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REVIEW: Watchy E-Ink Smartwatch - Open Source, Pebble Watch Alternative? (DIY ePaper ESP32 Watch) — Transcript

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0:02Hey all, here OS Reviews. Recently,
0:04Pebble announced a comeback and after
0:06almost a decade of no longer producing
0:08wearables, they actually have come out
0:10with a refreshed version of their e-aper
0:12watches with a slightly larger display.
0:14As we can see here side by side, it is
0:16quite nostalgic, and having this
0:18transflective e-aper screen means that
0:20it's pretty easy to read even outdoors
0:22in direct sunlight compared to modern
0:24OLED and LCD screens, which requires a
0:27stronger backlight for it to be visible.
0:29and Pebble smart watches were very
0:31popular before Apple watches Android
0:33Wear devices became a thing that were
0:35very energyefficient having a pretty
0:37large DIY community following creating
0:40different types of designs and dials for
0:42it even though the functionality of the
0:44watch itself was a bit more limited in
0:46fact even the rebooted models are still
0:48largely the same in terms of not having
0:50any heart rate monitoring it doesn't
0:52have built-in GPS there is no SPBO2
0:55blood oxygen monitoring some of the
0:57sensors which are more commonly found on
0:59modern modern-day smart wearables.
1:00Instead, it's really designed for just
1:02giving you basic time as well as status
1:04information sent over from your phone
1:06via Bluetooth as more of a minimalist
1:08smartwatch. So, this got me thinking,
1:10are there any other options in the
1:11market which feel similar in terms of
1:13spirit? That is going to be the topic of
1:15this video, which is a e- in based
1:17smartwatch. The original design, I
1:19believe, is from a watch and actually
1:21came out about a year or two back. So,
1:23not completely new on the market. And
1:25when this thing was first released, it
1:26was kind of dubbed as a spiritual
1:28successor to the Pebble smart watches
1:30before they got revived in recent times.
1:33Also having a similar concept in terms
1:35of a e-aper screen on here. It's a true
1:37e- in panel. The same technology type
1:40that you'll see on Kindle e-readers
1:42behaving just like a piece of paper
1:43where the brighter it is outdoors, the
1:45easier it is to read the screen and also
1:47consumes very little power until the
1:49pixels are refreshing or changing. It
1:52also has this DIY kind of open-source
1:54community vibe as well, powered by
1:56ESP32. So, you can tinker with it using
1:59Arduino, Micro Python, building
2:01additional micro apps as well as watch
2:03interfaces for it, making it an
2:05open-source project-like wearable that's
2:07also rather affordable. You can find
2:09these, for example, usually for around
2:11$50 or so when shopping around. Pretty
2:13neat. Also, in terms of e- in displays
2:16being used on wearables, I think it is a
2:17pretty good idea, but has been rather
2:19rare to see in actual products for some
2:22reason. For example, a while back, Sony
2:24actually made another e- in or e-aper
2:26watch that had the entire band being
2:28crafted out of a single piece of folding
2:30e- in display, and that was pretty cool.
2:32So, you could even change the way the
2:34watch strap looks based on different
2:36designs that you push over. However,
2:38this FES Watch U was significantly more
2:40expensive, more like a designer piece,
2:43perhaps being a little bit more fragile,
2:44and some of these versions had a coin
2:46battery that had to be swapped out like
2:48regular digital watches of the past
2:50instead of being rechargeable like on
2:52this model or the Pebble devices. That
2:55being said, in terms of functionality,
2:56all of these watches, including the
2:58Watchi, they're all very simple products
3:00in terms of lacking any heart rate
3:01monitor, GPS, or anything like that.
3:04really designed just around this display
3:06and making it easier for people to
3:07tinker around with. In fact, we see that
3:09in some of the product posts from the
3:11company as well. If you want to wear it
3:13in this kind of naked shell design, you
3:15can even do that just with the PCB board
3:17attached onto a strap. Or you can 3D
3:20print your own chassis to add a little
3:21bit more protection. Almost reminds me
3:23of maybe a retro Macintosh in some
3:25sense. Alternatively, you can buy a
3:27version that has a chassis included like
3:29this one here if you want a little bit
3:31more dust and wear resistance, but the
3:33choice is completely yours. The actual
3:35board itself just looks something like
3:36this with the screen battery as well as
3:38charging contacts there. So, a pretty
3:40interesting uh premise with all of the
3:42hardware level components in addition to
3:45again software that you're able to just
3:46access directly instead of being
3:48proprietary and locked down by the
3:50company, which is pretty neat. So,
3:52here's an example of some other watch
3:53dials that you can find. In terms of
3:56connectivity, though, it does have both
3:57Wi-Fi as well as Bluetooth on board. And
3:59by the way, it doesn't matter if it's
4:01showing a black or white background
4:03because e-aper screens only use power
4:05when the entire screen is refreshing or
4:08changing. So, you can freely pick and
4:09choose. Here's another one which is
4:10inspired by a DOSs retro computer
4:12interface. Another one here inspired by
4:14Pokémon that we see pre-installed on
4:16this watch. Also looks pretty neat. Just
4:18a time information on the very bottom.
