Show HN: Our new $149 hackable Bluetooth wristwatch
getinpulse.com
getinpulse.com
It is based on the MSP430 microprocessor which is much less powerful than this thing, its capped at 16mhz or something IIRC and only has around 8K of program space. It is however about a third of the price.
Also, we're right here on HN to answer your questions!
Why only one button?
Two would have been really nice for most things (like back and forward in powerpoint/itunes).
Edit: Another one:
Why don't you ship outside the US/Canada? I considered buying one, but I'm in Germany :(
EDIT: Oh, never mind, just saw that its a button, not a knob.
Indeed. They are very different propositions. Hence I said "for comparison" :)
(I'd love an accelerometer - sure you guys are well aware of the possibilities)
Are you interested in making a case or something similar?
Getting people up and writing code on devices quickly is awesome; but sending code (unencrypted, even) off is pretty shady, particularly since you're not disclosing it to anyone.
Arduino manages to have a cute little barebones IDE based around an actual compiler; and they provide full hardware docs, links to datasheets, the works. You're doing exactly the opposite of that. Even Apple will let me compile code for my own iOS devices -- after I've paid the $99/year fee or jailbroken, of course...
From the terms: "hereby grant to Allerta a perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to reproduce, distribute, transmit, publicly perform, publicly display, digitally perform, modify, create derivative works of, and otherwise use and commercially exploit any text, photographs or other data and information you submit to the Website (collectively, User Generated Content) in any media now existing or hereafter developed, including without limitation on websites, in audio format, and in any print media format."
As I mentioned, we're releasing the entire SDK with instructions on how to compile using the full arm-gcc, right on your local machine. We just started off with this cloudcompile service to make it super easy for everyone to get Hello, Watch! (http://getinPulse.com/apps/hello_watch) running.
We are developers ourselves and committed to providing the best experience possible. We'll work fast to get the full toolchain out there.
Looks too big for a woman's wrist? Can't find actual dimensions...
I think I'd still rather wear it like you would a security badge with a lanyard or like the old-school mini-pagers in your pocket with a chain.
Less powerful processor and cheaper display might be a good thing, depending on your uses.
What is the battery life like? With aggressive power management (turning the screen off most of the time and leaving bluetooth disconnected), it can be up to 3 days. If bluetooth is constantly connected with the screen turning on periodically for alerts, you can expect 25 - 30 hours. If you have a processor-intensive application and are using the full capabilities of the screen non-stop, you can expect 2 - 3 hours.
So unfortunately it seems that the battery life is the biggest issue with inPulse
They _might_ be able to save a decent amount of battery life by using e-paper, but you lose color, and I'm not sure in practice you'd end up saving much power over the OLEDs they're currently using.
If that's their optimistic estimate then I'm not sure I want to learn how long it lasts under real world conditions...
Have you considered adding a crank?
(actually only half-joking, although I fear the machinery would not fit into such a small device)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxGZIiyyxrM
(the video is worth it for the 'joke' alone.)
Question to anyone reading this. What would be a good use to notify users? There was an article on HN about startups using a visual dashboard: http://mygengo.com/talk/blog/why-your-startup-needs-a-visual... I think something like that would be cool to have. Hook into your KPI's and have that information right there on your wrist.
I just checked the specs, "4 days depending on display/Bluetooth use"
Even if its two days of full time use, thats great.
Depending on how many items you ask for in order screen, it lets you go ahead or displays "stock unavailable".
For the Mettalic Silver, It seems 57 items are available at the time of writing. and for Black Anodized, it is 108. I have to take a reasonable assumption now to get the sales numbers (may be 200 at beginning?).
The advantages of the Datalink are that it always shows the time (no button press necessary), the battery lasts an entire year, is water-resistant, and is small and subtle. It also just makes a damn good watch without any of the programmable features. Every other programmable watch available is anything but subtle, with a display that isn't active all the time, and has to be constantly recharged. Those are considerable failings for a watch.
What the Datalink lacks is a denser display (but remaining as 1bit LCD is ok), any sort of wireless (ANT+ would be suitable), and sensors (pulse, altitude, position, etc). It could also use, obviously, a faster processor with more RAM and storage (it also has 32k).
The price for this watch is fantastic but it's still just not quite what I'm looking for.
The SDK's compilation tool doesn't invoke a compiler; it uploads your code to a service running off of http://174.129.29.50:8080.
The Arduino is fantastic because the bootloader is open-source, the hardware is open-source, and it's easy to find out full information about the hardware and pull the MCU datasheets yourself.
I think we've succeeded! In our beta testing, users were able to go from downloading the SDK zip to loading their first app on inPulse within 5-8 minutes. I think that's pretty impressive for a startup hardware biz.
If you'd like to setup the arm-gcc toolchain and compile your own apps, absolutely no problem! We'll have instructions online shortly. If you need them faster, just email devsupport@getinpulse.com
One of the things that make Arduino so popular is the ease of use in getting code a) to compile and b) get uploaded to the device. If this works via a service, then so be it.
