This is the oldest trick in the book. In 1946 a guy named Diet Smith invented the 2-Way Wrist Radio:
- In June 1954, the radio was upgraded to increase the range from 500 miles to 1,000 miles, then again in 1956 to 2,500 miles.
- In 1964, the 2-Way Wrist Radio was upgraded to the 2-Way Wrist TV.
- Tracy gave his young son Joe an obsolete Wrist Radio, which Joe was able to use to call for help when he was abducted and held hostage by dognappers.
TBH, such a low price for so many working (!) features is an amazing achievement if not subsidized! What bothers me here, however, is...a provenance. Let me guess, it asks from your smartphone access to your location, contacts, calendar, SMS archive, email, medical records and political views and attitude towards CCP and then does some shady syncs with .cn servers "just to keep you data safe in case a meteor hits you"... Sad.
ADDED: Oh, seems like some people like to pretend that the results of "some other" companies getting this information are totally, totally the same.
Why is it so hard for americans to accept that china makes great tech without coping about "le CCP spyware!" - it seems so absurd, like why would the CCP want to know the heart rate of the type of guy who buys a 16 pound smartwatch? Why dont americans create 16 pound smartwatches?
Implying all US electronics don't ask from your smartphone access to your location, contacts, calendar, SMS archive, email, medical records and political views and attitude towards the US and Israel and then does some shady syncs with .com servers "just to keep you data safe in case a meteor hits you"... x)
> The watch is simply missing the two 5.1k resistors connecting the CC1 and CC2 pins of the USB-C connector to ground that are required to indicate to whatever is plugged in that it wants 5v power.
This is so annoying. Back when USB-C was less prevalent, I bought a pair of wireless earbuds over another for the same reason as the title - because it used USB-C. But then I cannot charge it with my macbook, unless I add a USB-C to USB-A adapter.
This problem seems prevalent on cheaper devices. When I buy a device and discover it has this problem I always return it. I've seen it on the Hypervolt Go 2 (which I returned and replaced with a Theragun Mini) and on the Hitachi Magic Wand Micro (which I replaced with a Dame Dip).
Like the post mentions, I think this happens because the devices are missing two resistors that are needed to indicate, when connected via a USB-C to USB-C cable to a charging brick, that the device wants 5V power. Resistors are cheap and I think the only reason they get dropped is carelessness.
The whole point of USB-C is that you can charge any device with any power supply.
> This problem seems prevalent on cheaper devices.
I’ve seen it on plenty of higher-end devices as well; and even worse.
The worst offender I’ve encountered is the TermoWorks Billows. ThermoWorks is a well established brand that makes high end thermometers and is considered one of the best on the market. So I was quite surprised to discover how their ‘Billows’ product is powered.
The device itself needs 12v and has a USB-C port for power. You’d think it would do USB-PD to negotiate it’s power needs so you can just use any old USB-C adapter. Not the case. It comes with a USB-A to USB-C cable and requires a special adapter with a USB-A port on it that puts 12v on the pins that normally supply 5v.
I have no idea how they came up with this abomination. Why even use USB-A connectors if it’s not going to work with a standard USB-A adapter, and why supply an adapter that’s basically going to kill most USB-A devices you plug into it? If you have a custom adapter anyway, why not just use a simple barrel connector? Why put a USB=C port on the device if it can’t use USB-PD?
I can imagine some Chinese ali-express product using such an abomination to save a few cents on components, but why would a well-respected brand like ThermoWorks ship such a thing? It boggles the mind.
This happens because these devices had USB microB before and the manufacturer just replaced the port without reading the spec.
Even some mainstream products have this issue. I have an automatic door opener from a large company and the battery pack has the same issue. It is shipped with a special cable you have to use as no other USB-C cable works.
There is also another problem. The spec is large and it's not aimed at those who want to implement the simplest possible USB C compliant device.
Based on the table of contents the most promising section is "2.3.4 USB Type-C VBUS Current Detection and Usage" but it doesn't actually talk about anything you actually need. You're supposed to click through to the section "4.6.2.1 USB Type-C Current" where it shows the reference circuit, but it doesn't tell you the values of Rd, which are in section "4.11.1 Termination Parameters".
It's a 300+ page document where you must already know what you're looking for. If you didn't already know that you need two resistors, you wouldn't be able to figure it out with the spec alone.
When you use a well-documented chip, the datasheet will contain diagrams and they'll have a working demo board which they'll give you the full schematic for. Closer to 3 pages than 300.
