SMA Q3 Smartwatch #6847
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Posted at 2020-10-26 by parasquid let me know if you're having a group buy! and would it be possible to send the watch along any items we purchase in the espruino shop (with the christmas deal and all) Posted at 2020-10-26 by @gfwilliams :) Yes, definitely! I'll post up here if I do it, and likely it'd just be through the shop anyway Posted at 2020-10-26 by @enaon very nice :) Posted at 2020-10-27 by Geza Good idea! Has the long range mode been implemented? Posted at 2020-10-27 by @gfwilliams
Not yet, but I don't believe it's too hard. Any BLE features that can be negotiated should magically get used already since the softdevice supports it, but long range advertisements/etc will need some tweaks to enable on the nRF52840. I imagine those won't be too far off though Posted at 2020-10-27 by Geza This is good news! In this case, I join the group. Posted at 2020-10-27 by @MaBecker Cool - many thanks for working on the nRF52840 chip. Are updates via DFU possible? Posted at 2020-10-27 by @fanoush
Well, yes, of course. But there are SWD pins on the back :-) And also full 4 pins on usb cable so SWDIO,SWCLK can be taken from middle usb pins. (no, usb does not work) Posted at 2020-10-27 by @fanoush Just few random comments: This post was made in "Other Boards / Porting to new Devices" not "Official Espruino Devices" for reasons. It is hard to get - over few months seen 2 sellers on aliexpress (with little or no orders), SMA manufacturer still does not fully list it on their site (you can see it from phone in mobile version) and does not sell it in their own aliexpress store. One can only get 'samples' in alibaba store. Official firmware in watch is not ready - buggy, missing features and it is like this already for few months. This may mean this 'product' may even fail and go away without full release (hopefully not) For developer who is now e.g. hacking P8 or DK08 watch it is however great option even now. BTW here are some photos of display compared to DK08 in various light conditions https://imgur.com/a/DzYhaIg Display has slightly better white, however in dark with backlight the black is too bright. Also it has only 8 colors. Posted at 2021-02-18 by jeffmer I have been spending some time adapting Bangle applications to the SMAQ3. You can see some of the results in the pictures below. Once you do the initial flash of the watch using the SWD interface, subsequent firmware updates can now be done using bluetooth which is a great convenience as the DFU loader for the NRF52840 seems to be much faster than that used for Espruino on NRF52832 devices. When compared with the Bangle, the always on reflective display is great in daylight, but at night, the backlight tends to wash out colours and the Bangle display looks much crisper. Battery life is nowhere near as good as the Bangle - I get 4 days and I am sure this can be improved, however, the battery at 175mah is smaller than the Bangle.js battery. It is also worth mentioning that the charging cable attaches very insecurely due to having 4 pogo style pins rather than only two on the Bangle. In fact overall, the SMA Q3 is a much less robust watch than the Bangle. The GPS works OK, however, it loses signal in places where the Bangle does not - I think the Bangle has a much better antenna. You can see the adapted SMA Q3 apps here together with a version of the firmware necessary to run them. Some Bangle Apps will run without modification on the SMA Q3, especially using the standard Espruino build for the SMA Q3 which has simulated buttons. However, most apps need to be modified to deals with the different screen size and limited colour palette and to take full advantage of the touch interface. Lastly, the additional RAM on the NRF52840 is liberating - you can run as many widgets as you want:) ScreenshotsSome pictures of apps running on the SMAQ3: Launcher App Multiclock App - Clock face Multiclock App - BMP280 face GPS Recorder App - Menu GPS Recorder App - Track display Note that the red padlock icon means that the screen is locked i.e. touch disabled. On the Bangle this would be display off, however, with an always on display, we simply disable touch to save power. Enabling is controlled by the usual LCD Power On settings e.g. button press. Posted at 2021-02-18 by @allObjects Nice!
Indeed, this is also true for the watch based on the nRF52832 with the same display (working on getting those apart without destroying the display...).
