Related
Seeing a lot of progress with the[Break]
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Samsung Galaxy Gear is awesome, being able to root, use the Play Store, set your own launcher and all is great. After all, it's based on Jelly Bean (4.1.2 - I believe), but it's limited in many ways compared to the alternatives, and limited to certain devices... The Galaxy Gear is priced at $299.
The Sony SmartWatch 2 is limited in functionality, as far as we know, however I won't knock it as not too many people stateside have gotten their hands on one. That's at a $199 price point.
The Omate TrueSmart, (a KickStarter Funded Project that's available for Pre-Order w/ Dec. Shipping) on is a lot like the Galaxy Gear but has ruggedized properties, runs Android 4.2.2, has capability of running the Play Store (see below, as Lokifish Mars explains), water resistant, has a microphone, camera, speaker, is rootable, Bluetooth, microSD card support, and can even be used as a standalone phone, has complete stock Android interface, with add-ons for $299 w/ the higher RAM option.
To me its a no-brainer, Omate TrueSmart, right???
I own a prehistoric Sony Smartwatch, like the idea of smart watches, but what's with all the hype over the Gear? Why not go with the TrueSmart??? The Pebble seems stupid to me, only because for the price, it doesn't do THAT much for $199 and I'd rather spend $100 more on something more functional, even though I'll loose out on the super e-Ink low energy battery life technology. If money grows on trees in your family, buy them all if that's what makes you happy, but I'm just trying to be practical...
Yes, Google will probably release a smartwatch pretty soon, with Google Now/Search, but I doubt it'll be fully Android featured like the TrueSmart...
And I'm sure Apple will release an iWatch that has a clockface, pause/play button, and a few other features, (Siri with luck) for $129, and call it the First (using a stupid word like...) Innovative or Intellectual smartphone companion watch, and Samsung will eat them alive in court while Sony, Pebble, and Omate watch and eat popcorn while Samsung fights.
Excuse the large images, xda needs an image resizer, and I really don't feel like resizing them myself and reuploading... too much work, bleh...
*Please don't quote this entire OP, just reply, thank you! This thread is way to long for that*
Sent from my SGH-T999 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
deedscreen said:
Seeing
[...]
*please don't quote this entire OP, just reply, thank you*
Sent from my SGH-T999 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it is a no-brainer.
And where did you find that the gear could be rooted? Is a root available already?
That URL shows the top smartwatches, sweet! Omate TrueSmart beats them all for the most part. Also, the Gear can be rooted, xda thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2480429
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
deedscreen said:
That URL shows the top smartwatches, sweet! Omate TrueSmart beats them all for the most part. Also, the Gear can be rooted, xda thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2480429
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, updated the website to show that. But yes, the TrueSmart ousts pretty much all of them, in nearly every category. It's ridiculous.
They still haven't figured out how to get the internet working on the gear as far as I know. Since it doesn't have wifi they have to figure out how to get it through bluetooth.
Either way, here's my opinion.
Get the Omate if you want something that can do more than be an accessory to your phone. Or if you want an accessory that has the most rooting and messing around with potential. It blows the others out of the water in terms of specs.
Get the Gear if you just strictly want an accessory, and maybe want to run specific apps on it. If you really want to get into rooting and stuff you'll probably want it to have the sensors and radios it doesn't have. I find that with my Motoactv...I want it to have a cellular antenna so it has internet all the time, no wifi or bluetooth messing around. Yeah, it's still totally rad, but it could be BETTER. Enter the Omate.
Get the Sony if you want strictly an accessory. Stay away even if you have the slightest inclination to mess around with it cause you can't. It's running on a proprietary OS. If however it does everything you want, I'd get it over the gear to save some money and get a slimmer device.
It feels like Omate vs. Sony Smartwatch/Gear is like Android vs. iOS respectively, why limit yourself, especially when you're paying around the same price... If the device is so limited, why price it with the big boys?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
I have used the gear and it's a great toy but this really is a no brainer.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
deedscreen said:
has the Google Play Store built in
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly this is not correct. Here's what we do know.
TrueSmart will initially ship with it's own app store.
No version of Android 4.3.1 and lower will ever officially support Google Services (Play Store, Gmail app and so on) on smartwatches like the TrueSmart. This now leaves only versions of Android that haven't even been announced yet and tells folks that if they are running 4.3.1 or lower then they will not have official Google Services.
A PC based app, root or custom recovery is being looked at to allow non-developer editions running 4.3.1 or lower the ability to push unofficial Google Services to the TrueSmart.
Here's what we don't know
Will Android 4.4 or higher support smartwatches like the TrueSmart.
Will the TrueSmart receive certification for Android 4.4 or higher to include official Google Services.
Why does my cat like eating plastic.
*All that aside I still think the TrueSmart is a more capable device out of the box. The specs also allow for a more long term lifespan with regards to Android versions and apps updates.
@Lokifish Marz That is true, I saw a Play demo, and what I read about the Play store was unofficial, and Loki - it's been a while, since the Photon days haha. (OP updated).
Sent from my SGH-T999 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
deedscreen said:
@Lokifish Marz That is true, I saw a Play demo, and what I read about the Play store was unofficial, and Loki - it's been a while, since the Photon days haha. (I'll update OP).
Sent from my SGH-T999 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has been a while. Five different devices later and I ended up back on the Photon.
With repos dropping off for Ubuntop I figured it was time to move on and will be on two different smartwatches for the foreseeable future. The TS will be my main device though.
Marz is dead on.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Smartwatch Comparison – Samsung Galaxy Gear Vs Omate TrueSmart Vs Sony SmartWatch 2 V
Check out this comparison. This has covered Samsung Galaxy Gear, Omate TrueSmart, Sony SmartWatch 2, Pebble Smartwatch.
teknosrc[dot]com/smartwatch-comparison-samsung-galaxy-gear-vs-omate-truesmart-vs-sony-smartwatch-2-vs-pebble-smartwatch/
raghav280392 said:
Check out this comparison. This has covered Samsung Galaxy Gear, Omate TrueSmart, Sony SmartWatch 2, Pebble Smartwatch.
teknosrc[dot]com/smartwatch-comparison-samsung-galaxy-gear-vs-omate-truesmart-vs-sony-smartwatch-2-vs-pebble-smartwatch/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, the comparison is based on a tech spec which is useless. You need a hands'on comparison from someone who has been using these watches for awhile.
the Omate TrueSmart isn't a no-brainer for everyone, it all depends on what you want from your (smart)watch
i have the smartwatch 2 now, but i wouldn't even call it a smartwatch, it's just a second display, the real magic happens on your phone and it can't do much without it
but that's fine with me, all i wanted from a smartwatch, when i first found out they existed, is:
1) it can act as a watch (duh )
2) not be huge, preferably less then 10mm thick
3) display notifications coming from my phone (facebook/twitter/whatsapp/etc)
4) have a battery life of at least 3-4 days
5) be waterproof
that really hasn't changed, i don't need a watch to replace my smartphone
i'm not going to read email/news/etc or surf the wen on my watch, my Butterfly S is perfect for that, 5 inch 1080p screen, not even the Neptune Pine comes close
the sw2 does most of those things right, but it doesn't seem like Sony is too interested in making it a success, releasing it without options shown in presentations and even on the box it comes in
the latest update has solved some issues and some watch faces were added, but overall i'm not impressed
and a really big one: the fact it fell apart within 2 months
and it's happening quite a lot, plenty of posts on xda and sony mobile forum, some even reported it falling apart after 3 days!
that's why i think for me the HOT Watch is a 'no-brainer', it does all those 5 things, with as added bonus, the private call function. i'm really looking forward trying that out
maybe in couple of years, smartwatches will replaces smartphones, but that will need flexible displays and much better batteries
I can only speak from an experience of reading about Gear and SW2, and having TS for a few days
Gear and SW2 will have all the notification working as expected tethered to your phone, and rooting Gear will give you a true android experience, although battery life is not that good. Plus, try to go outside with Gear shoveling snow (we just got our first storm in NJ), and getting it wet - forget 'bout it. Proprietary charger is not ideal either. Sony SW2 sounds like having a lot of build quality issues; it's alarming when I read posts on xda about screen coming off, etc. It should work fine with notifications (I talked to Augmented SW Pro developer - it's fully supported), you get some level of waterproof protection, regular micro-usb charging, and you can run some apps on it, but obviously it's not a true Android experience. I also like an idea of time always being displayed on SW2.
