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The quest for a simple smartwatch

binarymoon.co.uk

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Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#181

Post by pradn »

0xEF wrote: post #74
xnorswap wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I loved my Pebble. The LCD screen meant it was readable in any light and also had fantastic battery life.

I still only use Pebble watches. You can pick them up on eBay for $30 USD, and the Rebble.io community helps keep them alive. I have yet to see another smartwatch do what they did, which is a bit baffling to me. Watchy came close, being fully programmable with an e-ink screen, but the bulk of the housing was atrocious.

Pebble Time watches have spiked to $100-150, unfortunately. I really wanted one to hack around with. Their simplicity appeals to me. But they're no longer cheap. I think the other models are similar.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#182

Post by wombat-man »

HumblyTossed wrote: post #141
JKCalhoun wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me GPS is a must-have. I want the tracking of my walks/rides. Looking at the Garmin specs, the two-week battery life is sans-GPS. With GPS enabled the battery life is the same as the Apple Watch.

Apple Watch 8 is rated at 18 hours mixed usage. My Venu 2 is rated at 20 hours with the GPS on the entire time. My experience bears that out. I lose about 5% an hour battery when tracking my bike rides. Mixed usage, I'm getting 5 days out of it. Apple said their GOAL was 18 hours (mixed usage). Good grief.

Yeah I had a series 7 and the battery life killed it for me. I do kind of like seeing sleep tracking data so I don't want to charge while I'm asleep, so I would basically need to charge it while in the shower. This wasn't always enough charge time.

It really introduced me to a new level of battery anxiety. I'm extremely satisfied with my garmin which lasts a week+ per charge.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#184

Post by WeylandYutani »

lopis wrote: post #51
profsummergig wrote: post #18

Was talking to an older lady the other day. Very non-tech. Only uses an iPhone and an Apple watch. No laptop or tablet/iPad. Gets a surprisingly large quantity of things done via her phone. My phone is an Android. She shared 2 things her iPhone can do that I don't think my phone (OnePlus 7 pro) and watch (Amazfit T-Rex 2) combination can do: - she can always find out where she parked her car - her watch buzzes to war…

Google (Maps?) has done the car parking location for 10+ years. But like many things Google, Google software is not well integrated with itself, and discoverability is bad. It's perfectly possible that this feature has been removed and re-added several times during the last decade, as is the fate of many Google projects.

I use a seperate app for car navigation. Can't trust Google.

But a lot of people apparently want a single "super" app that does everything. Musk was right about that- we're all going to see a Western WeChat emerge. All hail integration.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#185

Post by Aachen »

treffer wrote: post #10

If you want something simple and so cheap you don't have to worry about it then I can recommend the PineTime ( The OS is open source. The finish is good (though not high end materials but still water proofed), runs for multiple days and does phone notifications just fine. It is very bare bones though.

Yeah I'm very surprised OP doesn't mention the only wrist computer that doesn't need a "cloud" connection, is cheap, and does exactly what they want.

---

Anyone wanna buy a pinetime?

I'm selling. Free (+shipping from NL/DE/BE) if you have a good use for it and send me an update after a few weeks or so ^^. I wanted a heartbeat tracker but it didn't work at all for me (known software issue, I should have done more research before). I've got one open dev kit and one sealed one, but need to check which one I gave away already. Email in profile

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#186

Post by amelius »

wartijn_ wrote: post #177
hext wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You and me both. One of the only statement pieces a guy can wear and you throw that away to save the effort of taking your phone out of your pocket? Insanity.

Is it one of the only statement pieces a guy can were though? I know plenty of guys with bracelets, chains, rings, earrings and/or tattoos. You can express statements with your clothing too, if you want. And than there are people who don't care about statement pieces and just want to wear whatever is most practical. And people who want to express themselves by wearing a smartwatch.

> I know plenty of guys with bracelets, chains, rings, earrings and/or tattoos

These are mostly considered to be low-status symbols. For men, in fact it is often recommended not to wear necklaces to a job interview, and hide any tattoos.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#187

Post by pwenzel »

millitzer wrote: post #121

[dead]

I picked up a used Fossil FTW1166 smartwatch for $45 on eBay. It features a simple analog activity tracker, with just a plain-old dial like any other watch. There is no screen and no e-ink.

The lack of screen is awesome and I can't believe there aren't more watches out there like this!

Also, after 4 months of use the battery life is still around 100%.

https://www.fossil.com/en-in/products/hybrid-smartwatch-mach...

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#188

Post by Jim_Raynor »

Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #120
pintxo wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Afaik, iOS does save a location, and marks it as a parked car, when it looses the bluetooth connection to a device it identified as being a car. So no additional hardware needed for this to work.

It is a different thing, and we're talking mostly about androids.

So lets talk about android - does it something like that automatic? Remember location when bluetooth is disconected sound nice.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#189

Post by lazycog512 »

Wilfred wrote: post #12
jstanley wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have worn a Bangle.js daily for 2 years (I have both the original and the version 2). I really like the watch, it is easy and fun to program. But I'm not sure it's what OP is after. The requirements are: > Phone notifications (so I don’t miss calls/ texts) > Step counting > A long battery life Bangle.js doesn't connect to your phone at all, so you won't get any phone notifications. I don't personally use step count…

Another enthusiastic Bangle.js user here: I had the original and used it, programmed it until the strap (integrated into the body) broke. Apparently you can actually connect it to phone notifications using gadgetbridge[0] but I didn't have much success when I tried it. The BLE was a little flaky at the best of times (pairing to a PC for programming failed more often than I'd like). [0] https://www.espruino.com/Gadget…

Banglejs2 user here, Gadgetbridge works perfectly fine for my basic usage.

idk if Bangle1 strap is different but (don't remember exact measurement) you can put any standard watch strap with a normal strap pin on it. I replaced the broken stock strap with a nylon one off the net and it's great.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#190

Post by anonymoose4 »

input_sh wrote: post #76
darreninthenet wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They look really nice... can you have something other than your heart rate displaying on that little screen by default..?

There's about a dozen of screens you can toggle between (time, date, next alarm, number of steps, distance and so on). Short press of the only button toggles between them, long press does some action (example: cancel next alarm). However I don't have anything on that screen by default to extend battery life closer to a month. Two more features I highly appreciate: - I don't think I could go back to an alarm on my pho…

Does the smart wakeup have a vibration-only alarm?
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