watch News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

October 1, 2024September 30, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - 14 Comments

Sensor Watch Pro turns the Casio F-91W into a modular Arm Cortex M0+-based digital “smartwatch” (Crowdfunding)

Joey Castillo of Oddly Specific Objects has released a follow-up to the Sensor Watch, aptly named Sensor Watch Pro. The Sensor Watch Pro remains a board swap for the classic Casio F-91W or A158W digital watch that replaces the original quartz movement with the low-power ARM Cortex-M0+ microcontroller. The Sensor Watch Pro retains features from the Sensor Watch Lite and comes with a few upgrades such as a louder piezo buzzer, an RGB LED, an infrared light sensor, and a completely soldering-free experience. The new watch integrates a custom-fabricated metal spring connector that previously had to be manually soldered after purchase. We had also looked at other hackable watches in the past, such as Bangle.js, Bangle.js 2, and Watchy. Buyers can opt for a custom LCD that extends the number of segments available from 72 segments to 92 segments. It comes with an onboard temperature sensor and can be connected […]

June 14, 2023June 15, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

T-Watch S3 ESP32-S3 smartwatch supports WiFi, Bluetooth LE, and LoRa connectivity

LILYGO T-Watch S3 is an ESP32-S3 WiFi and Bluetooth LE smartwatch with LoRa connectivity, and other interesting features such as an RTC, audio support, a vibration motor, and an infrared transmitter to control home appliances. The watch integrates a 1.54-inch color LCD display with capacitive touch, a button to turn on and off the device, and a USB port to charge the included 400 mAh battery. The T-Watch S3 sells in silver or “gun color” with a black wrist strap. T-Watch S3 specifications: Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 dual-core Tensilica LX7 @ up to 240 MHz with vector instructions for AI acceleration, 512KB RAM, 8MB PSRAM, 16MB flash, WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE wireless connectivity Connectivity 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 (802.11 b/g/n) Bluetooth LE 5.0 Semtech SX1262 LoRa RF transceiver: 433 MHz, 868 MHz, 915 MHz Display – 1.54-inch 16-bit color LCD display with 240×240 resolution, capacitive touch; ST7789V […]

October 10, 2022October 10, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

LILYGO T-RGB round color touch display is powered by ESP32-S3R8 wireless microcontroller

LILYGO T-RGB is a wireless 2.1-inch round color touchscreen display based on ESP32-S3R8 dual-core microcontroller with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, 8MB PSRAM, and 16MB flash storage. The device also includes a microSD card socket for data storage and a Grove I2C connector for expansion and supports LiPo battery power. The company also says it can be charged through USB, so the board must include a battery charging circuit contrary to some other boards from LILYGO. LILYGO T-RGB specifications: SoC – Espressif ESP32-S3R8 dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller up to 240 MHz with vector instructions for AI acceleration, 8MB PSRAM, WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE + Mesh connectivity Storage – 16MB SPI flash, MicroSD card socket Display – 2.1-inch round 18-bit RGB color IPS TFT display with 480×480 resolution (ST7701S SPI controller), touchscreen panel USB – USB Type-C port for power and programming Expansion – Grove I2C connector Misc […]

January 11, 2022January 12, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Microchip SAM L22 board makes Casio F-91W watch more customizable (Crowdfunding)

Casio F-91W is a popular watch that was first released in 1989, and it is still sold today for around $15. The team at “Oddly Specific Objects” decided to create the “Sensor Watch” open-source hardware board based on Microchip SAM L22 Cortex-M0+ microcontroller that can replace the electronics inside the watch. They still keep the display and enclosure and wristband from the original Casion F-91W watch, but the new board connects to a temperature sensor board, and more importantly, provides the ability to hack/program the watch with your own code, besides the few samples provided, or even design your own sensor board. Sensor Watch board specifications: MCU – Microchip SAM L22 Arm Cortex M0+ microcontroller @ 32 MHz with 32KB RAM, 256 KB of Flash with up to 16 KB EEPROM emulation area Display – Controller for 10-digit segment LCD, plus five indicator segments USB – 1x Micro USB PCB […]