I have about 6 devices with this problem, and I consider it unforgivable.
Not only did you not include USBC charging, you went out of your way to trick me and lie and pretend you did. I would have preferred just using micro usb at that point.
Powkiddy committed fraud and said the RGB30 can charge from USB-C, but they lied, it can only charge from USB A to C cables. Using it is a massive pain because I have to get adapters I shouldn't need. I'll never buy anything from them ever again.
I feel like the USB committee might be somewhat to blame. When most people think USB-C they're just thinking the cable. Why can't it just do regular slow charging with C to C cable?
It can, it just needs the two resistors, which is the cheapest possible thing the standards committee could have asked manufacturers to do.
USB-C gets complicated at the high end, but for basic functionality I think the standards committee did a very good job at making the cheapest way to do it the correct way, e.g. a USB-C to 3.5mm audio adaptor can be entirely passive, it just needs the right resistor in it.
>e.g. a USB-C to 3.5mm audio adaptor can be entirely passive, it just needs the right resistor in it.
How does that work? is each USB-C host port, or downstream USB-C hub port required to contain a stereo DAC? Does the standard impose performance requirements like dynamic range, noise, minimum sample rate,...? Does it also mandate the jack can be used for mic / line-in? Does it similarily stipulate inclusion of an ADC in each port?
It doesn't mandate any of that, it's an optional feature.
The data pins are repurposed for analog audio, so it won't work with hubs. You'd of course need a DAC for output and an ADC for mic input, but the point is to replace a headset jack, so you'd have those already.
>This is because the cable is 2 sided so it can't assume polarity
Not really. The USB-C connection pinout is symmetric about a 180 degree rotation, at least as far as power connections go. It's entirely possible (and common, e.g. when using passive converters) to just put power out of it constantly. The main reason for the signaling resistors is to avoid having power presented on the pins when it's not connected, which is more about avoiding corrosion or wear due to small sparks on connection.
Would it be possible to build some kind of adapter or C-to-C cable that just contains the missing resistors? (And also probably would have to block any USB PD communication, in case you plug in any device that actually does try to use PD. So the goal would be that the charger always sees a 5V requesting device without PD support while the device always sees a "dumb" 5V charger - regardless of what capabilities the device and charger really have)
It would still suck to have to use a special cable for charging, but at least it's better than not being able to use any modern charger.
I have an Amazfit smartwatch that gets charged by a simple USB cable with two pins that magnetically attaches to the back of the watch. When I was on vacation and forgot that cable I was able to make my own by cutting a USB cable and attaching the wires to the contacts of the watch with tape. That simplicity is hard to beat. And this watch is water resistant.
I used to have a bip and loved it. The big thing was battery life and always on screen. It used a reflective LCD screen to do it. No newer amazefits use them.
I’ve since moved to using COROS watches. Not as cheap but really good. Always screen, weeks of battery. Even GPS functions are efficient . Recently did 11 hr hike with GPS and only used about 23% battery.
The battery is the single reason why I got the Amazfit. I use as a dumb health tracker and occasional GPS running. It easily lasts 4 weeks on a single charge. That's one less proprietary charging cable to bring on a trip.
I've been dying to ask about this somewhere where I might get a really informed response:
What's the deal with Amazfit? I have an Amazfit GTR and it's been rock solid for a couple of years. Before that, I had an Amazfit Bip for a few years which was incredible. It did notification, GPS, heart rate tracking, always on display and battery life of 2 - 4 weeks. It did this years and years ago, when the best Android could do was 24 - 48 hours, and it did it for like £60 instead of £200. It still works too!
The Bip in particular seemed so ahead of what the average person expected from a smartwatch due to state of Android and Apple offerings at the time.
There is an implied question there, but you may want to get a bit more specific. The deal seems to be that you get a really good fitness watch for a fraction of the cost of Android and Apple offerings, if your statement and my first review of their website is accurate.
I had an Amazfit too a while back. Decent watch for the price, but battery life absolutely tanked after a year of use. Went from lasting days to lasting hours after one year.
That's strange. I have mine for several years now (I think three) and it still goes at least a week without charging. I can't imagine having to charge my watch ever day.
I can confirm. Almost 3 years with an GTR 3 and I get 10-14 days, depeding if I do outside activities where GPS draws a bit more then normal. Rock solid and waterproof ( perfect for swimming! )
You mean with GadgetBridge and Android right? The official app does not have nice conditions when I last read through it. Note that I couldn’t find the 1 month battery mode anymore. Just the pro which sadly has a normal lcd screen and max 1 week battery.
