I never heard about PineTime until now! Looks like a cool gadget. What has your experience been with it, apart from it being more accurate than a mechanical?
It's an interesting experience, I have github send me an email on the odd occasion the community developed "OS" gets an update. Then I download the zip file on my phone browser and upload the file on Gadgetbridge for the update.
I sometimes call it my "soviet in a good way" watch, it ended up becoming my "function over fashion" watch, which means almost all day every day wear for a few years now.
pros:
decent battery life (1-2 weeks, i turn off bluetooth and gps on my phone overnights which helps both devices)
"good enough" design (durable enough for all but swimming/showering)
easily replaced or modified (even takes standard watch bands)
flashlight, notifications and all traditional digital watch functions
multiple community "OS" options
cons:
community development can be slow, buggy
water droplets particularly from natural rain can trigger the touchscreen, not amazing if you bike in seattle or something
anemic hardware
The charger is cheap and isn't that quick but again, the pinetime kind of excels in knowing the difference between good and good enough, as I once heard an engineer say (about something else), and I rarely find myself bothered by it's lack of luxuries.
>What do you think is the PineTime's biggest strength when compared with a mainstream smartwatch?
Frankly, I think the combination of price/replaceability and privacy are the only things unique (besides niche FOSS modding) to it among smart watches; and I like the open aspect of essentially every detail.
It makes it the only smart watch I've used that feels like it respects my dignity, frankly. A minor philosophical quibble but one I take stoic pleasure in. It is a tool, and technology that serves me, not another.
> Have you found the watch to be hackable? Is there any sort of customization that you've done to it?
I actually got it hoping I'd have the inclination to tinker with it, but my only idea that wasn't already being worked on by the default "OS" is a red flashlight mode, which with the IPS screen is a moot point anyways, since the black pixels when turned on make for a low-light flashlight anyways, heh. A hardware drawback that ironically makes it a more accessible tool in my experience.
