Project Review
#1
Hello everyone.
While I'm no developer (yet, I need to be more organized to get to that point), I do have the know-how to be able to test the landscape for the PineTime, and therefore I had ordered a developer kit from the Pine shop, once I had realized that it is possible to do so.

To be honest, originally I was contemplating asking for a review sample of the development kit in order to "report", so to speak (english is not my native language), on the project's progress, however before I was able to come up with an idea of how to do so, it became possible order one from the store, and I decided, "whatever, this way I can also financially support Pine64, even though this is a stretch for my current financial situation".

So in short, I intend to start an ongoing review of the PineTime and it's development, once I receive my kit.
As for how often I shall post an update (I do not often have proper access to both my laptop and a stable internet connection at the same time), and where I shall do so (in addition to here), that I'll be glad to receive the community's opinion (I am currently thinking of the LinusTechTips and XDA-Developers forums).

I'd rather not post on Twitter or Telegram(no FaceBook, Mastodon, or most social platforms), though I may do so.

And I'd be very happy to receive comments and constructive criticism on my initiative.
#2
I'm all for it!
You can find me on IRC, Discord and Twitter


#3
That's a great idea :-) I'm posting a technical article on PineTime every 2 weeks, you can find them on the "PineTime Tutorials" section: https://forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=138

I'm using PineTime as a platform for IoT Education, so my articles are kinda long-winded because they explain lots of details. Yes that slows down the development of the firmware, but it's also easier for others to understand what I'm doing and contribute :-)

I'm building my firmware with Rust and open-source Mynewt OS. Yep that looks unconventional and controversial, but I have a hunch that embedded concepts are better explained in Rust instead of C. And Mynewt is a clean, simple, modern embedded OS.
#4
Thanks, and I'm sorry I wasn't online, I did not have enough time.
Oddly enough, I got no information from the tracking services, however the PineTime has arrived a few days ago (and I arrived a few hours ago).

Off the bat, I had noticed that for some odd reason, the PineTime was already on, and almost out of battery.
I played around with the factory firmware, and then uninstalled DaFit, since I don't really have any need for it (aside from setting the time and date).


Unfortunately, none of my programmers support the SWD protocol, so I am waiting for a SWD programmer that I had ordered from AliExpress.
Charging was pretty quick, however I have not counted the time, so that will be happening later on.
It is interesting that with the factory firmware, the battery runs out pretty quickly (the battery indicator now shows that the battery is no longer completely full, despite the fact that I had just disconnected the PineTime from it's cradle a few minutes ago).
As others have done, I too have taped the back so that I could wear the PineTime (I don't usually do anything too extreme for this, so it is fine).

By the way, even with the tape (and my big and unwieldy hands), I have to say that the PineTime is very comfortable, and I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the screen is larger than I had thought it to be.

Pictures and additional outlooks will be coming up on sunday.

Update: I had forgotten to add that I had attempted to use it with the GadgetBridge app, however GadgetBridge failed to find the PineTime, so I intend to speak with the GadgetBridge developer about that.
#5
Do you have a Raspberry Pi? It works for flashing PineTime too :-)

https://medium.com/@ly.lee/build-and-fla...85e65aebe9
#6
(01-09-2020, 11:35 PM)lupyuen Wrote: Do you have a Raspberry Pi? It works for flashing PineTime too :-)

https://medium.com/@ly.lee/build-and-fla...85e65aebe9

I do have a Raspberry Pi 3B, however I am not at home most of the time, and the only way I can connect it to a monitor, is via HDMI (no converter, and no budget to buy one), which means that I can only connect it to a malfunctioning TV I got from a friend (it works, but with many issues, since the board is already damaged from the capacitors, with no replacement parts possible), so I cannot rely on my Raspberry Pi (It would be too troublesome to connect everything where I learn, mostly due to my timekeeping issue).
#7
I'm extremely sorry about my disappearance.
Unfortunately, my programmer never arrived, due to being stuck somewhere in shipping, before even exiting China, and lack of time, as well as lack of cellular reception, have delayed things to this point, where only now a new programmer is being shipped out to me, and I was online a lot less than before.
I have tried setting up my Raspberry Pi via Alpine Linux, however I got stuck due to my limited time, and no access to any HDMI displays when I'm not at home (I have not finished setting up SSH access to it).

My experiences with the closed-source firmware have been ranged from uneventful to pretty interesting, to say the least.
Oddly enough, my PineTime has received a firmware upgrade, which has improved it's connection stability with my phone, and now the downloadable watchfaces actually succeed in being sent over.

Other than that, my PineTime developer unit (with sellotape) has seen daily use (99% of it checking the time and date, I usually keep it disconnected from my phone), which included agriculture, household cleaning (including laundry and dishes, both automatic and by hand), and is on my wrist for an average of ~12-14 hours a day, and is holding out very well (all functions are working extremely well).

I had disabled, at first by accident, later on purpose, the wake gesture, since it poses an issue for me when I don't have time to turn it off on fridays, and for whatever reason, I would have to move it into a drawer after sunset until ~24 hours later (I am Jewish). Additionally, I have found that it has extended the battery life, since the watch does not wake nearly as often as before.

I have taken pictures, and after I move them onto my laptop, I shall upload them, however it is a shame that I still can't taste the true excitement.
#8
And here are the pictures (right click and open image for the full resolution uploaded (apparently it was compressed during upload):
[Image: 5RxahzqqOe3G.jpg][Image: 5Rxbsk9YosI6.jpg][Image: 5RxcAqtCLYE7.jpg][Image: 5RxcukRcmONu.jpg]

And yes, in the last picture it shows my heartbeat, from when I had tested that the function works. It does not update by itself.


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