7 ms·

Hack together your own e-paper smartwatch with this $50 open-source kit

121 points by laktak 6y ago

sneeze-slayer 6y ago
Very cool! I like the idea of smart watches but don't really like the walled ecosystems or incentives of smart devices manufacturers to sell user data. Unfortunately it seems sold out for now.
- uxp100 6y ago
  Yeah, I don't really like the idea of smart watches at all, but the price is low, and the form factor seems reasonable, so I put myself on the notify list. (I use the timer on an F91-W to time my coffee brewing, and that's about as smart as I need a watch to be. But hey, it's programmable, a timer preset for different brewing methods that buzzed but continued when I needed to do a step sounds nice.)
  - ashtonkem 6y ago
    I owned one of the original Pebble watches. My takeaway was that without significant phone interoperability, a smart watch is primarily useful for notifications and not much else. I want to like this, but even if it gets back in stock I wouldn’t get it.
    - Sodman 6y ago
      Another original Pebble kickstarter here. I still feel that "smart" watches peaked with Pebble. Long battery life, physical buttons / no touch-screen, waterproof, shows notifications / allows basic actions to be taken on them. That's all I wanted from a smart watch, and it provided it all! I don't know who decided that I need to be able to make and receive calls on my watch, have a color screen, or any number of the other "new features" modern smart watches push. I wouldn't mind a HRM, but I'd still prefer a 1-week battery life.
      - Fnoord 6y ago
        Fossil HR Hybrid ticks most of your needs. It isn't waterproof as a Pebble, though buttons on my Pebble 2 disintegrated (I also had a Pebble 1 KS edition). Doesn't have touch screen. Battery life 2 weeks (approx). Shows notifications, can control music, doesn't have color. You can even put the smart display off, or customize it (slightly). It has 3 buttons. What I miss is an option to put Bluetooth off.
        Sodman 6y ago
        These do seem nice! I'd like waterproofing for swimming, but in reality it's not a deal breaker.
      - mPReDiToR 6y ago
        I really like my TicWatch Pro. Obviously it's underpowered, has too little RAM and storage, and the GOOG badness makes me sad. That said, it allows me to read my heart rate, reply to messages, have a customisable Linux terminal prompt tell the time/date, and store an SSH key for when I need it. This is the peak, IMHO. The next peak will be when it doesn't have teh GOOG OS. Things move slowly, but I'm getting a PinePhone (just had the email about Brexit messing up shipping) because if we can help get a proper OS onto devices, we should. Nothing should peak so early that it gets forgotten about for another "generation".
        abhinuvpitale 6y ago
        I really want to know more about the usecase of having to store SSH key on your watch.
        mPReDiToR 6y ago
        You know when you're marching on the Capitol and you've left your phone at home so the Feds don't know it's you and you nick Pelosi's laptop then need to SCP (or rsync over SSH seeing as SCP is getting binned) all the files back to your server? Nah, me either. Especially as I'm in England. Please don't send the black helicopters. Having something critical on your watch (PGP/SSH) means you're never stuck without it. I'd love to be able to plug it in as a bootable USB with Tails on. I seem to recall someone doing that for phones so it might be possible! The reason I always need keys... Mum uses Linux (my choice) and I admin it from 200 miles away when she can't get her game to run.
anotheryou 6y ago
PineTime is even cheaper and probably more powerful, but looks less approachable than arduino. https://pine64.com/product/pinetime-dev-kit/?v=0446c16e2e66 https://pine64.com/product/pinetime-dev-kit/?v=0446c16e2e66
- CarelessExpert 6y ago
  Also, unless I'm mistaken, not e-ink.
  - fartcannon 6y ago
    Yes, not e-ink. But it has a heart rate monitor.
    - anotheryou 6y ago
      definitely not. And in the dev kit the halves are not even glued together yet :)
      - wavefunction 6y ago
        They're intentionally not glued together so devs can dev. Seems reasonable.
        anotheryou 6y ago
        Totally :) Just different to the arduino one.
  - AshamedCaptain 6y ago
    I keep thinking that e-Ink is way overrated, and the fact that a large chunk people do not seem to distinguish Pebble (which is an LCD) from actual e-Ink devices only reinforces it. Not saying that I like "backlight" watches (I don't), but there's a large selection of reflective LCD watches (e.g. most traditional sport/GPS ones, Garmin, Suunto, etc.) which are indistinguishable from the Pebble in terms of display. e-Ink at this point is just $$ and slow refresh. For most users, at least.
goda90 6y ago
Already sold out :(. I love the DIY aspect of this. I hate wearing watches, but with something like this I can 3D print my own belt loop or other style case to experiment with other forms of wearable.
- Maxburn 6y ago
  Would make a really neat desk clock too!
solarkraft 6y ago
I hate both most modern and diy smartwatches visually for different reasons, but this strikes a nice balance. The ESP32 is a great SoC! I tend to shower with my current watch simply for convenience. While I can get over that without issues, I find it's missing a button. The Pebble Time has a great UI for music control requiring 3 buttons (up/pause/down) and a back button that is incredibly convenient and I just haven't seen matched anywhere yet. I think I actually prefer this project over the Pine Time because it has E-Paper, no touch screen, it looks nice and developing for it may be simpler.
lkxijlewlf 6y ago
Looks neat. Signed up for the wait list. Not sure I'll wear it as a watch, though, just looks like it my be interesting for some other project(s). Or just something fun to code.
- nessunodoro 6y ago
  If you search for e-ink you'll find other programmables as well
villgax 6y ago
I would love a tablet for reading PDFs, like literally just mirror my phone instead of even processing anything on it
jimhi 6y ago
I wanted to make my own apps on a cheap smart watch that I don't have to charge every day and came across http://banglejs.com/ http://banglejs.com/. It has some small bugs, but the battery life is incredible and they have their own nifty app store.
- pricci 6y ago
  Great! Just today received my Colmi P8, which is based on a nRF52832 SoC, same as yours! I'm going to try wasp-os, based on python, but will definitely give banglejs a spin.
contingencies 6y ago
Not ePaper but cool and recent https://github.com/FASTSHIFT/WatchX https://github.com/FASTSHIFT/WatchX ... unfortunately not designed with KiCad.
bullen 6y ago
This + LoRa and we're golden!

