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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.
Are there any specific watches that are known to work really well with Gadget Bridge
Get something which works with GadgetBridge. You’ll be in complete control.
I have a rule: I never preorder anything. I broke that rule recently. https://www.repebble.com/
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.
Mmmm… eggs bene 😁
Shakshuka is my novel breakfast these days
Okie dokie
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.
Which one do you use/have?
I got a GMKtec G3.
dude this thing has a flashlight? you son of a bitch, I’m in
No, he said torch. I assume butane.
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 got a cheapo Xiaomi one a few years back.
Pretty sure it just makes the heart rate up and infers it from how many steps you’re doing.
When it gets wet, it randomly skips songs on Spotify.
The water thing is just a quirk of capacitive touchscreens. The same happens on the most expensive watches too, which is why there is usually a water mode that you can put the watch into. It sorta locks the touchscreen until you disable it using one of the physical buttons.
I think you need to pay extra for physical buttons.
This one sometimes has a “lockscreen” that needs a swipe up to unlock, but the rain can do that.
Interestingly it doesn’t always have a lockscreen. Sometimes it just switches it on and off depending on how it feels.
I’ve got one of the bands (10, I think). That seems to be a solved problem. I can’t interact with it in the shower, but it doesn’t go haywire.
As for the heart rate, it’s at least consistent. It matches what my blood pressure measurements report, and follows exercise, rather than steps.
I’m bad at breaking or losing watches. I don’t buy expensive smart watches, I aim for a cheap, functional one.
I had no idea USB C charging was such a rarity for smart watches
A phone for the price of a couple of pints? £16? Two pints? Very London of him to assume that’s the price of a couple of pints. Actually unreadable.
Heh, of course it has a knock-off UI too.
Please check in with an update after 6 months.
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.
I really like my Amazfit Neo. Okay, it doesn’t charge with USB-C but I appreciate its “always on” display and retro aesthetic. Can’t believe they don’t make 'em anymore!
Is there a worthy successor or can anybody recommend a similar minimalist smartwatch that won’t break the bank?
I’ve had my Amazfit Bip (the original) for 6 or 7 years and the only complaint I have is the shitty original non-breathing silicon strap. After I replaced it with nylon strap, it was pretty much perfect.
The battery still lasts over three weeks. The display glass only has a few tiny scratches on it, despite that I’ve worn the watch basically 24/7 all these years.
It has all the basic functionalities I need built in and the not-so-important-but-nice ones I can get via Tasker.
And it was really cheap, I originally bought it just to see what the fuss about smartwatches was all about. But it’s been so damn useful and trustworthy that I won’t even consider upgrading until it fails someday.
After checking out the specs, I think I might go for a Bip next, tnx. Always worth having a backup watch too for when your main is getting charged.
Neat! I was looking for one of these things for health monitoring, but there’s so many that I have no idea where to even start.
Wicked!
