A proper smartwatch

3 years ago by larsbrinkhoff to c/retrocomputing

al177 16 points 3 years ago

Today $300 or less can buy a watch that runs UNIX, can emulate any machine in 1981 in realtime, and stream data from the ARPAInternet over a wireless connection orders of magnitude faster than any leased line.

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user224 17 points 3 years ago

Sounds like a €30 smartwatch I've seen some 7 years ago. Yep, it costed that back then. It ran Android 4.4 and even the battery was user replaceable.
I think it was called QW09.

Unfortunately, I was 10 at the time, and €30 sounded like a lot to me, so I didn't buy it :(

Edit: Found some pics

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fsniper 6 points 3 years ago

this looks cool. Particularly this rectangular screen is great.

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janus2 7 points 3 years ago

rectangular smartwatch master race
i don't care that watches used to be round because of a rotary mechanism. i want a SCREEN on my wrist and screens are square for a reason!

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jcg 2 points 3 years ago

Tell me about it. They rather hamfistedly tried to fit a rectangular design language into a circular screen and it never quite works right.

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TheElectroness 3 points 3 years ago

I mean, you can probably still get 300 different variants of that on aliexpress for less than $10

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larsbrinkhoff 2 points 3 years ago

I think you had it right, let's bring ARPANET back.

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xoniq 13 points 3 years ago

Good old floppydrive for ants

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IlIllIIIllIlIlIIlI 1 point 3 years ago

Aka micro SD.

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mounderfod 9 points 3 years ago

I wonder if it would be possible to recreate something like this for real, with cartridges for each software/tool (like a gameboy or similar?), excluding the comically tiny keyboard probably :P

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larsbrinkhoff 14 points 3 years ago

The size of that floppy does seem a decent match to a microSD card.

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mounderfod 4 points 3 years ago

I'm really tempted to buy some RPi pico stuff or smth and see if i can make something similar

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coldhotman 2 points 3 years ago
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al177 3 points 3 years ago

PineTime's CPU isn't that grunty - 64MHz Cortex-M4F.

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tophu 2 points 3 years ago

I'm curious if it would be possible to replicate somehow with a PineTime

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krackalot 8 points 3 years ago

What is this, A keyboard for ants?

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mrkite 8 points 3 years ago

Just seeing the Byte logo makes me want to open up that magazine and see which basic listings I can type in.

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CarlsIII 7 points 3 years ago

@larsbrinkhoff “Your fingers are too fat to operate this watch. To receive a special dialing wand, mash the keyboard with your palm, now.”

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kbity 6 points 3 years ago

Every time I think about smartwatches, I just think about how much I miss Pebble. I loved my Steel and Time Steel, and was bummed that the company failed before the Time Steel 2 happened.

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janus2 3 points 3 years ago

RIP Pebble. I went through three of them that all ate it to their failing LCD. :(

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TheLazurus 2 points 3 years ago

god, i loved my pebble back in the day. Had an OG and picked up a Time a couple years ago to try Rebble. It's nice but it's just not the same anymore...

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mochi 6 points 3 years ago

What I want is a watch that looks just like old fashioned analog watches, does all of the fitness tracking you get from a modern Fitbit, and transmits it to my phone. I don't want a square watch or a digital display. I want classic beauty with tech under the hood.

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tvmole 5 points 3 years ago path: 0 615131 616706, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
lackthought 2 points 3 years ago

I tried using an analog style watch face on my Apple Watch, but the rectangular digital screen + the need to charge it every single day just wasn't all that great

I traded it back in and reverted back to my Citizen Eco Drive (which is solar powered so I never have to worry about charging it) and is visible easily in sunlight

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mochi 1 point 3 years ago

Yeah? I kind of figure that's how it'd be for me. I like the idea of how the Apple Watch integrates with iPhone, but I don't like the way it looks.

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Ataraxia 1 point 3 years ago

While I wouldn't call it classy I really like the familiar design of the garmin instinct. It's definitely a sports watch but as a woman I actually love it so much more than my fitbit versa 2. And I love my fitbit. Now it's still a digital watch not mechanical but I'm from the generation where they started making tamagochi etc when I was in middle school so it's pretty nostalgic to have a watch using that tech.

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Sharpiemarker 6 points 3 years ago

I love retrofuturistic tech. It even has a full qwerty keyboard, like anyone would be able to use it lol.

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janus2 2 points 3 years ago

you'd have to use a needle to hit the keys lol

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friend_of_satan 5 points 3 years ago

Folks who like this may like Watchy, an opensource smart watch with an eink display, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a 7 day battery life. I do not own one but it is a bit tempting. https://watchy.sqfmi.com/ make sure to check out the watch faces

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smegger 2 points 3 years ago

Neat. This one looks pretty interesting too

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jtk 2 points 3 years ago

I'm putting that on my birthday list.

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klieg2323 5 points 3 years ago

Forget the smartwatch, I want that 3.5 mm floppy!

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robocord 4 points 3 years ago

I miss Byte magazine so much. Now you've made me sad. I hope you're happy! (jk)

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mrkite 4 points 3 years ago path: 0 610008 610920, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
thehatfox 2 points 3 years ago

There was an early smart watch released in the late 90s called the Ruputer or onHand PC. It had a small grayscale screen and a joystick input, and featured installable applications. There was a small but thriving development scene for it. I’ve wanted to pick one up to play with but they seem nearly impossible to find now, at least at a good price.

I wore a “data bank” watch around that time, which could store memos and phone numbers, typed in via a tiny phone style keypad. I also remember lusting after the Casio watch camera.

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MayorMcCheese 2 points 3 years ago

I remember when that issue came out.

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Terr 2 points 3 years ago

Wow, you gotta use a needle to press the keys on that keyboard!

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dbucklin 1 point 3 years ago

I hope it comes with a stylus.

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hiyaaaaa23 2 points 3 years ago

Yes, I want this

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Harryd91 1 point 3 years ago

BYTE had the best magazine covers

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me 1 point 3 years ago
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