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PINE64 releases a consumer version of the PineTime, its US$26.99 smartwatch
PINE64 has re-released its developer-friendly PineTime smartwatch. This time, PINE64 aims the PineTime at consumers but without hiking the price up. The revised model is pre-built, comes with an OS installed and is IP67 water resistant.
July update: community developers portal
Let me start with really good news for those of you waiting (im)patiently to get their hands on a PineTime: I've just learned that the production of the new batch of PineTime is going well and, if everything goes according to plan, then single sealed PineTime units should be available when this post goes live! These PineTimes are flashed with the latest versions of the bootloader of and InfiniTime, so that you'll be able to get the most out of your watch the moment you receive it.
As we announced last month, the factory was waiting for this release to start the production of the new batch of PineTimes. As a reminder: the ongoing component shortage forced PINE64 to use a slightly different accelerometer for this new batch, since the original one was not available anymore, and InfiniTime needed to add support for this new chip to ensure features like step counting and wake on wrist rotation would work as expected.
Is it eWaste? You decide.
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(Score: 2) by The Vocal Minority on Saturday July 17 2021, @12:11PM (4 children)
So I guess it is about time I broke out the old PinePhone to see if it is usable a year after I got it :)
Seriously though, I am very hopeful about having devices available that are less sketchy than the Apple or Android based ones - best of luck to the people who are working on this.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 17 2021, @04:22PM (1 child)
> about time I broke out the old PinePhone to see if it is usable
https://sxmo.org [sxmo.org]
(Score: 2) by The Vocal Minority on Sunday July 18 2021, @12:16PM
Thanks, but lack of MMS support is the big problem for me, which seems to be common across all "distros".
(Score: 3, Informative) by richtopia on Saturday July 17 2021, @04:44PM (1 child)
Same here, I bought the Mobian version a few months ago mostly to support the project. Hours within buying it, the GUI updater didn't seem to be working so I opened the terminal and sudo apt-get update. Something went wrong and I couldn't make any inputs to accept one of the installers and a hard reset resulted in my phone not booting.
Since the weather has been nice, I haven't spent the time to learn how to flash my phone. I know it is possible but it isn't a priority.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Saturday July 17 2021, @08:33PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 17 2021, @02:54PM (1 child)
The pinetime is basically the "colmi p8". I've had one for months with vendor software. I've wanted to try bangle.js and the pine firmwares but none of them have sleep tracking so I kept it stock. Watch lasts about a week and I don't use the BT integration.. I can just look at my phone and its bigger screen.
I'd love to buy a legit pinteime but it ships from china for a good bit of money. The clones are even drying up a bit now. This thing took forever to release. If it shipped from the US it might be a better deal.
As a fitness tracker the sensors are terrible. The old mi bands were much better. The pine software barely even supports those functions. It is kinda the modern day casio tho... just more money and with weekly charging.
I think pine just back writes firmware for cheap china products. And with no stock in the US, it's like ordering from ali express or ebay international. The "good shit" is probably the old pebl watches that had accurate sensors and much better dev support. Too much of the new and "improved" gadgetry is just overpriced spyware. Do what though will.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 17 2021, @03:43PM
Smartwatches will be interesting to me when they are able to emit Star Wars or Iron Man style 3D projections (so-called "holograms"). Maybe in the 2030s. On the other hand, augmented reality glasses are probably a much better idea. Looks like Apple will jump in that arena next year. [notebookcheck.net]
The "tricorder" aspect is also interesting, although it seems like it would need to draw blood before it could give incredibly useful health information. Unless you are worried about something that it can already detect, like heart failure.
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