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Watchy: Open-source E-Paper Watch with ESP32
- teddyh 5y agoI wonder if they are RYF certified.
- moreati 5y agoRYF is probably Respects Your Freedom <https://ryf.fsf.org/main-page https://ryf.fsf.org/main-page>, for others wondering. > The "Respects Your Freedom" certification program encourages the creation and sale of hardware that will do as much as possible to respect your freedom and your privacy, and will ensure that you have control over your device.
- spicybright 5y agoTook a while to find an actual picture of it. Scroll down on this page to see: https://www.crowdsupply.com/sqfmi/watchy https://www.crowdsupply.com/sqfmi/watchy Another interesting device in this arena, Pine Time: https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/ https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/ Of note, PineTime is water proof. Which at least for myself is a big deal. The breakdown chart on the first link above comparing with other watches is interesting. Watchy seems like it can do a lot more. But I do wonder about battery life.
- bluedays 5y agoThe Pine Time device looks way cooler than the OP. In my opinion. The OP just looks like a circuit board strapped to your wrist.
- nucleardog 5y agoIt comes with a plastic case and you can optionally purchase an anodized aluminum case as well: https://www.crowdsupply.com/sqfmi/watchy/updates/campaign-funded-anodized-aluminum-case-and-case-design-contest https://www.crowdsupply.com/sqfmi/watchy/updates/campaign-fu... I don't know who is wearing a bare PCB on their wrist. Especially since the battery (lipo pack) is stuck on the back, so you've got a bare lipo battery sitting against your skin all day.
- FreakyT 5y agoI'm still a bit disappointed the Pine64 folks didn't go for a low-power reflective LCD like the ones used by this or the Pebble.
- nucleardog 5y agoThe Pinetime uses a LCD. A big draw for me for the Watchy was the e-ink screen. Specifically because, y'know, battery life. I got mine a week or two back so I haven't actually had time to run the battery right down (spent too much time plugged into my computer programming and debugging), but the software I've put together so far the battery life seems great. Over 24 hours, the voltage value I've been displaying (rounded to the nearest tenth of a volt) went from 4.2V to 4.1V. So even under the most unfavourable rounding that's 0.1V over 24h, or still about 95% battery charge. That would be almost 20 days doing some basic processing, screen updating, etc every minute. I'd agree about the waterproofing, however. Wearing it for a few days and knowing not only that it's not waterproof but exactly how _un_waterproof it is, it's made me a lot more conscientious about handwashing and day-to-day activities.
- NovemberWhiskey 5y ago>Over 24 hours, the voltage value I've been displaying (rounded to the nearest tenth of a volt) went from 4.2V to 4.1V. So even under the most unfavourable rounding that's 0.1V over 24h, or still about 95% battery charge. That would be almost 20 days doing some basic processing, screen updating, etc every minute. How're you calculating that? Voltage of (what I assume is) a lithium ion cell is a pretty poor way to measure state of charge - the discharge curve maintains voltage pretty well until 80% capacity before falling off precipitously. You certainly aren't going to get any work out of the cell below 3V or so without risking permanent damage.
- johbjo 5y agoIt seems the easiest and coolest way to make a watertight case would be to plug the usb-port with hot-glue and then pot the assembled board in resin (epoxy/polyurethane). Either pigmented or clear.
- criddell 5y agoI think the USB port is required to charge it.
- taylorfinley 5y agoThat's why you'd plug it with hot glue, it could be easily removed after the resin cures. Better yet use black silicone and make it reusable.
- numpad0 5y agoThere are special "cap-less"/cap-free watertight USB receptacles for phones Ref: https://www.jae.com/en/releases/detail/id=1739 https://www.jae.com/en/releases/detail/id=1739
- taf2 5y agoMight try nail polish as suggested here https://youtu.be/h8ycmroFQSs https://youtu.be/h8ycmroFQSs Just brush it on. Should keep the electronics safe from moisture and maybe survive a quick dunk or two
- RantyDave 5y agoUnfortunately antennas don't like being embedded in epoxy. See https://www.pet1.net/post/new-case-design https://www.pet1.net/post/new-case-design
- seltzered_ 5y agoinspiration - the CW&T solid state watch: https://cwandt.com/products/solid-state-watch?variant=34682948190364 https://cwandt.com/products/solid-state-watch?variant=346829...
