smartwatch News - Page 3 of 13 - CNX Software

April 22, 2021April 22, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

InfiniTime 1.0 firmware released for PineTime smartwatch

The PineTime smartwatch was unveiled and first launched in 2019, as a low-cost, open-source wearables development kit/platform for developers wanting to work on firmware development for the Nordic nRF52 powered device. Progress was made on various solutions such as ATCwatch Arduino firmware, and as time passed, the PineTime slowly became more like an “enthusiast-grade” end-user product. This is basically what it has become with the first stable release of InfiniTime firmware, which was selected as the default firmware in September 2020. The main features of InfiniTime 1.0 firmware include: Two clock faces – digital and analog Apps – Stopwatch, music control, navigation, heart rate, as well as Paddle and 2048 games User settings – Display timeout, time format, wake up conditions OTA upgrades via an open-source bootloader based on MCUBoot Heart rate monitoring and step counting Between 3 and 5 days of battery life depending on usage Firmware based on […]

April 7, 2021April 7, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

LilyGo sells Open-Smartwatch open-source hardware ESP32 watch by “Paul’s 3D Things”

We’ve previously covered three variants of LilyGo T-Watch-2020 smartwatch based on ESP32 WiFi & Bluetooth SoC with TTGO T-Watch-2020 (V1) launched about a year ago, following by T-Watch-2020 V3 with a microphone for voice control, and T-Watch-2020 V2 with GPS. The company has recently launched a new rounded smartwatch based on ESP32-PICO-D4 SiP with a twist as they did not design it themselves and instead partnered with “Paul’s 3D Things” for the Open-Smartwatch, and just handle manufacturing and production. LilyGo Open-Smartwatch “Light Edition” specifications: Wireless module – LILYGO T-micro32 module based on ESP32-PICO-D4 module with dual-core ESP32 processor, 4MB FLASH, ceramic antenna or u.FL antenna connector Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.2 BR/EDR BLE and WiFi 4 2.4GHz 802.11 b/g/n Display – 1.3 inch circular LCD with 240×240 resolution USB – Micro USB for charging and programming Sensor – 3-axis BMA400 accelerator Debugging – USB to TTL via CH340E chip Misc -Reset […]

February 17, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

TTGO T-Watch-2020 V3 ESP32 watch adds microphone for voice control

Lilygo TTGO T-Watch-2020 is a thin, ESP32 smartwatch programmable with Arduino that was introduced last year. The WiFi and Bluetooth-connected watch is equipped with a 1.54-inch LCD capacitive touch screen, a Class-D amplifier, buzzer, accelerometer, RTC, and a battery. The watch is one of the top-selling devices on Lilygo’s Aliexpress store, and they must have had requirements for voice control, so the company has now launched TTGO T-Watch-2020 V3 based on the same design but adding a PDM microphone. As far as I can TTGO T-Watch-2020 V3 specifications are the same as last year’s model, except for the microphone: SoC – Espressif ESP32 dual-core wireless processor with 520KB SRAM System Memory – 8MB PSRAM Storage – 16MB QSPI flash Display – 1.54-inch LCD capacitive touch screen Audio – Max98357 Class-D amplifier, buzzer/speaker, PDM microphone Connectivity – 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.x/5.1 via ESP32 Sensors – BMA423 three-axis accelerometer with […]

February 4, 2021February 4, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

Watchy Pebble-like Smartwatch with E-paper display, ESP32 processor launched on Crowd Supply

Pebble smartwatch was introduced in 2012 on Kickstarter. The Bluetooth smartwatch came with an E-Paper display, would connect to your Android smartphone or iPhone to receive notifications or other info, and the company also released an SDK for further customization. It was quite popular at the time having sold over one million units, the Pebble Time followed in 2015 with a color display, as well as other models. But despite selling millions of watches, the company folded in 2016, and the Pebble was discontinued after the intellectual property was purchased by Fitbit. Watchy is a new smartwatch that reminds me of the original pebble. It is based on ESP32 WiFi & Bluetooth SoC, equipped with a 1.54-inch E-Paper display with 200×200 resolution, and the usual accelerometer for activity tracking and gesture detection. Watchy key features and specifications: SIP – Espressif Systems ESP32-PICO-D4 system-in-package with ESP32 dual-core processor with Bluetooth LE […]

