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Yeah commodity fitness trackers with a few custom buttons would go a long way to scratch pebble itch. Make Casio F91W fitness tracker a thing.

lproven 2y ago
That's my point -- such things do exist already. Amazfit is an example. They give you the fitness-tracking functionality of a pure-play fitness band, plus they sync to your phone so you get notifications on your wrist -- answer and reject calls, read messages, reply with a thumbs-up or whatever -- and you get the fun stuff like customisable watch faces. And they are well under $100. It's already a product category, but many people seem unaware it exists. Much the same as the high-end budget smartphones. I've had a couple of decent capable modern Android phones that were under $200 new. This is a thing that exists, but the folks that follow fashion don't seem to realise. I spent years being relatively poor and in serious debt. You learn to live without luxuries, but if you're smart, you find the ways to get good stuff cheap. A $150 smartphone can deliver 90% of the functionality of a $1000 smartphone. In the same way, a $75 smartwatch can deliver 70-80% of the functionality of a $500 watch. And TBH, I know which I prefer. Phones and watches live hard lives, for electronics, and they are easily lost, stolen, dropped, broken, etc. I would rather have a $200 phone in my pocket than a $1000 one, because I know the risks, and if the 4-digit-price one gets damaged or vanishes, that hurts my budget... but I can tolerate a low-3-digit loss more easily.
- theragra 2y ago
  Amazfit bip was nice, but I encountered a bug with GPS data loss too often. That is the price of the cheap Chinese product, I guess. So, when my Bip have been damaged, I decided to buy Garmin for 250€ instead. So far, it works well.
- maxglute 2y ago
  I agree, I'm just pointing out Pebble killer feature that later fitness band didn't adopt was just having a few extra buttons. It would be nice to have 5 buttons to do full media controls. Bring these back on side of watches. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004293400666.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004293400666.html
  - lproven 2y ago
    Ahh, I see. I don't think I've ever used any of my now 3 smartwatches to control my phone's media player. But then I mainly only listen to music on my phone when I'm on a plane.

lproven 2y ago

That's my point -- such things do exist already. Amazfit is an example. They give you the fitness-tracking functionality of a pure-play fitness band, plus they sync to your phone so you get notifications on your wrist -- answer and reject calls, read messages, reply with a thumbs-up or whatever -- and you get the fun stuff like customisable watch faces. And they are well under $100. It's already a product category, but many people seem unaware it exists. Much the same as the high-end budget smartphones. I've had a couple of decent capable modern Android phones that were under $200 new. This is a thing that exists, but the folks that follow fashion don't seem to realise. I spent years being relatively poor and in serious debt. You learn to live without luxuries, but if you're smart, you find the ways to get good stuff cheap. A $150 smartphone can deliver 90% of the functionality of a $1000 smartphone. In the same way, a $75 smartwatch can deliver 70-80% of the functionality of a $500 watch. And TBH, I know which I prefer. Phones and watches live hard lives, for electronics, and they are easily lost, stolen, dropped, broken, etc. I would rather have a $200 phone in my pocket than a $1000 one, because I know the risks, and if the 4-digit-price one gets damaged or vanishes, that hurts my budget... but I can tolerate a low-3-digit loss more easily.

theragra 2y ago
Amazfit bip was nice, but I encountered a bug with GPS data loss too often. That is the price of the cheap Chinese product, I guess. So, when my Bip have been damaged, I decided to buy Garmin for 250€ instead. So far, it works well.
maxglute 2y ago
I agree, I'm just pointing out Pebble killer feature that later fitness band didn't adopt was just having a few extra buttons. It would be nice to have 5 buttons to do full media controls. Bring these back on side of watches. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004293400666.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004293400666.html
- lproven 2y ago
  Ahh, I see. I don't think I've ever used any of my now 3 smartwatches to control my phone's media player. But then I mainly only listen to music on my phone when I'm on a plane.