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Wyze $20 Smart Watch

wyze.com

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Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#151
post #85

Smartwatches have fallen so far from their peak. In 2015, Pebble had a watch that had: - an app store, third party apps, third party watch faces, and a developer ecosystem - always on screen that didn't require a button press or specific arm gesture, and worked in bright, normally lit conditions - physical buttons instead of tiny buttons on a tiny screen barely larger than the finger pressing it - week long battery l…

For what it's worth, I wear a Garmin Vivoactive 4 and it has the following:

- an app store, third party apps, third party watch faces, and a developer ecosystem

- always on screen that doesn't require a button press or specific arm gesture, and works in bright, normally lit conditions

- physical buttons instead of tiny buttons on a tiny screen barely larger than the finger pressing it

- week long battery life

Also has GPS, Music storage/playback, actionable notifications, and a ton of health and fitness stuff.

Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#152
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With 512KB RAM and 16MB flash[1] I assume it's a microcontroller and doesn't run Linux. [1] https://wyze.com/wyze-watch.html#pageDetails

Slightly off topic, but are there microcontrollers that run Linux?

It's possible, but my impression is that no MMU makes it difficult. Here is an example [1] of Linux on a Cortex M4 (a very boring STM32F4XX)

[1] https://elinux.org/STM32

Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#153
post #85

Smartwatches have fallen so far from their peak. In 2015, Pebble had a watch that had: - an app store, third party apps, third party watch faces, and a developer ecosystem - always on screen that didn't require a button press or specific arm gesture, and worked in bright, normally lit conditions - physical buttons instead of tiny buttons on a tiny screen barely larger than the finger pressing it - week long battery l…

I'm kind of hopeful an interesting community will develop around the PineTime Watch.

https://lupyuen.github.io/pinetime-rust-mynewt/articles/watc...

Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#154
post #85

Smartwatches have fallen so far from their peak. In 2015, Pebble had a watch that had: - an app store, third party apps, third party watch faces, and a developer ecosystem - always on screen that didn't require a button press or specific arm gesture, and worked in bright, normally lit conditions - physical buttons instead of tiny buttons on a tiny screen barely larger than the finger pressing it - week long battery l…

It's almost the same as comparing PC and smartphones... Smartphones are restricted in a lot of ways for no good reason which is why I am still wanting a true Linux phone.

Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#156
post #85

Smartwatches have fallen so far from their peak. In 2015, Pebble had a watch that had: - an app store, third party apps, third party watch faces, and a developer ecosystem - always on screen that didn't require a button press or specific arm gesture, and worked in bright, normally lit conditions - physical buttons instead of tiny buttons on a tiny screen barely larger than the finger pressing it - week long battery l…

Garmin has been crushing it with their smartwatches.

* App store with 3rd party apps and faces.

* Always on screen

* Physical buttons (Vivoactive is mostly touchscreen oriented, but all their "athlete" watches use buttons)

* Week long battery life - Even running GPS tracking for 12 hours straight leaves enough battery for the next day.

The biggest downside to the Garmin is trying to figure out which watch to buy. They stupidly gate certain activities to specific watches. For example Garmin has a Hike activity on their Fenix line, but not their Vivoactive so I need to track my hikes as a Walk.

Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#157
post #116
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone using a FitBit as part of shifting to a healthier lifestyle may result in better health outcomes (and presumably lower costs) but there's no " will save thousands on annual healthcare bills" about it. Certainly just wearing a FitBit has zero effect on health if you don't do anything based on the collected data.

> Certainly just wearing a FitBit has zero effect on health if you don't do anything based on the collected data. Surprisingly, even this I disagree with. Simply buying one nudges the healthcare world to a more data driven place, and simply wearing one provides data and feedback to the ecosystem that will have a positive value. That being said, yeah you should look at the data if you personally want to benefit.

Buying one also probably also pre-supposes that you care--at least in principle. I agree it can be a useful nudge. I have friends who totally swear by their FitBits. And that's great.

Personally, I'm fairly active--at least at a walking level of activity day to day--and quantifying the number of steps I take or whatever just doesn't really do anything for me.

But I'm a big believer in nudges generally and I expect that, over time, we'll see more and more data that is more directly actionable. I just don't really see it (for me) today.

Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#158
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate being the product as well, but it's pretty much inescapable now. Paying for a service does not opt you out of being marketed to other income streams as a product (ie, combined stats, being part of a test group, etc). The best we can hope for by paying for a product is getting additional features and not being inconvenienced (ie, avoiding ads).

I almost bought an $80 pdf application (pdf expert) only to find out it phones home with my device details... And now that company won't be getting my $80. I'll use the open source alternatives, even if they aren't as nice to use. Use open source, write your own open source or just do without. You can't just accept the inevitable and bow into it - inevitability doesn't change morality.

Device details? As in, operating system and version, cpu, etc. That seems super reasonable for support purposes...

Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#159

> * Wyze Watch is not a medical device, and it is not intended to be used for medical purposes. How do we change reality to get these dumbass disclaimers out the way for perfectly functioning devices? Get FDA certification faster? Change safe harbors on liability that dont require cover-your-ass text that contradicts the point of including certain functionality? Get FDA out of the consumer medical device gatekeeping…

How do we know these are perfectly functioning devices? The average person wouldn't read studies and documentation or ascertain the quality - I barely can and check HN comments for many medical studies :) FDA approval is a very strong signal at least. I'd rather avoid the supplements situation where manufacturers can essentially claim almost anything and most of the population isn't aware that it's a free-for-all. Ma…

> FDA approval is a very strong signal at least.

FDA approvals of medical devices essentially breaks the software update system.

So one of my possibilities was tweaking how thats done on devices. People seemed to decide to disagree on my post based on whichever possibility they didn't like, and ignored the possibility they wanted to discuss.

Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#160

personally, i find the 9 day battery life to be pretty darn impressive in this day and age. i also like the heart rate monitor, great for runners.

I've found wrist based hr to be extremely unreliable to the point of uselessness when exercising.
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