4:20And then furthermore, we have some other
4:22maybe galactic uh sci-fi inspired
4:24designs as well. Tetris inspired
4:26designs. All are pretty attractive to
4:29look at, fitting the retro vibes and
4:31kind of cool, I think, for just a
4:32relatively inexpensive wearable.
4:34Although again, functionality, it's not
4:36designed to be as polished or
4:38fullfeatured as many modern smart
4:40trackers. It's a little more quirky,
4:42more DIY in style. It does have a motion
4:45sensor that you can use to track some
4:46steps, however, if you're interested in
4:48that. Here's one that tries to imitate a
4:50Casio watch. So, yeah, the list really
4:52does go down. And again, you're able to
4:54create your own watch dial if you want
4:56to experiment around with it or find
4:58some pre-existing dials with a pretty
5:00exhaustive list already available. In
5:02fact, this one here is actually very
5:03reminiscent of the font being used by
5:06the Pebble watches. Kind of an
5:07interesting mashup moment over there.
5:09So, you get the idea. other ones which
5:11are more simple. Digital versus analog
5:13faces can all be picked between
5:15including even this one here which is
5:17based on kind of a more unique way of
5:19reading the hour minute hand. Reminds me
5:21of some of the binary code watches if
5:23you want to give it a bit more intrigue.
5:25And what's great is of course all these
5:27watch dials are going to be completely
5:28free for you to access. So as more of a
5:31style piece, it can actually be an
5:32interesting idea as well if you're a fan
5:34of any particular look. Now, in terms of
5:37hardware, it also is lacking anything
5:39like a built-in speaker. There is no
5:40microphone on here. So, maybe that's
5:42something to consider in a Pro or second
5:44gen model down the line. The ability to
5:46invoke a voice assistant or use it to
5:48answer a phone call could perhaps be
5:50interesting additions, but right now,
5:52again, the hardware is rather light and
5:54on the simple side of things. Here's an
5:55example of what an e- in screen will be
5:57like displaying an image. Now, this is a
5:59traditional black and white or
6:00monochrome e- in panel instead of being
6:02a color e in screen, which might be
6:04another interesting option in the
6:06future. And technically, it is a point
6:08of difference versus the real pebble
6:10watches, which are still using e- paper
6:12screens, but they're more like
6:14transflective RL LCD panels, aka
6:17reflexive LCD. So, it doesn't behave
6:19entirely the same way as a true e- in
6:22screen like this. Although, both have
6:23advantages in sunlight readability. So
6:26typically eing screens can be even more
6:28power efficient. Though in the case of
6:30these watchy devices, I'm usually
6:32getting around a week's use before I
6:33have to recharge it again. And it's
6:35actually not super far off from the
6:37pebbles and lightweight fitness trackers
6:39of the world. But that's probably
6:40because the operating system that comes
6:42pre-installed with is on the basic side.
6:44And I believe Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are
6:46turned on 24/7. So if there's some
6:48additional controls to turn it off or
6:50having a slightly larger cell which is
6:52equivalent in capacity between the two
6:54technology types, E in should
6:56technically last a little bit longer
6:58perhaps with even better contrast, but
7:00it will have a bit more blinking and the
7:02refresh rate is usually a little bit
7:04lower compared to transflexive or
7:06reflexive LCD screen. So there are some
7:09slight subtle differences between these
7:10two types, but both of these
7:12technologies are generally considered as
7:14e-aper displays. this one perhaps just
7:17feeling a little bit more analog because
7:19of its e- in as well as black and white
7:21monochrome looks uh by comparison. Now
7:24the cost might slightly vary based on
7:26the version that you pick up. For
7:27example, if it's only the PCB board with
7:29the screen that's going to be the
7:30cheapest compared to versions that come
7:32with a pre 3D printed plastic chassis or
7:35a metal aluminum chassis are going to
7:37sell for a little bit more if you don't
7:38want to create these components
7:40yourself. The strap is crafted out of
7:42silicone, one size fit all with a
7:43stainless steel buckle. Although there
7:45is no official waterproof rating. That
7:47is something to keep in mind. This is
7:49very much kind of a developer tinkerers
7:51watch. So if you're going to be
7:52submerging it in swimming sessions, it's
7:54not going to be the wearable for you. It
7:56really is just designed for casual
7:58everyday wearing around the home,
8:00office, things like that. It isn't
8:01really weather sealed, per se.
