31–40 of 137 posts
Does anyone know if this has an accelerometer? I recently got a nice sports-oriented smartwatch (non-Garmin), to use it mostly for rowing, but it doesn't track the rowing-rate. It should be pretty easy to program one if the watch has accelerometers, but couldn't tell from the spec sheet (maybe that means no?)
There are only a few features I care about in a smartwatch: 1. O2 monitoring. I have sleep apnea and live at high altitude, so this matters to me. 2. Motion sensor. Also mostly for tracking sleep. 3. Vibrator for notifications. 4. A screen backlight. 5. Battery life longer than a week. 6. Waterproof enough to survive a splash in the shower/rain. I consider GPS, cellular, AI, touchscreens, cloud-only sync and control…
The Ollee watch circuit board [2] is similar, better backlight but closed-source firmware and configuration over BLE in a smartphone app. Still no notifications over BLE though.
I'd think combining 1 and 6 (O₂ monitoring and waterproofing) would be difficult.
I like a good smart watch and I appreciate open source, but an ESP32 isn't a great pick when low power consumption is important and the device is going to be communicating regularly. I'm surprised LILYGO went that direction in a watch form factor.
What would you suggest instead?
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To be honest there is not much to it, you buy the movement, put it in a case, and put the hands on it. you can get everything from aliexpress. it's easier and often cheaper to just buy a normal watch if you need one.
It's impressive you start with a lathe and make the movement yourself!
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What would you suggest instead?
Nordic Semi, or maybe ST Micro. I've got an STM32WB on my bench at the moment with sensitive coulomb counting and it looks very promising but without all those radios. Of course with all those radios (ie, if you need LoRa on a watch... which is a design decision I'm also skeptical of) then Nordic has a good track record.
There are only a few features I care about in a smartwatch: 1. O2 monitoring. I have sleep apnea and live at high altitude, so this matters to me. 2. Motion sensor. Also mostly for tracking sleep. 3. Vibrator for notifications. 4. A screen backlight. 5. Battery life longer than a week. 6. Waterproof enough to survive a splash in the shower/rain. I consider GPS, cellular, AI, touchscreens, cloud-only sync and control…
The Sensor Watch circuit board [1] inside the case of a Casio F91-W / A158W / A159W satisfies 2, 4, 5, and 6. Accelerometer or thermometer available as daughterboard. Battery life measured in months, if not years. Although the simple LED backlight and the segmented LCD leaves a bit to be desired, and there is no wireless connectivity for notifications. Open source firmware. The Ollee watch circuit board [2] is simila…
have wished for decades now there was an open-source Garmin on the level of Cyanogenmod / LineageOS for Android not sure if it will happen this decade but definitely next decade proper running/cycling metrics are hard as demonstrated by how many well-funded competitors are somewhat close but not there 100% yet (Coros, Amazfit, etc) someone once hacked and decompiled older Garmins but newer ones are encrypted/signed/l…
Have you looked at the specs for the upcoming PineTime Pro [1]? [1] https://pine64.org/2026/03/28/pinetime_march_2026/
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nordic Semi, or maybe ST Micro. I've got an STM32WB on my bench at the moment with sensitive coulomb counting and it looks very promising but without all those radios. Of course with all those radios (ie, if you need LoRa on a watch... which is a design decision I'm also skeptical of) then Nordic has a good track record.
Different use case (environmental data recorder) but our current product uses an STM that turns on an ESP32 (not trusting that sleep mode) when it needs radio, to run on 2 AAs forever.