No surprise here, since getting the a decent antenna into a case as flat as it is and the metal material it is made from without adverse effect on reception is just hinting that. No matter though regarding the shortcomings, it's a great piece of technology. Tried to source a SMA 3Q / ID 205 G - with no success though so far. Posted at 2021-02-25 by @gfwilliams This looks great! Sorry I missed this when you posted last week. How painful do you think it'd be to make apps support both devices? My initial feeling based on what you had to change at espruino/BangleApps@master...jeffmer:master is that the apps are pretty much completely different! I felt like probably some things might help:
I did just commit a About sourcing the Q3: Last time I talked with them (beginning of Feb) it actually seemed like they could ship them properly again, so potentially I could look at getting some in stock here... Posted at 2021-02-25 by jeffmer I have also been thinking of how to have only one version of apps. It should be possible with the a bit of discipline and the ability to detect the capabilities of the underlying hardware - in most cases, I lazily hard coded in new screen coordinates. The screen size and color palette is probably the major issue but there is also the touch interface which it would be nice if apps could exploit. For example, the SMAQ3 version of my desktop style launcher allows you to click on the icon. Related to touch, it would be nice to have swipe up and swipe down as well as a click event with x, y coordinates. These are easy to do, however, not sure how best to combine these with the current Bangle event. My version of the firmware implemented these instead of the existing touch events, however, I would prefer to,return to the standard build. Having different versions of menu, prompt and message for the SMAQ3 was really flexible and means that you can have touch friendly versions without changing the app at all. I got a sample SMAQ3 delivered in 10days, so as you say, it looks like they are now willing to supply the watches. I think a lot of people would be interested in getting an SMAQ3 with Espruino preloaded or at least with the DFU boot loader to avoid having to deal with SWD. I tried emailing the VC31 manufacturer requesting a datasheet - sadly no response. Posted at 2021-02-26 by jeffmer Tried out Posted at 2021-03-01 by @gfwilliams Thanks - yes, I guess having everything 'just work' was a bit hopeful of me! I'll have to have a think then, but I feel like the 'layout' is something that would make this easier if apps needed changing anyway, and would help a lot of people going forward too. Strange about the fake button behaviour though. In terms of swipe, presumably it's not specifically the single event, but the series of coordinates so you can do scrolling/etc? If so, since the events happen alongside the touch events, maybe we could just extend
Posted at 2021-03-01 by jeffmer With regards to Swipe, I have just extended the existing Bangle swipe event to add UP and DOWN. I use the events for navigation - specifically swipe down to look at old notifications - swipe up to return to the clock. These are just gestures recognised by the CST816 touch chip as is “click”. Smooth scrolling is quite ambitious given the display and might it be possible that the stream of touch events makes other activities unresponsive? In fact, in my prototype, I have made the `E.touchˋ event the “click” rather than the stream of touch coordinates as a quick hack. The “click” makes it easy to implement buttons. Posted at 2021-06-02 by yngv126399 Hope someone is still checking this thread. I am considering ordering two of these (https://smartcare.en.alibaba.com/product/60602047741-819857284/Special_Memory_Lcd_Smart_Watch_Heart_Rate_Fitness_Wristband_Ios_wholesales_Fitness_Tracker_Touch_Screen_Sleep_Tracker.html?spm=a2700.shop_plgr.41413.10.2f735091VSZpkM), but I'm not 100% sure it's the same device! My questions are:
I am a long time tech guy, but haven't done a cross-compile in eons. Posted at 2021-06-03 by @fanoush yes, that link is Q3 Posted at 2021-06-03 by yngv126399 Completely agree! Are you offering ;-) ? Part of me wants to learn the process, and another just would like it "just work". Although I'm also tempted to tweak some code for myself.. I've been dying for some extra Graphics functions (I mainly make watch faces). Posted at 2021-06-04 by @fanoush as for graphics/watchfaces - Q3 has always on 176x176 screen with only 8 fixed colors
