If you were to go out today and buy an open source smart watch to pair with a GrapheneOS phone which would you choose?
If you care about actual functionality (accurate HR, fitness tracking, GPS tracking for runs) but still don’t want to be spied on, using GadgetBridge with a commercially available watch (Huawei/Garmin/Amazfit) is probably your best option. GadgetBridge being the controller/gatekeeper app to the watch means all your data stays on your device and isn’t going to the watch manufacturer, but you still get the benefit of the actual functionality working well (which, unfortunately with Pebble or PineTime isn’t the case right now - pebble being very old iirc and pine time just… Not being good.)
I recommend a different consideration than the usual design, battery life, OSHW, etc : connectivity.
So typically you get BT but that’s not enough, you need a bit more since it’s not a well recognized device, unlike e.g. headphones. Typically you would need a companion app, for GrapheneOS, Android more broadly, iOS or a Linux phone. This is where GadgetBridge comes in. The goal of the project is to… bridge gadgets that are not standalone. Instead of having a myriad of (usually proprietary) apps that basically all do the same thing (pair, configure, handle notifications both ways) have 1 that does it for all such device.
From that standpoint, namely GadgetBridge support, at the moment the recommendation is Pebble (which is how the project started) or PineTime.
PS: I personally have a Pebble (with hardware issue, so not sure were), a PineTime (also hardware issue, touch on screen AFAIR) and finally a Watchy and… honestly I don’t wear any anymore. I don’t get enough benefit from it as typically I have a phone nearby and when I don’t it means I do NOT want notifications.
This isn’t the right community to make this post in, though.
Where would you ask?
Prolly /c/opensource
Thanks!
I concur. Although you can’t get one right away. I think you’d have to wait a few months at this point.
They have a warranty of 30 days for manufacturing errors… Wouldn’t be legal if they would sell in the EU. Apart from that sounds interesting.
Pebble: 30 days of battery life
Also Pebble: 30 days manufacturer warranty
So the warranty expires when the battery does. Lol.
Edit: still loving my Time Round even though it hasn’t been updated in nearly a decade.
almost ordered until i saw that. what a joke
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I have a pinetime, it’s nice enough
I’ve ordered one of the new Pebbles, but in the meantime, I have a PineTime: https://pine64.org/devices/pinetime
I’ve even given some to nephews and nieces because they are durable enough and so affordable that we don’t need to worry too much about them
I was so annoyed that Google bought both Pebble and Fitbit, then did… absolutely nothing with them. Would’ve loved a low-end (sub $100) fitness tracker with ePaper.
Best thing they did was to release the pebble rights back to the creators.
Large corporations don’t buy small companies to make better products. They buy them to eliminate the competition.
Since they open sourced pebble, I’m hoping a Chinese firm will make a clone soon.
Pine was my first stop but when I tried to actually but it I got a 404
Yeah the main link is broken.
This one works for me: https://pine64.com/product-category/wearable/
There’s a lot to like about the pine time, and it’s really cool that you can adjust things and recompile. The reason it ultimately didn’t work for me was because the vibration motor isn’t strong enough for me to notice if I’m actively doing something. Your mileage may vary, but it’s worth keeping in mind.
The original pebble and garmin watches have all been great in that respect.
I havent used it yet, so cant really say much, but ive been looking at watchy. https://watchy.sqfmi.com/
ESP32 based with a epaper display
That looks like a great project the battery life must be iconic
They have a page about that: https://watchy.sqfmi.com/docs/battery-life
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 further optimizations (e.g. sleep during off hours, waking up only on motion/tilt, etc.).
By default it wakes up the CPU and updates the display every 60 seconds, but you could totally change this to make it only update on demand (the most efficient would be by button press) which should extend the battery life waaay beyond 7 days.
I have one and it easily lasts a week or so.
bangle.js
I love mine. It’s pretty unobtrusive but there’s a ton of open-source applications available on the store. Probably the most similar to the original Pebble (besides the new pebbles of course) right down to the MIP display. Tried a pinetime but it’s very limited by comparison and an IPS screen on a smartwatch is a terrible idea.
This is probably the most polished one I’ve found
I kinda had the same though 4 years ago.
I ended up settling for a nixon Regulus. Its not really smart
But it has basic functions and NO SPYWARE Which is a big plus
sensorwatch.net is the only one I have any interest in, and it doesn’t pair with a phone.
Fellow sensorwatch represent! It’s great!
This probably depends on what you mean by “smart”
In the old days, dumb phones were defined as devices that shipped with a set of features with users generally being unable to add new features themselves
And smart phones could be extended by users because they allow installation of apps, etc
But I don’t think this applies to smart watches: it seems like the difference here is that a smart watch goes beyond “dumb” by having phone/internet connectivity to display more than just times and dates
