Usage report: Casio G-Shock GBD-800

[breversa]

Hello!

This is not a bug but a usage report:

Santa Claus has brought me a Casio G-Shock GBD-800, and I'm happy to report that most features that I've tested (mostly the Settings tab) work fine:

Also, please note that on that model, the Connect button is on the bottom-right, and is also used for Running Actions:

So thanks a lot @izivkov for creating and maintaining this app, which is much more useful, lean and less intrusive than the unmaintained Casio blob! :D

My only two gripes:

• the Auto Light on (the light is lit when the watch is physically moved up to read the time) is not functional for this watch. I can manually activate it for the next 4 hours but it's tedious, and I wish this feature could be (re)enabled on time sync: https://github.com/izivkov/CasioGShockSmartSync/issues/66
• the Illumination Period gets reset to 1,5s everytime I open the app: https://github.com/izivkov/CasioGShockSmartSync/issues/64

[izivkov]

@breversa I will be glad to add support to this watch. Since I do not have the watch, would you be willing to install APK which I can send you to try if it works, before I make an official release?

[izivkov]

"@breversa,

I have a couple of questions based on the screenshots you sent me:

Upon reviewing the Time screenshot and consulting the manual for this watch, it appears that the concept of "Home Time" is not present. Is this correct?

The temperature value seems to be incorrect, showing 0 degrees Celsius. I assume the watch was not at 0 degrees when the screenshot was taken.

Is the battery reading okay? It shows 100%.

When you set the illumination time to 3 seconds, does it actually illuminate for 3 seconds, or only for 1.5 seconds? I understand you mentioned that it resets back to 1.5 seconds. However, my question is whether it behaves correctly on the watch before the reset. The app will not change the setting on the watch autonomously, so I would like to determine if this is a display issue only.

I will scrutinize these issues in more detail and send you an APK to try if this is acceptable to you.

[breversa]

@breversa I will be glad to add support to this watch. Since I do not have the watch, would you be willing to install APK which I can send you to try if it works, before I make an official release?

Yes, of course! I'll be happy to help test and report!

I'll reply to your other questions later this weekend.

[izivkov]

Also, forgot to ask, I assume setting correct time works?

[breversa]

Upon reviewing the Time screenshot and consulting the manual for this watch, it appears that the concept of "Home Time" is not present. Is this correct?

I don't know as I haven't tried yet, but I think not. I'll report back later.

The temperature value seems to be incorrect, showing 0 degrees Celsius. I assume the watch was not at 0 degrees when the screenshot was taken.

I believe the watch has no thermometer.

Is the battery reading okay? It shows 100%.

I believe the watch has no battery reading.

When you set the illumination time to 3 seconds, does it actually illuminate for 3 seconds, or only for 1.5 seconds? I understand you mentioned that it resets back to 1.5 seconds. However, my question is whether it behaves correctly on the watch before the reset. The app will not change the setting on the watch autonomously, so I would like to determine if this is a display issue only.

Tested and commented here: https://github.com/izivkov/CasioGShockSmartSync/issues/64#issuecomment-1890944237

I will scrutinize these issues in more detail and send you an APK to try if this is acceptable to you.

Of course it is! I'll be happy to help!

[breversa]

Also, forgot to ask, I assume setting correct time works?

Yes, that's the number 1 reason for me to use your app! ;)

[izivkov]

@breversa I have uploaded a new APK here. This APK is built from the git branch "gbd_800" if you prefer to build it from source.

Basically, this APK reflects the capabilities of the GBD-800 (just to be clear, it works other watches as well, but supports the GBD-800):

• Removed "Home Time" since it is not supported. About that, I am guessing you are in France or the UK. If in the UK, your timezone in the phone shows as Paris, which is surprizing to me.
• Removed "Temperature" display since it is obviously not working, but left the Battery level. I think the Battery level should work as it does with all other watches, but let me know.
• Removed "Reminders" as they are not supported by this watch.
• Added "Auto-light" on/off. Please check if it works. More about this below.

About the light duration, it seems like the app is not reading the current setting for this watch, but it is able to set it. I don't think I can fix the reading without having the watch. So, I would just like to verify that setting the correct duration works, at least.