True Smart, hard to form an impression yet since I just installed Loki's ROM and can only use it as a mini android wifi device on my wrist. I don't have GSM sim card, on Verizon with CDMA, and personally think it makes no sense to drain your battery with 3G or even wi-fi use. It is a stand alone mini android watch so you can run different apps, browse the web, check emails, type on it, etc. But since I have a developers edition sent to me for review purpose, the software is not currently available. I mean, there is no way for me to have bt connection to my Note 2 to push notifications - the #1 purpose of any smart watch as a remote display of your out-of-sight phone. At the current moment, I can't properly review it until the final release of firmware and companion phone app is available. In general, the camera is really useful as POV action video cam, but awkward to take pictures. Bracelet is made out of a very cheap rubber material. The watch is a bit bulky, but it feels VERY solid inside of metal casing. Display is responsive, and the issues I'm seeing (like sometime back swipe from within apps doesn't respond as Back android key) probably due to firmware issues. Once a final firmware/software is released - this smartwatch going to SHINE!!! But until then, I will wait before writing my review. It's funny how a lot of people pre-ordered Dev edition in hope to receive it asap, but getting it earlier doesn't mean they can start enjoying it to full potential right away.
GG has 4.2.2 lol
Interesting to read these posts--in the light of current Non-News from Omate--I realise that @vectron and @lokifish have both got their hands on versions of the TrueSmart but, most of the rest of us are still waiting to form any sort of opinion.
Some folks talk about 'asking for refunds' based on some negative feedback, delivery date shenanigans, etc.. but I am still waiting, fairly patiently, to really find out what the Omate is all about.
P.S. I found @ClearD's website with comparisons of most current Smartwatches very interesting--thanks.
For me, its the Truesmart. I don't want a big phone and the 5" phones are so powerful now that the screen isn't capable of keeping up. For example, Injustice: Gods Among Us and other HD games can't be fully appreciated on a phone. Surfing the web is a pain.
So I've switched to using a tablet for games, surfing, watching movies etc. I will use the watch for simple things like picking up MMS, emails, phone calls etc while I'm out the house. If I'm at the gym or out for a run, I don't need to bring a phone, I'll just wear the watch.
If I'm travelling, I'll take my tablet and use the watch to create a WiFi hotspot.
This means I don't need amazing specs from the watch but the stand alone phone function and ability to create a WiFi hotspot are critical. I will upgrade my tablet instead of my phone, which is a much cheaper option - new tablets cost £200-£300, whereas new phones are £600ish.
Sent from my LG-V500 using xda app-developers app
I had a Sony smartwatch 2, it was a boring device and I don't know why. Today I have a Galaxy gear and I love it, now that we can enable notifications for every app, I really love it. I am considering buying a Qualcom Toq, does anyone have one and want to share your opinions?
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
So, browsing today, i found this: You know the phoneblox concept that everyone been talking about how it will never happen? well Motorola just announced an "open modular" Phone design scheme thing. Motorola say "WE WANT TO DO FOR HARDWARE WHAT THE ANDROID PLATFORM HAS DONE FOR SOFTWARE." (sorry about caps) Heres a link, if you want to read more: http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/29/5041336/motorola-project-ara-modular-smartphones
And also, from the blog:http://motorola-blog.blogspot.jp/2013/10/goodbye-sticky-hello-ara.html
Its called "Project Ara".
Pics bellow.
Discuss.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p3yNXgVr6Ds/Um80F-C2GfI/AAAAAAAAEiI/HzgWlnOSByE/s1600/ara2blogpost.png
Although I appreciate tech news as much as the next guy, I don't see how you can throw in XP2 into the title. This article is merely a pseudo update of a story from earlier in the year in regards to how PC's you can build and change out parts and as such, now Motorola, is looking into the concept of a smartphone that you can build and change its components. But I dont' the concept includes a gamepad and touchpad. Even if it did Devs would still have to support it, no support then its useless.
Again, not trying to sound like an a$$ and belittle your discovery, I am actually quite glad to see a compny actually looking into it as its a nice concept. But I fail to see how or why this could be the Xperia PLAY 2.
I think people need to realize, its been 2.5 years since this phone was released, I view our phone as along the lines as the HTC EVO 3D. A one time 'test project" to see if it would be successful enough. Clearly just as HTC is not interested in making an EVO 3D 2, Sony is not interested in making a XP2.
Woah
ozzmanj1 said:
Although I appreciate tech news as much as the next guy, I don't see how you can throw in XP2 into the title. This article is merely a pseudo update of a story from earlier in the year in regards to how PC's you can build and change out parts and as such, now Motorola, is looking into the concept of a smartphone that you can build and change its components. But I dont' the concept includes a gamepad and touchpad. Even if it did Devs would still have to support it, no support then its useless.
Again, not trying to sound like an a$$ and belittle your discovery, I am actually quite glad to see a compny actually looking into it as its a nice concept. But I fail to see how or why this could be the Xperia PLAY 2.
I think people need to realize, its been 2.5 years since this phone was released, I view our phone as along the lines as the HTC EVO 3D. A one time 'test project" to see if it would be successful enough. Clearly just as HTC is not interested in making an EVO 3D 2, Sony is not interested in making a XP2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well... I just thought of it as an opportunity, not to step on anyone's toes. The reason I decided to include xp2, was due to Motorola stating:"The modules "can be anything," says Motorola, giving examples ranging from a new keyboard or battery to more unusual components such as a pulse oximeter.". Im sorry Ill remove it if it makes you happy, but i just thought...
Also, Hers A video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaPf4ZIbDVM#t=125
I think the post is fine how it is. It isn't technically an xperia play 2, but maybe in time they could make gaming parts to make a gaming phone. That in a way could be an xperia play alternative.
Sent from my MUCH i5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
insane5125 said:
I think the post is fine how it is. It isn't technically an xperia play 2, but maybe in time they could make gaming parts to make a gaming phone. That in a way could be an xperia play alternative.
Sent from my MUCH i5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. My point exactly
Overall nice find. I love the idea behind phone bloks and I'm happy companies are looking into it.
Sent from my MUCH i5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
insane5125 said:
Overall nice find. I love the idea behind phone bloks and I'm happy companies are looking into it.
Sent from my MUCH i5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you consider buying one? I hear some people think it might not work due to parts being to expensive, and people "not having enough time" to customise their phones. I would definitely buy it
from the God of gaming, the Xperia Play
mocool05 said:
Would you consider buying one? I hear some people think it might not work due to parts being to expensive, and people "not having enough time" to customise their phones. I would definitely buy it
from the God of gaming, the Xperia Play
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thing about me is that I'm a very cautious buyer. When I buy something I make sure it does what I what the way I expect it too. So like when the PS4 & Xbox One was announced I didn't preorder it because I want to make sure there is no bugs or hardware issues. This will be the same.
Overall though yes I would consider buying one. If both phone blok and Project Ara come out I would see myself going for phone blok just because when you look at Project Ara the receivers on the back seem a little restrictive, when on phone bloks you can get difrent size parts and place them anywhere (if I want a camera on the bottom back of my phone I can do that)
PS: Have you checked out my post about the IReadyGO Much I5? If you haven't go check it out its also a Xperia Play alternative. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2404623
insane5125 said:
The thing about me is that I'm a very cautious buyer. When I buy something I make sure it does what I what the way I expect it too. So like when the PS4 & Xbox One was announced I didn't preorder it because I want to make sure there is no bugs or hardware issues. This will be the same.
Overall though yes I would consider buying one. If both phone blok and Project Ara come out I would see myself going for phone blok just because when you look at Project Ara the receivers on the back seem a little restrictive, when on phone bloks you can get difrent size parts and place them anywhere (if I want a camera on the bottom back of my phone I can do that)
PS: Have you checked out my post about the IReadyGO Much I5? If you haven't go check it out its also a Xperia Play alternative. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2404623
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do know their becoming one?
Yeah I noticed that after I posted it my bad. But the point still stands. customization is key to the success of this idea I feel.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
insane5125 said:
Yeah I noticed that after I posted it my bad. But the point still stands. customization is key to the success of this idea I feel.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True
Nice to hear that
It's a great innovation
---------- Post added at 04:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:51 PM ----------
Nice to hear that
It's a great innovation
Modular connection style, no need for modular pieces
Idea: Instead of putting modular pieces onto a fixed exoskeleton(which we still have to buy from motorola), they should develop modular connectivity, something like the connectors of a USB port, but each square "piece" having two in and two out ports on the sides, that way every module can connect to every module without the need for a base station.
