Bought this one a few months ago. Received it recently. I guess they were making them on pre-orders?
To be honest I mostly bought it for the looks of it! Have not tried it yet as I’m abroad so can’t leave a review.
Watchy: Hackable $50 Smartwatch
51–60 of 163 posts
Re: Watchy: Hackable $50 Smartwatch
#52Maybe I'm a curmudgeon, but I have subzero interest in smartwatches, even hackable or open source models. I want my watch to tell me the time, and I want it to do so 10, 20, and 30 years from now without having to fiddle with software. I love Linux. I cut my teeth on it in high school after one too many viruses on Windows XP made me bite the bullet and try debian. I love my Raspberry Pi. It went from retro-gaming con…
A smart watch is not a “watch.” It has functionally nothing in common with a Seiko or a Rolex. It’s a computer form factor, like a desktop, laptop, video game console, tablet, or smartphone. Yes they all rapidly become e-waste and that is a problem but Seikos are not really relevant.
Re: Watchy: Hackable $50 Smartwatch
#53Maybe I'm a curmudgeon, but I have subzero interest in smartwatches, even hackable or open source models. I want my watch to tell me the time, and I want it to do so 10, 20, and 30 years from now without having to fiddle with software. I love Linux. I cut my teeth on it in high school after one too many viruses on Windows XP made me bite the bullet and try debian. I love my Raspberry Pi. It went from retro-gaming con…
Will it? My guess is that you will need to have it serviced somewhere in that time period. I am with you in regards to how great an automatic watch is, but unless your seiko has an oil-free escapement of some kind, e.g. silicon or DLC coated, 40 years seems like a stretch. https://www.rwsmithwatches.com/journal/roger-announces-nano-... https://www.sinn.de/en/DIAPAL.htm
Cheaper mechanical watches don't even get "service" - they simply replace the entire movement as it is cheaper than having a skilled watchmaker take it apart. It will still cost a significant fraction of the initial purchase price.
Seiko recommends servicing every three years:
https://www.seikowatches.com/us-en/customerservice/faq/care-...
And Rolex recommends service every ten years:
https://theslenderwrist.com/rolex-service/
I loved automatic watches, but when you account for their regular inaccuracy, relative fragility and high maintenance cost, they are not as practical as quartz, but merely higher status symbols.
Re: Watchy: Hackable $50 Smartwatch
#54Maybe I'm a curmudgeon, but I have subzero interest in smartwatches, even hackable or open source models. I want my watch to tell me the time, and I want it to do so 10, 20, and 30 years from now without having to fiddle with software. I love Linux. I cut my teeth on it in high school after one too many viruses on Windows XP made me bite the bullet and try debian. I love my Raspberry Pi. It went from retro-gaming con…
Not to be a fanboy, but I love my apple watch for three reasons:
I can see who is calling me without pulling my phone out of my pocket and drop the call. I can also answer calls on it if I left my phone in the other room.
Ditto with text messages
I can see what my next meeting is just by looking at the watch face.
As for e-waste - yeah - replacing the battery costs almost as much as a new watch. Though my last one lasted 4 years.
I actually never use it to tell the time, which I know is weird.
Re: Watchy: Hackable $50 Smartwatch
#55Maybe I'm a curmudgeon, but I have subzero interest in smartwatches, even hackable or open source models. I want my watch to tell me the time, and I want it to do so 10, 20, and 30 years from now without having to fiddle with software. I love Linux. I cut my teeth on it in high school after one too many viruses on Windows XP made me bite the bullet and try debian. I love my Raspberry Pi. It went from retro-gaming con…
Sounds like this watch is absolutely not for you then, and that's totally fine! For me, in 2021, a watch needs to display more than just date/time to earn a place on my wrist. I'm also ok spending another $50 every 3-6 years on a new watch, that doesn't seem unreasonable to me. Conversely, I'm not keen on the idea of having to manually wind my watch, or remembering to fix the date at the start of every month. More op…
> Conversely, I'm not keen on the idea of having to manually wind my watch, or remembering to fix the date at the start of every month.
Side comment, we're well past this stage now. Pretty much every popular watch vendor (Seiko, Casio, Citizen, etc) makes a multitude of atomic clock sync solar models spanning the price spectrum (~$200 USD+). I am an analog watch fan but have been buying them for at least a decade; you set it up the first time, slap it on your wrist and never touch it again under normal circumstances. Just works.
Re: Watchy: Hackable $50 Smartwatch
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
I found compasses don't work well in NYC either. My phone's compass is always wrong in NYC. I really wish NYC would paint or engrave a N/S/E/W indicator on the sidewalk at every subway exit.
How strange. Why is that? They use a magnetometer.
Exactly - the steel everywhere in the infrastructure, buildings, and vehicles messes with the ambient magnetic field so the magnetometer can't consistently get a true field reading.
Re: Watchy: Hackable $50 Smartwatch
#57Maybe I'm a curmudgeon, but I have subzero interest in smartwatches, even hackable or open source models. I want my watch to tell me the time, and I want it to do so 10, 20, and 30 years from now without having to fiddle with software. I love Linux. I cut my teeth on it in high school after one too many viruses on Windows XP made me bite the bullet and try debian. I love my Raspberry Pi. It went from retro-gaming con…
I used to be in your camp but then I got really fit and got into masochism through endurance sports. Now, I see a massive utility to smartwatches but my damned wrists are too small to wear any watch.
Re: Watchy: Hackable $50 Smartwatch
#58This is a bit bigger, but GPS and LORA, accelerometer, color screen, still cheaper https://www.banggood.com/LILYGOTTGO-T-Watch-ESP32-Chip-Progr...
They have a newer version that's actually watch sized but neither have an eink display like the Watchy.
Re: Watchy: Hackable $50 Smartwatch
#59I love the idea of smartwatches and owned several ones starting wit Pebble. But since I need reading glasses to read small print I have to give up on them and go back to old-school watch with hands. It is just not practical to stop in the middle of the street and put on my spectacles to read a notification.
Re: Watchy: Hackable $50 Smartwatch
#60Maybe I'm a curmudgeon, but I have subzero interest in smartwatches, even hackable or open source models. I want my watch to tell me the time, and I want it to do so 10, 20, and 30 years from now without having to fiddle with software. I love Linux. I cut my teeth on it in high school after one too many viruses on Windows XP made me bite the bullet and try debian. I love my Raspberry Pi. It went from retro-gaming con…
>> My Seiko automatic Bah, a real curmudgeon would have said a £10 Casio quartz :-) I flick back and forth on this. The features i actually use on my Apple Watch: 1. it extends phone battery life[1] 2. I'm UK based but i work with colleagues across APAC & NA - in 3 of the corners of the "infograph" watch face i have NYC, Mumbai & HK times, it shows the city, the 24hr time & handily the offset - i use this all the tim…
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