121 points by laktak 6y ago

Very cool! I like the idea of smart watches but don't really like the walled ecosystems or incentives of smart devices manufacturers to sell user data. Unfortunately it seems sold out for now.

uxp100 6y ago
Yeah, I don't really like the idea of smart watches at all, but the price is low, and the form factor seems reasonable, so I put myself on the notify list. (I use the timer on an F91-W to time my coffee brewing, and that's about as smart as I need a watch to be. But hey, it's programmable, a timer preset for different brewing methods that buzzed but continued when I needed to do a step sounds nice.)
- ashtonkem 6y ago
  I owned one of the original Pebble watches. My takeaway was that without significant phone interoperability, a smart watch is primarily useful for notifications and not much else. I want to like this, but even if it gets back in stock I wouldn’t get it.
  - Sodman 6y ago
    Another original Pebble kickstarter here. I still feel that "smart" watches peaked with Pebble. Long battery life, physical buttons / no touch-screen, waterproof, shows notifications / allows basic actions to be taken on them. That's all I wanted from a smart watch, and it provided it all! I don't know who decided that I need to be able to make and receive calls on my watch, have a color screen, or any number of the other "new features" modern smart watches push. I wouldn't mind a HRM, but I'd still prefer a 1-week battery life.
    - Fnoord 6y ago
      Fossil HR Hybrid ticks most of your needs. It isn't waterproof as a Pebble, though buttons on my Pebble 2 disintegrated (I also had a Pebble 1 KS edition). Doesn't have touch screen. Battery life 2 weeks (approx). Shows notifications, can control music, doesn't have color. You can even put the smart display off, or customize it (slightly). It has 3 buttons. What I miss is an option to put Bluetooth off.
      - Sodman 6y ago
        These do seem nice! I'd like waterproofing for swimming, but in reality it's not a deal breaker.
    - mPReDiToR 6y ago
      I really like my TicWatch Pro. Obviously it's underpowered, has too little RAM and storage, and the GOOG badness makes me sad. That said, it allows me to read my heart rate, reply to messages, have a customisable Linux terminal prompt tell the time/date, and store an SSH key for when I need it. This is the peak, IMHO. The next peak will be when it doesn't have teh GOOG OS. Things move slowly, but I'm getting a PinePhone (just had the email about Brexit messing up shipping) because if we can help get a proper OS onto devices, we should. Nothing should peak so early that it gets forgotten about for another "generation".
      - abhinuvpitale 6y ago
        I really want to know more about the usecase of having to store SSH key on your watch.
        mPReDiToR 6y ago
        You know when you're marching on the Capitol and you've left your phone at home so the Feds don't know it's you and you nick Pelosi's laptop then need to SCP (or rsync over SSH seeing as SCP is getting binned) all the files back to your server? Nah, me either. Especially as I'm in England. Please don't send the black helicopters. Having something critical on your watch (PGP/SSH) means you're never stuck without it. I'd love to be able to plug it in as a bootable USB with Tails on. I seem to recall someone doing that for phones so it might be possible! The reason I always need keys... Mum uses Linux (my choice) and I admin it from 200 miles away when she can't get her game to run.