September 8, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Nubia Watch Comes with a 4-inch AMOLED Flexible Display (Crowdfunding)

We previously covered Nubia–α wearable “smartphone” in 2018. The device was basically a smartwatch with a long curved display, and at the time was at the prototype/design stage. There’s now a similar, but more refined Snapdragon Wear 2100 powered Nubia Watch with a 4.01-inch AMOLED flexible display that has recently launched on Kickstarter. It’s unclear whether it’s related to the older prototype, as the company claims to have conceptualized the watch in October 2019. Nubia Watch hardware specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 (8909Q) quad-core Cortex A7 processor with Adreno 304 GPU System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 8GB storage Display – 4.01-inch AMOLED flexible 2-point touchscreen display with 960 x 192 resolution covered with Schott glass Connectivity Bluetooth 4.1 GNSS – GPS, GLONASS, Beidou Sensors – Accelerometer & gyroscope, pressure sensor, heart-rate sensor, geomagnetic sensor Misc – Power button Battery – 425 mAh Lithium battery good for […]

July 24, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Some Smartwatches and Fitness Trackers Double as Earbuds Holders

Wireless earbuds are nice, except I don’t really use the ones I have because they tend to fall off my ears as soon as I perform physical activities (e.g. running), and I often misplace them, so I may not have on hand when I need them. One thing I wear virtually 24 hours a day is my smartwatch/fitness tracker, namely Weloop Hey 3S (still going strong after over 2 years), so if there were some wearables that could also store earbuds that would be nice. While browsing new product arrivals this morning, I discovered there were several smartwatches that ships with Bluetooth earbuds that are stored inside the watch when not in use. ASLING S300 smartwatch (left of the above photo) ships with two Bluetooth 5.0 earbuds that are stored on the side of the watch, while ASLING G36 smart bracelet stores them through an opening on the top of […]

July 22, 2020July 22, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

ATCwatch Arduino Firmware Works with PineTime, COLMI P8, “Da Fit” Smartwatches

Earlier this week, we wrote about fake heart rate sensors found in ultra-low-cost fitness trackers as reported by Aaron Christophel. It turns out he also maintains an open-source project specific to P8 watch, PineTime, and other smartwatches compatible with Da Fit Android app: ATCwatch Arduino firmware. The firmware provides a basic menu system, notifications, and the latest implementation enables direct HTTP or HTTPS GET requests to control IoT devices and get info from the Internet. The current firmware consumes about 150-200uA standby current, and last roughly 92 hours on a charge with heavy notification and usage. While it’s possible to connect an SWD St-Link V2 to flash the bootloader and firmware, it’s not necessary, as it’s possible to flash ATCwatch Arduino firmware without having to open the watch by using over-the-air update function with DaFlasherFiles for PineTime or P8 watch together with DaFlasher Android app. Once the update is done, […]

July 20, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Beware of Fake Heart Rate Sensors in Low-Cost Fitness Trackers

Manufacturers always attempt to lower the BoM costs of their products to increase sales and boost profits. Most do it in an honest way, but some are either incompetent or deceptive as we’ve recently seen in an IR thermometer was the infrared unit was not connected to the mainboard. I’ve just been informed about another trick that’s been going on for a while. Some ultra-cheap fitness trackers come with fake heart rate sensors that are simply replaced by two LED’s to simulate the real thing. The trick was discovered last year by Aaron Christophel who purchased several fitness trackers believe to be based on Nordic Semi nRF52832 in order to as he wanted to use Arduino firmware with those. He managed to do so in several with IWOWNFIT I6HRC tracker being the best suited for the tasks. But he also found some bad apples in the lot with several trackers […]