Regarding resetting the auto-light to "on" with each time update, I don't think this is a good idea because it will be unreliable. The update will not work sometimes if the app is swapped out of memory, so people will complain about this feature not working. Also, for this watch, Casio may have their reasons for reverting back to "No auto-light", maybe to prevent battery drainage. So, I think for now, I will leave this out. One way to implement this is via another "Action", so the user can activate it by pressing a single button, instead of going through the settings. However, this will be specific to this watch, which I am reluctant to do, but we can think about it.

I'm also curious if the Auto-time update works properly, including "When to run" settings.

So, please do some tests and let me know how it goes. I will build another APK if needed.

Thanks

[izivkov]

I aslo would like to know if the DST works. So, it should be off now on your watch. Currentry, Australia is on DST. If possible, could you set the timezone on you phone to something like "Australia/Sidney" and then set the time on your watch from the app. Let me know if the DST turns "on" on your watch. Thanks

[breversa]

* Removed "Home Time" since it is not supported. About that, I am guessing you are in France or the UK. If in the UK, your timezone in the phone shows as Paris, which is surprizing to me.

Europe/Paris is indeed correct!

* Removed "Temperature" display since it is obviously not working, but left the Battery level. I think the Battery level should work as it does with all other watches, but let me know.

Temperature is now gone, but the battery icon is still present.

* Removed "Reminders" as they are not supported by this watch.

I guess they aren't, but I haven't tried.

* Added "Auto-light" on/off. Please check if it works. More about this below.

It works! Thank you! :D

About the light duration, it seems like the app is not reading the current setting for this watch, but it is able to set it. I don't think I can fix the reading without having the watch. So, I would just like to verify that setting the correct duration works, at least.

Ha! Funny thing: it seems that the watch always illuminates 3s, whatever the app setting! I've tried setting it to 1.5s, 3s, then 1.5s again, to no avail: the watch always lights up during 3s.

Regarding resetting the auto-light to "on" with each time update, I don't think this is a good idea because it will be unreliable. The update will not work sometimes if the app is swapped out of memory, so people will complain about this feature not working. Also, for this watch, Casio may have their reasons for reverting back to "No auto-light", maybe to prevent battery drainage. So, I think for now, I will leave this out. One way to implement this is via another "Action", so the user can activate it by pressing a single button, instead of going through the settings. However, this will be specific to this watch, which I am reluctant to do, but we can think about it.

Indeed, the auto-light off is to prevent battery drain (I think I read it in the documentation). I understand your concern about reliability, but personally, a Running Action for this would be useless: it's easier and quicker for me to long-press the light button on the watch and achieve the same result.

I'm also curious if the Auto-time update works properly, including "When to run" settings.

Sadly, not. :(

I aslo would like to know if the DST works. So, it should be off now on your watch. Currentry, Australia is on DST. If possible, could you set the timezone on you phone to something like "Australia/Sidney" and then set the time on your watch from the app. Let me know if the DST turns "on" on your watch. Thanks

This doesn't work either. :( I set my phone to Australia/Sidney and Auto-time update on... but the watch hour doesn't change, whatever the method: "Time adjustment" or "Send to watch".

[breversa]

Also, my bad: The auto-light stays on for about 6 hours, not 4, according to https://casiofanmag.com/manuals/qw3464.pdf

[izivkov]

Thanks for checking this out. I have included my comments inline. Unfortunately, this watch is not compatible with some of the functions of the newer modules.

* Removed "Home Time" since it is not supported. About that, I am guessing you are in France or the UK. If in the UK, your timezone in the phone shows as Paris, which is surprizing to me.

Europe/Paris is indeed correct!

* Removed "Temperature" display since it is obviously not working, but left the Battery level. I think the Battery level should work as it does with all other watches, but let me know.

Temperature is now gone, but the battery icon is still present.

* Removed "Reminders" as they are not supported by this watch.

I guess they aren't, but I haven't tried.

Looking at the manual for 3464 module I did not find reminders. So, this is why I think they are not supported.

* Added "Auto-light" on/off. Please check if it works. More about this below.

It works! Thank you! :D

About the light duration, it seems like the app is not reading the current setting for this watch, but it is able to set it. I don't think I can fix the reading without having the watch. So, I would just like to verify that setting the correct duration works, at least.

Ha! Funny thing: it seems that the watch always illuminates 3s, whatever the app setting! I've tried setting it to 1.5s, 3s, then 1.5s again, to no avail: the watch always lights up during 3s.