not sure what you mean. I do have Q3 and make builds occasionally for myself but at current beta stage it is more practical if you could make a build from the source yourself, and I guess for most people who can handle SWD flashing rebuilding from source is not an issue . In linux or WSL on windows it is quite easy, just get latest toolchain from ARM , checkout espruino repo and follow https://github.com/espruino/Espruino/blob/master/README_Building.md - the provision script for SMAQ3 board should download nordic SDK15 and then just Posted at 2021-06-04 by yngv126399 I'm pretty sure I can manage that.. it's actually the SWD flashing that I'm not sure about. I know just enough to be dangerous. I'll google it to see what I need. Probably should practice on a cheap nrf board first... Thanks! Posted at 2021-06-10 by @gfwilliams
I'd always suggest just buying an nRF52832DK - you can practice and then you can even wire it up as a programmer to program the watch. However I do now have 100 of the SMA Q3 watches here in the UK, and I'm getting ready to put them (pre-programmed, with bootloader) in the shop. I've just been making a few changes recently to try and get the software polished a bit more. Posted at 2021-06-10 by AkosLukacs Oh, the Q3 will be Bangle V2? Posted at 2021-06-10 by yngv126399 YES! Glad to hear it! I will be among the first purchasers. I enjoy tinkering but I sure have a knack for bricking things, so I'll be happy to have it ready to go. I'll watch the site for updates. Thank you! Posted at 2021-06-11 by @gfwilliams
That's the plan! It's tricky as I don't want to get stuck with a lot of Bangle.js v1, but I think we're getting to the point now where it's ok. There's still a lot of work to ensure that the apps are compatible though Posted at 2021-06-11 by yngv126399 I think you can market them as addressing (somewhat) different needs/desires. B1: bright, full colour high res screen in a tough exterior. B2: slim, newer proc, more sensors, daylight readable. Then offer a deal if you buy both ;-) Posted at 2021-07-08 by undecided Are you still planning to sell the Q3s, or did I miss them? Not worried about espruino being fully tuned for it so long as it works as a basic watch and updates can be easily applied... Posted at 2021-07-08 by @fanoush there is also some info in the other thread Posted at 2021-07-08 by undecided Ahh, hadn't seen that! Fantastic news. Posted at 2021-07-08 by @gfwilliams We are, yes! Things just got a little delayed, but I have about 90 in stock and I'm about ready to put them online. I keep delaying it because I want to keep sorting out more little niggles in the software but I guess a lot of folks wouldn't mind having something that's pretty pre-release? Another 2900 have been ordered already so I'm definitely going to release them! I'm pretty sure I'll try and crowdfund the proper version, which will give a bit more time to get the code sorted Posted at 2021-07-12 by undecided
Ha, I totally understand that one. Yep, I know I'm certainly happy to buy one from the batch of "These are somewhere between not-quite-right and totally-not-right" devices! Posted at 2021-07-12 by yngv126399 I'm ready to buy if you're ready to put them up for sale! Niggles or no... Posted at 2021-08-02 by @gfwilliams Sorry for the delay - there are too many Bangle.js posts and I forgot to update this one as well :) https://shop.espruino.com/banglejs2-dev Posted at 2021-08-02 by yngv126399 Already ordered here! Very excited... Posted at 2021-08-04 by Geza Great, thanks! Posted at 2021-08-06 by undecided Dammit! It's arrived, and I've got to do work today, and all I want to do is play with my new toy... :D Anyway, charges well, works well (though it has yet to find GPS, might need to expose it to some sunshine), found one of the niggles in the "beep" settings menu already, all good though. Did you want us to report niggles, and if so, where? Happy to put them in github issues with a specific label if you like? Posted at 2021-08-09 by @gfwilliams Thanks! Yes, definitely reporting niggles would be great. Probably best right now to report them into https://github.com/espruino/BangleApps/issues and I added a tag 'Bangle2'. Yeah, the GPS takes a while to get going (more than the original Bangle I think), but there are some options for AGPS that should really speed up the time to fix, once they get implemented Posted at 2021-08-11 by yngv126399 @gfwilliams Received mine in Canada yesterday, thank you! Already playing around with watch faces, trying out some code i have for the DK08 face, and logging the niggles. Very nice work on this, many thanks to the whole team... Posted at 2021-08-12 by @gfwilliams Great! Any suggestions or code you have would really be appreciated :) |
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Posted at 2020-10-26 by @gfwilliams
Just a note that I published some technical details of the SMA Q3 smartwatch here: https://hackaday.io/project/175577-hackable-nrf52840-smart-watch
It's quite an impressive watch, and there is a partially working Espruino build for it as well. It can be a bit tricky to get hold of though, so let me know if there's interest in a group buy.
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