I know, I meant it as if they were to access something.
And you could have BIOS-themed custom recovery.
I am sure it could be done. Just compare the usual volume button-navigated stock recovery with something like TWRP which could really be considered a small OS.
While we're on the topic; any decent smart watches out there that
aren't made by apple
don't harvest my data
don't stream everything I do straight to china
?
I like the concept of a smart watch, but I haven't really looked into the ecosystem. Preferably one that just integrates nicely with any android phone
If you're comfortable with a bit of setup, there are open hardware options on the market. They're reasonably basic compared to a flagship but phone notifications, some health metrics and telling the time are all quite possible.
Second BangleJS 2. I went from Pebbles to the BangleJS 2 and have been really happy with it. I don't recall it being difficult to set to; it came ready to go, and synced with GadgetBridge (the Bangle.js fork) right away.
Second this, my wife and I both got one. It's a slight inconvenience to get the Authorization key from a command line, but it's not very difficult. Gadget Bridge basically fakes the phone side of the app, which means it won't send your data out and watch thinks everything is fine and normal. Pretty cool. Look at all these free watch faces: https://amazfitwatchfaces.com/
Also having a GTR4 with GB, same idea. Still hate having to send them data by having to use their app on an initial pairing to get the damn key for the first time. Also, now that I changed phone, and using the pairing key on the new phone worked to get it to connect to my GTR4, it seems a bit less persistent connection than when it was paired from their app on the same device. Not sure what else changed, because it's in both cases pixel phones, running GrapheneOS.
Did you stop to consider that they might be an amputee on the other side, and that your pluralization of the word "arm" is causing immense emotional pain and turmoil right now and that the watch face is digital and has no arms. No. You only think about yourself. /S?
I've used Facer, it's worth the cost if you like accessorizing regularly. It has a lot of options from indie artists, including replica OG Disney Mickey Mouse. My watch always complains about not being able to save power with 3rd party faces though, and the battery life drops about 40% to 72 hours. Worse with Facer because it's an app that's no doubt doing more than facilitating watchfaces.
Google is pushing towards WFF (Watch Face Format) styles. The new Wear OS 5 watches, IIRC, (not the upgraded ones) didn't even support Facer or Watchmaker initially.
The Watch faces published on Play Store, majority of them, are now in WFF format which translates to improved battery life as well.
This feels like a recipe for screen burn, but I assume whatever elements the watch uses for pixels don't do that, and it's just the bad side of nostalgia making me feel that way.
I've been using the always-on display of my OLED smartwatch 24/7 since 2022 (Samsung Watch 4 Classic). Burn-in is a non-issue. The watch face goes into AOD mode when you're not looking at it; I'm not sure which burn-in protection features are being used but they work well cause I can use the same watch face for months at a time without any signs of burn-in.
No, never bothered. I think it'd be fun to fool around in, but I don't think it'd be worth the trouble. I don't even have a way to run VMs set up on any of my computers at the moment so I'd need to download Virtual Box or qemu.
I feel like the only person in the world who uses a regular analog watch face (and uses the always on display setting) so that my watch actually looks like a watch.
(Is it true that Gen Z and younger can't read analog clocks? Might explain this behavior.)
Well I'm a statistics nerd, so I like all the sensors on the watch for sleep and health tracking. I can see exactly how long I slept in each phase, track my snoring, stress levels, muscle mass, body fat, and body water; compare calories burned to calories consumed, make sure my heart is being correctly with the ECG, check my pulse and blood pressure. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
It's basically like having a PipBoy IRL (it even has the light!). And to me that's really fucking cool. Only feature missing is VATS.
Yeah I have to enter the food I eat manually. But it's not difficult cause all I have to do is either scan the barcode or take a picture of my meal and then quickly verify that it identified everything correctly.
And FWIW I only log my meals when I'm trying to lose weight. Which is right now.
