This is the smartwatch I own. True netrunners know that the tech we wear on (or under) our skin is a prime entry vector for ever hungry megacorps to bleed the pulsing data from our digital veins, so having a wearable I have full control over is of paramount importance. I can flash it with new firmware whenever I want, the multiple open source options available are all an open book to any hacker worth their cyberlinguistic salt, and I can know for a fact that it won’t phone home with my location or other data to any corporation behind the scenes. If we are all going to be cyborgs integrating technology onto and eventually into our bodies, better to control that tech ourselves!
I have one. To be honest, it’s super expensive to have it shipped to Europe. The step counter and the sensors in general arent that great. Perhaps it will get better with time and development
It’s so expensive in Europe :'((
I miss the Pebble :(
I’m in the same boat. Saw this watch a while ago, and was like “it’s not the pebble time or pebble round”.
I started rocking a Pebble Time about a year ago with my Android phone and I absolutely love it! If you can find one with decent battery life and get Rebble set up on it, it’ll still serve you well (in my experience, at least).
EDIT: if anyone needs help setting this up, the Rebble Discord is full of friendly and helpful people :)
Oh, I still have a working Time, Time Steel, and P2. I just needed more/better health tracking and nfc payments. The unreleased Pebble Time 2 would’ve been perfection. I’ve been a Rebbler since day 1 :)
and I can know for a fact that it won’t phone home with my location or other data to any corporation behind the scenes.
if you’ve already got a wearable, check if Gadgetbridge supports it. it can replace your gadget’s companion app so that it doesn’t connect to the cloud. that’s what I use with the Mi Band 7 that I got as a gift.
Are you using any fitness or sleep tracking apps with it? I like the design and open nature but there are hardly any quality apps I’ve found that integrate well with it.
I don’t think so, no, it’s pretty sparse on the health tracking side of things.
I’ve also got a pinetime watch, never been a fan of the data collection smartwatch companies do, its great to have something that I know exactly how it works with its open source firmware. It’s not exactly perfect but there’s been tons of updates from contributions by the community, I’ve even been able to make some modifications of my own too.
If anyone here in the comments has any questions about it I’d be happy to answer them
Does it have a microphone? I’d love to use it to record small sound clips. Given that question, does it have a recording app?
How’s the battery life? My favourite thing about the Pebble was that it lasted a full week between charges, which I always attributed to the e-paper screen.
I run a patched version of the Infinitime firmware that has some tweaks to optimise battery life, these will likely be in the main release soon enough. I did a test after installing the firmware and got 10 days battery life from 100% to dead of daily normal watch use. This is with a somewhat new (~2 months old) watch so don’t know how it may degrade but getting over a week is easily achievable on the pinetime.
This looks legit. Any info on how well it connects to an iPhone or Android?
Works great using an app like gadgetbridge. It Syncs notifications, music control, HR, step counter, etc. It apparently has GPS text directions but I’ve never used it.
I’d be down for something that was more designed around all the fun bio data smart watches can collect. I’d even be down for a slightly invasive implant that would collect data about my health so I can better keep track of it all. Apple seems the most interested in the health stuff from what I’ve seen and I have no interest in the apple ecosystem. Open source health stuff seems like an opportunity to latch on to before the corpos make the stuff and sell the data.
Yeah the Apple Watch was kinda the final straw that got me to switch over from Android. The amount of effort required to root a phone hard enough to where apps couldn’t stalk me wasn’t helping.
Apple’s made privacy a fairly large part of their value offering recently. The main issue remains integrating with other local services.
Apple’s made privacy a fairly large part of their value offering recently.
The problem is that that’s mostly marketing smoke and mirrors. They define privacy as not giving your data to third parties (who aren’t subcontracted with them), not actually refusing to collect in-depth data or link it to your personal identity. There have been a number of pieces of evidence released recently that show that they actually collect as much if not more data about you then Google does, and tend to ignore your privacy settings.
The amount of effort required to root a phone hard enough to where apps couldn’t stalk me wasn’t helping.
Depending on your phone, you could use GrapheneOS (which is super easy to set up compared to rooting and basically the best security and privacy you can get in any smartphone) or CalyxOS. Both easier (and more effective) than rooting, and certainly better than Apple.
I agree. I’m less interested in “smartwatch” and more interested in “fitness tracker”. PineTime is missing several sensors that competitors like Apple Watch and Fitbit devices have, such as electrical sensors, GPS, and temperature sensors which can be used for more advanced fitness tracking.
This might make me buy a smartwatch damnit
It’s really cool! Both InfiniTime and WASP OS are very easy to modify as well!
WaspOS:
https://wasp-os.readthedocs.io/en/latest/appguide.html
Flashing guide here: https://wasp-os.readthedocs.io/en/latest/install.html#pine64-pinetime
InfiniTime:
https://github.com/InfiniTimeOrg/InfiniTime/blob/main/doc/code/Apps.md
