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I do not trust this. I want it to be true, but I feel like even as a FOSS OS… Maybe I’m an idiot (not maybe) but I had the rug pulled from under me once already,
Google rugpulls shit way too often for me to take the risk.
I wonder if there’s any ESP32 boards that would work well for this. I know there’s a mesh-tastic capable watch that’s got to be super programmable.
Raspberry pi Pebble when?
I loved my PebbleSteel but the build quality just wasn’t there. Had two go bad after a very short time with button issues. When Pebble got sold i begrudgingly moved to an Apple Watch and have been ok with it. I do wish Apple offered an E-ink display tho. I’d gladly trade display colors and screen resolution for a multi-day battery and lower prices.
I’m all in on the Apple ecosystem but won’t get an Apple Watch for that reason. Besides the fact that I already get distracted enough, I can’t bear to have a wearable that won’t make it 24 hours without a charge. Resistance to that level of obligation is the same reason I never bought a Tamagotchi.
I got a Tamagotchi when they were new and it was annoying as fuck, so I stopped playing with it after two days and enjoyed looking at the floating ghost.
My kid has an Apple Watch but because you can’t play a game on it he often leaves it charging by his bed. He’s also responsible and sets alarms for his chores which means I’m often the only one around when they go off. Sometimes I think about turning it off and hiding it.
I was looking into Pebble watches right before they got bought by Fitbit, was super bummed. Since then I’ve tried a Garmin (hated the app) and now on my third Apple Watch… I still don’t love the Apple Watch and want an alternative. Between having to charge it all the goddamn time and after 10~ years it only having 3 usable watch faces I’ve been craving an alt. I signed up for the Pebble list - I’m ready. Pebble for every day and going to try out a Coros for fitness.
I’ve been eyeing Amazfit’s watches hard, ever since I saw a coworker with one. Wasn’t interested in smartwatches before due to all the compromises each one makes but their watches seem like they’re actually good from what I can tell.
@CancerMancer @prof_wafflez +1 for #Amazfit I’d certainly have another quote happily. Killed my last one (totally user error).
But I’ve now realised I never use many of a smartwatch’s features so I’ve gone for one that just does notifications and step count
Not everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ve been enjoying my Withings watches for fitness tracking and everyday wear as well. They look like a decent, non-smart watch. Battery lasts about a month or so.
Thank you for the rec. I checked them out, but it’s not really what I’m looking for. Ideally my watch face will let me see a lot of information related to location and weather. For example, my main Apple Watch face currently shows: a compass, date, time, current temp, the high, the low, the conditions, wind speed and elevation. That’s partly why I’ve stuck with an Apple Watch despite the severe shortcomings
Gotcha. Yeah that’s a different game.
Never trust or buy something from a Alphabet company. They will always cancel the project and leave you high and dry.
Their track record speaks for itself.
Yes, true, but irrelevant in this case.
But this doesn’t have anything to do with alphabet? They just open sourced the code.
I’m just very unoptimistic that this won’t come back as corporate garbage and not remotely resembling what it once was.
The best part is you can make your own!
With what? I don’t own a watch factory.
Arduino
How are you gonna fit an Arduino in a watch?
You put an Arduino-compatible microcontroller on a custom PCB, obviously. A QFN package ATTiny is like 4mm square.
It’ll all be SMT parts if you want it to be watch-sized, so you’ll have to let JLCPCB or whoever assemble the board for you instead of soldering it yourself, but it’s surprisingly accessible to random hobbyists these days.
Yeah I don’t understand any of these words.
Yeah I don’t understand any of these words.
Ok, maybe you specifically shouldn’t make your own, but somebody else who knows this things could.
What part of you just DHRT the CNGIR to the WKFI do you not understand?!?
Don’t forget the screen and the battery too.
Get a smaller Arduino, there are a ton of options with low power. You can 3D print a mockup (check your local library if you don’t have access to one) before designing the full product
If you go completely custom and get it right the first time (unlikely), you can probably get a prototype for $1k or so with a custom PCB and high quality 3D printed case (molds are expensive).
It would require a lot of learning if this is your first time, but 3D printer + tiny Dev board can get you very far for very little money (<$100 if you have access to a 3D printer).
Fine, Raspberry Pi.
I all keep going back to my Pebble Time. The battery life and focus on productivity are second to none.
Just want to shout out my PineTime. no one seems to be talking about it. Its a nice piece of kit for $35.
Yup. I’ve been rocking the PineTime since my Pebble crapped out. It does what I need it to do without any of the invasive stuff. But, still excited about this Pebble news.
PineTime has been the only watch I’ve liked since my pebble, but it is a downgrade to my overall experience. If I want a good battery life (great, even) I can’t have an always on screen, and I miss the physical buttons for interacting without looking. The vibration motor is solid, though.
I will miss my 28 day long battery when I leave it. Hopefully a new pebble can achieve a similar battery life.
I picked one up, just to check it out, but I guess I don’t really see much use for it. I just wear an analog watch.
Under the Apache License 2.0 license, no less! Nice!
I ran my Pebble Time into the ground, so I’m hyped as fuck for this. I bought it in my early highschool years and wore it nearly daily until last year when the rumble motor finally gave out. Still wear it from time to time, but it not buzzing for notifications is a bit of a deal breaker for me.
I bought a replacement and it’s so pristine I didn’t want to risk slowly damaging it at work, but now I’m charging that bitch up and running it into the ground until new Pebble comes out. Thanks for sharing OP, this news made me week!
Bonus, here’s what mine looked like as of a few years ago right when the vibration went out. You can see I slapped a skin on it to cover up the bezel scratches, but the screen still looks totally fine!
I miss my Pebble Time Round every day, it’s the only smart watch that I owned that I actually liked. I even bought a second and got it running via Rebble.
They both died due to a swollen battery but I’ve been pining for something similar for years! Hope this pans out
Same. I bought one of those ifixit kits and tried to repair mine, but it turns out the wires are very small and I couldnt get everything hooked back in.
I thought about trying but decided it wasn’t worth it. IIRC there was like ONE guy who had the batteries and could do it if you mailed it to him lol.
All on I actually bought 4 time rounds in addition to my OG Pebble, as my wife had two as well. She’s just as stoked as I am. Big Pebble fans all around!
Man I would love that contact :)
I’m personally going to keep my old Casio running til the end of time. But I hope the new watches are repairable, cause I don’t fully trust Google (but rebbel is solid).
Interesting to see if it will be better than Bangle JS 2, the spiritual successor to Pebble. That’s the one I’ve been using a few years and I still like it a lot.
Somehow I missed out on this device when searching for open watches, thanks for the info.
we’ve got pineWatch so why not pebble? PineWatch is OK but it’s.not pebble. It was an amazing low tech that was actually extremely useful
Finally
I’m not in to smart watches, but I’m happy this is happening. A couple of friends really liked the pebble and were sad to see it go.
If you click “no” on the website it takes you to the Google pixel watch site. My goodness that thing is ugly.
