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E Ink faces growing competition in the "paper-like" display space - Liliputing (liliputing.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19284817

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[–] 26 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I'd love a successor to Pebble which doesn't require an account. There are a number of options, but my issue is that most require creating an account with vendor, and app integration with - no doubt - copiuos data harvesting and reselling. Many are absurdly expensive.

There are several cheap options on Alibaba.

Goodreader.com lists a number of expensive e-ink watches, some of which look quite nice.

But I've got my eye on Watchy (github, old review); it was introduced a couple of years ago and is still being updated. It's also available from a couple of vendors, including preassembled through Amazon.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    my eye on Watchy

    Have one after the Pebble, let me know if you have questions.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    let me know if you have questions.

    I have all the questions. I'm peripherally aware of ESP32; my experience with it, and its capabilities, is severely limited, and IME interface changes require recompiling and re-flashing things. Many of my questions stem from that ignorance.

    1. Integration support. I assume GadgetBridge on Android is how you'd do it? Or is there another app?
    2. How is the battery life IRL?
    3. What does the watch face & app space look like? The FAQ mentions a "gallery", and instructions for contributions describe the github PR process. Is the gallery just the list of watch faces on the sqfmi website?
    4. What's the process for changing faces, and installing additional functionality? From the docs, it looks as if this must be done over a serial cable, despite the device having WiFi capability. I assume that's because adding faces is basically re-flashing the firmware, which is not supported over wireless? So, to get a new face, you clone the repo, compile a new firmware, and flash the device over a serial cable?
    5. The FAQ verbiage is confusing regarding the display technology, but I think it's saying the display isn't reflective LCD like the Pebble.
    6. Can you have multiple faces on the device, or do you have to re-flash it to change the face? The FAQ says the face is the entire firmware, implying only one face on the device at a time.
    7. If you're part of the community: have there been any discussions about future development to add, e.g. health monitor hardware?
    8. Is there any integration with a phone, such as notifications? This is sort of the GadgetBridge question, but more about what integrations - if any - are supported. Vibrate on phone ringing? Quick responses to texts? Phone calls over the watch - yeah, I know it's not that advanced, but for example.
    9. What's your opinion of the device? Do you use it as a daily driver?

    At under $70, I'm not expecting much, but it'd be nice to know what you expect. The sqfmi site is pretty sparse on details. If there's an additional, deeper FAQ or Wiki, a link to that would be great.

    Thanks!

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago*
    1. I'm not using that
    2. about a week
    3. it's indeed like the gallery
    4. yes, you need to compile the firmware and flash it over USB. The first time is a tricky but then it takes just few minutes
    5. strangers have said it looked like actual paper. It's extremely readible
    6. indeed it's one face per firmware... but assuming there is enough space, you could imagine modifying it in order to have more faces
    7. for now I just briefly chat on Discord to get the basics going as I was one of the very first to have the new ESP S3, cf https://github.com/sqfmi/Watchy/issues/252
    8. cf 1 but I bet there is, I was thinking of changing the WiFi HTTP server to possibly send data to HomeAssistant but I didn't explore that yet
    9. it's my daily driver, it's a HUGE thing but it works and often sparks interesting conversations, I like it

    Happy to clarify a bit more if need be.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

    Tried https://bangle.js? Loving mine so far. Edit: my bad https://banglejs.com/

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    What battery life are you getting on that?

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    I had an Amazfit BIP for a while that had a color e-paper display with a battery that lasted over 30 days. I think they have since gone OLED but one cool thing about it was, while they had their own app with a login, I could alternatively sync it directly with a third party app on Android that was called "Notify And Fitness". I only mention it because within this particular app the info never left the device. Perhaps there is something similar today, but I have since just given in and gone Garmin.

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