- mmoskal 5y agoI wonder what the battery life. ESP32 tend to be very power hungry with WiFi, not sure about pure BLE operation. This is why simple long-lasting (eg Withings, misfit) watches use nrf52 chips.
- dheera 5y agoI suppose you could put it into light sleep mode (0.8mA) or deep sleep mode (<0.15mA) most of the time, and only switch on the Wi-Fi/BLE occasionally to sync data or when the user wants to interact with it. You could also use the hibernation mode (0.005mA) at night, and set up an RTC timer to wake it up in the morning. I do like the idea of a fully open source watch though, I used to do quite a bit of Android Wear development in its early days [0] [1] [2] but got frustrated with Google breaking my apps every 6 months with new APIs, breaking my Android Studio projects with every new version of Android Studio, and removing them from the Play Store because of new rules. I much prefer hardware and software that just continues to work if you do exactly nothing, which is kind of how all my other appliances work. It's not like my air fryer or rice cooker just stop working if I don't update their software. Also I absolutely hated Java and would much rather develop in C++, (Micro)Python, or even C, all of which are possible with the ESP32. [0] https://www.pcmag.com/news/attopedia-for-android-wear-puts-the-sum-of-human-knowledge-on-your-wrist https://www.pcmag.com/news/attopedia-for-android-wear-puts-t... [1] https://www.androidpolice.com/2014/07/15/there-is-now-a-matrix-falling-code-watch-face-for-android-wear-it-was-inevitable-and-you-know-it/ https://www.androidpolice.com/2014/07/15/there-is-now-a-matr... [2] https://www.androidauthority.com/android-wear-remote-app-404468/ https://www.androidauthority.com/android-wear-remote-app-404...
- pjmlp 5y agoNot that the experience is that memorable, but wearOS does support the NDK.
- dheera 5y agoYeah but you still have to package up your app inside a piece of Java shit, have 70+ gradle files that break at every new release, sign your package, zipalign (what the actual fuck, the OS should do that) your package, ... I mentioned C/C++/Python because the actual app would be much simpler and less bloated, not because of writing inner functions in those languages.
- gammalost 5y agoI've ordered one of these. Were supposed to ship on may 30. Got no message from them but the site now says 27 of July. Wrote to them to ask what's up but haven't recieved a response, they did however post an update about that they've started shipping (it still says july 27 for me though). It's probably a great clock and some people seem to have gotten it. But at this stage I'm unsure if I'm going to get it and haven't heard from them
- squarefoot 5y agoChip shortage probably. It's affecting a lot of products, not just high end video cards.
- serf 5y agore-emphasizing OPs point : the chip shortage is a poor excuse for a non-responsive customer service system. it's an OK excuse for delayed shipment -- but the customer won't ever understand that as a reason if they don't respond to customer service channels.
- yitchelle 5y agoAlso cars. Production lines are closed down for weeks due shortage.
- ddlsmurf 5y agoChip shortage is an issue, but they're definitely coming out, can tell by the chatter on discord. If you want to ask them about it, come on it and tag @sqfmi .
- gammalost 5y agoI get that you're trying to help. But when crowdsupply has a specific page that says "contact the product creator" then I kind of expect to get a response using it. Having to tag a specific person on a discord server is in my opinion asking too much from a customer. But everybody else here seems to have gotten theirs, even the person with the same delivery date as me. So I have a bit more faith in it arriving sooner rather than later
- dheera 5y agoI really wish this had a few more sensors, particularly a barometer, heart rate sensor, and touch screen, these would make it much more useful. I realize it's FOSS hardware but I'm more of a software person and would probably take me too long to figure out how to hack all those things in and get it manufactured ...
- Fnoord 5y agoHeh, I actually prefer the smartwatches without touchscreen. Physical buttons keep the screen clean. You just need enough of them. I believe the sweet spot is 4. Pebble did it right.
- djrogers 5y agoStrongly disagree there - I put up with my pebbles’ poor UI and controls until I got my first Apple Watch. It’s 10x more useful, and way more user friendly.
- jsight 5y agoFair, I'm a big fan of the Pebble, but I mostly put up with the UI due to the always on screen and battery life. Its not really great from a UX perspective in general.