It's not £16 but I got mine (GTS 2 mini) when there was some kind of sale in a huge online warehouse for around 50 Euros. Since then I tried in vain to find it again for that price, until recently someone sold a bunch of new ones on eBay for around 45 Euros. So now I got my spare one in a drawer :) The £16 got no GPS, too.
Why does anyone need to charge a smartwatch on a bus? They charge very quickly and last for days. A Pine64 is not much more expensive, and works with the Gadgetbridge app, and is open (there is even a choice of two OSes). It works with Gadgetbridge so the app does not have all the same functionality and also has rough edges (but so does any cheap smartwatch). I even prefer the charger as its a magnetic cradle so the watch snaps into place when placed on it.
Not only the smart watch, but a hundred other gadgets including a toothbrush. Presumably this process involves bringing a USB hub onto the bus, or else the bus is not the main point here. I think it's like I want to be able to charge my watch on the bus if I feel like it.
People get surprised how cheap things really can be when they see aliexpress, and the assumption is crap. I bought a ton of stuff from aliexpress, and very rarely-if any- was crappy.
I dunno mate, I've bought a very popular 60W soldering iron for like 2.5 USD. It has a ceramic heater and a knob to adjust the temperature, the default tip it came with is great, and it's also easily disassemblable. It's far better in quality than anything I could've bought locally for the same price.
I have a Garmin with a monochrome LCD face. Ok, it can't compete on price but battery life is a couple of weeks (and can top up with solar) so the proprietary cable is not a big problem.
I was also a happy Garmin Instinct Solar user. It is until after two years it started to turn off whenever it vibrates. I disabled vibrations, but it's reduced to an expensive step counter now.
Were the vibrations actually useful? I have an old Garmin something or other on my wrist right now, and I disabled vibrations because unless I'm sitting around doing nothing and I can hear them, I'd never notice them.
I would totally support the Pine64 folks as I already did with the PineCil (really good iron btw, and I have also Wellers), but the PineTime price going from $26.99 in the US to €66.25 if bought in the EU is simply an invite to shop from Aliexpress.
One thing I wonder though is why they’d need to charge a watch on the bus when battery life on smart watches is typically way more than 1 day and you can charge it overnight? I mean each to their own but I would haaate the hassle of charging anything on a bus…
I think they "just" meant "set OLED screen to full brightness white", which is the kind of app my cheap Amazfit has too. And I can say from experience that that is still really useful, because OLED screens are pretty darn bright.
In the case of Amazfit (which I presume is similar here) you can set it up to turn on when long-pressing the dial, it can switch between white and red light by turning the dial, and it takes a few seconds to reach full brightness instead of just switching on. Meaning you have a chance to change it to red without waking everyone up in the middle of a camping trip.
Hoping for open source watch OS some day, so many OEM / white label cheap smartwatch/fitness bands. Already exists for cheap cloud cameras. Could be the F91W of our time.
Also I'd gladly ditch USB C for a few programmable media buttons. Standardize on some sort of bogo pins and buy 20 adapters or split cables to keep the water proofing.
As someone who loathes jewelry on myself and has no interest in the watch culture, nonetheless I have an interest in smart watches I can monitor things with. I'm turned off by big ugly blocks with childish straps.. is there anything remotely attractive?
Look into hybrid smart watches. Withings are fairly good, but there are a handful of alternatives. They're watches that use mechanical hands like a normal watch, but also include smart components like health tracking and notifications and things.
They tend to be less powerful than other smart watches (in particular, you won't be able to download arbitrary apps to the watch or deeply configure it), and if you want a dedicated health tracker, you're probably better off with a minimalist Fitbit or something similar, but I really like them. They strike a nice balance between providing me with useful things, and still looking like a decent looking watch.
The main companies in this space are Withings and Garmin.
This might sound like an odd approach, but buying a small and cheap band (Xiaomi or Amazfit, even last or yesteryear's model) and try it for a while can be great.
You'll get decent tracking and alert management if that's what you're into. I won't be top notch but 95% there, and it will last for a week or two on a single charge instead of dying everyday .
Then after a week or two you'll know if you really cared about these numbers, how it helps you or not, and how you feel about the form factor.
