BangleJS 2 - Linus from Linus Tech Tips wants a BangleJS 2

@Hank Interestingly, I also thought about the need for a separate thread with use cases, where users could share examples from their real life how they use the BJS watch, and also share their watch backups so that you can install a customized version of another person's watch and play around, it's easy to do :)

There is a section on https://github.com/espruino/BangleApps/w­iki#recommended-apps where I'd hoped some folks might fill in their favourite apps:

Feel free to edit this wiki and add new suggested apps and information!

So if you're up for it, editing that with your suggestions would be really good.

Personally, I'm not sure that a thread itself would be that useful - they pretty much always end up getting swamped in "hey, that's cool. But how would I do this?" posts that new users would have to scroll through. The Wiki would at least ensure we can keep some sanity so users could find the information quickly.

Backups are a neat idea, but I do wonder if they'd just end up out of date really quickly?

@Gordon

Backups are a neat idea, but I do wonder if they'd just end up out of date really quickly?

At the very least, a more or less stable version of a fully customized watch for the needs of a certain person will saved, and all I will have to do is restore the other person's backup. Compatibility with different firmware versions is in question, but then you just need to install the latest firmware and then restore the backup.

For a new user, this seems to be the easiest option to get a polished version of the BJS watch, and then play around, change apps.
But here, of course, just a backup is not enough, more explanations and real examples of use are needed. Otherwise, how, the other person will know the nuances of use?

and all I will have to do is restore the other person's backup

I can totally see that having a list of use cases and then links to the apps to install and instructions for how to configure them would be great.

But I just can't see that a 'black box' backup of a watch would help too much, especially as it would be out of date almost immediately, and the steps taken to configure it probably wouldn't have been documented. There's also a huge risk of someone accidentally including personal data...

How about having curated "Collections" in the apploader? Like an additional tab where you could install the Fitness-Collection and get Heart Rate Monitor,Run and Recorder for example.
Essentially a list of app IDs with its own icon and description.
Maybe the included apps could then even be reduced to Settings, Welcome, About and of course Launcher and Anton.

The perception of users is often that they have a finished product in front of them that works like other smartwatches. However, the BangleJS2 is more of a WIP project that expects a lot from users. I read up a lot, talked to BangleJS2 owners on social media and watched videos before I bought mine. So I knew the smartwatch would not be a replacement for my Amazfit Bib (e.g. not really waterproof). But it really took a lot of hard work to figure it all out in advance. And yes, from my point of view there are still many construction sites. For example, the data analyses still have many issues (e.g. https://forum.espruino.com/huddles/32485­80/#comment16653267, https://forum.espruino.com/huddles/32506­53/#comment16700803). But I see very good approaches here on the part of the BangleJS actors. I like the idea of app recommendations. For example, I find the BW clock the best of all (almost as minimal as the default clock, but with more functions. Would be great to see this ideas from this thread https://forum.espruino.com/conversations­/379724/?offset=25#comment16725363 in production some time). Perhaps the default apps can be put together a little differently in the future so that users can reach their goal more quickly. As for the trackers (heart rate and steps), I don't think there will be any quick improvements. It's just complicated. So to everyone involved, thanks for the great work and have fun.

On the note of Backups/Collections mentioned in this conversation I'm creating a pseudo-app that kind of does this. Currently I'm doing it with all the apps I have installed, but eventually I'll remove many of them leaving the ones I consider core to the way I use my bangle.

It works by adding all the apps as dependencies in metadata.json and adding some presets by uploading some app.json files for a couple of apps.

Before installing it (please first do a backup of your own setup if you're to test this!) I do:

1. Factory reset the watch
   
2. Remove all apps from the "More..." tab in the app loader.
   
3. Install the "app", currently named "my setup"
   
   

On my app loader.

The code.