cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19284817
3 points
my eye on Watchy
Have one after the Pebble, let me know if you have questions.
1 point
let me know if you have questions.
I have all the questions. I’m peripherally aware of ESP32; my experience with it, and its capabilities, is severely limited, and IME interface changes require recompiling and re-flashing things. Many of my questions stem from that ignorance.
- Integration support. I assume GadgetBridge on Android is how you’d do it? Or is there another app?
- How is the battery life IRL?
- What does the watch face & app space look like? The FAQ mentions a “gallery”, and instructions for contributions describe the github PR process. Is the gallery just the list of watch faces on the sqfmi website?
- What’s the process for changing faces, and installing additional functionality? From the docs, it looks as if this must be done over a serial cable, despite the device having WiFi capability. I assume that’s because adding faces is basically re-flashing the firmware, which is not supported over wireless? So, to get a new face, you clone the repo, compile a new firmware, and flash the device over a serial cable?
- The FAQ verbiage is confusing regarding the display technology, but I think it’s saying the display isn’t reflective LCD like the Pebble.
- Can you have multiple faces on the device, or do you have to re-flash it to change the face? The FAQ says the face is the entire firmware, implying only one face on the device at a time.
- If you’re part of the community: have there been any discussions about future development to add, e.g. health monitor hardware?
- Is there any integration with a phone, such as notifications? This is sort of the GadgetBridge question, but more about what integrations - if any - are supported. Vibrate on phone ringing? Quick responses to texts? Phone calls over the watch - yeah, I know it’s not that advanced, but for example.
- What’s your opinion of the device? Do you use it as a daily driver?
At under $70, I’m not expecting much, but it’d be nice to know what you expect. The sqfmi site is pretty sparse on details. If there’s an additional, deeper FAQ or Wiki, a link to that would be great.
Thanks!
2 points
*
- I’m not using that
- about a week
- it’s indeed like the gallery
- yes, you need to compile the firmware and flash it over USB. The first time is a tricky but then it takes just few minutes
- strangers have said it looked like actual paper. It’s extremely readible
- indeed it’s one face per firmware… but assuming there is enough space, you could imagine modifying it in order to have more faces
- for now I just briefly chat on Discord to get the basics going as I was one of the very first to have the new ESP S3, cf https://github.com/sqfmi/Watchy/issues/252
- cf 1 but I bet there is, I was thinking of changing the WiFi HTTP server to possibly send data to HomeAssistant but I didn’t explore that yet
- it’s my daily driver, it’s a HUGE thing but it works and often sparks interesting conversations, I like it
Happy to clarify a bit more if need be.