Something along the lines of a jigsaw puzzle, without the need for a board.
Of course I'll admit, this will be much harder on the software side of things.
I hope a lot companies will participate like carl zeiss, nikon, canon, samsung for LENS, Wolfson, Yamaha, Roland for AUDIO, for SOCs/Mainboard Intel, TI, (Nvidia and AMD i guess?) Sony, Samsung, LG for DISPLAY, Sandisk, Kingston, Samsung, and Sony for STORAGE. I may not express stuff realistically (i am a noob). Just my idea. Like we chose our own hardware/setup and there are a lots of choices and everything.:good:
marcusljx said:
Idea: Instead of putting modular pieces onto a fixed exoskeleton(which we still have to buy from motorola), they should develop modular connectivity, something like the connectors of a USB port, but each square "piece" having two in and two out ports on the sides, that way every module can connect to every module without the need for a base station.
Something along the lines of a jigsaw puzzle, without the need for a board.
Of course I'll admit, this will be much harder on the software side of things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They use pins. also, wouldn't it be really fragile?
rad io said:
I hope a lot companies will participate like carl zeiss, nikon, canon, samsung for LENS, Wolfson, Yamaha, Roland for AUDIO, for SOCs/Mainboard Intel, TI, (Nvidia and AMD i guess?) Sony, Samsung, LG for DISPLAY, Sandisk, Kingston, Samsung, and Sony for STORAGE. I may not express stuff realistically (i am a noob). Just my idea. Like we chose our own hardware/setup and there are a lots of choices and everything.:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, that was the initial plan... Anything close would be good too
In a few years that should not only be an utopic dream; I want it to be reality! Every personal computer is a modular system consisting of different and separate components like ram, cpu, gpu and much more.
So why no modular phone?
The main difficulty is the small form factor and the fact that smartphones are products with a really short lifetime. Moreover it's easier to get a whole new smartphone than buying some components to builing his personal one.
On the other side there is a wide range of new possibilities with such a project and there are a lot of people that want to use some "special" phones. Me too!
So I hope and I think, in a few years there will come first modular phones to the consumer. But maybe they will be very expensive and with less possibilities than there theoretically could be realized. Let's hope the best!
I would definatley buy one because look so funky and awesome. and you can start off small and slowly upgrade without having to get an entirely new phone
Set Standards.
I still believe once the ground rules are down and maybe 4 or 5 boards are made available (price ranging from standard to dev standards) this will work.
Each chip must use X connector, allow a max of Y volts, amps etc.
And have on demand firmware/driver loading. Hopefully with the last option, you can hotswap certain parts without switching the device off.
marcusljx said:
Idea: Instead of putting modular pieces onto a fixed exoskeleton(which we still have to buy from motorola), they should develop modular connectivity, something like the connectors of a USB port, but each square "piece" having two in and two out ports on the sides, that way every module can connect to every module without the need for a base station.
Something along the lines of a jigsaw puzzle, without the need for a board.
Of course I'll admit, this will be much harder on the software side of things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nawbit wouldn't really make it harder for software, serial controllers deal with addressing chained devices all the time, look at SCSI and midi.
Sent from my XT1053 using Tapatalk
i think this watch deserves it's own topic (and no, i don't have shares or any ties with them )
original kickstarter project here
now that i have had the Sony Smartwatch 2 for a month or so, i'm glad i backed this project
yes, the SW2 has apps and a color screen, so?
it's not like many of the apps are useful anyway
no microphone, no speaker, no response from Sony on reported issues/wishes
and i really don't need a smartwatch to replace my phone, tasks like browsing, reading email, news, etc and playing games are perfect on the 5 inch screen of my Butterfly S, so i don't really need a big color screen
there are 5 things i want from a watch
-long battery life, 4-5 days minimum
-thin, about 8-9mm should be the max
-a lot of choice in watch faces, being able to design them myself would be the ultimate, all of them should show time+date, extra info like weather would be nice (like min/max temp for the day)
-handle calls
-show important mail/whatsapp/twitter/facebook notifications (from people i find important)
the HOT Watch does most of them, i especially like the way it handles calls
you can pre-order the watch since a couple of weeks
pics of the 4 models (Basic, Classic, Edge and Curve):
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Features (copied from kickstarter):
-Private calls amplified by the palm of your hand
-Speakerphone
-Voice activated calling and other phone control using your phone’s native voice recognition such as iPhone SIRI
-Receive and reply to Messages (SMS, Email, Facebook and Twitter)
-Music player remote control (for your phone’s native player)
-Multiple dial faces
-Automatic fast contacts sync
-Caller ID
-Audible and silent vibrating alarms and alerts
-Pedometer: Record running, walking, steps climbed, calories burned
-Fall detection with automatic text to emergency number (unless cancelled in 30 seconds)
-LED illumination
-Note capture: captures your handwriting on the watch face
-Tactile vibration feedback
-HOT Proximity Alerts: Never leave your phone behind and prevent theft
-Find your phone with remote beep
-Built-in LED Flashlight (ONLY in Curve)
-Water Resistant
-Multi-touch projected capacitive screen (Skim finger above glass to change screens)
if any info is missing/incomplete, let me know and i'll add it
update may 2nd 2014:
Essential Functionality Android Phone App SDK is available.
https://www.hotsmartwatch.com/developers/ess-android-sdk/
update july 31st
finally a decent video, showing an actual production model
also, the first kickstarters should be receiving their watches
finally!
edit: and the android app is available, in the play store
update august 12th
sdk is available here
Hot watch
JarlSX said:
i think this watch deserves it's own topic (and no, i don't have shares or any ties with them )
original kickstarter project here
now that i have had the Sony Smartwatch 2 for a month or so, i'm glad i backed this project
yes, the SW2 has apps and a color screen, so?
it's not like many of the apps are useful anyway
no microphone, no speaker, no response from Sony on reported issues/wishes
and i really don't need a smartwatch to replace my phone, tasks like browsing, reading email, news, etc and playing games are perfect on the 5 inch screen of my Butterfly S, so i don't really need a big color screen
there are 5 things i want from a watch
-long battery life, 4-5 days minimum
-thin, about 8-9mm should be the max
-a lot of choice in watch faces, being able to design them myself would be the ultimate, all of them should show time+date, extra info like weather would be nice (like min/max temp for the day)
-handle calls
-show important mail/whatsapp/twitter/facebook notifications (from people i find important)
the HOT Watch does most of them, i especially like the way it handles calls
I too have backed this Kickstarter project, I think this watch will be great for formal occasions. Nice looking sleek and thin unlike Omates true smart watch ,that I backed also,but will only use for outdoorsy stuff,kayaking ,swimming ,beach,etc.
TBO it does sound like you have a vested interest in the Hot watch. I agree , great looking watch but it does not have that much more on the competition except looks. I really doubt if there will as many Apps as there is available for the Pebble, only due to the popularity of Pebble compared to Hot,first to the starting line I guess
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i don't care for apps, really. like i said, it doesn't need to replace my smartphone at all, i just want a watch with some additional functionality
the HOT Watch doesn't even run apps, does it? or very limited
i just hope there will be plenty watch faces to choose from or have the ability to design/add them myself
ps: would you mind removing the quoted part? don't need all those pics twice... thanks
A sdk is coming out. I was hoping more excitement and buzz for this watch..can't wait to get mine.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
i don't get it either, maybe once it's available in stores that people will start noticing?
i also don't understand why people prefer those clunky things on their wrists
i think it's too early for those mini-smartphone-on-your-wrist things, they need to make them (a lot) smaller/thinner first, use flexible displays, way better batteries, that kind of stuff
in the meantime, watches like the HOT Watch are ideal
IMHO ofcourse
I was close to getting the Omate. But I can't imagine charging twice or three times a day. Plus the private is pretty cool.. We need tasker support out the box or early on.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Two more e-paper watches
Two more e-paper watches from China:
(1) Sonostar - http://www.sonostar.com/Smartwatch/Specificaion
(2) Tomoon - http://www.tomoon.cn/index (No English)
Dunno what processor these two watches use.
E-paper watches should be more battery frugal because power is only used when the screen is refreshed. However, e-paper screen refresh rate is low (< 15 fps) so don't expect fluid youtube video or game playing (if these are ever possible), and there is "ghost" problem during refresh. Also the older e-ink / e-paper devices don't have night light, but the latest models eg. Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Glo have front light (e-paper is opaque and doesn't use back lighting).
