Personally this has been the most feature rich/open source one I could find, and it's what I ended up going for, there's an opensource app store, direct integration with gadgetbridge, a decent always on display much like the amazfit bip S, which also means a long battery life.
this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2023
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That’s the closest thing I’ve found to my dear departed Pebble
This is pretty amazing, I was not expecting it to be such a reasonable price considering the specs. What's the battery life like?
It can get up to 4 weeks, though my experience is closer to 4 days to a couple of weeks, I think it depends heavily on what apps you're using, how much you're moving about and how much stuff you're installing
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Casio with inbuilt calculator
If you can find a Pebble, they still work perfectly and the manufacturer doesn't even exist anymore!
Hmm, fitbit bought most of the company, then Google bought them.
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anything that's compatible with Gadgetbridge should be okay. it keeps everything on your phone and doesn't even request a network permission, so the device can't phone home.
incidentally, I've got the Mi Band 7 (connected via Gadgetbridge] and I quite like it.
This. I've been using the Fossil Collider HR with Gadgetbridge for over a year. I love it, and I love that it's keeping my data safe
I've also used a pinetime running infinitime for the past year, and I agree that it's not exactly feature rich. I like it though.
I've heard that 'bangle.js' is an open source watch as well, with a decent feature set.
Pebble is peak smartwatch. Fight me on it, I wont change my mind. Its just smart enough, without being too smart. Battery lasts for days, its waterproof, and side buttons instead if some impossible to use tiny-ass touchscreen. Perfection.
Pebble is a discontinued smartwatch developed by Pebble Technology Corporation.
😶
Who got eaten up by Fitbit, who got eaten up by Google. 😭
Garmin does that too if you want to buy something from a company that still exists.
Fossil offers a hybrid smartwatch now to full those shoes. I really liked mine when I had one, but it didn't fit my hands free needs well enough.
I'm in the same boat. The buttons on my Pebble Time Steel are going, and I don't know what I'm going to replace it with.
the Pinetime watch, but it died after 6 months.
Oof, that's a shame. That was on my list of possibilities.
Ive been considering buying a new old stock "backup pebble" for when mine goes. Basically the perfect smartwatch
Yeah, there really is no decent alternative, yet. While I agree the LCD screen smartwatches look better and are more fancy, but I really like the e-Ink -- always on, readable in full sun, and only having to charge it once a month or so. The hybrid idea is a decent alternative, but you lose customizable faces; I'm willing to sacrifice that for long battery life, though, so that's probably where I'll go next.
I don't understand why there isn't more of a market for e-Ink watches, though. I mean, there are a bunch of us, but apparently not enough to sustain a company.
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Been pretty happy with my Garmin Instinct. It has a cloud connection of course but seems pretty decent privacy wise.
I love my Garmin watches but they aren't really known for privacy or security. They had a ransomware attack in 2020 and the Connect service was down. It's speculated that they paid the ransom.
Their support is top-notch as well. My Instinct started having serious battery life issues a few months out of warranty. They still replaced it no questions asked when I reached out to their support and asked if they offer a battery replacement service. That said, the Instinct at least isn't a true smart watch. It doesn't run apps, isn't touchscreen, don't have NFC, etc.
No smartwatch. Fact is, you do not need a smartwatch. Buy an authentic analog watch. For the same price as one of these mediocre or expensive smartwatches, you can get a sustainable, repairable, durable and classy watch that can last 20-50 years easily. Coin cell battery lasts over 5 years.
Smartwatches are novelty.
For €200, you can get a Seiko, Citizen, Casio Edifice or whatnot.
Smartwatches do have features an analog watch doesn't have. I'm pretty sure OP already knows about the existence of analog watches.
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This is the correct answer. I used to wear a smartwatch before realizing most of the features were useless or actively annoying, and a regular watch will tell me the time just as well and doesn't need to constantly be charged. Do you really want your wrist to buzz every time you get an e-mail? If you're going to spend €50 on a smartwatch, spend it on a Casio instead, that's what I did and it's much better value for money.
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I'm waiting for the next batch of Watchy's so i can't say if it is any good, but I have high hopes. They have a handy spec comparison chart between Watchy, Pine time, Bangle.js, and the beloved Pebble.
I have a Watchy. It's nice if you'd want to tinker easily, but it's very bulky and cheap in feel even compared to a pinetime.
I would say amazefit is the better option, check the compatibility with gardggetbride before buying.
I bought an Amazefit bip 3 years ago and am using Master for Amazefit, sadly the developer stopped updating the app. The watch/band supports only step counter, heart rate measure, sleep tracking. So, whatever options the app provides work fine for me.
I need to look for other app options when I upgrade.
Sleep tracking? I'm ootl with smart watches in general so forgive this ignorant comment, but I assume for this to work...you have to sleep with the watch on?
Pinetime by pine64
What happens wit a Garmin watch if you uninstall the app? Mine still processes notifications/etc.
Don’t know how close this gets to what you want, but I really dig my Withings steel. Small watch, standard analog face with step tracking subdial and a tiny lcd display that you can set to show different stats from the watch. You need an app to set it up, since it only has a single button for input, but after that I think you can just uninstall the app and be fine for the alarms you set up, heart rate readout, and whatever custom step goal you set. Also it lasts a month on a charge, which is absolutely awesome if you hate charging these damned things as much as I do
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