Get a BangleJS2 and you won't need to charge it on a bus.
2 weeks between charges. GadgetBridge is the mobile app. It's more expensive, true: £76. The battery is replaceable, though, so you might have to buy fewer.
this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2025
288 points (93.6% liked)
Technology
73846 readers
4144 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I really like my Amazfit Neo. Okay, it doesn't charge with USB-C but I appreciate its "always on" display and retro aesthetic. Can't believe they don't make 'em anymore!
Is there a worthy successor or can anybody recommend a similar minimalist smartwatch that won't break the bank?
load more comments
(4 replies)
Loved the article.
One pet peeve of mine: PD plugs are too powerful to charge puny devices. Not the first time I've run into this problem.
So sad that we've finally gotten a good standard (USB c) but there are still things that look like they should fit together and work, but don't.
The thing is that USB type C is only about the physical plug/socket, and the USB standard and version that uses it is a separate thing.
In this case it's probably a PD only charger and the device only supports plain old 5v 500mA USB power
too powerful? what do you mean? USB PD by default supplies 5v the same as USB A and increments from there
5v is pretty low - 3v is pretty common logic voltage, but i doubt anyone would use voltage that low for battery charging?
do you mean you don’t like to “waste” a perfectly good powerful USB C port? you can get some pretty low watt USB C plugs, but honestly i much prefer to just have a brick with 7 big ports
The person you replied to is referencing findings made by the author, in the article.
The author tried plugging a PD charger into the watch to charge it, and it wouldn't work. It's probably not PD as a specification couldn't work, but that the watch failed to negotiate with the charger.
Whatever the reason, the findings were that plugging your PD laptop charger into this cheap little watch does not result in any charging.
And the author wrongly said
PD will not negotiate down to 1W power levels
The correct way ro ask for 0.8 W (5 V, 0.16 A) is to request 5 volts, any current. Doesn't matter if the charger is capable of 500 mA (legacy USB), 1 A or 3.1 A. The PD standard can accomodate the watch, it's just that the watch lacks active electronics that are required to talk to the charger (and even the supplied C-C cable is non-compliant by being power-only).
Edit: apparently PD allows 0.1A steps between 0.1 A and 3 A for 5 volts so it's technically possible for a PD charger to deny power to the watch if it's VERY underpowered and can't even put out 1 W. Still, it's the watch's fault for lacking correct PD implementation.
right… i think that’s less of a problem with PD chargers and more of a problem with non-compliant A chargers (and the device itself being non-compliant): wattage/amperage at these has nothing to do with the protocol (other than auto shutoff under a given current draw, but that’s not instantaneous)
i believe that the USB spec says there needs to be a resistor bridging one of the pins to receive power? i can see USB-A chargers just dumping 5v through the cable no matter what and USB-PD more reliably implementing the spec because it’s more complex, so less reason to cut corners
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(4 replies)
I had no idea USB C charging was such a rarity for smart watches
I'm curious about the reliability of this port on a sweaty wrist exposed to dust and general labor environments. My phones, even back to the proprietary plug days, have had the charge port covered and my wrist watch would get wrecked.
It has a small rubber lug - which has worked so far at keeping out the grime. But I don't have a manual labour job.
Heh, of course it has a knock-off UI too.
Please check in with an update after 6 months.
Is it esp32 based?
No, its something different, according to the blog:
First up, the brains of the watch is the JL7012 - which is a deliberately underpowered chip.
This article was right up my alley. I've been considering buying a cheapo smartwatch. I suppose this one couldn't be used as a mp3 player for jogging though.
It doesn't have storage or a headphone port. But it will stream music over Bluetooth. So if you want to annoy everyone you job with, you can listen to its tinny speaker :-)