Ryan Cordero said:
I was close to getting the Omate. But I can't imagine charging twice or three times a day. Plus the private is pretty cool.. We need tasker support out the box or early on.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are talking about Omate, the correct statement would be charging every 2-3 days, NOT 2-3 times a day. I think you mixed it up with Gear (which btw last more than 24hr on a single charge)
Regarding HOT Watch, I can tell you from experience of owning MetaWatch and Omate TS, as well as reading plenty about Pebble at the time of the release - when it comes to KS projects, their focus is to deliver hardware first with unfinished software/apps. After all the delays and final release of hardware, all users become beta testers of software, and often they rely on XDA and other developers to release custom ROMs and write their own software. I don't expect HOT to be any different, although would love to be proven wrong. Even big guys like Sammy and Sony can't get fully functionality software out of the door with hardware release. As I said, every company just wants to get to a final hardware production to start shipping the units. Then, software will follow up.
Two to three days sounds good but what kind of use are you doing? Screen on times ect.
I was hoping the hot will get the support level the pebble did as I like the ts a lot but not quite sold on it yet.
hoping Google will announce something this coming year.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Ryan Cordero said:
Two to three days sounds good but what kind of use are you doing? Screen on times ect.
I was hoping the hot will get the support level the pebble did as I like the ts a lot but not quite sold on it yet.
hoping Google will announce something this coming year.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not as much use yet, with heavy use realistically it will probably be a day considering this is a real android "smartphone" on your wrist
Regarding Pebble, it only took them what, 8-9 months, million$ of investment, and being sold in Best Buy, Amazon, AT&T stores, etc.
I do agree with you, once Google will release something, it will be at a reasonable price (obviously subsidized) and will have a working native android software from get-go.
@slim_thumb that sonostar watch looks pretty decent actually, nice resolution as well
but you still can't order it, there's a video of over 6 months old on youtube where they show a mockup, because that's all they had at that point, maybe still is a mockup
then again, it really doesn't do a whole lot more than my SW2
that's why i want the HOT watch, the private handsfree function seems ideal to me
@vectron you're probably right about the software, but as long as the hardware is right, they can always fix the software
Sony did release a reasonable update recently, but they're not there yet and their support is a mess
very interested in whatever google will come up with, but again, i think a watch with flexible display and (very) good battery life (and hopefully private handsfree function like the HOT watch has) will be the ultrimate (maybe HOT Watch 2 )
until then, i think i'll be very happy with the HOT watch
JarlSX said:
@vectron you're probably right about the software, but as long as the hardware is right, they can always fix the software
Sony did release a reasonable update recently, but they're not there yet and their support is a mess
very interested in whatever google will come up with, but again, i think a watch with flexible display and (very) good battery life (and hopefully private handsfree function like the HOT watch has) will be the ultrimate (maybe HOT Watch 2 )
until then, i think i'll be very happy with the HOT watch
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please, keep us updated once you get yours!!!
will do, sadly i messed up my pledge, so had to resort to pre-order, so others will probably report sooner
really can't wait trying out the private call function!
Hi,
i've open a thread to discuss about hot smartwatch apps development
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2594890
Bye!
Daniele
Now classic and edge model are also avaible with leather band
can we keep the quoting to a minimum in this topic please?
@dang1 good idea, hope this watch will pick up some more attention once they present it on CES next week
I never thought of looking on here for threads about the hot smartwatch! Anyway, I'm a kickstarter backer and pretty excited Not much from CES yet, but hopefully soon!
So where are all the photos and videos from ces?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXQ8srDLk9U
And this: http://youtu.be/I8PjQwwpoFQ
THIS IS A RESOURCE FOR SMARTWATCH MAKERS
Northern English pronoun & adverb for nothing is 'Nowt'. The Nowt smartWatch by XDA members.
The corporations won't make a good smartwatch due to greed, smaller firms can't, due to lack resources and software access/rights (more greed by corporations). Crowd funding has repeatedly failed, see Omate TS. Time for a simple revolution ... can XDA members (or the people in general) build a good smartwatch?
Software is one of the biggest issue, but can't a 1000+ committed, devs, electronic engineers, analyst, passionate horologists and very ... very tenacious dreamers attempt it? Starting with finding solutions to the most common issues faced by those who 'have already been there and not quite made it'? If there's one place where the right people are, its here on XDA.
Lots of debates about the issues have been made and forgotten, see the Omate TrueSmart threads and some blogs.
Here's one: http://www.smartwatchgroup.com/overview-smartwatch-industry/
http://www.xda-developers.com/smartwatches-had-no-year-again/ - another one, see @Lokifish Marz comments. Other comments below to start the discussion off . . . .
______________________________________________________________________________
@Lokifish Marz said:
General rules with Chinese Android smartwatches
Broken firmware
Major security holes
Little to no official support (this includes the phone side app)
English (or any other language other than Chinese) for the phone app is very rare
Incomplete source code (when you can even get it) that is a generic build pulled from a phone
Inconsistent battery life due to broken firmware
IP67 is more like IP54 if lucky
Poor build quality and QC by western standards
Not Lokifish supported (I've walked away from the industry as a whole until they get their collective heads out of their butts)
kuronosan's time is limited so fixes may be slow
Depending on your needs and goals. Talk to Ingenic. The HW is a little slow on the Newton (SmartQ Z uses it), not sure about the Newton 2. Either way they have source (Linux, Android, etc). The package is small enough that you could design and build a smartwatch that's about the same size as a real watch, but the display will need a new "crystal" to pull it off nicely. Find a compatible round display, and you should be able to use off the shelf watch cases with minor modifications giving you a 200m diver's smartwatch if you do it right.
*Side note
Even with a 1/2 million buy in for 3000 units we designed ourselves, Umeox still would not have provided source code, and little to no support. That's what the Chinese ODM's are like. kuronosan can verify this.
______________________________________________
@Lokifish Marz said:
JZ4775 supports;
Linux (image and source available from Ingenic)
Android (image and source available from Ingenic)
Wear (Com 1's prototype was running Wear before Google strong armed Com 1 and pretty much killed the company)
_________________________________________
simple1I said:
I've come to the conclusion that the only way to build a decent smartwatch is by 500 (or more) xda members coming together on a project:
- committing our own money.
- Electing a group of experts.
- HARDWARE - building from scratch,
- SOFTWARE - take what's out there and amend it.
- trawling thru members ideas.
- People powered, no management, no profits. Not even kickstarter.
The advantage over all other watches would be the 'no profits', so a good quality long lasting watch could be crafted.
I'll leave it for someone else to post the disadvantages...
____________________________________________________
@Lokifish Marz said:
- You would still need some sort of hierarchy.
- 15-20% net profit cap would still be much lower than the industry and allow for growth.
- HW is not the big issue. SW, case design and source are
- ODMs deal in +1000 unit lots so the "buy in" is very expensive
Let's just say this comes from a been there, tried that perspective minus the xda member support. XDA members were not approached, neither was the public, due to one main reason. Corporations with far more purchasing power and capitol are known for "borrowing". Especially in China.
This is of course off topic so back to Mars I go.
____________________________________________
So . . . the software and stealing ideas and people is an issue, how can we overcome these?
If this goes anywhere I'll contribute, and also see if I can get Watch U Seek involved.
Maybe a WUS/XDA collaborative work smartwatch? If that happened, that alone would have a lot of pull in both the traditional and smartwatch communities.
XDA/WUS watch project
Lokifish Marz said:
If this goes anywhere I'll contribute, and also see if I can get Watch U Seek involved.
Maybe a WUS/XDA collaborative work smartwatch? If that happened, that alone would have a lot of pull in both the traditional and smartwatch communities.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For those that dont know WatchuSeek is the largest watch forum, @Lokifish Marz - would you like to post a thread on WUS or shall I, its just that you'll receive more attention or I can start it and you can add your support?
CEO of OnePlus, Pete Lau's excellent interview, one former hardware employee of Oppo that made a successfull product in 1.5 years with only five employees. How did they start? With lots & lots of community ideas, we (the XDA community) to a certain extent already have loads of ideas and feedback already, we have learned a lot of the Omate Truesmart watch failure and Lokifish Marz has (i'm sure others too) have already attempted the first iteration, this is all feedback and ideas to base the new watch on.
@E:V:A - you mentioned - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=52695562&postcount=28 -
There are plenty of HW/SW experts who'd have been willing to contribute for free (including myself) to an awesome product, but in hindsight, Omate's primary purpose was clearly to become rich quickly, and not to create or build.
