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Comment by slug | Hacker News Reader

Texas Instruments was selling the eZ430-Chronos for $25 the other day, it sold out. http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/EZ430-Chronos , http://tideals.com/

It doesn't have bluetooth so this watch has an upper hand, but the chronos has a data transceiver for firmware upgrade, communication with health monitors and interfacing to the PC through an included RF dongle, along with xyz accelerometers , pressure for altimeter and temperature sensor. It's completely programmable with a provided IDE or msp430-gcc if you feel so inclined.

One of the models has 433MHz frequency which can, for instance, allow you to interface with many remote controlled devices (garage door).

On the link above and on youtube you can find a ton of videos with demonstrations.

I managed to scoop one for me and posted the daily deal on HN a few days ago, but it didn't gather much interest :)

The display on this watch is much higher quality, in my opinion, than the eZ430.

I've looked at the TI, and it isn't really what i want. The previous version of this watch, the inPulse, was pretty good, but battery life was a concern for me.

This, however, is a much more attractive device, solely because of the very sexy display. The costs aren't in the same ballpark, but neither is the functionality.

I want it, in a way that I'd never want to actually use a Chronos.

I've met some of the inPulse guys in Waterloo, and interviewed for an internship in the past, that I didn't do. I have faith in their ability to execute a pretty great product.

I'm currently working with these for a senior design project...I must say, I'm not a huge fan. You can do some neat things with the accelerometers, but the RF range is severely limited. Having worn one for extended periods of time, I must say that it's not something I'd enjoy wearing around. It's bulky and a bit unsightly.

Still, it's fun to hack with, and you can do some cool things with accelerometer data. Definitely worth the $25.

TI also makes a similar Bluetooth compatible watch: http://www.metawatch.org/

technically, TI doesn't make this, but the Metawatch guys are very tight with TI, and, IMO, well ahead of inPulse.

I've backed the project. The main reason for me is that it's a whole, integrated platform with the smartphone. It's meant to be an extension of your phone, not only a watch with wireless/accel capabilities. I love it.

Wearing my Chronos now, the main drawback in developing for it is everything is seven-segment displays so info has to be pretty basic, still it was a nice watch for $50

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