8:03Otherwise, in terms of packaging
8:04contents, the version that we picked up
8:06that has a pre-installed 3D printed
8:08plastic chassis, uh came in a fairly
8:10generic looking cardboard box, like a
8:12development kit, and there's just a
8:14charging or data sync cable included.
8:16Now, it is worth mentioning they are
8:17using a slightly older micro USB
8:19standard for data and charging here. I
8:22would have liked to see USB type-C, but
8:24it is what it is and probably something
8:25they should change to in a next
8:27generation model. But aside from that,
8:29there's just a small transparent box
8:31that comes for protecting the watch. uh
8:33with the strap pre-attached. Again, if
8:34you don't like this particular strap,
8:36you can also just disassemble it
8:37yourself, getting to the board, and then
8:39put it into a different chassis,
8:41creating your own accessories. But this
8:42is what it looks like by default using
8:44this particular kit. Now, something that
8:46I will say is aside from the examples of
8:49e- in watches and e-aper watches
8:51mentioned earlier, there is one other
8:53model that was available in the recent
8:55past from Fossil, their hybrid HR. As
8:58the name implies, this was more of a
9:00hybrid smartwatch that contains a dial
9:02on the top allowing you to read back the
9:04time, looking quite classy, but it has a
9:06e-aper display underneath which you can
9:08also invoke to show basics notification
9:10status as well as check out more
9:12advanced menus. And the difference with
9:14the Fossil hybrid HR watches is they do
9:17have a optical heart rate monitor. So,
9:19you can track a few more biometrics
9:21compared to the Pebble watches as well
9:23as the Watchi are lacking that
9:25particular sensor. To my knowledge, this
9:27is actually the only other e- in watch
9:29that has a heart rate monitor. So, if
9:31you're interested in that feature, this
9:33could be worth considering. However,
9:34keep in mind that Fossil has since
9:36discontinued making these smart watches.
9:39So, getting your hands on a new unit
9:41might be a little more tricky. And also,
9:42the software may no longer be regularly
9:44supported or updated going forwards.
9:46It's not as easy to create your own
9:48watch dials, for example. You're kind of
9:50at the mercy of which examples are
9:51available. a lot of the information
9:53including the components that they're
9:55using aren't as open source. So, it is a
9:57little bit more locked down, but as a
9:59consequence, it does feel slightly more
10:01polished since it is more like a
10:03consumerready product. So, you kind of
10:05have to pick your poison in terms of
10:06what you prefer. But honestly, I do like
10:08these as alternatives to the
10:10conventional smartwatch just because
10:12they give you a more retro overall vibe,
10:14bringing me back to a simpler time maybe
10:16of the 2000s, feeling like a somewhat
10:18fun throwback in that way. Otherwise, a
10:21closer look here at the actual watch.
10:24Again, it has just a charging port
10:25located on the side. And the 3D printed
10:27case here does have four buttons, two on
10:29the left, two on the right because this
10:31is not a touch screen. It also does not
10:33have any front light or glow light
10:35functionality either. So, reading it in
10:38darker situations will be more tricky,
10:40harder to do. But again, if you are
10:41outdoors in direct sunlight, kind of the
10:43brighter it is around you, the easier it
10:45is to see, behaving just like a piece of
10:47paper. And the screen is always going to
10:49be on. Now, in terms of the controls,
10:52you can just tap on the bottom one here
10:53to go into the list of advanced
10:54settings. When it goes onto a new page,
10:56you can see that the pixels will refresh
10:58to get rid of any ghosting. And then the
11:00right hand side can be used to go up and
11:02down through the list. After which
11:03point, you can tap again to go inside to
11:05check out the current version that the
11:07watch is running on. And the top key act
11:09as a back button to go onto the previous
11:11page. There's also a simple vibration
11:13motor that is built on in giving you
11:15some haptics.
