6 ms·

$27 PineTime smartwatch that runs open-source software

53 points by hosteur 3y ago

kylegalbraith 3y ago
Dumb question, but how do these pair/sync back to other devices?
- kej 3y ago
  Bluetooth and an assortment of apps: https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PineTime#Companion_Apps https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PineTime#Companion_Apps
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
m-p-3 3y ago
I initially looked into one, but the price of shipping to Canada exceeded the cost of the item :/
lumb63 3y ago
Wow, 64 KB of RAM. That’s incredibly tiny for all that the device needs to do.
- tredre3 3y ago
  64KB is more than enough to show notifications and tell the time. Admittedly the bluetooth stack might use most of it (it does on the esp32 at least). Of course with that little RAM you also can't keep a full framebuffer so you need more competent developers to drive the display without becoming a flickery mess.
  - TT-392 3y ago
    There kind of is a full framebuffer in the display driver chip. You just tell it to draw a square somewhere, and the square will stay there. One of the most limiting factors of the display is actually the spi bus to the display, only running at 8MHz, allowing a maximum full screen update speed of like 8 fps.
    - TT-392 3y ago
      Not that that makes smooth video impossible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqL8V3xWmxg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqL8V3xWmxg (Shameless self promotion :))
- eternityforest 3y ago
  I almost got one, but I decided to get a Wear OS instead and love it. I still occasionally think about getting one, but not to use as a watch, it just seems like it has lots of potential for other things. I could attach it to something and have it send motion sensor alerts to my phone, or it could be a remote input device.
LanternLight83 3y ago
Could we get a (2021) in the title? I've been rocking this as my daily driver for years :p I remember when they added the new themes, and hold-to-increase in the timer and alarm app, which are 100% my biggest use-cases.
commoner 3y ago
The PineTime is a great smartwatch if your main use cases are checking the time and displaying new notifications from your phone. The build quality is great and the hardware is very similar to the original Fitbit Versa. Battery life varies with use and I get about 5-7 days on a charge. The most well-maintained OS for the PineTime is InfiniTime: https://github.com/InfiniTimeOrg/InfiniTime https://github.com/InfiniTimeOrg/InfiniTime
- ChuckNorris89 3y ago
  If all you need is checking the time and reading notification then get yourself an Amazfit BIP with 30 day battery life and pair it with Gadgetbridge.
  - tredre3 3y ago
    The original Amazfit BIP as well as the Amazfit BIP Lite had always-on displays and 30+ days of battery life yes. Current models not so much, they're advertising two weeks at best and no longer have the neat transflective lcd.
    - ChuckNorris89 3y ago
      You can still find stocks of the old one if you shop around.
  - wkat4242 3y ago
    Yeah I prefer my Amazfit too, though I have the GTS 2 mini. With its own companion app it's a horrible privacy leak but with gadgetbridge it's amazing. I have a pinetime too but it's too rough around the edges for me. And I love the GPS tracks on the Amazfit.
    - ChuckNorris89 3y ago
      >though I have the GTS 2 mini Can't really recommend these newer more expensive models with OLED screens. The charm of the original was it's low price point and always-on Memory-In-Pixel display which enabled the ultra long battery life. Without those displays and the cheap price, it's nothing special among the dime-a-dozen other OLED smart-watch e-waste.
jokoon 3y ago
WHY can't they make a similarly minimal smartphone? The pinephone is $150, but I would gladly pay for half that price if it was 5 or even 10 times slower. I don't need a 1GHz processor with 3GB of ram and a 1400x700 screen in my pocket. All I want is look at pictures, chat, email, a basic browser, maybe apps. I don't even need a camera! To be entirely honest, I don't even need 4G or 5G or to make calls or send texts, I just want a cheap pocket wifi computer I can run software on. Capitalism seems to make this impossible. The answer is obvious: because market forces are always driving performance and power consumption upwards, even if what consumer want is durability.. I will never understand the smartphone market. It's always that damn Law of Wirth: software is getting slower than hardware is getting faster.
- fsflover 3y ago
  Here is why another GNU/Linux phone cost a lot: https://puri.sm/posts/breaking-ground https://puri.sm/posts/breaking-ground. Tl;dr: it‘s because it has to be a custom design in order to not be Android.
- eternityforest 3y ago
  I think it really is the market giving consumers exactly what they want. Like, I would like it if they didn't need upgrading so fast, but mostly only for environmental concerns. The cost is very little to upgrade every 4 years even for most poor people, especially considering how many things it replaces. I like that no matter what happens or where I go, I can probably solve most issues with my phone. If I lose my keys and wallet... my phone knows where. If I forget my wallet at home... tap to pay. If something comes up at work... I can do all the research to solve the issue from it. I do think the world needs a low-power app capable device. But not to replace phones, we just need something that won't lose compatibility with old apps, that's cheap enough to have multiple for dedicated purposes, etc. Something that can control your smarthome, be a remote outdoor thermometer display, or any other random task that would normally be done by some nonstandard thing that risks becoming e waste.
- jarbus 3y ago
  As someone who thought the same thing before buying the PinePhone - trust me, you don’t want something slower. Firefox takes over ten seconds to load. 5x slower than the current phone means you’d spend way more time waiting for things to load than actually using the phone. An extra $75 is worth your time
xrd 3y ago
BangleJS is incredible as well. But, I really wish there was a decent gps smart watch option. I never got the BangleJS to work reliably with gps.
jononor 3y ago
It's a very nice project, especially that they provide both a fully sealed device and an open devkit - at good prices. The NRF52 microcontroller is the gold standard for battery powered BLE devices. I am considering to use it as a dev/demo unit for Machine Learning inference using emlearn, especially for Human Activity Recognition an Gesture Detection using the accelerometer.