So, seems like the duration is set differently than the supported watches. This module 3436 came out 6 years ago, so I am not surprised thet it works differently. Like I said, to get it to work is an interactive process, so difficult to do without the watch.

Regarding resetting the auto-light to "on" with each time update, I don't think this is a good idea because it will be unreliable. The update will not work sometimes if the app is swapped out of memory, so people will complain about this feature not working. Also, for this watch, Casio may have their reasons for reverting back to "No auto-light", maybe to prevent battery drainage. So, I think for now, I will leave this out. One way to implement this is via another "Action", so the user can activate it by pressing a single button, instead of going through the settings. However, this will be specific to this watch, which I am reluctant to do, but we can think about it.

Indeed, the auto-light off is to prevent battery drain (I think I read it in the documentation). I understand your concern about reliability, but personally, a Running Action for this would be useless: it's easier and quicker for me to long-press the light button on the watch and achieve the same result.

OK, got it. In real use, people do not keep the app in memory, because it drains battery and is intrusive. So, we cannot rely on auto-light being updated consisatntly.

I'm also curious if the Auto-time update works properly, including "When to run" settings.

So, you are saying thet the Auto-update does not work at all, or does not work at the time you set it, like 20 minutes after the hour?

Sadly, not. :(

I aslo would like to know if the DST works. So, it should be off now on your watch. Currentry, Australia is on DST. If possible, could you set the timezone on you phone to something like "Australia/Sidney" and then set the time on your watch from the app. Let me know if the DST turns "on" on your watch. Thanks

This doesn't work either. :( It set my phone to Australia/Sidney and Auto-time update on... but the hour doesn't change, be it on "When to run" or "Send to watch.

You might have misuderstood me. If you change the TimeZone on your phone, you can then Set time from the "Time" panel. The time on the watch should be set the same as your phone, and DST should be shown if your phone's timezone is Australia/Sidney. I am not sure if this is what you did.

[izivkov]

I will evaluate these test results and will get back to you as to what I think we can do about support for this watch.

One question: How comfortable are you in building and running the app from source? If the app is run under an IDE, such as Android Studio, this will give us a bit more input as to what the watch is sending us.

Regards, Ivo

On Mon, Jan 15, 2024 at 3:43 PM breversa @.***> wrote:

Also, my bad: The auto-light stays on for about 6 hours, not 4, according to https://casiofanmag.com/manuals/qw3464.pdf

— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/izivkov/CasioGShockSmartSync/issues/63#issuecomment-1892745172, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AA7M37VYCUVS4CG6NSAIG4TYOWIIBAVCNFSM6AAAAABBZHOLGKVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMYTQOJSG42DKMJXGI . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: @.***>

[izivkov]

@breversa So looks like we have picked the low hanging fruit for support of this watch. The only thing I am not sure is if the Auto-time sync work. This takes a but of a time to test, but if you enagble "Notify me", you should get a notification if it worked. Beyond that, I have added "Auto-light" on/off, and disabled features which do not work. I think I will make a new release with the existing code, and say that the app "partially" supports the GBD-800. Any thoughts?

[izivkov]

@breversa Thanks for reporting and testing. We have added partial support for this watch for now, which I hope will make it usable with this app.

[breversa]

Sorry for not replying earlier. My dev days are past me but I can try building the app if necessary.

What would be the criteria to meet to claim to "fully support" the watch?

[izivkov]

Thanks for the offer, but I think it will not be practical to try to solve issues without having the watch here. As I said, this is a highly interactive process.

I think the only issue that is not working is the Illumination Period. This, in my opinion, is not very critical, so basically, you have an app which you can use.

Ivo

On Wed, Jan 17, 2024 at 4:10 PM breversa @.***> wrote:

Sorry for not replying earlier. My dev days are past me but I can try building the app if necessary.

What would be the criteria to meet to claim to "fully support" the watch?

— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/izivkov/CasioGShockSmartSync/issues/63#issuecomment-1896719332, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AA7M37WKSZZPFW753BBF2ZDYPA43LAVCNFSM6AAAAABBZHOLGKVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMYTQOJWG4YTSMZTGI . You are receiving this because you modified the open/close state.Message ID: @.***>