But, I would like to see instructions for setting up a local amr-gcc toolchain, just to be complete.
"ARM Cortex-M3 Core running at 96MHz, 512KB FLASH, 64KB RAM and lots of interfaces including Ethernet, USB Device and Host, CAN, SPI, I2C and other I/O."
<200mA, $59
I want one, but I already have an arduino thats been laying around unused and unloved for some time :(
We live in a world where device vendors (even small ones) routinely use technical means to thwart hackers and other tinkerers. Often, this is done under the guise of usability or security (sometimes with some justification, even). Plenty of people don't mind trading away some control for stability or ease-of-use.
This is a forum for hackers, and you just called your device "hackable". I'm saying that it's not, currently; it's a black box with an SDK that does cloud compilation. You don't document that fact anywhere or provide an ready alternative, and there's no information about what's underneath your API, either OS or hardware.
I encourage you to try out the hardware, throw it on your wrist and wait for the amazed looks from passersby. It's quite awesome having a net-connected terminal (I pair my inPulse with my Blackberry) right on your wrist.
Encouraging us to get one for the Blackberry is all well and good, except its pre-order only, not shipping yet.
I wish the blackberry 'edition' was $99 (for black.) Then I'd get one. It seems disproportionate to the blackberry cost itself at $199
The question has been asked a couple times here - is there an answer?
The Arduino and this are two totally different classes of devices.
For staters, this appears to be very much about the hardware. I wouldn't expect it to be open source, just like the iPhone or Motorola Droid you can develop your own apps for doesn't have open source hardware. You don't actually have to be granted access to 100% of the codebase and hardware layout for a product just to develop a neat application around something.
I saw this and immediately thought of 5 or 6 cool uses for it so I bought one. Sure, if I was going to build some kind of a product around this, or develop an app that was going to be my retirement income, I'd want a little more information about the company and their licensing models. But for a $150 hackable gadget, this thing is one of the coolest toys I've seen in a while.
Are you guys courting retailers like ThinkGeek?
(I like ThinkGeek, but I'm curious if there are other, similar stores.)
But when I do upgrade my venerable analog watch, it's probably going to be to a http://lunatik.com + ipod nano 6g. A little more expensive, requires a jailbreak, but a hell of a lot more functional, and doesn't require uploading my code anywhere to compile it once jailbroken.
Just because it doesn't run iOS doesn't mean you couldn't write code for it :)
1) the ipod nano 6g has not been jailbroken.
2) the ipod nano 6g has no bluetooth built in
This watch is a better fit for what i want to do now - get up and running now with a programmable wrist based terminal.
I love the design of the lunatik but until the nano 6g is jailbroken I'm just wearing a nano on my wrist. The novelty of which has worn off since I can't hack it to do anything special.
However, in a world of smart phones I can't imagine ever using a watch like this.
Watches have been relegated to primarily fashion items, I can't imagine why you'd want one that runs code.
Sorry for the harsh review, best of luck.
Having access to information without having to dig your phone out of your pocket (not to mention a phone you can't operate with sturdy gloves) is very useful in such situations.
Which reminds me; how "weatherproof" is this thing?
If you do get that working, does that mean new hardware?
The only problem, I think, is that they're not very stylish. A bit too large/clunky looking. I'm not sure how to fix that while keeping the display a useful size. But that what geniuses like you guys are for!
As for applications, yeh GPS, Gyro would be great.
They raised $941,718 from users, so there's definitely a market for style. It's touchscreen, costly (nano+holder) and non-hackable.
I ordered one to hack about with. If it becomes part of my daily routine I'll probably have my jeweler in Detroit hook up a more attractive case and band for it.
Agree on the sensors, it would be nice to at the very least have a dead-simple accelerometer, but I also know what goes into bringing a piece of hardware like this to market. The $150 price point probably doesn't leave a ton of margin, and it's just on the cusp of not having to be a "considered purchase" for people. Adding more stuff would drive up the manufacturing cost and price into something that starts to become a $399 product and the number of experimenters who will buy one on a whim drops dramatically.
Give it more buttons and I'll buy it.
* Your 3rd video is the most presentable one and best intro, make it on top.
* The screen seems not be a touch-screen since not mentioned in features. So seems like only way to navigate the on-screen "buttons" with a single physical button is to press it until it cycles to highlight screen button and press and hold it to select. This does not seem to be a good UI.
For a v.2, you either need to use a capacitive touch screen, or make that single button you have on the bottom face of the watch like iphones, and have 4 to 6 buttons on the side, 2 to 3 on each left/right side so that app developers can program their screen buttons to float to left or right and user can just press the corresponding button. Of course the side buttons will need to be "concave" (not sure the right terminology for it) and be seamless on the side and not use that same old metallic button used in many watches. Minimalist does not work on a non touch-screen. Remember that even the ipod retained all 6+scroll buttons in its 10 year history.
