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Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

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Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#301

Post by emj »

triyambakam wrote: post #271
anoonmoose wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought into the Bangle.js 2 Kickstarter and I have to say, I'm incredibly happy with it. Granted, I've done nothing with it besides design my own watch face and take advantage of the GPS to set the time occasionally, but I know it's capable of a lot more. It was very easy to write the watch face code, and I feel like it would be pretty easy to do whatever I wanted to do. Ecosystem for it is probably a bit more deve…

How easy is to write games for a Bangle.js 2? I want a hackable smart watch that I can make simple games for :)

There is an emulator on the web, so develop something simple and the order one. I wanted to buy ten watches so Bangle.js was not an option, but if you just want something programmable I do recommend it.

https://www.espruino.com/ide/?emulator https://www.espruino.com/Bangle.js+First+App

Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#302

Post by leokennis »

6chars wrote: post #240
Cpoll wrote: post #205

I've always wanted a "watch" (bracelet) that doesn't show the time. Essentially a narrow bracelet with no display and a few buttons on it that I can program, and a vibrating function so I can leave my phone on silent. I already have a watch I like to wear. wearchronos.com seemed to hit my use case, but the reviews aren't great.

The old Jawbone Up fit the bill somewhat, but I don't remember exactly what features it had. I thought it was a great product and hoped to see more like it.

I had that one. Super stylish, cool functionality. But unfortunately very fragile hardware.

You could actually log your food intake via their app. And sync data to your phone by removing the “cap” from the band and plugging it into your phone’s headphone port!

Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#303

Post by Ma8ee »

dont__panic wrote: post #265
rchaud wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sad that tech did away with replaceable batteries. I would love to use my 5-inch 16:9 Samsung phone from 2016. It still works fine, but the battery barely lasts an hour. Instead I have to use one of their gigantic replacement phones with a ridiculous 21:9 ratio.

As long as you have a phone that's reasonably well designed, it's usually not too much trouble to replace the internal battery every 2-3 years. I think our culture is really wasteful with batteries. I can't believe that my iphone doesn't have a built-in setting to cap charging at 80%. Studies show that you can decrease battery wear to negligible levels by doing this. Yet my Android e-ink tablet, my iphone, my smartwa…

I just got the batteries replaced in my iPhone X for about $45, and I was without the phone for less than an hour. I am amazed, and very happy not having to shell out $1000 for a new phone that would just have been a marginal upgrade to my current one.

Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#304

Post by monsieurgaufre »

Pfhortune wrote: post #290

Folks ITT will talk about watches that are similar in hardware, but what was magic about Pebble was the software and ecosystem. The OS was just a delight to use, fast, wonderfully animated, and let you sideload whatever you want. I've tried a couple of Garmin watches (Vivoactive 3 and Forerunner 55) and the Amazfit Bip, and this is where they all fall completely flat. The UX is just horrible by comparison. It's like…

I've never had a Pebble and mostly wanted to comment on the Garmin/smartwatches part of your comment.

I was gifted a Garmin Vivoactive 3 a few years ago. Like you, I've come to the exact same conclusion regarding the Garmin watches. It is slow and annoyingly needs to connect to their servers to do anything (couldn't even access my own data when they were hacked). I still use it mostly when i run/cycle but battery life is slowly going away.

Also, i want to stress the point that while smartwatches are nice for certain applications, they mostly are toys. Yes, the data is interesting, but how many of us really do something from that data? I know I don't. And if you really need this data (professional athlete or whatever), most of the time, someone will pay the gadget for you.

For a lot of reasons (price, planned obsolescence, privacy), i'll probably get a g-shock that'll last years on a coin cell that's easily replaceable everywhere.

Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#305

Post by fny »

Another really cool toy we need to start hacking is the Sony FES U [0]. This thing has e-ink on its strap, and it runs Free RTOS. It's the sickest watch concept I've seen in years.

[0]: https://fashion-entertainments.com

[1]: https://fashion-entertainments.com/fes-watch-u/fw/oss.html

Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#306

Post by pmontra »

rchaud wrote: post #209
helsinkiandrew wrote: post #202

I've got a friend who still uses a Palm Pilot (circa 1998) as a daily calendar manager/notepad. Works at Google and delights in telling younger colleagues it's a Pixel 8 prototype.

