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Wyze $20 Smart Watch

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Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#271

Post by woofie11 »

balls187 wrote: post #239
woofie11 wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd pay good money if I had Chinese hardware with secure, privacy-guaranteeing software. I'd buy the smart watch right now if it was either open-source, it came with a strong privacy policy. As is, I see no reason to upload my health information to a random corporation. Indeed, I can see plenty of business models where I could give away smartwatches and cameras for the wealth of data I'd collect. Selling still makes…

What about Apple's privacy do you disagree with?

For example: "It may be necessary − by law, legal process, litigation, and/or requests from public and governmental authorities within or outside your country of residence − for Apple to disclose your personal information. We may also disclose information about you if we determine that for purposes of national security, law enforcement, or other issues of public importance, disclosure is necessary or appropriate."

Why would I want my health data uploaded to an Apple server to be shared with governments?

My data should live on my own devices, encrypted, and unaccessible to anyone other than myself.

Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#272

Post by Kihashi »

bigiain wrote: post #194
outworlder wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a Pebble Time Steel. Loved the thing to death. The battery was a bit degraded and I got tired of not being able to acknowledge Pagerduty notifications (even though I could receive them), as well as not having any fitness features whatsoever (other than the steps counter). So I bit the bullet and bough an Apple watch. Within two days, I stop using the Pebble. Yes it's nice, but against what's essentially a super…

> Pebble had the right idea. But they executed too slowly and too late. They were also _way_ too small to compete with the industrial design, manufacturing capability, and marketing clout of Apple. Or even Samsung. They were inevitably gonna get crushed. And I say this as a four time Pebble Kickstarter backer who could see it even back then. A couple of kids with an amazing YC pitch deck and ambitions-untempered-by-e…

> I hope the founders made out like bandits when they sold out, and I hope it launched them onto spectacular career trajectories.

Well uh... The company went under, so I doubt they made out like bandits. The IP was sold off, but I suspect that much of that money was used to pay off outstanding liabilities. My impression was that the founders tried to do right by their employees as well. I find it unlikely that they came out of the process with a ton of money- more than likely they lost money.

Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#273

Post by balls187 »

woofie11 wrote: post #271
balls187 wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about Apple's privacy do you disagree with?

For example: "It may be necessary − by law, legal process, litigation, and/or requests from public and governmental authorities within or outside your country of residence − for Apple to disclose your personal information. We may also disclose information about you if we determine that for purposes of national security, law enforcement, or other issues of public importance, disclosure is necessary or appropriate." Wh…

Thanks. I agree with your concern. Apple's support answer paints a different picture.

"Your HealthKit data, including your health records, remains under your complete control. You can choose to use iCloud to keep your data up to date across your devices, choose to share your data with a third-party app, choose to share your data with Apple under the Improve Health Records program, or choose to back up your data to an iTunes encrypted backup on your computer."

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209519

I interpret this to mean we maintain full control who and where your health information is stored. It's only stored on your device, unless you chose to share it with other apps, and/or use iCloud to sync across devices.

As an American, if I am being honest, I trust Apple far more than I would a Chinese company--given what I understanding about the CCP.

Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#274

Post by Digory »

umeshunni wrote: post #27

How is Wyze churning out so many new hardware devices so rapidly? I hadn't heard of them till this year when I saw their camera on sale, but now they have a full suite of hardware products with ~50 employees. Are they essentially rebranding some Chinese manufacturer?

They must be, but they are running things pretty close to the bone.

They had a home sensor platform that seemed cheap ($5!) and reliable, but Reddit forums are full of complaints that a low battery bricks the sensors.

Wyze will send you a replacement, but can’t engineer a fix on the fly, apparently.

Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#275

Post by vorpalhex »

nicoburns wrote: post #158
vorpalhex wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

> 2.1.2 Regarding the App: certain data is transmitted by your mobile device: namely your IP address, the periods of time in which you use the App and the type of device you use (e.g. IPhone, IPad), as well as events within the application recorded with Amplitude analytics in order to give us the possibility to continuously improve the App.

From their privacy policy. Oddly enough, no, they don't need to broadcast my ip and when I use the app. Not required at all for me to read PDFs. They may want that data - and if so they should ask me instead of just taking it.

Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#276

Post by orthros »

bllguo wrote: post #129
jerlam wrote: 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…

seriously - it's been _years_, it should only be easier to get to pebble's level (if not surpass it) anecdotally, in my life I've seen maybe enough apple watches to count on one hand? and a few fitbits. That's it. A far cry from what I expected the future to be like, back when pebble was getting hype and when apple announced their offering. What is the problem with the market? is there really just no demand for smart…

I own an Apple Watch 6, but I'll tell you the problem: charging $400 for a watch.

If they got down to $100 or so, you'd see wide adoption. Which is why the Wyze Watch at $20 is so fascinating to me. At this price, you can just buy one instead of a Casio.

Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#277

Post by modeless »

ce4 wrote: post #266
modeless wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Its area is too small to have a notable effect We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. Bumps protruding into my skin definitely reduce my comfort wearing a watch all day. Your measurement still doesn't match the official specs and even assuming it's correct and they're all that thin it's still not close to the Pebble Time Round. 30% thicker and 60% more volume.

The measured data is for my Bip S lite (which is a bit smaller than the Bip S). A bump of 1mm high with an area of less than 1 square centimeter is not noticable imho. My other watches also have bumps (nato strap seams, the gshock's rear plate is uneven by 1mm easy, and seiko's glass rear window...)

The spec page I linked to showing 11.4 mm is specifically for the Bip S Lite.

Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#278

Post by vaxman »

delfinom wrote: post #98
umeshunni wrote: post #27

How is Wyze churning out so many new hardware devices so rapidly? I hadn't heard of them till this year when I saw their camera on sale, but now they have a full suite of hardware products with ~50 employees. Are they essentially rebranding some Chinese manufacturer?

This watch is potentially a rebranded Xiaomi Redmi Watch, with minor modification to the sensor plate maybe. https://fdn2.gsmarena.com/vv/pics/xiaomi/xiaomi-redmi-watch-... Otherwise there other very similar looking watches in the Chinese market as well.

Thank you, this is now on my AVOID list!

Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#279

Post by woofie11 »

balls187 wrote: post #273
woofie11 wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For example: "It may be necessary − by law, legal process, litigation, and/or requests from public and governmental authorities within or outside your country of residence − for Apple to disclose your personal information. We may also disclose information about you if we determine that for purposes of national security, law enforcement, or other issues of public importance, disclosure is necessary or appropriate." Wh…

Thanks. I agree with your concern. Apple's support answer paints a different picture. "Your HealthKit data, including your health records, remains under your complete control. You can choose to use iCloud to keep your data up to date across your devices, choose to share your data with a third-party app, choose to share your data with Apple under the Improve Health Records program, or choose to back up your data to an…

I trust Apple as much as I trust Yahoo or Google. Which is to say, Google was honest 5-10 years ago, and Yahoo was honest 15-20 years ago. Apple is honest today, but whether it's honest in 5-10 years is TBD.

This document is a little bit better than the general privacy policy, but I'd still want to be asked. "By default, iCloud automatically keeps your Health app data, including health records, up to date across your devices." This is different from your interpretation (opt-in versus opt-out).

Call me a cynic, but I read this as "We might upload your data to Apple if you miss something walking through configuration screens, or if you an app somehow gets your data before you've toggled a setting. Our next default update might include a default-insecure setting for new types of data you'll never find out about without navigating our screens." Google does this all the time; they start collecting new information, and provide an opt-out, but by the time I opt-out, they've scarfed a ton of my data. I assume it's in a backup somewhere.

Apple says they do end-to-end encryption, but key exchange is an honor system. As I understand, Apple could set up a new iPhone in-house connected to my account, and have it sync up my data (with end-to-end encryption), scarfing up all of my data. Apple could be compelled to do this with a court order, or might change privacy policies in 5 years.

The nice thing about open source is that I don't need to trust. I trust Apple today, but it's not an ecosystem I'd buy into right now. The upsides of monitoring my health are far outweighed by the downsides of privacy and security risks that brings. That goes for Chinese companies too. Hardware can be compromised, but open source + CCP is more trustworthy than Apple.

I'm actually surprised there aren't more CCP companies doing open source. I'd gladly pay double for an open source mouse, keyboard, or other device.

Re: Wyze $20 Smart Watch

#280

Post by andor »

kassner wrote: post #256

Is there any smart watch out there that does not suck in offline scenarios? Like syncing data from the band to the app without having to walk around the forest to find a place with GPRS to know how was the first leg of your hike.

Garmin watches allow downloading activities as .fit files via USB.

New routes can be uploaded as .gpx files the same way.

Not super convenient but it works.

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