The stopwatch is only working while it's on the screen and the screen is active. Notifications stay there until you manually discard them. The heart rate sensor is a complete toy since you can only manually trigger it, and it took 2 years for the infinitime devs to read the sensor docs and realise their algorithm is bad. The step counter can only automatically sync, so when it fails to do so for half a day you need to walk around and shake your wrist while keeping you phone and watch screens active. And the list of fails continues beyond that.
On top of that it costs 65€ ($75) when ordering from the European warehouse, and they don't allow you to order from the main one because it would end up cheaper. Don't waste your money unless you need a reason to practice cpp.
The stopwatch does only work with the screen on, but it also keeps the screen on so it doesn't stop working.
Notifications don't stay there... You can see the last 5 notifications if you swipe down on the main screen.
You can enable the HR monitor and exit the HR app. It will show on the watch face if it supports it. The HR sensor only works if the screen is on so it doesn't drain the battery otherwise. It's not great and takes a while to display the rate.
Idk about the step counter. It's the most useless feature on any smartwatch so I never use it. What does it count as a step? What's the use of counting the steps? You know how you did or didn't walk..
I don't have many other fails. The alarm works great, the flashlight gets daily use and I use it to control the music app on my phone. It does everything I need for an open source device, which is the primary reason I have it.
It shouldn't restart the stopwatch when you want to check the time on your watch, or receive a notification. Also, it was fixed in 2021 pr, rebased a year later, and it's still not accepted.
I meant that they aren't synced with the device they originated from. Also, am I misremembering or did they remove the new notification icon?
Isn't the whole point of a heart rate monitor on a watch to take periodic measurements and record them so you can track your BPM during exercise? It works much better if you wear it on the inside of your arm.
A watch isn't going to exactly count the number of steps you did, but it will tell you how active you were on what days and at what time. That can be useful.
I checked gadgetbridge, the app I use with the pinetime, and it shows a history of my heart rate and steps and tries to determine if I was "active". Apparently it does keep track of HR intervals, but it only checks my rate when the watch has the screen active (so whenever checking time, notifications,etc) so random intervals rather than fixed.
I think it's reliable though. It does what I want out of it and it's open source, which to me is the main attraction for that price. Idk why they had to make it more expensive for the EU market though. Triple the USD cost, but still. I don't know if there's other smart watches that do more or cost less that are also open source and similarly usable?
If it's dismissed on one device, it should also be dismissed on the other. Besides that, answering 5 calls shouldn't leave you with 5 "Incoming call" notifications, especially so if you answered them from the watch.
Apparently it does keep track of HR intervals
No, it's either measuring or not, it can't do intervals nor save the data. The gaps you're seeing is just data not getting synced because the screen needs to be active for it to maybe decide to sync at some point when it feels like it.
I think it’s reliable though.
The Osama Casio costs 23$, is also water resistant, the battery lasts ~7 years and can be easily replaced when it runs out, it has a working stopwatch, and a timer that can go for over 24h. Meanwhile with the pinetime you have to chose between risking it dying when you wash your hands, or throwing it away in a few years when the battery dies and you can't replace it. What reliability are you talking about?
I don’t know if there’s other smart watches that do more or cost less that are also open source and similarly usable?
Lilygo ones have a really crappy battery life but the models have a combination of WIFI, IR, LORA, GPS, and mic + speaker. So, they're much better as programmer toys, but even worse as watches.
Banglejs 2 costs about as much as the EU version, but the device is so much better it's not even funny. I'm pretty sure a lot of programmable Aliexpress watches are also running espruino, and it's got community ports for other watches.
TLDR
It's crap, and I'm still salty because the person ordering it for me (of course the EU store won't ship to non-EU European countries) got scammed without checking in with me whether there's something off about paying 3 times as much as what's shown in the link that I sent them...
If it's been in the drawer for all this time, charge it again, it will ptobably boot. I had a similar issue, but didn't let the thing shut down conpletely (by making sure the battery is completely drained).
What Android software could you use for managing it? Gadgetbridge seems to not have fully-developed support for it, even with their preferred firmware.
I'm using Gadgetbridge with a hacked Amazfit Bip and I'm pretty happy. I like the multicolor TFT LCD w/no default backlight on the Bip, which is very readable in bright light and only requires a quick button press to get the backlight on in the dark, or you can waste more battery life and have it turn on when you turn it towards yourself. It's also got built-in GPS/workout tracking (you have to manually flash the A-GPS data occasionally...), the ability to load little open source apps, sleep tracking, heart rate tracking, notifications, custom watchfaces, etc which I'm sure the Pinetime has most of. The battery also lasts ages since it uses such a low-power LCD.
I'm not saying the Pinetime isn't good, but decent alternatives exist. I would love a truly open-source smart watch, but maybe when the project is slightly more mature. I guess I could always get one and contribute to it... $30 is really not much. I'll definitely try it if my Bip breaks.
I have found nothing that worked, was not spying on you, was not some hipster pipedream, and has lots of people working on it. Oh and gadgetbridge seems to work good, what do you mean not supported?
Also the Bip cannot spy on you unless you install the official app. It's limited to its interactions with apps over bluetooth, and I just use Gadgetbridge.
This is a pinetime it looks like.
You should get one, open source and $30.
The stopwatch is only working while it's on the screen and the screen is active. Notifications stay there until you manually discard them. The heart rate sensor is a complete toy since you can only manually trigger it, and it took 2 years for the infinitime devs to read the sensor docs and realise their algorithm is bad. The step counter can only automatically sync, so when it fails to do so for half a day you need to walk around and shake your wrist while keeping you phone and watch screens active. And the list of fails continues beyond that.