Mine if off in a drawer most of the time and I get it out once every few weeks when hiking, but there is no sunk cost for something this cheap, and now I know I wouldn't have kept wearing something more advanced either.
This company which was reviewed in the article has a ton of smartwatches. This is the URL - https://www.colmi.info/
Pick what you like and then search for the same model on Aliexpress. You will usually find most of their models between $10 and $30.
Garmin is my typical recommendation for decent fitness watches with good battery life. The venue and vivoactive have bright high res screens with raise to wake or always on (with a big battery life hit). There are also things like the lily or the vivomove.
The straps are usually standard watch straps and easily changed.
Not sure what it’s like in other countries, but here in South Africa you struggle to find a smart phone cover for much less than that.
If you’re at the shops of the local scumbag company with a monopoly on legally distributing Apple products, they don’t offer a cover for less than USD25.
Apple Watch covers cost a bit less at only like USD15.
For screen protectors typical prices are around USD10, but you can point out the lunacy of what they’re charging for a single sheet of plastic and you can get that down to 7.5.
It’s super annoying how much we get ripped off here, having covers and protectors is basically essential and all the sellers here seem to have a secret pact to not charge anything less than completely outrageous prices.
With shipping cost on an overall small item cost, it’s unlikely to be much cheaper.
We also have the problem here where if the shipper doesn’t use a courier service and tries to rely on the local postal service, it’s a bit of a gamble you’ll get the item at all, and if you do, it tends to take months.
I bought one. The touch screen was not good. The heart rate sensor was wild inaccurate at times. It was a pain to sync with my phone. And the strap gave me a rash.
Not that I expect the watch in the article to be any better.
There is also huawei band, which has similar low price but with seemingly better software than the xiaomi smart band. At the very least, the sync process is easy on both android and ios.
It's always good to remember that battery life in sports watches (aren't they smart?) can last a whole week, and some models even have complementary solar charging.
I have a Garmin Instinct 2 Solar. The Solar feature is more of a gimmick, unless youre out in the sun the whole day for weeks it doesnt really make a difference.
But it doesnt matter much, the battery lasts 3 weeks. Its a great watch if you like the old-style digital watch screens
This is the oldest trick in the book. In 1946 a guy named Diet Smith invented the 2-Way Wrist Radio:
- In June 1954, the radio was upgraded to increase the range from 500 miles to 1,000 miles, then again in 1956 to 2,500 miles.
- In 1964, the 2-Way Wrist Radio was upgraded to the 2-Way Wrist TV.
- Tracy gave his young son Joe an obsolete Wrist Radio, which Joe was able to use to call for help when he was abducted and held hostage by dognappers.
We've been falling for this stuff for 80 years!
https://dicktracy.fandom.com/wiki/2-Way_Wrist_Radio
TBH, such a low price for so many working (!) features is an amazing achievement if not subsidized! What bothers me here, however, is...a provenance. Let me guess, it asks from your smartphone access to your location, contacts, calendar, SMS archive, email, medical records and political views and attitude towards CCP and then does some shady syncs with .cn servers "just to keep you data safe in case a meteor hits you"... Sad.
ADDED: Oh, seems like some people like to pretend that the results of "some other" companies getting this information are totally, totally the same.
Just like any other Apple Watch. Don’t see the difference between them and CCP (probably because I’m not American)
Sounds like any Samsung or Google watch
Please don't pretend you don't understand that risks of Google/Apple maybe even Samsung getting the information is just "a tiny bit different".
Why is it so hard for americans to accept that china makes great tech without coping about "le CCP spyware!" - it seems so absurd, like why would the CCP want to know the heart rate of the type of guy who buys a 16 pound smartwatch? Why dont americans create 16 pound smartwatches?
>Why dont americans create 16 pound smartwatches?
Because labor is much more expensive in America. This is not a mystery
Implying all US electronics don't ask from your smartphone access to your location, contacts, calendar, SMS archive, email, medical records and political views and attitude towards the US and Israel and then does some shady syncs with .com servers "just to keep you data safe in case a meteor hits you"... x)
> The watch is simply missing the two 5.1k resistors connecting the CC1 and CC2 pins of the USB-C connector to ground that are required to indicate to whatever is plugged in that it wants 5v power.
This is so annoying. Back when USB-C was less prevalent, I bought a pair of wireless earbuds over another for the same reason as the title - because it used USB-C. But then I cannot charge it with my macbook, unless I add a USB-C to USB-A adapter.
