nice, though.
        
           | ThrowawayR2 wrote:
           | > "* 3.5mm headphones?*"
           | 
           | Sure as heck aren't those. While I still want a physical
           | connector, jiggling the cable to get a good connection when
           | the jack started wearing out is something that should have
           | been put it in its grave long ago.
        
             | dontlaugh wrote:
             | I also don't understand the love for analog, with all the
             | crackling from interference or poor connection.
        
               | LoveMortuus wrote:
               | To me, it's more about the device being self-sufficient,
               | meaning it works without me having to repeatedly put
               | effort into it. Wired headphones work just as they are,
               | regardless of time that has passed, I know that as long
               | as they're not broken, I can always take them out of my
               | bag and they'll work.
               | 
               | With wireless headphones, it's always a question, do I
               | have enough battery for this trip, what to do if I run
               | out of the battery, the answer is usually just taking
               | additional wired earphones with me, just as a backup.
               | 
               | The same reason is why I use wired mouse and wired
               | keyboard, I don't want to have to think about the battery
               | nor knowing that there will come a time when I'll have to
               | change the battery or charge the keyboard.
               | 
               | As others have mentioned, there are benefits to wireless
               | devices, but everything has a Yin and a Yang, you get
               | wireless but you trade something else in exchange.
        
               | dontlaugh wrote:
               | Wires can make sense, but why not wired digital? No
               | chance of data loss and the DAC is guaranteed to be
               | matched to the speakers and is permanently and reliably
               | connected to them.
        
               | legacynl wrote:
               | I don't understand the 'love' for digital. Why would you
               | want to replace your headphones with wireless ones that
               | are more expensive, can run out of battery, can't plug
               | into your amplifier, and are probably impossible to
               | repair.
        
               | dspillett wrote:
               | As much as I wouldn't be without my bluetooth headphones
               | (usually bone conduction for a little extra
               | safety/comfort/convenience) and don't use a 3.5mm jack on
               | anything mobile myself, I can definitely agree it has
               | advantages that are attractive enough that some _really_
               | want it over what I prefer:
               | 
               | # No extra device to remember to charge (unless, perhaps,
               | you have big noise-cancelling cans).
               | 
               | # No running out at an inconvenient/irritating time if
               | you don't charge them (or are just out for a long time).
               | 
               | # Standard fitting so anything can plug in, makes
               | carrying a spare set (or buying one in an "emergency")
               | inexpensive.
               | 
               | # Easily plug in a double+ adaptor too (not seen it for a
               | while that I remember, but there was a spate of people on
               | public transport listening to the same music that way).
               | Try that with BT.
               | 
               | # No pairing issues (tell me you've never had them, even
               | with supposedly good quality kit, and I'll call you a
               | lier!).
               | 
               | # Easily switch between devices (my headset doesn't
               | always want to connect when I switch from work to
               | personal phone, so I have to go through the BT-on-and-
               | off-again-at-both-ends dance. At least these days decent
               | devices (and most cheap ones) remember multiple pairings,
               | it used to be even worse.
               | 
               | # The crackling from a poor connection was rare with a
               | good jack+socket in my experience, and BT is not immune
               | to interference in busy environments. I've also
               | experienced BT dropping out temporarily if devices get
               | too close (i.e. I sit and bend to adjust a shoelace while
               | my phone is on a trouser pocket).
               | 
               | And of course there is little reason not to have a
               | standard jack as a fallback option, even if you do
               | usually use wireless playback.
        
               | dontlaugh wrote:
               | Most of that would also apply to wired digital
               | headphones. It's the analog bit I don't get. Why would I
               | want to give up data integrity until right up to the
               | speaker?
        
               | dspillett wrote:
               | Ah, you were segueing further from the 3.5mm jack than I
               | thought.
               | 
               | If there was a wired digital standard as ubiquitous or at
               | least as nearly as, perhaps people would be wanting that
               | instead.
               | 
               | The 3.5mm jack debate on phones is not about
               | digital/analogue, it is about what people know,
               | understand, _already have_ or can easily afford/access.
               | They don't specifically want analogue, like people buying
               | vinyl, they want the port that common head gear plugs
               | into, for the reasons I and others have mentioned, and
               | that port being analogue is just a coincidence of its
               | history.
        
               | coeneedell wrote:
               | Yeah all those high end headphones with famously
               | crackling connections.
        
             | nixpulvis wrote:
             | Just give the leads a quick lick.
        
             | DrThunder wrote:
             | Nah, wired ear buds are quite popular again. They're just
             | so easy to use, cheap, and not have to fiddle with
             | remembering to charge them.
        
             | wwweston wrote:
             | Still working on most of the devices I've got that were
             | made in the 80s/90s, meanwhile I have machines with USB
             | ports less than a decade old where how you seat the cable
             | matters or the port just outright doesn't work anymore.
             | 
             | Some of that you can chalk up to survivor bias, but _if_
             | this is a conversation, the main reason anybody can
             | actually have it is that we 're talking about a standard
             | that was universal enough for long enough.
        