53 points by hosteur 3y ago

kylegalbraith 3y ago

Dumb question, but how do these pair/sync back to other devices?

kej 3y ago
Bluetooth and an assortment of apps: https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PineTime#Companion_Apps https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PineTime#Companion_Apps
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

m-p-3 3y ago

I initially looked into one, but the price of shipping to Canada exceeded the cost of the item :/

lumb63 3y ago

Wow, 64 KB of RAM. That’s incredibly tiny for all that the device needs to do.

tredre3 3y ago
64KB is more than enough to show notifications and tell the time. Admittedly the bluetooth stack might use most of it (it does on the esp32 at least). Of course with that little RAM you also can't keep a full framebuffer so you need more competent developers to drive the display without becoming a flickery mess.
- TT-392 3y ago
  There kind of is a full framebuffer in the display driver chip. You just tell it to draw a square somewhere, and the square will stay there. One of the most limiting factors of the display is actually the spi bus to the display, only running at 8MHz, allowing a maximum full screen update speed of like 8 fps.
  - TT-392 3y ago
    Not that that makes smooth video impossible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqL8V3xWmxg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqL8V3xWmxg (Shameless self promotion :))
eternityforest 3y ago
I almost got one, but I decided to get a Wear OS instead and love it. I still occasionally think about getting one, but not to use as a watch, it just seems like it has lots of potential for other things. I could attach it to something and have it send motion sensor alerts to my phone, or it could be a remote input device.

LanternLight83 3y ago

Could we get a (2021) in the title? I've been rocking this as my daily driver for years :p I remember when they added the new themes, and hold-to-increase in the timer and alarm app, which are 100% my biggest use-cases.

commoner 3y ago

The PineTime is a great smartwatch if your main use cases are checking the time and displaying new notifications from your phone. The build quality is great and the hardware is very similar to the original Fitbit Versa. Battery life varies with use and I get about 5-7 days on a charge. The most well-maintained OS for the PineTime is InfiniTime: https://github.com/InfiniTimeOrg/InfiniTime https://github.com/InfiniTimeOrg/InfiniTime

ChuckNorris89 3y ago
If all you need is checking the time and reading notification then get yourself an Amazfit BIP with 30 day battery life and pair it with Gadgetbridge.
- tredre3 3y ago
  The original Amazfit BIP as well as the Amazfit BIP Lite had always-on displays and 30+ days of battery life yes. Current models not so much, they're advertising two weeks at best and no longer have the neat transflective lcd.
  - ChuckNorris89 3y ago
    You can still find stocks of the old one if you shop around.
- wkat4242 3y ago
  Yeah I prefer my Amazfit too, though I have the GTS 2 mini. With its own companion app it's a horrible privacy leak but with gadgetbridge it's amazing. I have a pinetime too but it's too rough around the edges for me. And I love the GPS tracks on the Amazfit.
  - ChuckNorris89 3y ago
    >though I have the GTS 2 mini Can't really recommend these newer more expensive models with OLED screens. The charm of the original was it's low price point and always-on Memory-In-Pixel display which enabled the ultra long battery life. Without those displays and the cheap price, it's nothing special among the dime-a-dozen other OLED smart-watch e-waste.

jokoon 3y ago

WHY can't they make a similarly minimal smartphone? The pinephone is $150, but I would gladly pay for half that price if it was 5 or even 10 times slower. I don't need a 1GHz processor with 3GB of ram and a 1400x700 screen in my pocket. All I want is look at pictures, chat, email, a basic browser, maybe apps. I don't even need a camera! To be entirely honest, I don't even need 4G or 5G or to make calls or send texts, I just want a cheap pocket wifi computer I can run software on. Capitalism seems to make this impossible. The answer is obvious: because market forces are always driving performance and power consumption upwards, even if what consumer want is durability.. I will never understand the smartphone market. It's always that damn Law of Wirth: software is getting slower than hardware is getting faster.

fsflover 3y ago
Here is why another GNU/Linux phone cost a lot: https://puri.sm/posts/breaking-ground https://puri.sm/posts/breaking-ground. Tl;dr: it‘s because it has to be a custom design in order to not be Android.
eternityforest 3y ago
I think it really is the market giving consumers exactly what they want. Like, I would like it if they didn't need upgrading so fast, but mostly only for environmental concerns. The cost is very little to upgrade every 4 years even for most poor people, especially considering how many things it replaces. I like that no matter what happens or where I go, I can probably solve most issues with my phone. If I lose my keys and wallet... my phone knows where. If I forget my wallet at home... tap to pay. If something comes up at work... I can do all the research to solve the issue from it. I do think the world needs a low-power app capable device. But not to replace phones, we just need something that won't lose compatibility with old apps, that's cheap enough to have multiple for dedicated purposes, etc. Something that can control your smarthome, be a remote outdoor thermometer display, or any other random task that would normally be done by some nonstandard thing that risks becoming e waste.
jarbus 3y ago
As someone who thought the same thing before buying the PinePhone - trust me, you don’t want something slower. Firefox takes over ten seconds to load. 5x slower than the current phone means you’d spend way more time waiting for things to load than actually using the phone. An extra $75 is worth your time

xrd 3y ago

BangleJS is incredible as well. But, I really wish there was a decent gps smart watch option. I never got the BangleJS to work reliably with gps.

jononor 3y ago

It's a very nice project, especially that they provide both a fully sealed device and an open devkit - at good prices. The NRF52 microcontroller is the gold standard for battery powered BLE devices. I am considering to use it as a dev/demo unit for Machine Learning inference using emlearn, especially for Human Activity Recognition an Gesture Detection using the accelerometer.