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Pebble Production: February Update

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Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#31

Post by ageitgey »

open-meteo wrote: post #20
lopis wrote: post #15

> Many old Pebble apps/faces use weather APIs that no longer work (Yahoo, OpenWeather). The Pebble mobile app now catches these network requests and returns data from Open-Meteo - keeping old watchfaces working! That's some sweet quality of life fixes!

And we are very determined to keep the Open-Meteo weather API open-access indefinitely and don’t share the same fate as many closed-source APIs like Yahoo or OpenWeatherMap.

Thanks for providing such a great service. I use it in a totally different free, OSS project, and it's really great to have this option available!

Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#32

Post by cranberryturkey »

beratbozkurt0 wrote: post #7

I'm curious, what sets it apart from other watches? The design look nice

The e-ink display is the killer feature. Week-long battery life and always-on readable display even in direct sunlight. Every other smartwatch is a tiny phone screen that dies in a day. Pebble chose the opposite trade-off: less flashy but actually useful as a watch. The open SDK and hackable firmware are the other half - you can write watchfaces and apps in C, which attracted a dev community that most wearables never get.

Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#33

Post by bronlund »

mrbn100ful wrote: post #4
bronlund wrote: post #3

When the first Pebble was released, and I got a couple of those, it was unique and cool as hell. This time around, you can get a programmable smartwatch from China for a fraction of the price looking way cooler. Edit: https://diyusthad.com/2021/04/top-5-open-source-smartwatch.h...

Mind to share one of those models ? Far has I know, pebble user have spent the last 10 years searching for another pebble without luck.

One example could be Watchy. ESP32 based. 40 bucks. Check the link I've added in my original reply.

Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#34

Post by ramses0 »

forkerenok wrote: post #8
rozenmd wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't get a hackable watch for a fraction of the price, though. I'd pay more for being able to fumble about in the codebase and add exactly what I want.

I wouldn't put in the same league as pebble, but it definitely ticks the boxes: https://banglejs.com/ Battery life is real.

Ticks the boxes, but not the buttons. :-(

Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#35

Post by bronlund »

rozenmd wrote: post #5
bronlund wrote: post #3

When the first Pebble was released, and I got a couple of those, it was unique and cool as hell. This time around, you can get a programmable smartwatch from China for a fraction of the price looking way cooler. Edit: https://diyusthad.com/2021/04/top-5-open-source-smartwatch.h...

You can't get a hackable watch for a fraction of the price, though. I'd pay more for being able to fumble about in the codebase and add exactly what I want.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007059416132.html

Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#36

Post by vel0city »

beratbozkurt0 wrote: post #7

I'm curious, what sets it apart from other watches? The design look nice

I had a couple of Pebbles in the past that are now broken, I'm considering buying one of the newer ones. One Pebble Steel which had a defect for a bunch of them where the screen would gradually start corrupting and a Pebble 2 where the rubberized buttons turned to mush after all these years.

The thing I like about Pebble is the fact its not trying to do a million other things. The two things I really want in a smart watch is to be able to triage a notification/get an update without having to actually pull out my phone and have easy media controls on my wrist. Optimizing for that means it gets excellent battery life and comparatively low prices, because it doesn't need a ton of compute and giant screen and a million sensors constantly taking measurements to accomplish it.

Its nice being able to still get messages and change the music and what not while you're doing something dirty or whatever and aren't about to pull out your phone. Doing yard work, wrenching on the car or motorcycle, lounging in the pool, riding a bicycle, etc. That's all I really want.

Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#37

Post by ramses0 »

elaus wrote: post #30
jsheard wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Pebble display isn't e-ink, or unique amongst watches, it's an off-the-shelf MIP LCD from Sharp. You can get the same thing in watches from Garmin, Coros, Polar, Suunto, Casio and probably more.

I think you're confusing Pebble with something else. All current models on the website as well as the OG pebble (according to Wikipedia) use eink displays.

Transflective. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_(watch)#Hardware

Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#38

Post by jsheard »

elaus wrote: post #30
jsheard wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Pebble display isn't e-ink, or unique amongst watches, it's an off-the-shelf MIP LCD from Sharp. You can get the same thing in watches from Garmin, Coros, Polar, Suunto, Casio and probably more.

I think you're confusing Pebble with something else. All current models on the website as well as the OG pebble (according to Wikipedia) use eink displays.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_(watch)#Hardware

> The watch featured a 32-millimetre (1.26 in) 144 × 168 pixel black and white memory LCD using an ultra low-power "transflective LCD" manufactured by Sharp

Later generations are color, but it's the same tech. If you've ever used actual e-ink then it should be obvious enough that the Pebble displays are something else, it would be nowhere near responsive enough to keep up with pebbleOS's animations.

Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#39

Post by bronlund »

qwertox wrote: post #11
bronlund wrote: post #3

When the first Pebble was released, and I got a couple of those, it was unique and cool as hell. This time around, you can get a programmable smartwatch from China for a fraction of the price looking way cooler. Edit: https://diyusthad.com/2021/04/top-5-open-source-smartwatch.h...

"programmable smartwatch from China" can you share some examples?

Check out Watchy. $40. If you search for ESP32 based watches, you'll find plenty. Not all that good looking, but you can probably get one for under 5 bucks.

Re: Pebble Production: February Update

#40

Post by usrnm »

saidinesh5 wrote: post #26

> Also, don’t expose it to hot water (this could weaken the waterproof seals), or high pressure water. It’s not invincible. Aahhh. Finally the mystery of how my old pebble died is solved. Hopefully . One fine morning, the display came off. It was supposed to be waterproof and there was no puffed up battery either.

How hot is hot, though? Boiling hot or taking it to a hot shower?
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