The most important success indicators are:
1) How you handle customer issues
2) How you keep your product's marketing promises
3) How fast you can deliver the product
4) How you get and keep an expert team
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you say?
Get as many core points covered as possible (devs and the like), then approach WUS members. I'm still pretty much unknown there (most of my stuff is in the Russian section) but have no issue posting on WUS once HW/SW folks are on board. I suggest this route because traditional watch lovers are a very hard sell and the more flashed out it is, the greater chance of getting folks on board.
Like I've said elsewhere, my ideas at this point are up for grabs so here's a partial list off the top of my head;
PCB and battery same size as display or smaller
Design it as if it's a dial and movement, allowing for greater case variation
1-2mm border between edge of display and case max
Dress = 1 crown, no pushers
Sports = 1 crown, 2 pushers
Diver = same as sports but sealable mic port and functional bezel
42mm or smaller (the big watch thing is starting to go out of style anyways)
Square designs based in iconic square watches
I also personally suggest Acrylic "crystals" on certain models. The may be easier to scratch but near impossible to shatter, and most scratches can be buffed out.
I also suggest playing with the concept of lume in the display itself on certain models. It has some technical hurdles but has a number of advantages. One being that as long as you have a light source (flashlight, etc) you can "recharge" the "secondary passive backlight" (lume) and get a couple hours of night adjusted eyesight visibility without the use of a backlight. The battery savings is obvious.
In response to your list;
Set standards, warranty terms and procedures early and stick to them. Back it up with people that care and know the product first hand
Don't approach the market until a fully functional prototype with all the features exists.
Don't offer it til in a position where all you need to do is send the money to the ODM for production of the final product.
Not sure about the get part but, the team needs to be seen as being a part of the device itself. I even had the idea of using microdots or micro engraving the teams names into the inside of every watch. The physiological reasons are obvious. If there is a pay thing, that's what business planners and accountants are there for.
@Lokifish Marz - I see this will take a lot of planning, I haven't forgotten, I'm thinking things thru.
The most important question is, will this project be for a stand-alone or a notifier? This will determined what support we'll get form the community.
Greetings,
I am a senior Electrical Engineer with 9 year experience and I do PCB design for a living. I am interested in helping this project. To start with, we need a list of what we want / need in the design, a wish list. From there we can put together a plan for building the circuit board, the specifications document. Let me know if you can use me. I do have access to PCB layout and design tools, and experience using them.
As long as you dont mind MIPS android, you could use the M200, from igenic. They provide Android or linux based sources, and the newton2 dev chip is cheap, $100.
Edit: I forgot to add: 1.2 gHz plus a low power core, along with active voice recognition.
If you get this off the ground, I will help with UI, concept, and clock design and offer any other assistance I can provide.
I know we don't have enough support at the moment, but can we start with some ideas based on past experiences.
Standalone like the InWatch Z or a notifier like the Qualcomm Toq? Both of these examples are best thing we have to a decent attempt at a smartwatch.
Should we build a notifier or a Standalone? Or like the LG Urbane both.
One idea I've been thinking about, would a color screen like the new Pebble Time work with Android? I don't think it would handle video, the battery life would be an advantage.
I don't think a standalone device is really practical as a first try. I believe there are regulations in the EU and US, regarding basebands and IMEIs, that the small Chinese companies just ignore. Also, if you are thinking of using off-the-shelf cases then getting decent reception for phone antenna becomes a big problem and using a special strap for it, as some manufacturers do, would not be an option.
As someone who has been wearing a Mimi mi-w3 for the last few months I would never again consider a watch that doesn't have an always on, sunlight readable screen and I suspect that may well be true for many other people. Perhaps you could put together some kind of poll or survey?
Pseud O'Nym said:
I don't think a standalone device is really practical as a first try. I believe there are regulations in the EU and US, regarding basebands and IMEIs, that the small Chinese companies just ignore. Also, if you are thinking of using off-the-shelf cases then getting decent reception for phone antenna becomes a big problem and using a special strap for it, as some manufacturers do, would not be an option.
As someone who has been wearing a Mimi mi-w3 for the last few months I would never again consider a watch that doesn't have an always on, sunlight readable screen and I suspect that may well be true for many other people. Perhaps you could put together some kind of poll or survey?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're 100% right about the W3. It would really be hard to go back to a watch that was unreadable out doors.
chainsol said:
As long as you dont mind MIPS android, you could use the M200, from igenic. They provide Android or linux based sources, and the newton2 dev chip is cheap, $100.
Edit: I forgot to add: 1.2 gHz plus a low power core, along with active voice recognition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ingenic has been at the top of my list for some time for those very reasons.
simple1i said:
Should we build a notifier or a Standalone? Or like the LG Urbane both.
One idea I've been thinking about, would a color screen like the new Pebble Time work with Android? I don't think it would handle video, the battery life would be an advantage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Companion should be first. The display is a preference thing. I don't like E-Ink due to it's low ppi, poor refresh rates and ghosting. A smooth UI will require something else. I still think transflectives are the way to go for a number of reasons, and a black transflective (Sony SW2) is better than silver (inWatch). I still have yet to play with the secondary backlight but will as soon as I figure out what smartwatch to sacrifice to test it.
I saw your post about a case in another thread. The problem with most smartwatch cases is they are not designed to the same standards as a traditional case. There are also far more watch case manufacturers than smartwatch case manufacturers due to smartwatches being completely in-house. That allows for more base variations and most likely lower costs.
Off topic- Latest watch project. Original on the left, finished mod on the right.
Standalone
Remember for standalone: we'd have to go through all of the certifications for connections in the us, and for Android in general, to have google apps, we'd have to pay for inspection: 25 to 75k.
chainsol said:
Remember for standalone: we'd have to go through all of the certifications for connections in the us, and for Android in general, to have google apps, we'd have to pay for inspection: 25 to 75k.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Straight Android = No official certification, ever.
Wear = Google partners only.
Linux = No limitations, but it has to be a truly complete package.
Lokifish Marz said:
Straight Android = No official certification, ever.
Wear = Google partners only.
Linux = No limitations, but it has to be a truly complete package.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aha, I misread an article slightly, we'd be using a pretty standard version of Android, with no competition to Google, so you are absolutely right.
Watch size and case design
Case sizing
Something often ignored in the smartwatch world is proper case sizes. It's almost as if they are betting that the recent (past 5-10 years) over sized watch fad continues so they can ignore what is considered proper watch sizing. Speak with any watchmaker or jeweler with a reputation for quality and you will get some very simple rules.
A proper fitting watch should never be wider than your wrist. The strap should also never droop over the wrist. Apparently smartwatch makers never got that 100 year old memo;
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Now there is a simple guide to proper sizing that many in the watch community agree on. It's called the the "Golden Ratio". The golden ratio is probably one of the most common seen ratios seen in the world. Architects, painters, car designers, and even nature uses it.
Now there cannot be a one size fits all of course, but you can get close. First one has to take into account certain commonalities in wrist sizes. The average man's wrist is about 7.5 inches in diameter, and the average woman's wrist is around 6 inches. A 40mm case diameter it puts you in between too large for women with small wrists, and too small for men with larger wrists. Additionally, if you look at the entire Rolex large unisex collection, it averages out to about 40mm. Other quality/luxury brands are also about the same.
At 40mm diameter it puts the near ideal display size at 31-33mm in diameter, or 1.2-1.3in . This allows for a Sports and Diver's model with functional bezel while giving enough leeway for a slightly smaller "dress" watch. Another factor in case design is the case/bezel to crystal ratio.
Bezel to display ratio
Dress/Formal
On most dress/formal watches they have a case/bezel to crystal ratio of about 1:0.937. This means the display diameter is 93% that of the case/bezel diameter. This allows for two things. Larger display or smaller case. Traditionally, dress/formal watches are smaller in size so I suggest a smaller case for this group.
Sports/Diver's
Here that average ratio is 1:0.8, or 80%. This gives a bezel that is not too fat or too thin while retaining enough width for markings.
Display resolution
240x240 and 320x320 are a little short on ppi. 400x400 is slowly coming available which puts a 1.2-1.3in display over the 300ppi mark should a source for such a size be found. This also puts the display at Nexus 4/iPhone 5 level of detail.
