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I agree that it's not fair to expect it to be a replacement for a pebble and that comparison was not really the point I was trying to make. I also think you are right that it's just not the right watch for me considering I was more interested in an open source, community supported watch, not a platform to learn programming/microcontrollers/UI design etc. At least at this stage in it's development I think that is the crowd it is more suited to.
You are right that I'm disappointed because I was really excited for this watch and I can still see it's potential. But not being able to rely on a watch to actually function on a day to day basis because of issues with battery, BT connection, boot loops, button failure, clunky software, etc. That is not really an issue of comparing it to the pebble, that's just a functioning watch.
The fact that the community does jump to the defence of the banglejs is one of the great things about it. Having an engaged community and someone capable and proactive like Gordon at the helm is what makes me think that it will end up being what I was hoping it already was. I really do hope it reaches the level of polish that it needs for mass adoption.
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I'm glad my reasons are not complete off the mark and I agree with both of you. I also consider myself quite tech savvy (just not too a programming/hacking level) and I could deal with the clunkyness of gadgetbridge, but not being able to trust that it would be operable when I needed it to be meant that it didn't work for me as a reliable daily driver. I completely understand that if that's what other people are looking for then this is ideal.
As for the quality, I didn't really have an issue with that, other than now where the button has given up.
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Hi all,
I don't mean to bash the watch because I can see it has a lot of potential and Gordon seems to be genuinely dedicated to making it work, but for me I'm calling it quits after about 9 months use.
My reasons are:
- The battery life was never up to the standard I had expected. If I forget to charge one night, it will be dead before the next night. To me a watch should be able to last 2 days at the absolute minimum. Especially considering I did not have anything special or custom loaded, only the most very basic system apps to minimise issues.
- The charging cable is way too weak and awkward. I got around this by 3d printing a bedside table mount which holds the watch and cable together perfectly but I shouldn't have had to and it didn't help me when I travelled.
- It would get stuck in a boot loop every now and again and take about a day of me trying repeatedly to downgrade/reload apps etc to get it working again.
- I'm not sure if it was related to the boot loop but once the tape over the middle programming connections came off, they started corroding like crazy. I cleaned them a lot and tried covering them with nail polish but did not have much long term success.
- The button has now just stopped working. I thought maybe this was another issue that I could try to fix with updates but instead it is now just stuck on "hold button to reload" and I can't do a thing about it without a working button.
- The connection and app loading was always clunky. My process just to use the gadgetbridge app was to open the standalone bangleapp, connect to that, disconnect, open the gadgetbridge app and connect to that. If the battery percentage displayed then I knew it was properly connected.
- The vibration was not strong enough and the vibration patterns were hard to find and too limited. I ended up missing a lot of notifications. Sometimes the call notification would randomly refer to a single vibration which lasted for about 1/4 of a second, no wonder I missed countless calls.
- Due to all of the above I just found the whole situation very unreliable. I could never rely on having a functioning watch on a given day and that lead to a very frustrated spouse who would struggle to actually get ahold of me because I rely on my smartwatch.
- I never got a chance to try to get the most out of the watch (music control, maps, games, tools, etc) because when it is failing at the most basic tasks of a smartwatch, I didn't want to risk further complications or wise battery life.
Maybe I'm just not the target customer (not a programmer), maybe I got a dodgy unit, maybe I somehow did something to break it. Either way, I was hoping this might eventually become something that I would like as much as my pebble all those years ago, but for the time being I will revert to a new version my previous watch (amazfit bip 3) and keep waiting for a worthy pebble successor.
Farewell to you all, I genuinely hope the community and the brand continues improving, and who knows, maybe I will be persuaded to try a banglejs3 or 4 in the future. Happy to hear why I'm wrong or what I did to have such a poor experience, I'll try to remember to check back if anyone has any questions.
- The battery life was never up to the standard I had expected. If I forget to charge one night, it will be dead before the next night. To me a watch should be able to last 2 days at the absolute minimum. Especially considering I did not have anything special or custom loaded, only the most very basic system apps to minimise issues.
Gordon - I really admire that you are open to feedback and I appreciate you taking the time to respond and engage in this discussion which I have found very interesting. To be honest I was considering not posting this at all because I'm not really one to complain and I'm not trying to get anything out of it other than trying to shed some light to this community about my experience in the hope that it might be helpful to the development.
As for the pebble comparisons, I completely understand and I wouldn't feel too bad about not meeting that standard considering that I don't think there are any better smartwatch offerings including from Apple, Samsung, Amazfit, Garmin, etc.
From the sounds of it I did get unlucky as well. Maybe I managed to get water in it or something but to have poor battery, intermittent boot issues, and a broken button it seems like all the holes in the Swiss cheese lined up for me. I don't recall ever getting more than a few days battery life even as new, and I can't imagine it was due to loaded apps. I think the most custom I loaded was a different watch face and a battery gauge.
I am sorry that you have to field more complaints and I hope that I haven't come across as an entitled and grouchy customer. I can't imagine that is particularly rewarding for a project you are so passionate about. For what's it is worth I think the vast majority of people on this forum can see how much you are invested in this and can see the work you are putting in to make it as good as it can be with the limitations you have.