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I bought a £16 smartwatch just because it used USB-C

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Re: I bought a £16 smartwatch just because it used USB-C

#131

Post by oezi »

tehlike wrote: post #54

People get surprised how cheap things really can be when they see aliexpress, and the assumption is crap. I bought a ton of stuff from aliexpress, and very rarely-if any- was crappy.

I am surprised they can break even with such a product. Considering 25% of the cost go to selling/fulfillment/etc., maybe 8 Pounds for the BOM (?) they might earn 3-4 Pounds per item sold. To offset the cost of development (maybe 20-30 man years at 20k USD for Chinese engineers), would imply the want to sell at least 100.000 units just to break even. Is there enough market for this?

All numbers spit-balled.

Re: I bought a £16 smartwatch just because it used USB-C

#132

Post by secondcoming »

AndyMcConachie wrote: post #126
rikafurude21 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it so hard for americans to accept that china makes great tech without coping about "le CCP spyware!" - it seems so absurd, like why would the CCP want to know the heart rate of the type of guy who buys a 16 pound smartwatch? Why dont americans create 16 pound smartwatches?

Because sinophobia, or put in a more crass way, racism, imperialism, and patriotism. Why should I care if the Communinst Party of China is spying on me? They can't get at me. I have no connection to China. I have no property there and don't know anyone there. What are they going to do to me? Bottom line is that everyone on the planet should be concerned with their own government's intelligence angencies more than any…

They might not care that much about YOU unless you try to enter China at some point in your life.

But they REALLY care about the activites of Chinese people living abroad.

The CCP was operating secret 'police stations' in the UK and most likely elsewhere outside of their jurisdiction.

[0] https://news.stv.tv/west-central/chinese-secret-police-stati...

Re: I bought a £16 smartwatch just because it used USB-C

#133

Post by rikafurude21 »

jgalt212 wrote: post #130
rikafurude21 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it so hard for americans to accept that china makes great tech without coping about "le CCP spyware!" - it seems so absurd, like why would the CCP want to know the heart rate of the type of guy who buys a 16 pound smartwatch? Why dont americans create 16 pound smartwatches?

China hopes that if they sell enough some will end up on the wrists of military or intelligence personnel, or more likely the family members of such people.

You think american military or intelligence personnel is gonna go on aliexpress to buy a 16 dollar smartwatch?

Re: I bought a £16 smartwatch just because it used USB-C

#134

Post by rikafurude21 »

sincerely wrote: post #96
rikafurude21 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it so hard for americans to accept that china makes great tech without coping about "le CCP spyware!" - it seems so absurd, like why would the CCP want to know the heart rate of the type of guy who buys a 16 pound smartwatch? Why dont americans create 16 pound smartwatches?

>Why dont americans create 16 pound smartwatches? Because labor is much more expensive in America. This is not a mystery

Yeah, highly inflated e-mail job economy does that to you.

Re: I bought a £16 smartwatch just because it used USB-C

#135

Post by FpUser »

Arech wrote: post #85

TBH, such a low price for so many working (!) features is an amazing achievement if not subsidized! What bothers me here, however, is...a provenance. Let me guess, it asks from your smartphone access to your location, contacts, calendar, SMS archive, email, medical records and political views and attitude towards CCP and then does some shady syncs with .cn servers "just to keep you data safe in case a meteor hits you…

>"Let me guess, it asks from your smartphone access to your location, contacts, calendar..."

Let me try to translate: I do not know fuck all about what it really asks but will let sinophobia and hypocrisy out in full colors regardless

Re: I bought a £16 smartwatch just because it used USB-C

#136

Post by berkes »

ofrzeta wrote: post #11

I have an Amazfit smartwatch that gets charged by a simple USB cable with two pins that magnetically attaches to the back of the watch. When I was on vacation and forgot that cable I was able to make my own by cutting a USB cable and attaching the wires to the contacts of the watch with tape. That simplicity is hard to beat. And this watch is water resistant.

Those proprietary cables are terrible.

USB (abc, micro etc) are everywhere. Any house, hotel, office, glove box, has some lying around.

But when I forgot my Fitbit charger, I couldn't get one anywhere. The only option was a large electronics store where I could buy an entire new Fitbit. I didn't shove out €200 just to get hold of a charging cable.

The EU should quickly impose rules on waterproof chargers like they did with USB chargers. It will settle worldwide just as fast as the USB enforced standard.

Re: I bought a £16 smartwatch just because it used USB-C

#137

Post by FirmwareBurner »

rikafurude21 wrote: post #133
jgalt212 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China hopes that if they sell enough some will end up on the wrists of military or intelligence personnel, or more likely the family members of such people.

You think american military or intelligence personnel is gonna go on aliexpress to buy a 16 dollar smartwatch?

[flagged]

Re: I bought a £16 smartwatch just because it used USB-C

#138

Post by berkes »

oezi wrote: post #128
Reason077 wrote: post #110

> "I plugged it until fully charged, then wore it conti> nuously. After 24 hours of use, even with all my fiddling, that battery was at 80%. After four days, it still had 40% left"* So if a £16 generic competitor can last 4 days, what's Apple doing wrong? Why can't a £450 Apple Watch (non-Ultra) last a full 24 hours on a charge?

Apple just put in a more capable processor, wifi and cellular, a brighter display and more sensors. They are just consuming the entire battery over a day because it is not such a big deal for customers.

Is it not a big deal? Or do customers lack the choice?

If Apple had two lines of smartwatches, one for city/work crowd with the WiFi, Bright screen, NFC, powerful processor etc. but with tiny battery life. And another for hike/off-grid/travel/festival crowd without wifi, a slower, blander screen, slower hardware, less features but over a week)weeks on one charge.

Would people not buy the second option?

Re: I bought a £16 smartwatch just because it used USB-C

#139

Post by FirmwareBurner »

danielPort9 wrote: post #91
Arech wrote: post #85

TBH, such a low price for so many working (!) features is an amazing achievement if not subsidized! What bothers me here, however, is...a provenance. Let me guess, it asks from your smartphone access to your location, contacts, calendar, SMS archive, email, medical records and political views and attitude towards CCP and then does some shady syncs with .cn servers "just to keep you data safe in case a meteor hits you…

Just like any other Apple Watch. Don’t see the difference between them and CCP (probably because I’m not American)

The difference between Apple and the CCP is that CCP is the one running the slave labor to make widgets, and Apple is the one paying for it and puts the sticker "Designed in California" to wash it off.

Re: I bought a £16 smartwatch just because it used USB-C

#140

Post by johnyzee »

feistypharit wrote: post #79
ofrzeta wrote: post #11

I have an Amazfit smartwatch that gets charged by a simple USB cable with two pins that magnetically attaches to the back of the watch. When I was on vacation and forgot that cable I was able to make my own by cutting a USB cable and attaching the wires to the contacts of the watch with tape. That simplicity is hard to beat. And this watch is water resistant.

I used to have a bip and loved it. The big thing was battery life and always on screen. It used a reflective LCD screen to do it. No newer amazefits use them. I’ve since moved to using COROS watches. Not as cheap but really good. Always screen, weeks of battery. Even GPS functions are efficient . Recently did 11 hr hike with GPS and only used about 23% battery.

I really want a smartwatch with proper always on screen (so memory LCD, like those COROS ones), but I also need LTE so I don't have to bring my phone on short errands. Unfortunately no such product currently exists for some reason.

The Apples, Galaxies and Pixels offer always-on, but they dim down a lot in order to not drain the power, which kind of defeats the purpose. A memory LCD screen on one of these watches would be perfect for me.

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