Square vs Round
Square smartwatches are often referred to as "not a watch" by the uninitiated. This is of course very far from the truth. Some of the generally agreed upon iconic watches are square. Part of the issue with smartwatches is an attractive square design is difficult. A perfect square is unpleasant to the eye but the wasted space around square displays is equally unpleasant. There is also the issue of orientation of rectangular displays. Most are horizontal which leads to a "fat watch" look. If square displays are to be used then a taper at the top and bottom should be used or a minimalist design. Here's some examples;
Tapered (tapered poses an issue with overall length being too great unless smaller displays are used)
Minimalist (even with lugs this can be a very attractive design)
(This is all based on a ton of research, informed smartwatch users complaints, and traditional watch users complaints, with a dash of personal opinion for flavor.)
EDIT:
Something to investigate. If a more suitable size can be found with a decent capacity or even custom size.
It's easier to go companion and add features than standalone and add companion.
In terms of open-source smartwatch,there is an important development going on here!
Check the github repo, it's almost ready!
First a watch...
So as long as we don't have huge opposition (which is unlikely) it's agreed then, we'll build a companion watch.
But like most 'everyday watch' it needs lots of functions that make it a good watch first, that can also do excellent notifications. My backup & most trusted watch is a Casio Protek, it just works all the time . . . can't really afford a Rolex, which also 'always works' too with greater style & class. But I must say as classless as a Casio may be to some, its like a Toyota, not much to look at, but reliable. No offence to anyone, I have both.
By a good watch, I mean stylish, durable with enough functions that it can be used/worn without a phone, as a time peice, as a sports aid with lots of sensors to make it alive. So in a matter of speaking it needs to be a like a standalone minus the SIM.
Still lots of discussion about the hardware is needed, but we really need to also start a serious and challenging discussion about the software/OS, here's where most smartwatch' fail, however we have a huge pool of talent on XDA. I intentionally haven't posted any announcement on the other (Sony, Samsung, Pebble) forums, because we need to get some general idea for the software first then get others to help develop those ideas, else we'll might be flooded with too many suggestions.
So software?
Web OS, no or no? [emoji51]
Wear is a no & can't
Linux was mentioned...?
Linux for the Ingenic is available and GPL compliance should not be an issue. Would be a foundation and up build which is more difficult, but could be tailored specifically to our needs unlike Android or Wear.
WebOS has a lot of potential and is open source as well but HW specific source may not be available for Ingenic. That requires somebody very familiar with WebOS to work with Ingenic on building it. Again, compliance should not be an issue.
NucleusOS may be an option but not sure if they have an Ingenic build and full GPL compliance may be an issue.
Anybody here familiar with what going on the BSD side of things? I ask because GPLv2 and GPLv3 are not compatible with each other and allows for proprietary code to be withheld. BSD licenses are more a "as long as you give me credit" type setup and is far more open/flexible than GPL.
If I missed anything let me know.
Hi guys, I am the owner of OXY SmartWatch, a new SmartWatch available in two versions: Round and Square.
Here a few preview renders of our final product:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
This is our website:
http://www.oxytechs.com/
And our Google+ page where you can follow our progresses:
https://www.google.com/+Oxytechswatch
The watch is running Android 4.4 AOSP and we have built a custom version of Android that is more feasible for SmartWatches than Android WEAR. Plus we have custom Android Studio templates to work with our product and we give the possibility to install any ROM without breaking warranty or support.
In this thread I want to share with this community a preview of the Watch and our links.
We are also looking for Android Developers, Android Kernel Developers and iOS Developers.
We also accept candidates from remote locations so feel free to share with us at info[at]netarchitectures[dot]co[dot]uk your resume or feedbacks about our product.
If you want to join our Developer Program, follow this link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/software/oxy-smartwatch-development-t3185452
The watches have:
CPU MIPS M200 Dual Core
512 MB RAM
4 GB Disk Space
Heart Rate Sensor
Vibration
AMOLED Touch display covered with Gorilla Glass
Speakers and Microphones
Magnetic contact charging mechanism
Gyroscope, Accellerometer and Magnetometer
Bluetooth 4.0 and BLE Compatible with iOS and Android and PC
Light sensor
400 mAh LiPo Battery
72 hours with BLE and 1 week without Bluetooth enabled
Stainless steel IPV6 water proof
Right now we are working at our website www[dot]OXYTECHS[dot]com and for the end of August you will be able to see the full product description, accessories and various demo.
The 15th of November 2015 we will open the PRE-SALE Campaign.
We have a batch of 5,000 pieces available per model, so a total of 20,000 pieces:
5,000 Round Stainless Steel
5,000 Round Black Stainless Steel
5,000 Square Stainless Steel
5,000 Square Black Stainless Steel
This project is related to the porting of IWOP (Ingenic Wearable Open Platform) for OXY SmartWatches.
The platform IWOP is available here for download: http://iwop.ingenic.com/.
OXY is giving hardware development kit to each developer who is willing to contribute to the platform.
Attached to this thread there are architecture views, UX mocks and interaction design about the OXY custom ROM.
More details related to OXY are available here: http://www.oxytechs.com/
OXY ROM is composed by:
A watchface manager
Home launcher
Control manager app
Settings app
Apps navigator
A set of utilities apps delivered with the product
XDA:DevDB Information
OXY SmartWatch V 1.0, ROM for the Android General
Contributors
raffaeu
Source Code: http://iwop.ingenic.com/
ROM OS Version: 4.4.x KitKat
ROM Kernel: Linux 3.10.x
Based On: IWOP
Some preview videos of OXY ROM:
Notifications Manager
Watchfaces Manager
Phone Calls Manager
Only IPx6, multiple (more than 3) actions to access key info and apps for "Probably 249 or 299"? Hard sell, even with custom ROM support.
On the square version, a bezeless display is easily possible if the PCB and battery are not larger in area than the display area.
Lokifish Marz said:
Only IPx6, multiple (more than 3) actions to access key info and apps for "Probably 249 or 299"? Hard sell, even with custom ROM support.
On the square version, a bezeless display is easily possible if the PCB and battery are not larger in area than the display area.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Lokifish and thank you for your feedback.
The answer you mention is about the Black version, which is full Black Stainless Steel, including the wristband. Consider that only the wristband has a production cost of 28$ (without VAT) the price of 249$ does not look that bad to me. Think about OLIO SmartWatch, it's a full Stainless Steel watch with locked ROM and it's sold for almost 600$ a piece.
About the square version, we couldn't find ANY manufacturer in Taiwan, China and Singapore capable to produce a full baseless square display, only round can be baseless but if you know any manufacturer capable of making AMOLED display squared with Gorilla Glass I would be more than happy to get your help, we are still in the beta version of our product and any feedback is welcome and well appreciated.
The OLIO is also design by watchmakers, uses 316L SS, and has a water resistance 50 times greater than that IPx7 with no time limit like IPx7 has.
As far as the band, you can get decent quality folded SS bands for around $15-20 USD at full retail price.
A bezeless square display can be done. It requires an approach not seen in smartwatches though that makes assembly a little more difficult but is still doable. Also, "Off the shelf" designs simply don't cut it as it requires the "crystal" be cut a certain way.
Have your guys look over "U.I Design", "Why this Martian.. ", and "I bet your smartwatch..." links in my signature below. Feel free to pick my brain and use the information in the links. The minimum I ask is that you give proper credit if you use any of it.
Looking at your G+ posts, nice job with the Ingenic BTW. I designed and built a smartwatch using the same platform. Too bad I killed it during a 5 ATM water resistance test.
Hi Lokifish, again useful details and feedback.
You are right, a nice and decent band is probably available on AliExpress for less than 20 bucks, but we made our with a different manufacturer and for the first batch we ended up with a cost of 28$.
This is another reason why we want to get this project into the community, to get feedback and suggestions from people that faced these problems before us.
About OLIO, of course they used high quality materials, a nice design, but I personally disagree about the ROM and UX choices (but this is my personal feeling). The point for me it's about the price. Pebble manufacturer their watch for 18$ and sell it for almost 199$, now dropped to 149$ if I am not wrong.
We are a startup and we will probably endup in some incubators or crowdfunding website in order to start the mass production. Probably the price will be around 199$ on retail but again, the prices and costs we are facing are a bit different than the one faced by watchmakers that have been on the market for many years.
What we believe is different between OXY and the rest of the world is the community, we want to make an open product, we want to make the customer capable to install custom ROM, customize the body and more. This is where we see the added value that other watch makers do not have at the moment.
@Lokifish Marz - thanks for the reply and pointing out OXY ... I feel like there's ... just a little hope ... maybe
@raffaeu - please take into account Lokifish Marz's advice, he will be very valuable to you, from a historical, current & future point of view. You'll save a lot of time and effort.
