Very good points.
I used AstroidOS on my old Samsung Galaxy G Round years ago.
Unfortunately, I like, am addicted?, to the broad app selection that F-droid brings me.
Also, I have to use some closed corporate solutions for health. Being able to "cheat" and use the Play store to get those is nice.
It is great to be diverse...fundamental to human development over time...but sometimes diversity leads us to a million solutions to the simple hammer. Not all of the solutions get polished enough to be a hammer. Some are a stick, some a rock, some a metal bar. Someone looked at what a house builder needed and the hammer evolved.
I agree...I loved my Pebble Steel but when I got the Samsung there was no turning back.
The chinese ones target "look I'm Dick Tracy and have a video phone on my wrist". They are looking for a price point to sell at. Look at all the non-full android watches on amazon/alibaba/... $0.99 yes less than a dollar to get a watch with a screen and built in "apps".
My dream would be cases, motherboards, input devices, screen...all in a watch size.
Drop it and bash it on a rock? Case still fine? Just get a new screen. Oh water got in, get a new motherboard. You want thin and can trade of some battery life? Replace the battery with a smaller one, drop the 4g adapter platethingy, your good to go. Female? Following that pattern of styles? Get the female watch case, get the screen that looks good...e-ink/oled/transflective ips...and make your watch your way. Me I want a 1.39" round, transflective IPS (outdoor full sun looks nice), no cellular, in a rugged rolex like looking divers case, filled with mineral oil, diveable to 50m for hours, with a vibrator that is silent but you can feel. I want repairable...and I want my OS.
I bought the PineNote for the Debian Trixie and my ability to run a ton of already written apps.
I do wish the best for the people that are building up ecosystems (PineTime, AstroidOS, postmarkOS which I bought and used on my Remarkable)...it's just sometimes for some things Im looking for more.
So excited as my PineNote is supposed to be delivered today! Born in the 60's...it blows my mind that I could order a product from EU last Thursday, that was made in CN, shipped from CN, and I will have in my hands 1 week from the date. It is a different world from 50 years ago...75...100...
Please...nobody press the button...finding a good planet is soo hard...
Bill
I'm not good at chasing rabbits...have to work for a living....and this is a twisty rabbit hole.
I think it's the size/power issue. That and the fact that a $2 watch does what 99% of the people think a watch can do. Hard to sell in a market where most people would say "WHAT! You paid $499 for a watch and it's not made of gold?".
Some of these boards have been around for a long time:
https://itsfoss.com/raspberry-pi-zero-alternatives/
A few might fit in a watch case.
Not knowing much about USB 3.0/3.1/3.2/4...I wonder if it would work to carry information at extremely low power. The USB standard expects to deliver both data and power...what if you dropped power?
What if the SoC had a USB hub already built in? If it was 5 to 10gb/s? What if there was a new standard for the wiring so that tiny connectors/cables could be used and still protected from radio interferrence?
You could build your own watch with a power bus to the battery, hook in components (screen, mb, wifi, cell, health) and assemble what you wanted.
If we sell 2 billion watches...and only make $2 off of each...
I dont think there's enough money nor demand.
Still...I look forward to the day when phones and watches and car computers are just like PCs 10k's of different hardware vendors, dozens to 100s of software solutions, millions of applications.
My 2010 MacPro pays my mortgage running Debian...corporations do not like that.
Own it, control it, otherwise...you a profit line for a corporation who has no morals...they cant.
I used AstroidOS on my old Samsung Galaxy G Round years ago.
Unfortunately, I like, am addicted?, to the broad app selection that F-droid brings me.
Also, I have to use some closed corporate solutions for health. Being able to "cheat" and use the Play store to get those is nice.
It is great to be diverse...fundamental to human development over time...but sometimes diversity leads us to a million solutions to the simple hammer. Not all of the solutions get polished enough to be a hammer. Some are a stick, some a rock, some a metal bar. Someone looked at what a house builder needed and the hammer evolved.
I agree...I loved my Pebble Steel but when I got the Samsung there was no turning back.
The chinese ones target "look I'm Dick Tracy and have a video phone on my wrist". They are looking for a price point to sell at. Look at all the non-full android watches on amazon/alibaba/... $0.99 yes less than a dollar to get a watch with a screen and built in "apps".
My dream would be cases, motherboards, input devices, screen...all in a watch size.
Drop it and bash it on a rock? Case still fine? Just get a new screen. Oh water got in, get a new motherboard. You want thin and can trade of some battery life? Replace the battery with a smaller one, drop the 4g adapter platethingy, your good to go. Female? Following that pattern of styles? Get the female watch case, get the screen that looks good...e-ink/oled/transflective ips...and make your watch your way. Me I want a 1.39" round, transflective IPS (outdoor full sun looks nice), no cellular, in a rugged rolex like looking divers case, filled with mineral oil, diveable to 50m for hours, with a vibrator that is silent but you can feel. I want repairable...and I want my OS.
I bought the PineNote for the Debian Trixie and my ability to run a ton of already written apps.
I do wish the best for the people that are building up ecosystems (PineTime, AstroidOS, postmarkOS which I bought and used on my Remarkable)...it's just sometimes for some things Im looking for more.
So excited as my PineNote is supposed to be delivered today! Born in the 60's...it blows my mind that I could order a product from EU last Thursday, that was made in CN, shipped from CN, and I will have in my hands 1 week from the date. It is a different world from 50 years ago...75...100...
Please...nobody press the button...finding a good planet is soo hard...
Bill
I'm not good at chasing rabbits...have to work for a living....and this is a twisty rabbit hole.
I think it's the size/power issue. That and the fact that a $2 watch does what 99% of the people think a watch can do. Hard to sell in a market where most people would say "WHAT! You paid $499 for a watch and it's not made of gold?".
Some of these boards have been around for a long time:
https://itsfoss.com/raspberry-pi-zero-alternatives/
A few might fit in a watch case.
Not knowing much about USB 3.0/3.1/3.2/4...I wonder if it would work to carry information at extremely low power. The USB standard expects to deliver both data and power...what if you dropped power?
What if the SoC had a USB hub already built in? If it was 5 to 10gb/s? What if there was a new standard for the wiring so that tiny connectors/cables could be used and still protected from radio interferrence?
You could build your own watch with a power bus to the battery, hook in components (screen, mb, wifi, cell, health) and assemble what you wanted.
If we sell 2 billion watches...and only make $2 off of each...
I dont think there's enough money nor demand.
Still...I look forward to the day when phones and watches and car computers are just like PCs 10k's of different hardware vendors, dozens to 100s of software solutions, millions of applications.
My 2010 MacPro pays my mortgage running Debian...corporations do not like that.
Own it, control it, otherwise...you a profit line for a corporation who has no morals...they cant.