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Low-cost Smartwatch powered by ESP32 module
- Corsome 3y agoI wonder if the display could be changed to https://www.waveshare.com/product/rp2040-lcd-1.28.htm https://www.waveshare.com/product/rp2040-lcd-1.28.htm
- PMunch 3y agoI saw that waveshare link and was really hoping for some eInk stuff. I would buy a package like that in a heartbeat if it had eInk. Heck, might even get a couple if the price was right.
- traverseda 3y agoExactly what you're looking for https://watchy.sqfmi.com/ https://watchy.sqfmi.com/
- award_ 3y agoWow very neat, thanks! Happen to have any other similar suggestions? That one is backordered for months.
- joshmarinacci 3y agoI have played with this device and got CircuitPython working on it. It’s fairly undocumented but with the demo apps source I could get the touch, accel, and screen working. However I’ve not been able to get the battery to last more than an hour even with screen blanking.
- VectorLock 3y agoWow this is pretty neat and surprisingly affordable. Looks like it'd be great for making digital gauges for a car.
- SparkyMcUnicorn 3y agoI have this watch, and got it to tinker with since it had some fun sensors, mic, and speaker. Haven't turned it on in a while, but the battery life was definitely measured in minutes. It will not last anywhere close to a full day, even with a bunch of optimizations and certain things turned off. Even with the display off, ESP32s drain tiny batteries. It's only practical for tinkering, and an M5Stack is definitely a better choice for that. EDIT: Checked my notes. I was able to get it past the 24 hour mark with some work. This repo has some helpful info: https://github.com/Xinyuan-LilyGO/TTGO_TWatch_Library/blob/master/docs/power.md https://github.com/Xinyuan-LilyGO/TTGO_TWatch_Library/blob/m...
- metadat 3y agoThanks, I almost bought it since it is only $40USD. Yet another sad case of you get what you pay for. You saved me from disappointment!
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- lmm 3y agoYou can get a Mi Band for about that price, and it's a good smartwatch with great battery life (admittedly the software isn't the best).
- ThrowAway1922A 3y agoWhat issues with the software have you had? I’ve got one and really haven’t had any problems using it in combination with my iPhone.
- lmm 3y agoOccasionally it won't sync a workout when I ask it to. There was a confusion of which app to use and which accounts you need to sign up for (Zepp versus whatever the other thing), and it seemed to ask for a bunch of info. Up until the 7 you couldn't turn it off. Mostly it just feels clunky. It does the job but it's not what I'd call delightful to use.
- MaxikCZ 3y agoI can see it uses 3.7V/400mAh battery, but whats the actual battery life?
- 542458 3y agoAliExpress reviews seem to say 12h or so with all the power saving features turned on. Without the power-saving... An ESP32 draws 90-240ma when active, and I'm sure the battery capacity is significantly overstated, so if you just flash a simple Arduino sketch it'll probably drain the battery in under an hour.
- Panzer04 3y agoThat seems like an excessive amount of power. Does the running program/OS just have zero power saving consideration given?
- DrFlipper 3y agoThat would be while the radio is active. I would expect 30-50mA with the radio off, 1-3mA with automatic light sleep enabled (the CPUs will automatically enter and exit light sleep as required, even with WiFi connected), and 5uA in deep sleep. Cheap boards like this may use external components (eg. voltage regulator, LoRA) that add tens of milliamps in quiescent currents, but a well-designed ESP32 device can achieve impressively low power.
- tasty_freeze 3y agoAlthough I've been a working EE for 40 years and understand how exponential growth works, I'm still shocked at how powerful it is and how little it costs.
- GuB-42 3y agoAnd at $40, this is relatively expensive for the amount of power. You can find a ESP32 dev board on AliExpress for about $5, shipping included. It is obviously much cheaper if you buy the chips in bulk. Here, you are mostly paying for the smartwatch package, not the brain.
- blkhawk 3y agothe best bang for buck board right now is the esp32-s2 based s2 mini. Its great for doing anything usb attached (keyboard, gamepads, mice, anything really). Its about 2,50EUR at its cheapest including shipping without PSRAM and 2,60 with psram.
- wlkr 3y agoFunny to see this here as I stumbled upon this company earlier today. They seem to have a wide range of interesting products and an active GitHub account. https://www.lilygo.cc/collections/all https://www.lilygo.cc/collections/all https://github.com/Xinyuan-LilyGO/ https://github.com/Xinyuan-LilyGO/
- dvh 3y agoI managed to make esp32 stream video for 6h using two 18650 batteries. It is hungry.
- hinkley 3y agoWhat’s the low power alternative?
- afavour 3y agoThis mostly just reminds me that I really miss my Pebble Time Round watch. Perfect form factor, great battery life.
- ilyt 3y agoI had original Pebble and even 7 day battery life was a bit annoying, couldn't imagine having to charge my watch every 2-3 days as some modern smartwatches have. Ended up getting just a solar powered casio with no smart features whatsoever... Garmin makes ones with over 2 weeks of battery life but for the money I can't excuse spending on a watch just to get some gadgets.
- Skunkleton 3y ago2-3 days? I charge my watch every day, or I risk it dying in the middle of the second day.