This problem seems prevalent on cheaper devices. When I buy a device and discover it has this problem I always return it. I've seen it on the Hypervolt Go 2 (which I returned and replaced with a Theragun Mini) and on the Hitachi Magic Wand Micro (which I replaced with a Dame Dip).
Like the post mentions, I think this happens because the devices are missing two resistors that are needed to indicate, when connected via a USB-C to USB-C cable to a charging brick, that the device wants 5V power. Resistors are cheap and I think the only reason they get dropped is carelessness.
The whole point of USB-C is that you can charge any device with any power supply.
> This problem seems prevalent on cheaper devices.
I’ve seen it on plenty of higher-end devices as well; and even worse.
The worst offender I’ve encountered is the TermoWorks Billows. ThermoWorks is a well established brand that makes high end thermometers and is considered one of the best on the market. So I was quite surprised to discover how their ‘Billows’ product is powered.
The device itself needs 12v and has a USB-C port for power. You’d think it would do USB-PD to negotiate it’s power needs so you can just use any old USB-C adapter. Not the case. It comes with a USB-A to USB-C cable and requires a special adapter with a USB-A port on it that puts 12v on the pins that normally supply 5v.
I have no idea how they came up with this abomination. Why even use USB-A connectors if it’s not going to work with a standard USB-A adapter, and why supply an adapter that’s basically going to kill most USB-A devices you plug into it? If you have a custom adapter anyway, why not just use a simple barrel connector? Why put a USB=C port on the device if it can’t use USB-PD?
I can imagine some Chinese ali-express product using such an abomination to save a few cents on components, but why would a well-respected brand like ThermoWorks ship such a thing? It boggles the mind.
This happens because these devices had USB microB before and the manufacturer just replaced the port without reading the spec.
Even some mainstream products have this issue. I have an automatic door opener from a large company and the battery pack has the same issue. It is shipped with a special cable you have to use as no other USB-C cable works.
There is also another problem. The spec is large and it's not aimed at those who want to implement the simplest possible USB C compliant device.
Based on the table of contents the most promising section is "2.3.4 USB Type-C VBUS Current Detection and Usage" but it doesn't actually talk about anything you actually need. You're supposed to click through to the section "4.6.2.1 USB Type-C Current" where it shows the reference circuit, but it doesn't tell you the values of Rd, which are in section "4.11.1 Termination Parameters".
It's a 300+ page document where you must already know what you're looking for. If you didn't already know that you need two resistors, you wouldn't be able to figure it out with the spec alone.
Sounds like an "annotated spec" or some guides for implementers would be really useful.
When you use a well-documented chip, the datasheet will contain diagrams and they'll have a working demo board which they'll give you the full schematic for. Closer to 3 pages than 300.
Of course, a person can still get it wrong...
This is insanely common.
I have about 6 devices with this problem, and I consider it unforgivable.
Not only did you not include USBC charging, you went out of your way to trick me and lie and pretend you did. I would have preferred just using micro usb at that point.
Powkiddy committed fraud and said the RGB30 can charge from USB-C, but they lied, it can only charge from USB A to C cables. Using it is a massive pain because I have to get adapters I shouldn't need. I'll never buy anything from them ever again.
I feel like the USB committee might be somewhat to blame. When most people think USB-C they're just thinking the cable. Why can't it just do regular slow charging with C to C cable?
It can, it just needs the two resistors, which is the cheapest possible thing the standards committee could have asked manufacturers to do.
USB-C gets complicated at the high end, but for basic functionality I think the standards committee did a very good job at making the cheapest way to do it the correct way, e.g. a USB-C to 3.5mm audio adaptor can be entirely passive, it just needs the right resistor in it.
>e.g. a USB-C to 3.5mm audio adaptor can be entirely passive, it just needs the right resistor in it.
How does that work? is each USB-C host port, or downstream USB-C hub port required to contain a stereo DAC? Does the standard impose performance requirements like dynamic range, noise, minimum sample rate,...? Does it also mandate the jack can be used for mic / line-in? Does it similarily stipulate inclusion of an ADC in each port?
It doesn't mandate any of that, it's an optional feature.
