This is a pinetime it looks like.
You should get one, open source and $30.
Gave a quick check, and it costs more than twice the price to buy it in EU, everything from Pine64, for some reason, odd, will look at this in more detail later at some point in case i missed something because the idea of an open, not locked, not tracking your every move smartwatch is appealing, but that doubling the price thing is a minus.
But the pinetime uses the phones navigation/gps. I am not sure what that would do?
It doesn’t rely on phone navigation for starters :)
I find it to be especially useful for running, or really sports in general where it’s not practical to carry a phone. Accelerometer step counting alone isn’t very accurate. Having GNSS on the watch is very helpful in a lot of ways.
What Android software could you use for managing it? Gadgetbridge seems to not have fully-developed support for it, even with their preferred firmware.
I’m using Gadgetbridge with a hacked Amazfit Bip and I’m pretty happy. I like the multicolor TFT LCD w/no default backlight on the Bip, which is very readable in bright light and only requires a quick button press to get the backlight on in the dark, or you can waste more battery life and have it turn on when you turn it towards yourself. It’s also got built-in GPS/workout tracking (you have to manually flash the A-GPS data occasionally…), the ability to load little open source apps, sleep tracking, heart rate tracking, notifications, custom watchfaces, etc which I’m sure the Pinetime has most of. The battery also lasts ages since it uses such a low-power LCD.
I’m not saying the Pinetime isn’t good, but decent alternatives exist. I would love a truly open-source smart watch, but maybe when the project is slightly more mature. I guess I could always get one and contribute to it… $30 is really not much. I’ll definitely try it if my Bip breaks.
I have found nothing that worked, was not spying on you, was not some hipster pipedream, and has lots of people working on it. Oh and gadgetbridge seems to work good, what do you mean not supported?
Also the Bip cannot spy on you unless you install the official app. It’s limited to its interactions with apps over bluetooth, and I just use Gadgetbridge.
According to the wiki, only one firmware is supported, and it’s early support with missing features. The wiki may be outdated, though.
I bought one and wqs quite happy with it until it just randomly got stuck in a bootloop and no amount of resetting or letting it drain helped
If it’s been in the drawer for all this time, charge it again, it will ptobably boot. I had a similar issue, but didn’t let the thing shut down conpletely (by making sure the battery is completely drained).
honestly just depends on what kind of watchface you want, square is cheaper and in some ways more convenient so if you don’t want an analog clockface there’s no reason to bother
IIRC it comes with a firmware called InfiniTime preinstalled. So I guess that one.
What about for a dummy that wants to feel smart by installing a custom one?
The stopwatch is only working while it’s on the screen and the screen is active. Notifications stay there until you manually discard them. The heart rate sensor is a complete toy since you can only manually trigger it, and it took 2 years for the infinitime devs to read the sensor docs and realise their algorithm is bad. The step counter can only automatically sync, so when it fails to do so for half a day you need to walk around and shake your wrist while keeping you phone and watch screens active. And the list of fails continues beyond that.
On top of that it costs 65€ ($75) when ordering from the European warehouse, and they don’t allow you to order from the main one because it would end up cheaper. Don’t waste your money unless you need a reason to practice cpp.
The stopwatch does only work with the screen on, but it also keeps the screen on so it doesn’t stop working.
Notifications don’t stay there… You can see the last 5 notifications if you swipe down on the main screen.
You can enable the HR monitor and exit the HR app. It will show on the watch face if it supports it. The HR sensor only works if the screen is on so it doesn’t drain the battery otherwise. It’s not great and takes a while to display the rate.
Idk about the step counter. It’s the most useless feature on any smartwatch so I never use it. What does it count as a step? What’s the use of counting the steps? You know how you did or didn’t walk…
I don’t have many other fails. The alarm works great, the flashlight gets daily use and I use it to control the music app on my phone. It does everything I need for an open source device, which is the primary reason I have it.
It shouldn’t restart the stopwatch when you want to check the time on your watch, or receive a notification. Also, it was fixed in 2021 pr, rebased a year later, and it’s still not accepted.
I meant that they aren’t synced with the device they originated from. Also, am I misremembering or did they remove the new notification icon?
Isn’t the whole point of a heart rate monitor on a watch to take periodic measurements and record them so you can track your BPM during exercise? It works much better if you wear it on the inside of your arm.
A watch isn’t going to exactly count the number of steps you did, but it will tell you how active you were on what days and at what time. That can be useful.
For $75 it’s janky as hell
If you want a successor to the Pebble, also consider Bangle.js 2. It’s a little more expensive compared with the PineTime but I got one and I’m very happy!
Thanks for posting! I was looking at the pinephone esrlier but this would be an even better tinker device for me atm!
I tinker more with my pinephone than my pinetime, which is basically “waiting for an update and then applying it”. Out of the 2 the Pinetime is the one I use, the Pinephone is currently substituting as a pihole because I broke the Odroid C1.
There’s a lot more to do and play with on the phone compared to the watch, but the watch is reliable to use daily.
Interesting! I have read that its not capable of a daily driver at this point which isnt such a surprise given the fact that even the fairphone is 500+ $/€. Smartphones are more like computers than phones i guess.
What was your experience with the pinetime? If you want to share I mean.
I would not say that any of the features work well enough to consider them as actual features. The only thing that is truly reliable is telling time.
My battery life is about 3 days. The notifications are ugly and bare minimum. It does not store more than 5 at a time.
I would not say that any of the features work well enough to consider them as actual features.
That is a bold statement. I as someone who was considering purchasing one, could you elaborate?
Why does every manufacturer fall for the IPS/OLED meme instead of using a transflective LCD (like what a calculator has)?? My Amazfit Bip gets 6 weeks on a single charge with the screen on 24/7
It does not track sleep as that would require too much info to be sent to a third party. The battery is insane on it as well I get 5 plus days on mine.
How far the smart watch has fallen that 5 days of battery life is now “insane”, these things should last weeks
Why would it require any info to be sent to a third party? My P32 tracks sleep and I keep it entirely offline.