On top of that it costs 65€ ($75) when ordering from the European warehouse, and they don't allow you to order from the main one because it would end up cheaper. Don't waste your money unless you need a reason to practice cpp.
The stopwatch does only work with the screen on, but it also keeps the screen on so it doesn't stop working.
Notifications don't stay there... You can see the last 5 notifications if you swipe down on the main screen.
You can enable the HR monitor and exit the HR app. It will show on the watch face if it supports it. The HR sensor only works if the screen is on so it doesn't drain the battery otherwise. It's not great and takes a while to display the rate.
Idk about the step counter. It's the most useless feature on any smartwatch so I never use it. What does it count as a step? What's the use of counting the steps? You know how you did or didn't walk..
I don't have many other fails. The alarm works great, the flashlight gets daily use and I use it to control the music app on my phone. It does everything I need for an open source device, which is the primary reason I have it.
It shouldn't restart the stopwatch when you want to check the time on your watch, or receive a notification. Also, it was fixed in 2021 pr, rebased a year later, and it's still not accepted.
I meant that they aren't synced with the device they originated from. Also, am I misremembering or did they remove the new notification icon?
Isn't the whole point of a heart rate monitor on a watch to take periodic measurements and record them so you can track your BPM during exercise? It works much better if you wear it on the inside of your arm.
A watch isn't going to exactly count the number of steps you did, but it will tell you how active you were on what days and at what time. That can be useful.
For $75 it's janky as hell
I agree with the stopwatch.
I don't understand your second point.
I checked gadgetbridge, the app I use with the pinetime, and it shows a history of my heart rate and steps and tries to determine if I was "active". Apparently it does keep track of HR intervals, but it only checks my rate when the watch has the screen active (so whenever checking time, notifications,etc) so random intervals rather than fixed.
I think it's reliable though. It does what I want out of it and it's open source, which to me is the main attraction for that price. Idk why they had to make it more expensive for the EU market though. Triple the USD cost, but still. I don't know if there's other smart watches that do more or cost less that are also open source and similarly usable?
If it's dismissed on one device, it should also be dismissed on the other. Besides that, answering 5 calls shouldn't leave you with 5 "Incoming call" notifications, especially so if you answered them from the watch.
No, it's either measuring or not, it can't do intervals nor save the data. The gaps you're seeing is just data not getting synced because the screen needs to be active for it to maybe decide to sync at some point when it feels like it.
The Osama Casio costs 23$, is also water resistant, the battery lasts ~7 years and can be easily replaced when it runs out, it has a working stopwatch, and a timer that can go for over 24h. Meanwhile with the pinetime you have to chose between risking it dying when you wash your hands, or throwing it away in a few years when the battery dies and you can't replace it. What reliability are you talking about?
Lilygo ones have a really crappy battery life but the models have a combination of WIFI, IR, LORA, GPS, and mic + speaker. So, they're much better as programmer toys, but even worse as watches.
Banglejs 2 costs about as much as the EU version, but the device is so much better it's not even funny. I'm pretty sure a lot of programmable Aliexpress watches are also running espruino, and it's got community ports for other watches.
TLDR
It's crap, and I'm still salty because the person ordering it for me (of course the EU store won't ship to non-EU European countries) got scammed without checking in with me whether there's something off about paying 3 times as much as what's shown in the link that I sent them...
I bought one and wqs quite happy with it until it just randomly got stuck in a bootloop and no amount of resetting or letting it drain helped
If it's been in the drawer for all this time, charge it again, it will ptobably boot. I had a similar issue, but didn't let the thing shut down conpletely (by making sure the battery is completely drained).
I already tried it after multiple months (i had to charhe it to boot at all) but it didn't work... I will prob. Try again later
What Android software could you use for managing it? Gadgetbridge seems to not have fully-developed support for it, even with their preferred firmware.
I'm using Gadgetbridge with a hacked Amazfit Bip and I'm pretty happy. I like the multicolor TFT LCD w/no default backlight on the Bip, which is very readable in bright light and only requires a quick button press to get the backlight on in the dark, or you can waste more battery life and have it turn on when you turn it towards yourself. It's also got built-in GPS/workout tracking (you have to manually flash the A-GPS data occasionally...), the ability to load little open source apps, sleep tracking, heart rate tracking, notifications, custom watchfaces, etc which I'm sure the Pinetime has most of. The battery also lasts ages since it uses such a low-power LCD.
I'm not saying the Pinetime isn't good, but decent alternatives exist. I would love a truly open-source smart watch, but maybe when the project is slightly more mature. I guess I could always get one and contribute to it... $30 is really not much. I'll definitely try it if my Bip breaks.
I have found nothing that worked, was not spying on you, was not some hipster pipedream, and has lots of people working on it. Oh and gadgetbridge seems to work good, what do you mean not supported?
According to the wiki, only one firmware is supported, and it's early support with missing features. The wiki may be outdated, though.
Yeah, I have updated my firmware and its just fine. Like a lot of this type of development there is not great oversight or up to date documents.
Also the Bip cannot spy on you unless you install the official app. It's limited to its interactions with apps over bluetooth, and I just use Gadgetbridge.
Glad you worked around the spying. I just wanted to give my money to a company that did not start by spying on me.
Thanks for the heads up!
First I've heard of it, is it a worthy successor to the Pebble?
Never owned a Pebble, But I think as they still make the pinetime it bodes well.