- ubermonkey 3y agoI had a earlier Pebble, which was neat, but it mostly just got used for cycling so I could see who was calling without pulling my phone out. It was an interesting proof of concept for the time. When it died, I tried a couple of things for my "active watch" before settling on a first-gen Apple Watch. It turned out to be so dang USEFUL that I wore it more than I wore my real watches, a trend that continues to this day.
- doublerabbit 3y agoMakes me wonder how we all lived before Smartwatches. Were train commutes really that boring before the smartphone came about? Every day I walk to work listening to music on my minidisc player. Looking around to all walking zombies staring down at their phones; as if the news, social media or whatever is a great thing to absorb first thing in the morning. Technology has engulfed us.
- redundantly 3y ago> Every day I walk to work listening to music on my minidisc player. Looking around to all walking zombies staring down at their phones; There were many people that made similar statements about people listening to their walkman/mini-disc/etc. "People these days can't be bothered to listen to the goin' ons around them!" Things change over time. Today's phone focused masses will be complaining about the cybernetically enhanced AR users of the future, or whatever crazy technology comes out.
- jeegsy 3y agoYes, I've heard ppl make this response all the time that "its just like what people said in the past". It makes sense but I really think that "smart devices" in particular are different and a lot worse.
- lmm 3y ago> Were train commutes really that boring before the smartphone came about? Yes. You had to buy a physical newspaper/magazine, which was simultaneously more expensive and less interesting.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- interroboink 3y ago> Makes me wonder how we all lived before Smartwatches. I remember they had books, back then. And you could look out the window (: Actually, I don't have a smartwatch and don't want one. I guess I'm at a phase in my life where I'm looking for less attention-grabbers, not more. I've always found a blank piece of paper and a pen were a good way to fill an hour, too.
- paulrouget 3y agoShameless plug of my failed project: https://paulrouget.com/k8mod https://paulrouget.com/k8mod The idea was to literally fit a Nordic SoC in a Casio watch, and update the screen to show more segments. I never managed to find someone to manufacture the screen sadly.
- neumann 3y agooh my goodness. That is beautiful - an amazing design for a first hardware project and I would love to see it come to fruition. No experience from my end that would assist, but all the best.
- gregsadetsky 3y agoBeautiful write up and project! I remember reading about another Casio retrofit: https://github.com/carrotIndustries/pluto https://github.com/carrotIndustries/pluto That version did not have wireless comms - they touch on that in the faq.
- nextaccountic 3y agoYou wanted to build a screen? Is there no screen with that size? Maybe not lcd, but eink instead
- paulrouget 3y agoThis type of LCD are custom made because of the particular segment layout. See the /screen/ section in the linked page.
- nextaccountic 3y agoBut you could just have an eink display with higher resolution and build segments out of pixels. Maybe it doesn't look as good but would be more flexible and would have a chance of actually shipping a complete watch
- Hamster7330 3y agoLoved the idea. Fascinating blend of design and functionality. You should kickstarter this.
- allanrbo 3y agoVery cool that this one has Lora! Another fun low-cost smartwatch with fully customizable ROM is https://pine64.com/product/pinetime-smartwatch-sealed/ https://pine64.com/product/pinetime-smartwatch-sealed/ . Wearing one right now. Not as powerful a processor though, and only BLE for connectivity, but battery lasts days.
- aargh_aargh 3y agoI forgot what LoRa means, so I googled it and got this amazing tutorial: https://randomnerdtutorials.com/esp32-lora-rfm95-transceiver-arduino-ide/ https://randomnerdtutorials.com/esp32-lora-rfm95-transceiver... Seems like it helps even complete beginners to learn and build something interesting. Other tutorials there seem just as good.
- spiritplumber 3y agohttps://www.robots-everywhere.com/cellsol/ https://www.robots-everywhere.com/cellsol/ have fun with this then!
- akavel 3y agoSee also: https://www.sensorwatch.net/ https://www.sensorwatch.net/
- emwjacobson 3y ago+1 for the SensorWatch. I've been using it for a few months now and it's been flawless. I prioritize battery life above all else, and only recently has the battery been dropping in voltage. Opening up the watch to do any SW changes is a bit of a pain, so if you constantly want to make changes it could get annoying.
- mikedirl 3y agoI've a bangle js. I find it the perfect watch for hacking. It's similar to the pebble watch. https://www.espruino.com/Bangle.js2 https://www.espruino.com/Bangle.js2 Apps are written for it using espruino javascript. I get over a week battery life of of it. https://banglejs.com/apps https://banglejs.com/apps
- TranquilMarmot 3y agoI might have to pick up a Bangle.js2. I have a v1 but it's too big for me.
- wanderingstan 3y agoSeconding the bangle. Great battery life, good ecosystem, very hackable. Not a replacement for an Apple Watch or people, but very capable.
- karmanyaahm 3y agoNice project idea. The Nordic chip in the Pinetime might be more efficient than this ESP-32 though, and there's been a lot of development effort into infinitive for it.
- xchip 3y agoAnd the battery lasts for how many minutes?
- matthewfelgate 3y agoNice job.
- xchip 3y agoYeah, the esp32 is so power hungry that despite of its wifi, it is not at all mobile