Porting the firmware to SMA TIME, it's possible?

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  • Hello,
    I really like the idea of bangle.js, but I don't like the hardware that much. The circular shape with a square on the middle looks very ugly to me, and I prefer transflective displays rather than oled or LCD.
    Today I just found a device called SMA Time that also uses nRF52832 chipset, has many of the bangle capabilities and seems to have been hacked already: https://hackaday.io/project/85463-color-­open-source-smartwatch

    Will it be possible to port bangle firmware to it? Or, are there plans to build a versñ of the bangle with a square shape and/or transflective lcd display?

  • There are many hackable nrf52 watches like that. The Q2 was good but is hard to buy nowadays. Currrently good one is P8 (very similar to PineTime watch, full touchscreen) or DK08 if you prefer display like Q2 or there are many nrf52 based fitness trackers. Our latest hot tip now is the SMA B5 fitness tracker which includes GPS and has SWD pins on USB port (!) so it is unbrickable without any need to open it.

    As for the bangle firmware - bare Espruino itself is easy and is running fine on watches I mentioned (and on few other ones). But there you need to write your Watch app yourself in javascript from scratch (handling button(s), screen, touch, sensors).

    The bangle specific APIs and Apps on top of Espruino it is however different matter. For that I guess the best is to get real Bangle.

    So it depends on you if you want fully supported watch with best out of box experience and by getting it you also support Espruino project or you prefer to hack your custom stuff with many other nrf52 watches, that's OK too.

    To answer your question in topic name - yes it is perfectly possible but most probably you must do it yourself.

    And BTW technically this conversation does not belong to "Official Espruino Devices" subforum, any other subforum would be better choice.

  • I was just writing a reply, but it looks like @fanoush covered it pretty well :) You can run Espruino on a bunch of devices right now, but it won't be properly compatible with existing apps or the app loader.

    The Bangle.js was a bit of a compromise because I felt like the GPS was a really useful addition, and at the time there wasn't much out there with that and nRF52 - things have moved on a lot though.

    I am looking at a similar watch with transflective display and much better specs for a new Bangle.js device though, so when that's released it'll have the nice APIs and support for existing apps. However realistically that's not going to happen until later in 2021 now - I now have thousands of Bangle.js in stock so the original isn't going anywhere any time soon :)

  • Thanks both for your answers, and sorry for posting it on the wrong subforum, hope it can be moved.
    I have a Garming watch that I'm very happy with, but I feel the need to have better and more capable apps, that's why I got interested on bangle. I am also very nerdy and love hacking things despite I don't have enough time :p so having an easy hackable watch is an absolute win

    My problem with bangle is that It can not replace my current device because I really miss the transflective display, but I think I will buy anyway to support the project and to use it as a different device, maybe as home automation control, or a necklace or a keychain (a super powerful tamagotchi you said?)

  • So get both :-) Bangle and then get also the SMA Q2 or DK08 too and see how far you can get with hacking it to do what you want :-) And maybe check also this thread http://forum.espruino.com/conversations/­342466/#15450049 there are some videos there too. Or search this forum for P8.

  • I just bought a DK08, thanks for the info. The bangle gets too expensive with the shipping costs. If it had the display I want, I wouldn't mind, but I find it so ugly, and I have so little time to spend on it that I don't think it worths it for me.
    But if you ever release one with a transflective display, then the price will not hold me down.

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Porting the firmware to SMA TIME, it's possible?

Posted by Avatar for Danielo515 @Danielo515

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