The data pins are repurposed for analog audio, so it won't work with hubs. You'd of course need a DAC for output and an ADC for mic input, but the point is to replace a headset jack, so you'd have those already.
https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/USB%20Type-C%20Spec%... (PDF, page 309)
It's not the usb c committee problem, the devices you are buying are out of spec
This is because the cable is 2 sided so it can't assume polarity
So it's a tradeoff for not having to guess how to insert the cable
>This is because the cable is 2 sided so it can't assume polarity
Not really. The USB-C connection pinout is symmetric about a 180 degree rotation, at least as far as power connections go. It's entirely possible (and common, e.g. when using passive converters) to just put power out of it constantly. The main reason for the signaling resistors is to avoid having power presented on the pins when it's not connected, which is more about avoiding corrosion or wear due to small sparks on connection.
Would it be possible to build some kind of adapter or C-to-C cable that just contains the missing resistors? (And also probably would have to block any USB PD communication, in case you plug in any device that actually does try to use PD. So the goal would be that the charger always sees a 5V requesting device without PD support while the device always sees a "dumb" 5V charger - regardless of what capabilities the device and charger really have)
It would still suck to have to use a special cable for charging, but at least it's better than not being able to use any modern charger.
Sure, just grab a C-to-A adapter and A-to-C cable. Doesn't block communication though, you could block it by using a 2-wire A-to-C cable.
OK, that's easier than I thought. And I think it should even block the PD communication as the CC line is not passed through.
I have an Amazfit smartwatch that gets charged by a simple USB cable with two pins that magnetically attaches to the back of the watch. When I was on vacation and forgot that cable I was able to make my own by cutting a USB cable and attaching the wires to the contacts of the watch with tape. That simplicity is hard to beat. And this watch is water resistant.
I used to have a bip and loved it. The big thing was battery life and always on screen. It used a reflective LCD screen to do it. No newer amazefits use them.
I’ve since moved to using COROS watches. Not as cheap but really good. Always screen, weeks of battery. Even GPS functions are efficient . Recently did 11 hr hike with GPS and only used about 23% battery.
The battery is the single reason why I got the Amazfit. I use as a dumb health tracker and occasional GPS running. It easily lasts 4 weeks on a single charge. That's one less proprietary charging cable to bring on a trip.
I've been dying to ask about this somewhere where I might get a really informed response:
What's the deal with Amazfit? I have an Amazfit GTR and it's been rock solid for a couple of years. Before that, I had an Amazfit Bip for a few years which was incredible. It did notification, GPS, heart rate tracking, always on display and battery life of 2 - 4 weeks. It did this years and years ago, when the best Android could do was 24 - 48 hours, and it did it for like £60 instead of £200. It still works too!
The Bip in particular seemed so ahead of what the average person expected from a smartwatch due to state of Android and Apple offerings at the time.
Your question is “what is the deal with Amazfit?”
There is an implied question there, but you may want to get a bit more specific. The deal seems to be that you get a really good fitness watch for a fraction of the cost of Android and Apple offerings, if your statement and my first review of their website is accurate.
I had an Amazfit too a while back. Decent watch for the price, but battery life absolutely tanked after a year of use. Went from lasting days to lasting hours after one year.
That's strange. I have mine for several years now (I think three) and it still goes at least a week without charging. I can't imagine having to charge my watch ever day.
I can confirm. Almost 3 years with an GTR 3 and I get 10-14 days, depeding if I do outside activities where GPS draws a bit more then normal. Rock solid and waterproof ( perfect for swimming! )
I like Amazfit because it can fully function without sending any data whatsoever to a server. I can export data from the app very easily.
You mean with GadgetBridge and Android right? The official app does not have nice conditions when I last read through it. Note that I couldn’t find the 1 month battery mode anymore. Just the pro which sadly has a normal lcd screen and max 1 week battery.
I have one too and I swear by it, but let's face it - it's not £16. But thanks for the tip about the cable!
It's not £16 but I got mine (GTS 2 mini) when there was some kind of sale in a huge online warehouse for around 50 Euros. Since then I tried in vain to find it again for that price, until recently someone sold a bunch of new ones on eBay for around 45 Euros. So now I got my spare one in a drawer :) The £16 got no GPS, too.
Why does anyone need to charge a smartwatch on a bus? They charge very quickly and last for days. A Pine64 is not much more expensive, and works with the Gadgetbridge app, and is open (there is even a choice of two OSes). It works with Gadgetbridge so the app does not have all the same functionality and also has rough edges (but so does any cheap smartwatch). I even prefer the charger as its a magnetic cradle so the watch snaps into place when placed on it.
