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There are Chinese companies working on similar products, for example WeLoop[0], Goclever[1]. People are already working on open-source firmware for some of the

by fest 10y ago

There are Chinese companies working on similar products, for example WeLoop[0], Goclever[1]. People are already working on open-source firmware for some of these watches[2], so I think there's a reasonably good chance that either some of these companies will create a decent alternative to pebble, or at least good enough hardware which can be used with community-developed firmware (and even more importantly: apps on the phone side). [0]: http://www.weloop.cn/ http://www.weloop.cn/ [1]: http://www.goclever.com/uk/products,c1/smart-wear,c114/ http://www.goclever.com/uk/products,c1/smart-wear,c114/ [2]: https://ossw.github.io/ https://ossw.github.io/

problems 10y ago
Are the Goclever products actually released? They look quite interesting to me.
Relys 10y ago
It doesn't look like either of these are in production anymore. :(
tonyplee 10y ago
One problem for open source HW watch is that a lot of other folks will just use their factories in ShenZhen to clone the HW sell it for cheap without any R&D and marketing. Similar to how OrangePI leverage Raspberry Pi situations. It becomes race to the bottom ($5-10 pi zero) and no one can make $ in the market in both short and long term. There seem to be a lot of sub $20 watch base on following links - not sure how good/bad are they. https://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&CatId=&SearchText=smart+watch https://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product...
- fest 10y ago
  Yeah, there are a bunch of crappy "let's see how much we can pack into this for under $20" smartwatches coming from companies in SZ. Most have terrible UI, terrible battery life nad terrible apps on phone side. However I think that brands focused on quality will emerge. Xiaomi for example don't make the cheapest gadgets but instead focus on quality. If they decide that there is a market for pebble-like smartwatch, I'm certain they would execute well.

by fest 10y ago

problems 10y ago

Are the Goclever products actually released? They look quite interesting to me.

Relys 10y ago

It doesn't look like either of these are in production anymore. :(

tonyplee 10y ago

One problem for open source HW watch is that a lot of other folks will just use their factories in ShenZhen to clone the HW sell it for cheap without any R&D and marketing. Similar to how OrangePI leverage Raspberry Pi situations. It becomes race to the bottom ($5-10 pi zero) and no one can make $ in the market in both short and long term. There seem to be a lot of sub $20 watch base on following links - not sure how good/bad are they. https://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&CatId=&SearchText=smart+watch https://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product...

fest 10y ago
Yeah, there are a bunch of crappy "let's see how much we can pack into this for under $20" smartwatches coming from companies in SZ. Most have terrible UI, terrible battery life nad terrible apps on phone side. However I think that brands focused on quality will emerge. Xiaomi for example don't make the cheapest gadgets but instead focus on quality. If they decide that there is a market for pebble-like smartwatch, I'm certain they would execute well.