There are only a few people in the world that can make a decent, let alone a 'good smartwatch', due to greed/profit, but it can be done with the right goals and vision. Always know your history! Courtesy to the Martian ... again
I'm not a techy as such, but an important aspect of a good product is the non-functional business aspects, how to make a robust watch and then marketing, communication, support, together with making a little profit of course. Techies alone can't do this (no offense). Out of desperation we started the Nowt Watch thread, please have read, some very interesting discussion. No doubt you're at a stage where you can't go back with your current products, but we can always better our understanding and add to our knowledge and experiences.
I purchased an Omate clone recently (I had to get it out of my system), some of the non-techy issues, charging it - a pain! Straps - awful! A companion watch, should still be like a stand-alone watch first, meaning, above all its a robust time-piece that many can/would use without a phone as maybe a sports and leisure watch.
I'm curious, what does OXY mean? You have my support if you want it. I used to be a software tester, as well as marketing, strategy, process ... all that boring important stuff. Good luck
@Lokifish Marz has some interesting articles and idea that we are taking into consideration. Our primary targets are:
make an open source product
build a brand and trust from the community
make a real watch, solid, durable and with style
We designed OXY to being able to run with a phone and without, in fact without the battery stay charged for almost 1 week. Secondly is the charger which is magnetic, so that our customers are not having the frustration of the USB cable pain.
We are here to get feedback, idea and of course help. Anybody is welcome to join us, we are also hiring so anything is possible. Of course we are a startup so we still need to pay salaries and bills but we are not willing to become rich but we are willing to build a trusted brand for IoT products and more precisely for smartwatch. I always say that OXY is a mission for me and not a company.
OXY is an acronym for oxygen, something that you need and that's required to humans to live.
Feel free to contact me @simple1i and we can discuss further our project. In the meantime I'll have a look at your links.
Oh I see Oxy. I do like the name Horology, that's what all good (smart)watch lovers are, there's an idea for a name of a smartwatch.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you decided to used Android because it's the cheaper/faster (way to get it up and ready) option? Do you have Playstore on the OXY? Google can be very awkward about this.
Listening to the tech' community is a good thing, but for a 'fine dining' watch the experts are few, you need the Horologists, the real trick to to know what opinions to take on and what to discard. Then its a matter of goods ideas/functions vs costs. This might be a tough one to address, but the OXY needs to be either better then the Moto 360 2's (rumoured specs) or similar with a lower cost. So far I'm impressed. I am waiting to see what Pebbles does with the I/O port on the back of their watch, what hardware add-ons will they come up with? A good future proof strategy for them to expand functionality.
I'll be in touch.
@simple1i it was not easy, we had to search for conflicts with other trademarks, copyright and we also needed something simple to pronounce considering that our product will be sold worldwide. OXY sound easy but it is still a nice sound to pronounce
Our PCB is an extension of Ingenic Newton2. We had to modify the plug for the display because the original one was not enough for round and square displays plus we added an heart rate, a vibration motor a different Bluetooth and a Lipo battery of 400mAh. We changed the USB port and overall we came up with the cheapest but more flexible solution.
Why? Because we have a public AOSP for Android 4.4 and Linux which means that our product can fit any development configuration without any license problems. Just use git, download our AOSP and create your own smartwatch.
Google play will be added later, as I said our goal is to provide an open platform with a default set of apps but without any license or warranty limit. Our license and warranty will cover only the hardware, about the software our customers will be able to fully customize the product.
For sure v1 won't be perfect, for sure we will need time to build up a community but based on the fact that we have an AOSP on git, that you can easily make custom apps with Android studio and that our price range will be lower than other android smartwatches, I think and hope that our product will be well known very soon.
Finally, we will run a crowdfunding but our mass production is already set. A big, big advantage compared to other crowdfunding campaigns
Unless Google has retroactively changed a number of things and not published it, official Google Services support (certification, service framework, Play Store, etc) is a no go. A couple of smartwatch manufacturers found out the hard way, one of which made it into tech news because of it. That's just one of many sites that covered it and I was working directly with Omate at the time this happened. The only smartwatches with official support run Wear, which requires partnership status.
Here's a good place to start
@Lokifish Marz partnership status is a no go. Also Pebble tried somehow to have a sort of partnership with Google, even if Pebble does not run Android at all, but they go a big no. Regarding Android WEAR, we have submitted in June 2 requests including draw, project details, hardware details and more and we never got an answer from anybody. We know that our OXY can run Android WEAR, we also took apart the SDK of Android WEAR to see how it works and at the end we choose to stay Open Source and give up on Google WEAR for now. Then in the future anything can happen, we are totally open to any conversation but our mission is to make an Open Source Smartwatch, so having a smartwatch locked down by Android WEAR .apk is not our business model right now. The giant Samsung has left Android WEAR and also OLIO did not even approach Google at all. Why? Probably because Google is taking some business decisions that cannot fit all watchmakers out there right now.
About Google Play, that's a different story. Our current hardware is better than Asus Zenwatch and the Moto 360 v1.0, the only limit for Google Play is the resolution. Our Round watch has a resolution of 400x400 while the squared has a resolution of 320x320 and we are using the same displays manufacturers used by LG and ASUS. But again, when you talk about smartwatch, you open a Pandora Box. It is the new business for any manufacturer, Forbes announced an estimation of over 30 billion dollars business between now and 2020.
But again, we can manually install Google Play and it just works fine, so what's the point here? We need first to create a community, distribute our product with a basic ROM so that users can receive notifications, phone calls, download and create watchfaces and all the things you want to achieve with a smartwatch. We have already setup an Azure play store where any developer can grab our SDK and our Genymotion virtual image, create apps and distribute them via our Cloud.
Then, probably next year, we will see how the things go and we will be able to present again a request to Google for both, Android WEAR and Google Play.
Again, I have spent now almost 1 year in R&D and I feel confident that Android WEAR is a closed business. You must be a big firm otherwise is a no go for now. About Google Play I am more positive but only time will say. For now we are focused on our website and marketing campaign, building a community and customizing our existing ROM and SDK. Btw, if you look at the potentialities of OXY, we have already a more powerful product in terms of frameworks and hardware, than a Pebble, which has sold more than 1,---,--- pieces between 2012 and 2015. We also got a conversation with Cyanogen which gave us a go to customize Cyanogen for OXY but at this point is worth to have our own Open Source Android version and move from there with the help of the community.
I get the issues with Wear and Google, I've been there multiple times. I also agree that open source is needed for the development community. The issue with not having Google Services support (Play Store) on an Android based smartwatch is that a fully stocked app store needs to be in place and filled with all big names like Facebook, EAT24 and the like and properly formatted to the display/UI/UX. If not, it severely limits your customer base. That's why many of the Chinese based smartwatches have had a hard time getting traction.
Now if you have a long haul plan that brings in average Joe smartwatch and watch buyer on, lets say, v.2 that's great. Keep in mind that after the multitude of less than stellar attempts by others, both xda and G+ can be very unforgiving. Especially if crowdfunding is involved.
This is starting to get into areas where private conversation may be justified so lets table this until after you make a decision. Then we can pick it up elsewhere.
@Lokifish Marz you got the point and probably you got it because you have been there before us. The only big difference thing is that we want to build a smartwatch, I don't think it would be of any use having a squeezed Facebook or Google+ app on your 400 pixels smartwatch. We are focusing on other criteria.
Motion track so that you don't have to press a button to view the time, real time notifications that when received turn on the display and show the notifications on top of the watch and many other watch oriented functionalities. V1 will give to crowdfunders a working "companion", a smartwatch that is a smartwatch, a companion app that can download .apk and install them and a decent SDK that allows developer to create custom apps and watchfaces or customize existing functionalities.
I am open to have a nice conversation with you guys. This month I'll visit China and Taiwan soon, where we are manufacturing the watches but it would be nice to setup a private call/chat for when I'll be back. Probably you know better than anybody else other members of XDA that may be seriously interested and involved in the project.
Update
We are preparing some VMs on Azure running Ubuntu LT12 with our Android AOSP source code.
Right now we have 3 versions for the AOSP: Android Square watch, Android Round watch, Ubuntu Touch.
Compilation is quite easy, for Android is something like:
./build/smk.sh --preset=oxy_v11_wisesquare_iwop
./build/smk.sh --preset=oxy_v11_naturalround_iwop
Next step for us is to host the whole repository over a public Git and distribute the Ubuntu VM so that anybody can start to download the VMs (already synchronized) and contribute. As soon as everything is ready I will open a different thread and start to have private conversations with the people interested in the OXY project.