I tried to do that some time ago, but got bored of weighing everything. Is taking a picture generally enough to estimate weights and stuff? I remember it made a lot of difference if a salad has an oil dressing for example, or how much peanut butter you put on a sandwich.
Yeah I'm not that precise. Just like when cooking, I don't weigh anything. I use my experience to make a rough estimate.
I'm confident that getting close enough with my measurements (maybe even overestimating a bit) because my weight loss currently tracks with what I'm expecting to lose, given what I'm eating (aimed to lose a pound per week, currently losing ~1.3lb). And close enough is good enough for me.
I like it for notifications. I can see if a text or notification is important without getting my phone out. Also can see who's calling without getting my phone out.
Wouldn't surprise me if many young people can't, I'm on the edge between millenial and gen z and reading an analog clock always needs some active effort. I've always preferred digital so I never really had to read analog clocks besides the one that hung in our kitchen and that one time I had a watch. Oh and the train stations still all have analog.
Kitchen clocks, if they aren't just the oven or microwave, are probably becoming rarer, so when your watch is also digital, you'd never really encounter analog if it's not somewhere in the public space, which will probably depend on where you live.
I'd guess most kids probably still can read one with effort because at least when there's a second hand (since you can easily see it move) it's kinda self explanatory, and it probably got explained in school once.
I feel you but for me the body tracking features make it worth it. If you're a Fallout fan, it's like having a real-life PipBoy. The only thing missing is VATS.
I specifically bought a smart watch for that purpose, first watch I've bought in over 20 years, and it sits there and gathers dust because it's so annoying to have something hanging on my wrist. I might also be less wigged out by them if I could put my own OS on it instead of having the Google spyware only.
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For a second there I thought you actually accessed the bios on the watch and it looked like that haha.
Awesome!
If you did, it would probably be in mandarin. At least that’s what happened when my Android tablet went to shit.
ARM devices kinda dont have a bios, so sadly this wouldnt be possible :(
It's more of a WRIST device I'd say
Heh, nice one 👏
Could be the recovery menu.
It does say "BIOS Setup Utility" at the top tho...
I know, I meant it as if they were to access something.
And you could have BIOS-themed custom recovery.
I am sure it could be done. Just compare the usual volume button-navigated stock recovery with something like TWRP which could really be considered a small OS.
God I wish ARM had a standard...
“Hey, what watch is that?”
Me: “American Megatrends.”
“…”
Me: “it’s EnergyStar compliant.”
Then here is the right model for you...
Oof. Right in the nostalgia.
Unironically I like that
okay, I admit I like it
It gives information in a high contrast interface. It cares not for your opinions
i don't care it does not care
While we're on the topic; any decent smart watches out there that
? I like the concept of a smart watch, but I haven't really looked into the ecosystem. Preferably one that just integrates nicely with any android phone
If you're interested in tinkering or just want a basic smartwatch, Pebble is back
I’d heard it was coming back (sic) but I’d not heard that it will have a 30 day battery life, wow
If you're comfortable with a bit of setup, there are open hardware options on the market. They're reasonably basic compared to a flagship but phone notifications, some health metrics and telling the time are all quite possible.
PineTime (with Infinitime firmware)
Bangle JS
If you want to basically make it from scratch there's also the Yatchy
Is any of them capable of a "smart alarm" aka waking you at the right phase of sleep?
From a quick search, "sleep as android" seems to have support for both, although people have varying success with it
Thank you! I didn’t know that this android app can now connect to wearables.
Love my pinetime. cheap tough and does not have bullshit.
Second BangleJS 2. I went from Pebbles to the BangleJS 2 and have been really happy with it. I don't recall it being difficult to set to; it came ready to go, and synced with GadgetBridge (the Bangle.js fork) right away.
I use CMF Watch Pro, with Gadgetbridge.
Amazfit with Gadgetbridge.
I bought one a couple of years ago and it works great. Gadgetbridge keeps all the smart functionality local to your phone.
I've heard good things about the Garmins as well which I think are mostly also supported in Gadgetbridge.