I'm sad that tech did away with replaceable batteries. I would love to use my 5-inch 16:9 Samsung phone from 2016. It still works fine, but the battery barely lasts an hour. Instead I have to use one of their gigantic replacement phones with a ridiculous 21:9 ratio.

I opened my Samsung A40 two days ago and replaced a camera that didn't autofocus anymore. 20 Euros with shipping. The battery can be replaced too. Actually I had to disconnect it to remove the upper motherboard and access the camera. It seems a pretty serviceable phone. You should check YouTube for tear down videos about your model.

Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#307

Post by wongarsu »

tootie wrote: post #223
Belphemur wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Withings is great if you're looking for "health" watch but not really good as fitness tracker. For years, I used my steel HR (got a weird one branded Nokia because they had purchased Withings only to resell Withings to the founder a year later), loved the sleep tracking, health report etc... But the activity tracking wasn't the best, especially running. However the battery's life is out of this world. I loved the mix…

I bought a Scanwatch and have found the health data to be so inaccurate as to be completely useless. I explicitly wanted SpO2 and sleep tracking and it's just very wrong. It would wake up multiple times at night and the watch would tell me I was asleep all night. I'm sure it's just some limitation of the sensors, but the tech just isn't good enough to be useful

That's a common problem. If you search google scholar for sleep tracking accuracy you will find that many smart watches are good at detecting sleep, but not so great at detecting you waking up, so they overestimate sleep time and sleep efficiency. And any sleep phase "measurements" are best ignored entirely.

The Fitbit Alta HR and the Apple Watch are worth mentioning for tracking sleep time and wake ups fairly accurately.

Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#308

Post by nehal3m »

eddieroger wrote: post #264
helsinkiandrew wrote: post #202

I've got a friend who still uses a Palm Pilot (circa 1998) as a daily calendar manager/notepad. Works at Google and delights in telling younger colleagues it's a Pixel 8 prototype.

I would love to do this. I'd be super curious to re-experience life with an offline device in a very online world. I loved every Palm I had up through the Pre, but there was a magic about trying to play Zork on a Palm, or syncing a day's worth of light reading for the (school) bus. I really miss this app Four Point Oh that tracked homework and stuff.

You could pull the SIM out of a smartphone. Not the same, but similar?

Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#309

Post by paulcole »

xrd wrote: post #135
paulcole wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wear a Coros Apex Pro all day. Between notifications and GPS running ~40 miles a week I charge it about every 2.5 weeks.

Do you know what the developer story is for Coros? I'd never heard of it until you mentioned this, and it is an expensive device for sure.

Pretty locked down as far as I know. I really just use it stock out of the box and connect it to my Strava account. Strava does have a pretty cool API though.

https://developers.strava.com/

The Coros I have was around $400USD refurbished on Amazon. I considered the Apple Watch Ultra which was nearly 2x the price but wanted something made by a company focused on runners rather than a consumer products company making a running watch.

Overall I’ve been extremely happy with it as a semi-serious runner.

Re: Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch

#310

Post by bryceacc »

etothepii wrote: post #293
Pfhortune wrote: post #290

Folks ITT will talk about watches that are similar in hardware, but what was magic about Pebble was the software and ecosystem. The OS was just a delight to use, fast, wonderfully animated, and let you sideload whatever you want. I've tried a couple of Garmin watches (Vivoactive 3 and Forerunner 55) and the Amazfit Bip, and this is where they all fall completely flat. The UX is just horrible by comparison. It's like…

I'll buy an Apple Watch, but I'd pay through the nose for an Apple Watch with four buttons. Steve Jobs obsession that the mouse should have only one button was probably right for the computer, but the input device had over 80 buttons minimum. (Keyboard) Clearly whoever makes the call about Apple Watch buttons doesn't swim, sprint or cycle. All the marketing about "sports" is to make you feel sporty not because it's a…

what would you map those buttons to?
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