It doesn't do very much, but the things it doesn't do aren't things I'm all that interested in anyway. What it does do, it's kinda hit and miss. But it is cheap as hell for a smartwatch and fully open source, so were I more inclined to code I could potentially improve some of the ways it does things.
I agree that it’s not what most people want, but that’s mainly because it’s pretty basic, lacks features, components like the screen aren’t as nice as other watches, etc.
It’s very stable and reliable for what it does, though. I’ve been using it as a daily driver watch, timer, alarm, etc. for a couple of years.
Tinkering is optional. It has basic settings like a few watch faces to choose from, screen timeout, and things like that. It basically just works. Bluetooth pairing with Gadgetbridge is easy. The firmware was buggy in earlier versions with Bluetooth losing connection a lot, but it’s very solid now.
Flashing firmware updates is probably the most technical thing a user would be faced with, but there’s not much to it and the device automatically reverts to the last good firmware if something goes wrong.
I don’t mean to sound like a sales pitch here. Just saying it’s not like running Linux where there are a lot of options and technical details the user can get wrong.
Bangle.js 2, the pros are being highly customisable and relatively high battery life with an always on display. Cons are how glitchy said customisability can get the more you try to do with it due to how small the storage and ram is.
Afaik Its a default setting to prevent malicious apps from abusing accessibility settings. You can bypass it by going to Settings > Apps > See All Apps > Find that app > clicking the top right menu > allow restricted settings if you want
Fossil hybrid. I really like having regular hands on a watch, both for the looks over a fully digital screen and also that I don’t have to flick my wrist to see the time. It’s just there.
As a bonus: it runs about three weeks on a single battery-charge.
Fossil Hybrid HR, love it. E-ink screen means 10 days of battery, and soverign data with custom faces through gadgetbridge…it’s a watch first, and a health tracker and notification point second.
Amazefit Bip - pro: transflective display with backlight, supreme battery life (weeks), virtually indistructible (although I had massive doubts at the start), all the features I need. con: replaced the wristband almost immediately - really cheap.
Later comments mention the Fossil Hybrid. I just checked that watch, and have to admit it is really nice. There is a strong want urge, for me.
Then I remembered another pro for the Bip: It is comparatively cheap, at <50€ (I seem to remember 36€ at when I bought it, years ago?).
So for me, with everyday items like mobiles or watches, I use them heavily till they break. I really would hate to get a scratch on that really nice Fossil, but with the Amazefit, it would not hurt that much.
So the tldr pro is: Very good feature to price ratio.
Bip here. Bought 2018. Have been charging it literally only once a month.
It relieved me from the battery anxiety of my previous sony smartwatch that ran the full googles smartwatch OS. That thing lasted usually a day. Less if i did anything meaningful on it. It made me seriously think if it needed a watch that would do everything, but ended up doing nothing anyway because of the battery life.
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