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Some goodies came the other day. I have a number of things I want to obtain from Pine64 but not everything is released yet or in stock. So for now I was able to get the PineTime smartwatch, the PinePower benchtop power supply and the USB-C convergence dock for the Pinephone. Here are some general thoughts and first impressions.
I'll start with a brief history of my relationship with smartwatches. I have been near continuously wearing various models of Pebble smartwatch since around the time the original Pebble was released. My most worn model is my Kickstarter edition Pebble Time Steel but I also have the Steel, Time Round, Pebble 2, and an original Pebble that is no longer functional. Pebble watches hit the sweet spot for me with the non-backlit sunlight readable display and long battery life. On the software side of things I appreciate the efficient official functions and the good selection of watchfaces and apps made by the community. I have not been very interested in most of the available smartwatches since Pebble went out of business. That is until recently with the PineTime and the Watchy (more about this in the future when I get my hands on one).
The PineTime doesn't hit the sweet spot of features for me that the Pebbles do but it's interesting enough and comes at such a low price that I couldn't help but try it out. I'll put a link to the full specs below but the gist is this: low power microcontroller, touchscreen IPS display, Bluetooth and heart rate sensor. The physical appearance is somewhat reminiscent of the Pebble Time Steel though the PineTime is slightly smaller.
My initial impressions are that at $25 this is a much nicer piece of hardware than you'd expect for the price. Even though it misses some of key characteristics that I want in a smartwatch there is a lot to like. The heart rate sensor works well. I've seen reports that the step counting is accurate. The latest version of the "official" firmware has all the basics covered. Two different watchfaces, stopwatch, music controls, heart rate, step counting and notifications pushed from your phone. The openness of this smartwatch is also a very interesting aspect of the device. The InfiniTime firmware that comes with it is not your only choice. There are a number of other firmwares that are at varying states of development which I will be exploring in the future. I've been tipped off that the MicroPython based WASP OS is a particularly interesting option with quite a few features.
There are a lot of SBCs and various other things that run or charge via 5V USB kicking around the kelbot geek lair. I have often overloaded and run out of quality USB power sources so this $35 benchtop power supply was kind of a no brainer for me. It has 4 USB ports with one of those being QuickCharge 3.0 compatible. There is also a 65W USB-C PD port and the top of the cube is a Qi wireless charging pad. I have not tested the limits but it is claimed to be able to pump out the full rated power of all ports simultaneously. There is also a convenient little power toggle on the back. This should come in very handy.
The dock was a throw it on the order while it's in stock and I'm ordering other things kind of purchase. I'm not yet at a point where I use my Pinephone as a primary device but I'm anticipating doing so in the future and the dock will be nice to have. It is nicely made with an aluminum housing and gives you two USB ports, HDMI out and ethernet. On one end there is also a USB-C port for power. The scenario I'm imagining for this is when I get the Pinephone keyboard attachment. Being able to use the Pinephone like a pocket pc and then plug it into the dock and continue with a big monitor, peripherals and wired networking sounds great.
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