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Comment by dr_j_ | Hacker News Reader

As a runner, this is relatively useless without a GPS. Include that and sign me up in a heartbeat.

Look into the Amazfit Bip. A bit more than $20, but cheap and the battery lasts ~40 days. If you're using GPS a lot it will be less than 40.

Even so, battery life is measured in weeks, not days.

I'm still rocking my Bip even though I don't use most of the smart features(heart-rate sensor doesn't seem very accurate). I just wear it as a regular watch because it looks good, it's slim and discrete, visible in the sun, has customizable watchfaces and shows me notifications from my phone(via Gadgetbridge, no cloud account BS). That's all I need, I don't want fancy interactive smartphone features on my watch to provide an endless source of distractions for the whole day at an easier reach.

Oh, and the battery lasts forever and because of the low pricetag I won't cry if I break it or scratch it during sports or household chores.

I feel like the Bip is the unofficial successor to the beloved Pebble.

My BIP fell apart (the screen popped off). Was relatively easy to re-glue. It's a common issue.

But I was most fascinated to see the hardware inside. It's crazy how miniature it is when the actual body/face of the watch is detached.

I actually stopped wearing it simply because I found even the basic notifications I had set were affecting my brain -- an issue with any smartwatch, not just the BIP.

One cool hack I worked out was combining MacroDroid + BIP to trigger any phone action (Intent). So, you can use the BIP as a remote trigger for your camera, to start/stop music, send an SMS, etc. I added a tutorial to Reddit a while back but can find it if you're interested.

I feel like the Bip is the unofficial successor to the beloved Pebble.

That's exactly my story.

The Bip S is great (or the Bip S lite without gps if you don't need it). It has all the necessary basics (gps, step counter, always on color display, heart rate sensor, notifications, weather forecast, time, alarms) and real 40-45 days between battery charging. I couldn't stand charging each day or a few times per week.

Edit: and it can be operated in a real un"cloud"ed mode if you use the 3rd party gadgetbridge app (born of pebble user needs and extended to support more watches since). That was the dealmaker for me.

I've got a Bip. Using the GPS to track running or hiking does use a lot of power. I need to recharge about every 2 weeks, tracking a 1-hour walk every day.

I do recommend it. Another differentiating factor is the display. The Wyze product doesn't indicate the display tech, but the Amazfit using e-Ink, so it's always on and has good visibility even in bright light, something that competitors like Apple (with its minuscule battery life and disappearing display) can't claim.

Just one point of clarification, the Amazfit Bip does not use e-ink. It's a transreflective LCD screen, kind of like the old Game Boy Advance screens. It's easier to see in bright sunlight, and always on.

Another clarification, the display of the Bip(and Pebble, Garmin and others) is not a transreflective type but a SHARP Memory LCD where pixels only need power to change their state but need almost no power keeping their current state, like e-ink, but better, so it looks like transreflective in the sunlight.

The transreflective LCD type of the Gameboy would absolutely nuke your battery life as it needs to be actively refreshed even on stationary images.

I'm deeply saddened this type of display is not more popular among wearables vs OLED. Who doesn't want 30 day+ battery life and always-on sunlight visibility?

Can you get your data to other apps like Strava, or do you have to use Amazefit's app?

The factory software supports Google Fit. I think various third-party apps, like "Notify for Amazfit" (which I use and recommend) can also send the data over to Strava.

+1. Highly recommend Amazfit Bip! The battery life is so long that I forget where I keep my charging cable.

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