anotheryou 6y ago

PineTime is even cheaper and probably more powerful, but looks less approachable than arduino. https://pine64.com/product/pinetime-dev-kit/?v=0446c16e2e66 https://pine64.com/product/pinetime-dev-kit/?v=0446c16e2e66

CarelessExpert 6y ago
Also, unless I'm mistaken, not e-ink.
- fartcannon 6y ago
  Yes, not e-ink. But it has a heart rate monitor.
  - anotheryou 6y ago
    definitely not. And in the dev kit the halves are not even glued together yet :)
    - wavefunction 6y ago
      They're intentionally not glued together so devs can dev. Seems reasonable.
      - anotheryou 6y ago
        Totally :) Just different to the arduino one.
- AshamedCaptain 6y ago
  I keep thinking that e-Ink is way overrated, and the fact that a large chunk people do not seem to distinguish Pebble (which is an LCD) from actual e-Ink devices only reinforces it. Not saying that I like "backlight" watches (I don't), but there's a large selection of reflective LCD watches (e.g. most traditional sport/GPS ones, Garmin, Suunto, etc.) which are indistinguishable from the Pebble in terms of display. e-Ink at this point is just $$ and slow refresh. For most users, at least.

goda90 6y ago

Already sold out :(. I love the DIY aspect of this. I hate wearing watches, but with something like this I can 3D print my own belt loop or other style case to experiment with other forms of wearable.

Maxburn 6y ago
Would make a really neat desk clock too!

solarkraft 6y ago

I hate both most modern and diy smartwatches visually for different reasons, but this strikes a nice balance. The ESP32 is a great SoC! I tend to shower with my current watch simply for convenience. While I can get over that without issues, I find it's missing a button. The Pebble Time has a great UI for music control requiring 3 buttons (up/pause/down) and a back button that is incredibly convenient and I just haven't seen matched anywhere yet. I think I actually prefer this project over the Pine Time because it has E-Paper, no touch screen, it looks nice and developing for it may be simpler.

lkxijlewlf 6y ago

Looks neat. Signed up for the wait list. Not sure I'll wear it as a watch, though, just looks like it my be interesting for some other project(s). Or just something fun to code.

nessunodoro 6y ago
If you search for e-ink you'll find other programmables as well

villgax 6y ago

I would love a tablet for reading PDFs, like literally just mirror my phone instead of even processing anything on it

jimhi 6y ago

I wanted to make my own apps on a cheap smart watch that I don't have to charge every day and came across http://banglejs.com/ http://banglejs.com/. It has some small bugs, but the battery life is incredible and they have their own nifty app store.

pricci 6y ago
Great! Just today received my Colmi P8, which is based on a nRF52832 SoC, same as yours! I'm going to try wasp-os, based on python, but will definitely give banglejs a spin.

contingencies 6y ago

Not ePaper but cool and recent https://github.com/FASTSHIFT/WatchX https://github.com/FASTSHIFT/WatchX ... unfortunately not designed with KiCad.

bullen 6y ago

This + LoRa and we're golden!