Not only the smart watch, but a hundred other gadgets including a toothbrush. Presumably this process involves bringing a USB hub onto the bus, or else the bus is not the main point here. I think it's like I want to be able to charge my watch on the bus if I feel like it.
The colmi p8 (p80 i don’t know) can run micropython.
https://github.com/wasp-os/wasp-os
People get surprised how cheap things really can be when they see aliexpress, and the assumption is crap. I bought a ton of stuff from aliexpress, and very rarely-if any- was crappy.
What I've learnt from BigClive on YouTube is don't buy anything that plugs into the wall.
If it's low voltage then you should be fine. I'd still be wary of large lithium ion batteries, though.
I dunno mate, I've bought a very popular 60W soldering iron for like 2.5 USD. It has a ceramic heater and a knob to adjust the temperature, the default tip it came with is great, and it's also easily disassemblable. It's far better in quality than anything I could've bought locally for the same price.
Got a link to a it ? I love to replace my under power USB soldering iron
I have a Garmin with a monochrome LCD face. Ok, it can't compete on price but battery life is a couple of weeks (and can top up with solar) so the proprietary cable is not a big problem.
I was also a happy Garmin Instinct Solar user. It is until after two years it started to turn off whenever it vibrates. I disabled vibrations, but it's reduced to an expensive step counter now.
Seems like a battery issue. Probably the vibration draws too much current and the battery just drops its voltage. Have you tried changing the battery?
Were the vibrations actually useful? I have an old Garmin something or other on my wrist right now, and I disabled vibrations because unless I'm sitting around doing nothing and I can hear them, I'd never notice them.
I’m concerned about all privacy angle of this personal information vacuum device category. What are the recommended privacy focused alternatives?
Also a smart watch without firmware updates seems like an infection spreader?
Anybody know if there is some effort for an open source firmware? It would be so cool to have a watch like that with the pinetime firmware...
https://banglejs.com/
Why not the software itself? https://github.com/google/pebble
Or the whole stack: https://open-smartwatch.github.io/
You may like Pinetime smartwatch, which is cheap and runs free software.
I would totally support the Pine64 folks as I already did with the PineCil (really good iron btw, and I have also Wellers), but the PineTime price going from $26.99 in the US to €66.25 if bought in the EU is simply an invite to shop from Aliexpress.
AFAIK you don't have to buy it in their EU shop. You can order it from China.
One thing I wonder though is why they’d need to charge a watch on the bus when battery life on smart watches is typically way more than 1 day and you can charge it overnight? I mean each to their own but I would haaate the hassle of charging anything on a bus…
Wow! “built in torch” immediately puts this one ahead of all other competition I’ve seen so far. Not even kidding.
I use LED on my phone as a torch more often than I use it as a camera flash.
I think they "just" meant "set OLED screen to full brightness white", which is the kind of app my cheap Amazfit has too. And I can say from experience that that is still really useful, because OLED screens are pretty darn bright.
In the case of Amazfit (which I presume is similar here) you can set it up to turn on when long-pressing the dial, it can switch between white and red light by turning the dial, and it takes a few seconds to reach full brightness instead of just switching on. Meaning you have a chance to change it to red without waking everyone up in the middle of a camping trip.
> There's a built in LED which acts as a torch - which is only useful if you wear it on the left wrist.
Could be useful on the other hand if you could flip the face upside down.
Surely people who wear watches on their right wrist prefer the wheel to be on the left side and the LED is on the same side.
Hoping for open source watch OS some day, so many OEM / white label cheap smartwatch/fitness bands. Already exists for cheap cloud cameras. Could be the F91W of our time.
Also I'd gladly ditch USB C for a few programmable media buttons. Standardize on some sort of bogo pins and buy 20 adapters or split cables to keep the water proofing.
Pinetime is decent: https://pine64.org/devices/pinetime/
You're in luck! https://banglejs.com/
As someone who loathes jewelry on myself and has no interest in the watch culture, nonetheless I have an interest in smart watches I can monitor things with. I'm turned off by big ugly blocks with childish straps.. is there anything remotely attractive?
Look into hybrid smart watches. Withings are fairly good, but there are a handful of alternatives. They're watches that use mechanical hands like a normal watch, but also include smart components like health tracking and notifications and things.
They tend to be less powerful than other smart watches (in particular, you won't be able to download arbitrary apps to the watch or deeply configure it), and if you want a dedicated health tracker, you're probably better off with a minimalist Fitbit or something similar, but I really like them. They strike a nice balance between providing me with useful things, and still looking like a decent looking watch.