May 17, 2020May 17, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Lilygo TTGO T-Watch-2020 is a Nicer Looking Arduino Programmable ESP32 Watch

We’ve covered several ESP32 watches over the last year include TTGO T-Wristand, Watchy, and DSTIKE ESP32 watch. Those don’t really have the nicest looking design, and some people complained about various shortcomings including the difficulty to customize/program the watch. Last year, Lilygo introduced TTGO T-Watch smartwatch that, due to support for expansion boards, was relatively thick, but at least documentation and Arduino code samples can be found on Github. The company has now launched a slicker version with Lilygo TTGO T-Watch-2000. TTGO T-Watch-2020 specifications: SoC – Espressif ESP32 dual-core wireless processor with 520KB SRAM System Memory – 8MB PSRAM Storage – 16MB QSPI flash Display – 1.54-inch LCD capacitive touch screen Audio – Class-D amplifier, buzzer Connectivity – 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.1 via ESP32 Sensors – BMA423 three-axis accelerometer with built-in step counting algorithm, activity recognition / tracking, advanced gesture recognition. Misc – Power button (round), PCF8563 RTC […]

March 31, 2020May 31, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

DSTIKE ESP32 Watch Development Board Comes with OLED or TFT Display

In recent months several Espressif ESP32 watches have started to show up including TTGO-T wristband and Watchy with an e-Ink display. This morning, I’ve come across another option with DSTIKE ESP32 watch development kit that offers a choice of black & white OLED display or color TFT display, and has apparently been around for about a year. DSTIKE ESP32 watch devkit specifications: SoC – ESP32 dual-core Tensilica LX6 processor with Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0/5.1 connectivity Storage – MicroSD card Display (one or the other) 1.3 OLED I2C display (SH1106) TFT color display with 240 x 240 resolution (I2C + 2 I/O) Expansion – 10-pin header with TX/RX, GPIO 17 & 16 (I2C), SVP/SVN, GPIO 25 & 26 (DAC), GND, and 3V Misc – Power switch, navigation buttons, reset & flash buttons, buzzer, WS2812b RGB LED, “highlight LED” (backlight LED maybe), charging status LED Battery – 600 mAh battery Dimensions […]

March 26, 2018March 28, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

WeLoop Hey 3S Sports Smartwatch Review – Part 2: GPS, Running, Cycling, Notifications, and More

As mentioned previously I did not have such good luck with smart wearables so far, with disappointing products often with a short lifetime (a few weeks to a few months, and some design issues here and there like an e-Paper display without backlight, a touchscreen display with poor locking mechanism (so it’s activated while taking a shower), unreliable heart rate monitor, poor waterproofness and so on… My main requirements are always-on display, battery life as long as possible, notification support, good waterproofness to do tasks like taking shower or swim without having to remember to remove the watch, among others less important requirements. I mostly gave up on the category for about year, but decided to give it a try when GeekBuying asked me if I was interested in reviewing WeLoop Hey 3S sports smartwatch. Maybe things have improved since then. I’ve already gone through unboxing and initial setup in […]

January 13, 2016January 13, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Bluboo Xwatch Android Wear Smart Watch is Now Pre-selling for $99

Bluboo Xwatch is a smartwatch based on Mediatek MT2601 SoC that runs Android Wear. So far, we only knew the factory price would be around $80, but the watch has now showed up on several website such as GearBest and GeekBuying and is pre-selling for as low as $99.99 according to Bluboo, which would likely make it the cheapest Android Wear watch on the market today. The specifications have not changed much since the first announcement, but there are lots of differing specs across the sites: SoC – Mediatek MT2601 dual core ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.2GHz with ARM Mali-400 MP GPU System Memory – 512MB RAM Storage – 4GB flash Display – 1.3″ round muti-touch display with 360×360 resolution Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.0, GPS Sensors – Gyroscope, barometer, heart rate monitor, altimeter, compass Battery – 400 to 480mAh polymer battery (80 hours standby time) Dimensions – 5.4 x 4.5 x […]