Re: Ingenic Newton2 - (someone made this point) you can buy the Newton1 or Newton2 as a devkit, but you cannot buy the modules wholesale. So this isn't truly a SoM - it isn't meant to buy off the shelf and integrate into a product. It's meant to be a reference design that you can either copy, or tweak, or modify in to suit.
In other words, with Newton, you're still going to need to have someone manufacture and assemble PCBs, and it'll require a normal (and expensive, unpleasant) certification process. A true SoM would come pre-certified, making that process a lot easier (you still need to do a certification, but one one that's much less rigorous and costs a lot less)?
simple1i said:
Re: Ingenic Newton2 - (someone made this point) you can buy the Newton1 or Newton2 as a devkit, but you cannot buy the modules wholesale. So this isn't truly a SoM - it isn't meant to buy off the shelf and integrate into a product. It's meant to be a reference design that you can either copy, or tweak, or modify in to suit.
In other words, with Newton, you're still going to need to have someone manufacture and assemble PCBs, and it'll require a normal (and expensive, unpleasant) certification process. A true SoM would come pre-certified, making that process a lot easier (you still need to do a certification, but one one that's much less rigorous and costs a lot less)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@simple1i You got the point. We bought Newton2 and made our watch using 3D print. Later we joined IWOP (Ingenic Watch Open Platform) which is a custom version of Android but more powerful than WEAR and better designed. At that point Ingenic gave us access to resources that are absolutely not available to private, so you can purchase the Newton2 dev kit but you cannot go far without their IWOP platform.
After that, we joined a partnership with two manufacturers, which are partners of Ingenic, and start to built our PCB and changed the Display (the display of Newton2 kit sucks, it has only 130 DPI).
About certifications, there are two phases. First you need to be sure that your PCB is ready for mass production, second, when the smartwatch is ready, you have to make IFC and CE at minimum, depending on where you want to sell. And this is the most painful part cause especially for CE, the process is long and full of obstacles. Consider that products like Pebble or other crowdfunded watches were shipped without any certification cause they were T2 prototypes expressly produced for the crowdfund campaign.
It looks like a nice piece of kit - in fact I love the design, it actually looks like a watch! Unfortunately, I'm not really sold on the idea of buying a 'smart' device where there's a very good chance of there being zero app development. Android Wear is rubbish right now (and of course, as you say, is a closed platform which creates big issues for us 'experimental' types and smaller organisations like yours trying to bring a device to market) but at least it's a group of companies working towards a common goal - in my mind that's far more likely to foster a community of developers than yet another smartwatch platform with a small userbase which will depend on yet another third party companion app and the headaches that creates with ongoing OS updates and trying to properly handle notifications and other interactions with the host device. I love the Pebble platform and larger ecosystem - I find the hardware and usage model vastly preferable to Wear (passively lit displays and buttons vs backlit displays and touchscreens, though I prefer the black and white ones, the Time lacks the contrast that makes the OG so easy to use AS A WATCH.) but they're odd looking devices which are 'obviously' not normal watches (not that I care, but I guess most people do) and the companion app has serious issues - they tend to get fixed fairly promptly but other app updates cause new issues pretty frequently - I still can't figure out how to stop it giving me notifications from the GMail app twice... What makes you think you could even do as well as a company who easily garners the kind of support they do on Kickstarter (and hence probably has a sizeable budget for a development team)?
Azurael said:
What makes you think you could even do as well as a company who easily garners the kind of support they do on Kickstarter (and hence probably has a sizeable budget for a development team)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@Azurael you make a good point here.
I do not want to talk about WEAR because it's obvious that WEAR is the biggest market so far, but only because Google is pushing really hard to get tons of Watchfaces and Apps available for their platform. Also, comparing ourself to WEAR will sound very arrogant. We will never be able to become big like Google WEAR community and this is not the mission of OXY.
About Pebble, if you look at their backlog, most of the incoming releases have bug fixes and enhancements of the Firmware. And this is after almost 4 years (Pebble started in 2012). They sold their crowdfunding watch made of plastic, without heart rate, without AMOLED touch display and without microphone or speakers (1 version of pebble) for a range between 99$ and 149$. We will sell OXY for 199$ in PRE-SALE, and in my opinion that's a great deal compared to the hardware of the Pebble.
So, on our side we played the "partnership role" with Ingenic Semiconductor. Ingenic has developed an entire platform on top of Android AOSP called IWOP (Ingenic Wearable Open Platform). It is a set of APIs that allows you to achieve exactly the same results of WEAR but even more. It is designed specifically for Ingenic Hardware so it uses less energy, it is bug free because the hardware is tested and provided by Ingenic (so no issues with multiple smartwatches vendors) and it is already largely adopted in Asia. The advantage is that behind us there is a big hardware company which supplies already thousands of pieces to Chinese manufacturers, so it is in their interest to keep the platform up to date and bug free.
Of course we lack on apps, this is the only problem of OXY and I am totally aware of, but I am not worry about it. When Pebble came out, and same applies for WEAR, there were almost no apps or watchfaces available. After a couple of years of adoption the marketplace became bigger and bigger and now the two platforms are well known. Compared to Apple Watch, our SDK is way more powerful and more developer friendly.
We will play the same strategy here, except that we have already commissioned almost 100 apps to an external Software House in order to have a pre-set of free apps available on our platform as soon as we will be out with our PRE-SALE campaign. Than, we will start our "developer program" which will grant to each developer a free OXY smartwatch and access to all our documentation and articles. In addition to Pebble or WEAR with OXY you can also create your own ROM, your own Home Launcher and customize even the kernel. I am sure that many developers will be happy to put their hands on such a platform and get a smartwatch for free.
We have already discussed with Ingenic this topic and they are eager to expose their platform to the US/EU market, considering also that we will be the first company selling MIPS architecture in EU and US I feel confident that the gap about the lack of apps will be covered soon.
On the business plan, we will probably feed the platform for 2015/2016, so a low margin of profit will be generated but again this is not our plan (to generate money) but to make an open platform for smart devices. I think that it's important for us to explain exactly our mission in order to get the right amount of followers. Plus a bit of "viral marketing" would be beneficial too
Hardware talk
On the hardware side, could you have added more sensors if there was a need for them? And are any disadvantages for adding lots of extras sensors, like power consumption, over heating or less space to work on the PCB? Of course for every sensor you need an app for it.
Others might disagree with this view, that sensors make a device comes alive, the watch can sense more about its environment, just like a living thing. Also with the open source OS and SDK devs can make use of more of the sensors, making the watch a multi purpose device. I was hoping for a compass, it's one of those things that many won't use but like the idea of having it, just like a Swiss Army knife.
A barometer with a compass and heart rate monitor, could appeal to the sportsman. The Suunto watch gives nice weather icons to a good degree of accuracy. At least there enough sensors for the development of an app that can detect if the watch is being worn or not to stop certain functions like notifications and maybe even put the watch to sleep to save battery or have it on 'bedtime' mode.
Another advantage of having lots of sensors is that it makes the watch more of a stand-alone device.
If you talk about the Newton2 development kit the short answer is no, the long answer is yes, but with some re-design. We had to re-design the PCB of the Newton2 because we added an extra BlueTooth for iOS, an Heart rate sensor, a vibrating motor, a microphone and 5 speakers. Plus we re-designed the USB charge which is an extra PCB in the Newton2, while on our watch is into the same PCB.
Finally, the biggest and most complicated step is about the display. Newton2 use an MIPI interface specifically designed for their display, so in order to fit a Round and Square display from commercial companies like AMOLED Corp you have two options:
Make two PCB with two different MIPI, one per Display
Modify the displays MIPI to fit the same plug and play mechanism
We did not put a Baromoter because it is not easy to find a good provider and it does not deal well into mini PCB. About the GPS, we had one but we removed because it is absolutely battery drainer. If you run 3-4 hours with your GPS on the watch will end up without battery, while capturing the GPS from your Phone and streaming the amount of mt into the Watch app is way easier in terms of power consumption.
All weather apps that you see on Smartwatches are not using an internal barometer but they simply get weather conditions from a public HTTP API and stream the result into the Watch from your Phone.
What we have in additional is the WiFi so that you can run the watch in autonomous way, for example OXY can detect if you have internet on your watch, if don't then it grabs info from the internet of your Phone.
You can get fancy with sensors, we would to introduce in the future V2 more health sensors but it is early right now and you still have to deal with minimal space, each mm count.