The main companies in this space are Withings and Garmin.
This might sound like an odd approach, but buying a small and cheap band (Xiaomi or Amazfit, even last or yesteryear's model) and try it for a while can be great.
You'll get decent tracking and alert management if that's what you're into. I won't be top notch but 95% there, and it will last for a week or two on a single charge instead of dying everyday .
Then after a week or two you'll know if you really cared about these numbers, how it helps you or not, and how you feel about the form factor.
Mine if off in a drawer most of the time and I get it out once every few weeks when hiking, but there is no sunk cost for something this cheap, and now I know I wouldn't have kept wearing something more advanced either.
This company which was reviewed in the article has a ton of smartwatches. This is the URL - https://www.colmi.info/ Pick what you like and then search for the same model on Aliexpress. You will usually find most of their models between $10 and $30.
Garmin is my typical recommendation for decent fitness watches with good battery life. The venue and vivoactive have bright high res screens with raise to wake or always on (with a big battery life hit). There are also things like the lily or the vivomove.
The straps are usually standard watch straps and easily changed.
I have the Forerunner 965 with the screen always on. Still manage about a week with several hours of gps tracking.
Withings makes smartwatches that do not scream Apple Watch
Try on the smaller versions (sometimes called "women's" versions), a few mms less make a huge difference.
Many smartwatches are simply too large, compared to regular watches.
It sounds like fitness tracker bands or the rings would be a better fit for you
The straps on this one are replaceable if you'd rather have one made cloth or metal etc.
But, yeah, no denying it is a chunky monkey.
If you are interested in monitoring not the screen maybe a ring would be a better fit?
Fossil?
You may still be able to get an old model, but they're not making smart watches anymore, unfortunately.
Unironically this was one of the reasons I bought an iPhone 15
I was exhausted with keeping up with Android, but was not buying n-number of Lightning cables until they released it on USB-C
Even includes a screen protector on a GBP16 item!
Not sure what it’s like in other countries, but here in South Africa you struggle to find a smart phone cover for much less than that.
If you’re at the shops of the local scumbag company with a monopoly on legally distributing Apple products, they don’t offer a cover for less than USD25.
Apple Watch covers cost a bit less at only like USD15.
For screen protectors typical prices are around USD10, but you can point out the lunacy of what they’re charging for a single sheet of plastic and you can get that down to 7.5.
It’s super annoying how much we get ripped off here, having covers and protectors is basically essential and all the sellers here seem to have a secret pact to not charge anything less than completely outrageous prices.
Order the stuff from china instead of paying your local distributor a convenience tax.
You can have it cheap or fast.
With shipping cost on an overall small item cost, it’s unlikely to be much cheaper.
We also have the problem here where if the shipper doesn’t use a courier service and tries to rely on the local postal service, it’s a bit of a gamble you’ll get the item at all, and if you do, it tends to take months.
"Should I buy one? That's up to you, champ. I'm not your real dad"
cool cool cool....
Sorry son, I didn't mean for you to find out this way. Xoxoxo
It would be great if this review had a bit more pixels. Bit hard to tell how good the screen is
Impressive for a 16GBP watch !
Xiaomi mi bands used to cost the same and were much better
I bought one. The touch screen was not good. The heart rate sensor was wild inaccurate at times. It was a pain to sync with my phone. And the strap gave me a rash.
Not that I expect the watch in the article to be any better.
There is also huawei band, which has similar low price but with seemingly better software than the xiaomi smart band. At the very least, the sync process is easy on both android and ios.
But no USB-C
But subpar everything
Can it run doo...
It's always good to remember that battery life in sports watches (aren't they smart?) can last a whole week, and some models even have complementary solar charging.
I have a Garmin Instinct 2 Solar. The Solar feature is more of a gimmick, unless youre out in the sun the whole day for weeks it doesnt really make a difference.
But it doesnt matter much, the battery lasts 3 weeks. Its a great watch if you like the old-style digital watch screens
Just a week? I have a USB smartwatch with a 1 year battery life, the Timex Data Link USB.
You can also use a "dumb" watch that has 10 years battery life.
Or that constantly charges with a solar face or mechanical motion.
You can get a Rolex
In my case it’s just a Citizen chronograph from eBay for $100.
A Casio 5610 also charges with sunlight. To me it is the ultimate watch.
Xiaomi mi band's 10 battery lasts a week with all the functions enabled at the most expensive setting