11:17Time information can also be manually
11:19set up as well as the syncing
11:20information over updating the firmware
11:22as a basic built-in controls. On the
11:25Wi-Fi settings of any phone or computer,
11:27you can find the nearby Pi AP. And over
11:30here, you'll be prompted to see a page
11:32that looks something like this.
11:33Selecting the router and entering your
11:34Wi-Fi password, connecting this to the
11:36internet, allowing it to sync the time
11:38and date information over the internet
11:40automatically. Alternatively, going to
11:42more advanced settings, we can also see
11:43that technically this thing has a 240
11:45MHz processor. And the screen size here
11:48is 1.54 in diagonally. So, yeah,
11:50relatively simple. And in terms of
11:52updating the firmware, it also tells you
11:54to visit the website there. Bluetooth
11:56should be enabled in this mode for
11:58downloading and pushing additional
11:59updates. Now, by the way, it also gives
12:00you a diagram here if you want to
12:02assemble everything yourself. Recapping
12:04what the controls are supposed to do. In
12:06addition to tinkering around with the
12:07Arduino setup, you also have the GitHub
12:09information, flashing, additional
12:11firmware as well as factory resetting,
12:13things like that, as well as additional
12:15documentation can also be found on their
12:17page over here in terms of what
12:19libraries are used for the graphics if
12:21you want to call on those functions,
12:23what motion sensor is being used. So
12:25again, if you want to get a little more
12:26technical as a programmer or coder, you
12:28can find those references here as well.
12:30So let's say I'm interested in some of
12:32these other dials, some of them which
12:33are animated as you can see here as
12:35well. Alternatively, you can create your
12:37own here at the very bottom. Filling it
12:39in with your own code as you can see
12:40here with some basic graphic
12:42information, the position of the pointer
12:44which you can then generate and push
12:46over. And of course with the advent of
12:48large language models, even if you
12:50aren't necessarily a programmer, you can
12:52follow along the documentation step by
12:54step or ask AI to kind of help guide you
12:56along. So it makes it easier than ever
12:58to play around with something like this.
13:00This I would argue afterwards you can
13:01even share your watch face publicly.
13:03Submitting it to GitHub for review can
13:05also be done. For example, this one here
13:07will also change and update by itself.
13:09Getting the information via Wi-Fi. So
13:12some of these watch dials are going to
13:14again leverage the chip on here to
13:15actually get you the temperature,
13:16degree, city name information for it to
13:19automatically sync by itself. Compared
13:21to this one here is actually a carousel
13:23that will loop through a couple of other
13:24watch dials depending on the day of the
13:26week. That being said, it doesn't seem
13:28like there's really a way to change the
13:29dial on the fly directly from the watch
13:32itself. Once you push it over, it's
13:33going to remain as the current one on
13:35there. So, just keep that in mind. It's
13:37not quite as polished as some of the
13:39consumer ready smart watches that we've
13:41seen. And despite the open source
13:43nature, if you find some of these steps
13:44to be a little too intimidating, you can
13:46also reference some past examples of
13:48firmware created by other community
13:50members. For example, this one called
13:52Ink Watch. if you want to flash this
13:54over to the memory of the watch will
13:56provide you with a slightly better UI
13:58that gives you a couple additional
13:59functions directly. For example, some
14:01built-in alarm clock functionality. A
14:03simple book reader functionality,
14:05although obviously reading back books on
14:07such a tiny screen is a little silly,
14:09but kind of cool, I guess, because it
14:11still is a e- in display. So, you can
14:13find a few more of those basic features
14:14that might be more common in a normal
14:16smartwatch in this particular firmware
14:18version that someone has published.
14:20Another example over here being watch
14:22GSR another firmware that adds timer
14:25alarm clock functionality which are
14:27missing on the default firmware that is
14:29completely blank up to you for
14:30customizing. So there's quite a few
14:32posts for initial setup that you can
14:34find either on Reddit or on their
14:36website that kind of guides you through
14:37the process of getting started from
14:39scratch. There's also a hardware
14:40schematic diagram that tells you the
14:42specific chip that they're using here.
14:44The architecture you can also reference.
