I made a smart watch from scratch • Hacker News Board

Re: I made a smart watch from scratch

#21

Post by parthdesai » Tue, Apr 30, 2019, 1:17 PM UTC

blinky1456 wrote: post #3

michaelmior wrote: post #2

I would have been impressed with anything functional, but to me this actually looks nicer than the vast majority of commercially produced smart watches. Awesome!

The Samsung smart watches look really nice to me, I don't know how decent they are in real life though since I don't own one.

While it's not a proper smartwatch, i find withings' (Nokia) hybrid smartwatch[0] to be really aesthetically pleasing.

[0]: https://www.withings.com/ca/en/steel-hr

Re: I made a smart watch from scratch

#22

Post by epaga » Tue, Apr 30, 2019, 1:33 PM UTC

asaddhamani wrote: post #6

blinky1456 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Samsung smart watches look really nice to me, I don't know how decent they are in real life though since I don't own one.

Right now they're very gimmicky, Apple watch has a much better app ecosystem

I own an Apple Watch and have yet to find any apps I'd use for it - I currently use it entirely for telling the time and for notifications (and for the record am quite happy with it!).

Any watch apps you can recommend?

Re: I made a smart watch from scratch

#23

Post by scoutt » Tue, Apr 30, 2019, 1:33 PM UTC

The DA14683 is fantastic. I played a bit with an eval. board and it's really good for it's price vs. features (~$3 for 250 pcs. at Mouser). But soon the idea of releasing code for it as Open Source faded away, since you need to sign an SLA (https://support.dialog-semiconductor.com/connectivity/reques...), that limits the way source code based on their in SDK is released (only to your customer, in an only “need to know” basis). I hate when this happens.

I wonder how the creator of this watch managed to publish the source code, including the Dialog SDK; if there is a backdoor I am missing.

Re: I made a smart watch from scratch

#24

Post by segmondy » Tue, Apr 30, 2019, 1:34 PM UTC

asaddhamani wrote: post #6

blinky1456 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Samsung smart watches look really nice to me, I don't know how decent they are in real life though since I don't own one.

Right now they're very gimmicky, Apple watch has a much better app ecosystem

So according to your logic, lack of apps == gimmicky?

Re: I made a smart watch from scratch

#25

Post by michaelmior » Tue, Apr 30, 2019, 1:41 PM UTC

blinky1456 wrote: post #3

michaelmior wrote: post #2

I would have been impressed with anything functional, but to me this actually looks nicer than the vast majority of commercially produced smart watches. Awesome!

The Samsung smart watches look really nice to me, I don't know how decent they are in real life though since I don't own one.

Agreed. I don't have one either, but the photos look great.

Re: I made a smart watch from scratch

#26

Post by zius » Tue, Apr 30, 2019, 1:42 PM UTC

parthdesai wrote: post #21

blinky1456 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Samsung smart watches look really nice to me, I don't know how decent they are in real life though since I don't own one.

While it's not a proper smartwatch, i find withings' (Nokia) hybrid smartwatch[0] to be really aesthetically pleasing. [0]: https://www.withings.com/ca/en/steel-hr

I am wearing one right now and it’s amazing - Especially it’s battery life (easily 1 month+). I get loads of compliments about this watch. The feature set is just enough for my needs, even though I considered getting an Apple Watch. The app is also more than decent.

Re: I made a smart watch from scratch

#27

Post by bicx » Tue, Apr 30, 2019, 1:49 PM UTC

magashna wrote: post #19

I'm annoyed that he made a watch from scratch and its wrist twist to show screen timing is still faster than my smartwatch

What they don't show is how often it turns on when he doesn't want it to. That was probably a tough calibration to make for other manufacturers, especially when production smartwatches have much higher-resolution screens and processors that drain battery.

Re: I made a smart watch from scratch

#28

Post by SnowingXIV » Tue, Apr 30, 2019, 1:50 PM UTC

This is really cool and as a software guy the electrical engineering component is a huge black box to me. Circuit boards all connected up and getting a physical device to handle lithium ion batteries to properly charge and not blow up is beautiful. He does a great job with pictures, videos, and giving detail at both a high level and semi-in-depth explanations really made it shine.

Is there anyone that does similar type of posts? Or even a follow along type of deal to get feet wet with actually building devices (maybe it includes a list of items to buy first)? Don't get me wrong I love writing software but showing someone something you physically made as opposed to sending a link to a website seems so much more satisfying.

Re: I made a smart watch from scratch

#29

Post by TeMPOraL » Tue, Apr 30, 2019, 1:52 PM UTC

magashna wrote: post #19

I'm annoyed that he made a watch from scratch and its wrist twist to show screen timing is still faster than my smartwatch

I'm guessing Android watch? That's what you get from running Android on a device.

Re: I made a smart watch from scratch

#30

Post by TheHideout » Tue, Apr 30, 2019, 1:55 PM UTC

SnowingXIV wrote: post #28

This is really cool and as a software guy the electrical engineering component is a huge black box to me. Circuit boards all connected up and getting a physical device to handle lithium ion batteries to properly charge and not blow up is beautiful. He does a great job with pictures, videos, and giving detail at both a high level and semi-in-depth explanations really made it shine. Is there anyone that does similar ty…

While I didn't give super detailed instructions, I posted something similar for a cyberpunk face-shield prop I made [0]. I started with a cheap VR toy and pretty much everything else is from Adafruit.

[0] https://imgur.com/gallery/JOnd3H1