Second this, my wife and I both got one. It's a slight inconvenience to get the Authorization key from a command line, but it's not very difficult. Gadget Bridge basically fakes the phone side of the app, which means it won't send your data out and watch thinks everything is fine and normal. Pretty cool. Look at all these free watch faces: https://amazfitwatchfaces.com/
Also having a GTR4 with GB, same idea. Still hate having to send them data by having to use their app on an initial pairing to get the damn key for the first time. Also, now that I changed phone, and using the pairing key on the new phone worked to get it to connect to my GTR4, it seems a bit less persistent connection than when it was paired from their app on the same device. Not sure what else changed, because it's in both cases pixel phones, running GrapheneOS.
Maybe Garmin, Withings or (Chinese owned now) Suunto?
Seiko lol
Looks neat, but I think the actual time display is way too small to be useful.
They could've made the font a bit bigger for sure
Thanks I hate it
Looks like the same watch I have. Where do I get this?
Looks like it's on Facer
It sure is
Those are some nice looking arms
Did you stop to consider that they might be an amputee on the other side, and that your pluralization of the word "arm" is causing immense emotional pain and turmoil right now and that the watch face is digital and has no arms. No. You only think about yourself. /S?
Thanks. I guess...??
I've used Facer, it's worth the cost if you like accessorizing regularly. It has a lot of options from indie artists, including replica OG Disney Mickey Mouse. My watch always complains about not being able to save power with 3rd party faces though, and the battery life drops about 40% to 72 hours. Worse with Facer because it's an app that's no doubt doing more than facilitating watchfaces.
Google is pushing towards WFF (Watch Face Format) styles. The new Wear OS 5 watches, IIRC, (not the upgraded ones) didn't even support Facer or Watchmaker initially.
The Watch faces published on Play Store, majority of them, are now in WFF format which translates to improved battery life as well.
Hehe. In my original Moto 360, I would be lucky to make it through one day with Facer running. Was good fun though.
What watch is it by the way? I haven't moved into the realm of wearables yet. Maybe next year will be my year to start
Mine is the galaxy 4 classic
Def worth upgrading to the 6 classic or even 8 classic
I dount I will be upgrading anytime soon. And not to a samsung. I hate their stupid app. Cannot even backup the watch properly anymore
Why? I don't use gmail, so i cannot see emails. Don't care about the health tracking stuff.
Wow. Didn't think I'd get nostalgia flashbacks from a watch face but here we are.
🔥🔥🔥
My coworker likes it and wants to know where this can be found.
https://www.facer.io/watchface/Hk2ijSNbzI?watchModel=ticwatchexpress
I LOVE it!!
This feels like a recipe for screen burn, but I assume whatever elements the watch uses for pixels don't do that, and it's just the bad side of nostalgia making me feel that way.
If you never change what's on the screen, you'll never notice the burn-in
taps head 🧠
I've been using the always-on display of my OLED smartwatch 24/7 since 2022 (Samsung Watch 4 Classic). Burn-in is a non-issue. The watch face goes into AOD mode when you're not looking at it; I'm not sure which burn-in protection features are being used but they work well cause I can use the same watch face for months at a time without any signs of burn-in.
I thought this was templeos
Wow, there's a reference I didn't think I'd come across. Did you ever try using it? I was curious but never did...didn't have a use case for it.
There is no use case for TempleOS. It's just a curiosity, albeit an interesting one.
No, never bothered. I think it'd be fun to fool around in, but I don't think it'd be worth the trouble. I don't even have a way to run VMs set up on any of my computers at the moment so I'd need to download Virtual Box or qemu.
Almost makes me want a smart watch
What would the advanced options do?
Oh wait, settings. Then Boot would launch apps.
Probably.
I really wish the Apple Watch were this customizable. This is so cool.