- Fnoord 5y ago> It’s 10x more useful, and way more user friendly. It just isn't in my use case. For me, the only use of a watch is on the go. When I'm not on the go, I already have a computer w/me which is more powerful than any smartwatch. Therefore, if I am on the move, I want to blindly use my watch, just like I type this message blind on a keyboard. Physical buttons aid with that. If I am catching a bus, I want to be able to control Spotify. If I am running, I want to be able to control Spotify. Touchscreens are far more cumbersome in that regard. Apple Watch, yes very powerful computer, beautiful screen, and very expensive (more so if you want the medical features). You have to give it juice every night, and it requires either a 4G connection or you're having to pay for another plan or it uses Bluetooth w/your smartphone. These devices don't have enough storage for my liking. I mean, I am sure I could add and use a microSD with 256 GB or more to it, if it had that option. Instead we gotta rely on very little storage, Bluetooth with smartphone, or another SIM + data plan. All in all a completely different purpose and price class.
- ohazi 5y agoThis seems conceptually similar to the 2019 CCC card10badge. schneider has a great overview of some of the challenges of (barely) getting that project out the door on time: https://twitter.com/schne1der_/status/1232055729202323456 https://twitter.com/schne1der_/status/1232055729202323456
- lxe 5y agoNice to see the watch faces page using the Web Bluetooth API!
- fangorn 5y agoWatchy... McWatchface? I hope it's intentional!
- timonoko 5y agoAll I want is a tiny display, which does nothing but copies bitmap from the phone once a minute. So there is a bluetooth receiver and nothing else, assuming the display module works serially. And ok, it is little annoying, if the clock shows wrong, so you need a timer, which blanks the display every 61 seconds. This should work years without charging, like Sanyo from 1985.
- ungamedplayer 5y agoNot sure you personally get to dictate the laws of physics. How did the Sanyo work around the energy density problem?
- timonoko 5y ago20 khz crystal and Cmos.
- timonoko 5y agoI hereby modify my design and drop the bluetooth module. The communication need not be two-way. I suggest ultrasonics, assuming the phone's speaker is able. Now all energy is consumed in the phone. There will be only the E-paper-module and microphone and some filtering in the watch. Also the refreshing rate can now be faster. If the clock shows only the current date, the battery will last decades. The blanking timer is initiated by the presence of the said sonic carrier, or rather by the lack of it.
- Markoff 5y agoHard pass as Amazfit Bip owner, can this last at least 5 weeks with perfect outdoor sunlight visibility? After my original Bip broke, just bought used only for like 20 dollars, couldn't be happier. Tried the AMOLED watches, but could not get over battery life lasting 5 days instead 5 weeks and display requiring highest brightness to be visible outdoors compared to zero backlight on Bip.
- nucleardog 5y agoI mean, did you even look at it? It's an eink screen. I don't think you'll find better contrast in sunlight.
- Markoff 5y ago> With only time keeping, Watchy should have a battery life of 5-7 days, while with fetching data over WiFi, it should last between 2-3 days. These numbers can be extended through futher optimizations (e.g. sleep during off hours, waking up only on motion/tilt, etc.). https://watchy.sqfmi.com/docs/battery-life/ https://watchy.sqfmi.com/docs/battery-life/ Yes, I looked, and it's crap. Don't get me started on design/dimensions. I checked market few weeks ago and there is still nothing better than Amazfit Bip.
- NovemberWhiskey 5y agoHonestly, the state of the art here seems to be somewhere between some kind of advanced AMOLED (for shorter battery life but more brightness/color) and transreflective memory-in-pixel LCD (for longer battery life). I'm genuinely unsure e-ink offers any real benefits at this point.
- timonoko 5y agoI was also amazed with 30€ Amazfit Bip, mostly because you can make your own watchface. I did not know that. Being old and near-sighted, I needed bigger numbers and also analog watch. https://github.com/timonoko/Amazfit https://github.com/timonoko/Amazfit
- polishdude20 5y agoDoesn't the ESP32 have horrible sleep mode? I've read that usually it consumes about 100 mA at all times.
- kderbyma 5y agothese are the projects I love to see. Open Source hardware and software. awesome