[Edit: After a bit more though, if the side buttons are to be implemented, they need to go on only one side since the opposing side need to be empty for the opposing force of the thumb.]
Even if you decide to use a touch screen (pro version?), get rid of the side button and make it on the face like the iphone -- not only does it currently not look right on the Black Anodized version (some design work may be needed for a front facing button to look good on the Metallic one), but it will also hurt the users' finger less being a iphone-like button on the front for intensive apps like games.
* Why is the Black Anodized version cost $50 more? I would imagine the opposite. What does it have that the Metallic doesn't?
* Most people who spend $150+ on a watch actually cares how good it will look on him/her. Either make a pseudo (bunch of images wrapped in a slider div) 360 model view or take a bunch of pictures in different angles standalone and on different wrists (men and ladies). Have its dimensions stated like so:
->|x|<---
| | ^
| | |
| | |
|<-z->| y
| | |
| | |
| | -
* Why is the Blackberry features page totally hidden on the footer? That should be your main feature! In fact, write a hello world ASAP that talks to the iphone/ipad/android (eg. notifications or different vibration alerts for different notifications), it will probably 2-10x your sales and developers.
* Nitpicking - the "Buy it now" on the features page needs to be on the bottom, no one will buy until they read the features. And after reading, there's no "buy it now" action avail.
* Find a way to tap into the ipod nano watch or other smart watch community, you should get converts or potential customers there.
(Edited to format the diagram and more details.)
http://sizeasy.com/page/size_comparison/31203-inPulse-vs-iPo...
Only the watch body itself is shown: SizeEasy only supports cubic dimensions, so I couldn't find a way to show the wrist band.
Also, SizeEasy requires all three dimensions be provided, and since I couldn't find official dimensions anywhere else I used those cited around the web, for example:
http://www.berryscoop.com/2009/11/questions-answered-about-t...
Overall, decently sized but definitely not head-and-shoulders above the Nano.
A bit more nitpicking suggestions:
- First 2 videos are too noisy, replace/edit/re-do if you have time.
- Overall tone of the website and watch's usage and features is a bit too hacker oriented. This may be the audience you're after now. You'll need to sell to mainstream audience after you figure out what they are after. IMHO, its the smartphone/tablet pairing. Do not take no as an answer, either talk to Apple to get around iOS terms or if that fails, start with the jailbreak route.
In a sense its similar to using your computer instead of a television. You can access more interesting internet videos online, and usually don't have to watch commercials because of ad blocking software. You can play video games on your computer instead of using a console. Your computer could hook up to a projector or HD Television as needed. You can read books on your computer. You can call people on your computer. You can IM/Email/Facebook on your computer. I think the future will be far fewer devices that can do a whole lot more. This watch seems like a step into the past.
anyhow, an important use case for me, if I buy this, is using it as a bluetooth vibrator. I'm a SysAdmin and on call; but I'm not single. I want something that will wake me up without waking up anyone else who may be in the bed at the time. This means I need to wear the thing while I sleep; which makes charging... difficult.
I would give up color in a second if it would improve battery life.
Of course, I could aways just use a bluetooth bracelet at night and this during the day, but I'm bad at remembering things. I want to minimize the number of things I need to remember to charge.
For instance, I work at an establishment which bans the use of cell phones, but due to the fact that sometimes emergencies happen, a lot of people tend to sneak it in, anyway. So when our pockets buzz, our only option is to ninja it out of our pockets, hold it out of view of others, yet in our view, and check the notification.
With this invention, we would be able to simply hit a button on our watch, and not risk losing our jobs just to read a "hey how r u" BS text, or a missed call from an unknown number. Now we can tell whether or not we need to leave the office to return a text or a call without even touching the phone.
This is what I would use it for, anyway.
Petty about US/CA shipping only, seems a pretty dumb move (unless there's some reason, other than shipping costs which you can make customers pay, for limiting who can buy it).
Shipping goods for money internationally is a bureaucratic nightmare. A million possible edge cases to do with tax and so forth. This is why hardware startups often only take orders from their home country for their first batch.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/watches/cd13/?pfm=Search...
Not nearly as easy to hack as this Bluetooth with OLED, but still a watch designed by a single guy located in Tempe. I bought one from ThinkGeek a while back version 1 (pictured on his website, the picture on ThinkGeek is version 2) and I love it. It is unique and I always get looks from people.
It uses an MSP430 at its core.
I think something like this, but bigger and wall mountable would be very neat. The obvious use case for startups is to use it as a dashboard with your most important metric for display - for example your google analytics traffic stats.
Also, Python is the language to program apps in? They only language?
Their price seems eminently reasonable to me.
Retails for EUR 39.50.
I do not own one so cannot say anything about how well it works -- just came across it randomly yesterday when buying something online. If the client is Android-based it is almost certain the protocol can be easily reverse engineered to make it hackable from other paired devices.