14:46So all the bill of materials as well as
14:48a breakdown of all the components can be
14:51found over here including the battery
14:52200 milliamp hours as well as the
14:55vibration motor, the e-aper display
14:57type, three axis accelerometer, all the
14:59microcontrollers are listed out with the
15:02actual board and the eing screen here
15:03just being around 13 g in weight. Also,
15:06here's another diagram that tells you a
15:08bit more information about e- in aka
15:10e-aper display. So the particles here
15:12are charged and when electrical field is
15:14applied. You can see that the black ink
15:17as well as the white ink pigments will
15:18be able to kind of flip back and forth
15:20generating the pixels that we see here
15:22and it stays in that state until
15:25additional electricity or current is
15:26applied to flip the positions around.
15:29That is how that e- in display there
15:30works. And if you fully disassemble it,
15:32you'll be able to see that battery which
15:34is connected on the back. Again, I
15:36mentioned earlier that battery life is
15:37going to be around a week of use, but it
15:39does depend on how often you're fetching
15:42some of the Wi-Fi information. Let's say
15:44you've created a certain watch dial that
15:46is always generating the latest stock
15:48price information or the weather status
15:50information constantly connecting to the
15:52internet, then the battery life will
15:54also be shorter as well. But if you're
15:55only using it to check time and date
15:57info, it'll last slightly longer. Now,
15:59if we had to be extremely nitpicky
16:01though, what I will say is again because
16:03it is more designed like a DIY project,
16:05the fun here really comes with the
16:07tinkering as well as the quirky nature
16:09of the watch. So, that also applies to
16:11some of the controls because they are
16:12literally just 3D printed using plastic
16:14here. The buttons themselves are
16:16definitely functional, but it's also not
16:17the most tactile thing in the world,
16:19particularly on the plastic casing
16:21version, just because it is extremely
16:23lightweight and sometimes uh the buttons
16:25can stick a little bit. So, if you want
16:27better craftsmanship, then arguably I
16:29would recommend the aluminum shell or
16:31going for something like a Pebble or a
16:33Fossil Hybrid HR instead that are a
16:35little bit more refined. But this E in
16:37watch definitely takes the cake for
16:38being the most tinker friendly aka
16:41hacker friendly out of all the versions
16:43that I've seen to date. And overall, the
16:45watch is relatively comfortable,
16:47lightweight for wearing. And the display
16:49itself has 200 by 200 pixels in terms of
16:51resolution, which is good enough, I
16:53would say, for a device like this for
16:55reading back text. Simple time and date
16:57info seems to be mostly clear enough. It
16:59isn't too problematic and some jagged
17:01lines here gives it some retro charm as
17:03well. Again, it's the same display type
17:05that you'll find on other ebook readers,
17:07including the Palma devices. Again, all
17:10have a very similar characteristic to
17:12this E in screen. Not too muddy. Might
17:14be one benefit here versus a R LCD
17:16screen. Tends to be a little darker in
17:18terms of the contrast of the background.
17:20So, that is more or less it as far as
17:21our quick hands-on look at the Watchi as
17:24well as a general FYI that a product
17:26like this exists if you haven't heard of
17:28it before. Might be a fun little item to
17:30tinker around with. That being said,
17:32again, it is very much steeped in that
17:34DIY community instead of everything
17:36being pre-built and polished for you.
17:38So, again, if you don't like the casing,
17:39you can 3D print one yourself. They have
17:41all the components and specs available
17:43on their website. And similarly, it
17:45doesn't come with a again existing
17:47smartphone app. All the hardware is
17:49there, but it's up to you to build it
17:50yourself or find a compatible firmware.
17:52Again, by default, the existing one
17:54doesn't allow you to send or receive
17:56notifications necessarily. The Wi-Fi is
17:58really just designed there to uh
18:00synchronize the time information, doing
18:02some basic updating. And of course, you
18:04can also connect it using the USB cable
18:06to your computer if you wanted to flash
18:08a firmware onto it, which is different.
18:10So, you're not going to get the
18:11extremely polished UI and OS experience
18:15of a more consumer oriented device. and
18:17functionality is really up to you. If
18:18you want to create a small program that
18:20can automatically fetch the weather
18:22information or notification status, it
18:24can be your project to develop. But the
18:26core experience here for telling date
18:28information wrapped in kind of a
18:30nostalgic retro vibe with a pretty
18:32readable e- in display is what you're
18:34getting out of the box. Still pretty
18:35neat to play around with and glad to see
18:37there are at least a few other examples
18:39of e- in wearables available on the
18:41market. Again, this one being one of the
18:42most cost effective that you can find.
18:44You can check out more details if you're
18:46interested in the links down below. But
18:47for now, that's been our video.

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