All I want is a smartwatch which will let me own all my personal health data, I don't want to get locked in to some monthly subscription just to access my own health metrics
The FOSS app GadgetBridge, has a number of supported smartwatches.
Supported watches can sync your health, activity, GPS, heart, O2, sleep data to GadgetBridge locally on your phone, instead of sending it online to who knows where.
May need to use the watches app to set it up, but then all happens locally.
I had no idea USB C charging was such a rarity for smart watches
Loved the article.
One pet peeve of mine: PD plugs are too powerful to charge puny devices. Not the first time I've run into this problem.
So sad that we've finally gotten a good standard (USB c) but there are still things that look like they should fit together and work, but don't.
too powerful? what do you mean? USB PD by default supplies 5v the same as USB A and increments from there
5v is pretty low - 3v is pretty common logic voltage, but i doubt anyone would use voltage that low for battery charging?
do you mean you don’t like to “waste” a perfectly good powerful USB C port? you can get some pretty low watt USB C plugs, but honestly i much prefer to just have a brick with 7 big ports
Does the PD standard not regulate? I've used a PD power cord from a laptop to charge a mobile phone, but that isn't exactly a small device. And maybe I shouldn't have done that...
Should I Buy One?
That's up to you, champ. I'm not your real dad and I'm not trying to take his place. But I'm here for you if you need me.
Love it. 🤣🤣🤣
I was able to pair it with GadgetBridge by pretending it was a Colmi V79. Most of the functionality worked - I was able to see heart rate, steps, change some settings etc. I've requested GadgetBridge support which should make it possible to get notifications etc.
Proper GB support and this is seriously attractive.
Happy to say the latest nightly does support notifications. My wrist is buzzing with action!
Oh, your user name. Now I get it.
Does this mean it's basically fully supported with the core features, including hands-free? Thanks for being the type of person that adds device requests to the repo, I only browse for devices already fully supported. 😔
Is there a dedicated profile in GB or are you still spoofing the 79?
And for the most important question of then all - Does 2048 come with the standard 4x4 grid only or is there optional sizes for those long, chill games of ~~cookie clicker~~ math swiper?
dude this thing has a flashlight? you son of a bitch, I'm in
No, he said torch. I assume butane.
Close, propane.
I tell you hwat.
Taste the meat not the heat.
Honestly, it's baffling how good some of the stuff you can get off of AliExpress is, especially when taking the low price into account.
My ~$100 N100 server is a testament to that. Just need to score some additional storage for it
I just ordered a shitload of little soldering projects for $1-4 to practice soldering and have been quite satisfied. The instructions are only in Chinese and minimal, but easy enough to translate with a phone camera and the lack of hand holding sorta encourages learning.
I'm curious about the reliability of this port on a sweaty wrist exposed to dust and general labor environments. My phones, even back to the proprietary plug days, have had the charge port covered and my wrist watch would get wrecked.
It has a small rubber lug - which has worked so far at keeping out the grime. But I don't have a manual labour job.
On a side note I wish hybrid smartwatches were still a thing. Most of the product lines are discontinued, but I liked the idea of it.
Is it esp32 based?
No, its something different, according to the blog:
First up, the brains of the watch is the JL7012 - which is a deliberately underpowered chip.
Pretty wild that the author didn't set up app notifications. Getting specific notifications from specific people on my wrist is a big part of the reason I use a smartwatch. But to each their own.
It'd be pretty cool to get a significant use case of my pricey pricey Garmin for ~CAD$40.
I'm the author. I've now set up notifications on the advice of just about everyone. It's pretty cool!
Nice!
I enjoyed reading your blog. It's been a while since I looked at an honest to goodness enthusiast blog. Thanks for writing it!
You like breakfast? Anywhere near Massachusetts?
I've been working on a super simple blog about breakfast in all 351 cities/towns. I'm at 133.
Can throw a link if you wanna look.
I'm nowhere near Massachusetts but I am a huge fan of breakfast food so I applaud your efforts.
I had flashbacks to Parks and Rec breakfast scenes and I believe Leslie Knope would support your cause.
East Brookfield has got a pretty mean breakfast game.
Oh yeah... I need that on my list.
Whatcha got?
Only requirement is it must be a sit down establishment.
Also, I hate "cash only" spots. They're an automatic "Nay!" on my: yay or nay blog.
For what it's worth there are smartwatches with good battery life too, my Garmin Venu 2 lasts at least a week with sleep tracking, workout tracking, and some GPS use through the week.
I bought an $80 Seiko because it doesn't require electricity at all. Can't read my emails on it though.
Can’t read my emails on it though.
Great feature!!
Get a BangleJS2 and you won't need to charge it on a bus.
2 weeks between charges. GadgetBridge is the mobile app. It's more expensive, true: £76. The battery is replaceable, though, so you might have to buy fewer.
I just looked that up, that is insane. As described "Spartan" but really cool
It's certainly not flashy! It isn't a dress watch; it looks cheaper þan an Apple watch, so it doesn't look like much.
You can get it pre-assembled or as a kit, and þis means þe battery is replaceable, which is a huge plus for me. A owned a series of Pebbles, and battery degradation was þe main reason I replaced þem.
Also, it's an e-ink display, which is fantastic for þe job, but not nearly as pretty or bright colors as an LCD.
If you want looks, þe Garmin is probably better.
It's more expensive, true: £76.
Not if you order 50 or more!
I really like the Interactive Relationship Graph on your site. Reminds me of when I used to work with graph databases and could visualize all the information in the database as a handy graph of nodes and relationships.
Thank you 😄
I wrote about it at https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/01/graphing-the-connections-between-my-blog-posts/
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