             | legacynl wrote:
             | > jiggling the cable to get a good connection when the jack
             | started wearing out
             | 
             | I think this is mostly due to shitty cables though. I've
             | had multiple Sennheiser earbuds that lasted for 4,5 years
             | on average, while only costing 20 euros at the time.
             | Similarly, my current headphones are semi-profesional
             | studio monitors that I've used heavily for the last 8
             | years, (including DJing) and they still work perfectly.
             | 
             | I think there's a difference between solid-core or stranded
             | cables. I don't recall which is the more durable one, but
             | as long as you get the right one cabled headphones can last
             | a long time.
             | 
             | Also when it does break it's trivially easy to repair or
             | replace the cable.
        
               | arcanemachiner wrote:
               | I've had female connectors go bad, but to your point, I
               | place the blame on the connector, not the standard
               | itself.
        
         | hooverd wrote:
         | I had two Pebble 2s. They were both great watches but both lost
         | their silicone button covers to wear. Can you even buy
         | replacements for that anymore?
        
         | solarkraft wrote:
         | Most importantly: Buttons.
         | 
         | I'm still wearing mine.
        
           | m-p-3 wrote:
           | I live in a country where it's sub-zero almost 4 months in
           | the year. being able to control the watch with physical
           | buttons without taking of my gloves is underrated.
           | 
           | I enjoy my BangleJS2, but the tactile display feels like a
           | downgrade to my Pebble Time Steel 4 buttons.
        
           | opan wrote:
           | This. I got a PineTime and after using it a while I realized
           | it will never be as good as the Pebble because they didn't
           | put enough buttons on the thing. Touchscreens suck for this
           | kind of device. The software is still catching up as well,
           | but at least that might get good enough someday. I'd like to
           | see something with as many buttons as a Pebble get Infinitime
           | support.
        
             | solarkraft wrote:
             | Yup, that's my main PineTime complaint besides the display.
             | I wish it had a more sensible set of features, but I know
             | it's just rebranded chinese crapware. That people keep
             | DIYing not-so-bad watches makes me think thay getting one
             | into mass production may not even be all that hard. A few
             | of the Rebble people seem to be interested in it too.
        
         | ClumsyPilot wrote:
         | Try Withings
         | 
         | It lasts a week on battery, shows time mechanicaly, records
         | hearbeat and usual accelerometer/sleep/wtv.
         | 
         | Not as advanced as Garmin/others, but its neater and simpler.
         | 
         | The timepiece functionality lasts a month without charging.
         | Here being a watch comes first, bells and whistles are
         | secondary
        
         | PragmaticPulp wrote:
         | Pebble had a small but vocal audience. Their audience is price
         | conscious, picky about features being _exactly_ what they want,
         | and relatively hard to please (despite the simplicity of their
         | expectations).
         | 
         | It's not a good recipe for building a company around. Probably
         | best for someone doing a hobby-scale or deliberately small
         | business, but establishing manufacturing and logistics for a
         | hardware project is notoriously expensive.
         | 
         | Meanwhile, engineer compensation expectations have gone up a
         | lot since the Pebble days. Just think about how many Pebble
         | watches you'd have to sell to be able to support even one
         | engineer salary. Multiple that across a team big enough to do
         | everything needed to ship a Pebble watch that satisfies their
         | audience and it's not hard to see why it's not happening.
        
           | ClumsyPilot wrote:
           | > Meanwhile, engineer compensation expectations have gone up
           | a lot since the Pebble days.
           | 
           | Rents have gone up since pebble days. Not just engineers,
           | everyone needs to be paid more today.
           | 
           | The housing crisis is eating civilisation
        
           | tpoacher wrote:
           | "small but vocal audience" is a rather misleading statement
           | when you consider it refers to a company within its first
           | year of operations. As far as I remember there were as many
           | pebbles as applewatches around that time, even though apple
           | was an established company with significant clout.
        
         | m-p-3 wrote:
         | I'm surprised they didn't offer some subscription-based extra
         | features to have a steady flow of revenue instead of only
         | depending on hardware sale.
        
         | crimsoneer wrote:
         | Yeah, it's a pretty clear market failure in my book. I still
         | find the whole saga pretty mystifying.
        
           | theaussiestew wrote:
           | Would you buy an e-ink smartband if it came out?
        
         | dariosalvi78 wrote:
         | well, there's BangleJS, but no e-ink display
        
       | tiernano wrote:
       | thats very cool! If I had found this about 2 months back, I would
       | have bought this over my Fitbit Sense 2!
        
       | KingOfCoders wrote:
       | Love the ESP32 but for me it would be too power hungry for the
       | usecase.
        
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       (page generated 2023-04-24 23:02 UTC)