The same author has an Apple Watch BIOS face too
Love that you put a Freestyle strap on a smart watch.
this is awesome
Reminds me of the PineTime's Terminal face
I'd prefer to see more things like if it's going to rain soon and other meteorological parameters, but love the look
notes: Facer is a little bit of a PITA to install, follow the instructions very well.
GW4: It eats about twice as much battery as my normal faces, but I'm still lasting the day.
The text is WAY too small, but it's pretty fun.
I feel like the only person in the world who uses a regular analog watch face (and uses the always on display setting) so that my watch actually looks like a watch.
(Is it true that Gen Z and younger can't read analog clocks? Might explain this behavior.)
My watch face is always analog, but that's mostly because it's an analog watch.
What's the added value of a smart watch here?
Well I'm a statistics nerd, so I like all the sensors on the watch for sleep and health tracking. I can see exactly how long I slept in each phase, track my snoring, stress levels, muscle mass, body fat, and body water; compare calories burned to calories consumed, make sure my heart is being correctly with the ECG, check my pulse and blood pressure. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
It's basically like having a PipBoy IRL (it even has the light!). And to me that's really fucking cool. Only feature missing is VATS.
Sounds like a tamagotchi, but for keeping yourself alive :)
How does it track calories consumed? Or isthat something you do seperately?
Yeah I have to enter the food I eat manually. But it's not difficult cause all I have to do is either scan the barcode or take a picture of my meal and then quickly verify that it identified everything correctly.
And FWIW I only log my meals when I'm trying to lose weight. Which is right now.
I tried to do that some time ago, but got bored of weighing everything. Is taking a picture generally enough to estimate weights and stuff? I remember it made a lot of difference if a salad has an oil dressing for example, or how much peanut butter you put on a sandwich.
Yeah I'm not that precise. Just like when cooking, I don't weigh anything. I use my experience to make a rough estimate.
I'm confident that getting close enough with my measurements (maybe even overestimating a bit) because my weight loss currently tracks with what I'm expecting to lose, given what I'm eating (aimed to lose a pound per week, currently losing ~1.3lb). And close enough is good enough for me.
I like it for notifications. I can see if a text or notification is important without getting my phone out. Also can see who's calling without getting my phone out.
It saves you getting your phone out.
Here's mine.
Wait, it's gonna be Monday all fucking day?! This is bullshit!
I like how you have three complications all set to the date. That's fucking funny man.
Anyway here's mine:
Yeah I got sick of the hands covering the date haha. And nice I like it.
This reminds me of a time when I was wearing watches on both wrists, so that I could easily check the time even if one hand was e.g. carrying a bag
Wouldn't surprise me if many young people can't, I'm on the edge between millenial and gen z and reading an analog clock always needs some active effort. I've always preferred digital so I never really had to read analog clocks besides the one that hung in our kitchen and that one time I had a watch. Oh and the train stations still all have analog.
Kitchen clocks, if they aren't just the oven or microwave, are probably becoming rarer, so when your watch is also digital, you'd never really encounter analog if it's not somewhere in the public space, which will probably depend on where you live.
I'd guess most kids probably still can read one with effort because at least when there's a second hand (since you can easily see it move) it's kinda self explanatory, and it probably got explained in school once.
I feel like the only person that can't stand to wear a watch. Until cellphones came out, I just got really good at estimating the time.
I feel you but for me the body tracking features make it worth it. If you're a Fallout fan, it's like having a real-life PipBoy. The only thing missing is VATS.
I specifically bought a smart watch for that purpose, first watch I've bought in over 20 years, and it sits there and gathers dust because it's so annoying to have something hanging on my wrist. I might also be less wigged out by them if I could put my own OS on it instead of having the Google spyware only.
❤️
Now I want a smartwatch!!! Just for this...
ok damnit, i'll install facer :)
That was a little bit of a fight to install, but not miserable.
Wish the font was a touch larger and it would be cool to have some complications.
still, pretty fire.
i noticed facer was killing my battery. just a heads up
never a free lunch :(
thanks!