Is it possible to port Timeboxed to Amazfit Pace/Stratos?

[jendrush]

Hi. Timeboxed is best watchface i have ever used on my Pebble, but since there is no more support for Pebble i am making jump to Amazfit Stratos. I just love buttons, transflective display, and good battery life. Is it possible for you to make Watchface with companion app for Amazfit? There is no watchface/app shop, but some good people making Amazfit better, for exaple this - https://github.com/KieronQuinn . Two way communication(phone + smartwatch), internet from phone access. I would love to see Timeboxed on Amazfit.

[VarrinS]

I'll add a +1 to porting Timeboxed to another platform. I would be happy with pretty much any other platform that is likely to retain good support. My Pebble hardware is falling apart and no other combination of hardware and software will do what Timeboxed will do. Specifically, the combination of the perfect presentation of multiple time zones (essential for me) with other nice-to-have goodies (weather, battery, and fitness stuff) is completely unique. I can find no other face on any other watch at any price that will do this.

So, Luis, if you're listening, I'm interested. What will it take? :)

V-

[lfhbento-gt]

Hi! Thanks for the support and the request! It makes me happy to hear that :) I'm definitely considering porting timeboxed to another smartwatch. I haven't had much time to look into what to port to (and how), but I'm definitely considering either the Fitbit Versa (I know it supports custom watchfaces) or looking into what Amazfit has to offer. It will probably whatever I choose to replace my Pebble Time with when it dies (It got some afterlife with rebble though).

[jendrush]

Thank you Luis for the answer. I made proposition of Amazfit Stratos becouse it has always on, transflective display, very similar to Pebble Time. Fitbit Versa unfortunately have LCD display. Versa with transflective display, and GPS would be really nice proposition. I am still using my Pebble Time, but battery is not as great as it was.

[VarrinS]

In thinking about what to port to, I'll add this food for thought. The ideal solution would be:

1: A platform with at least one watch with an always-on display and long-battery-life (>3-4 days) would be highly preferable. The Versa isn't always-on and even with the screen off has marginal battery life.

2: A platform with at least one such watch that is not outrageously expensive. Garmin could be a candidate, but they tend to be expensive.

3: A platform that is more 'open', which might have hardware available from multiple manufacturers. That might suggest straight Android Wear / Android, but I don't know the landscape there well enough.

It may be impossible to satisfy all those desires. The advantage of #3 would be not having to port yet again. Short of that, it seems some variant of Amazfit may be a better choice than FitBit. Alas, there's imply no perfect Pebble replacement. :(

Thanks for considering extending the life of your project. I look forward to whatever you come up with!

V-

[jendrush]

If Garmin was not that expensive, he would probably be the best candidate. It's a pity that Stratos does not have an app, and watchface store... I would love to see more Android Wear watches with Transflective displays.

[VarrinS]

https://amazfitwatchfaces.com/

Has faces for Bip and Stratos (and more). There's a link on the home page to instructions. I have no idea the technical details of Bip vs Stratos faces, but I know they're different.

V-

[jendrush]

I think that problem with those all watchfaces is that they are using the same "data provider"(only visual design is different). So there is no possibility to have functionality like in Timeboxed.

[VarrinS]

Right, but maybe Luis can figure out a workaround??? :) :) :)

[lfhbento-gt]

I took a quick look at the amazfit watchfaces and noticed what @jendrush mentioned. You can customize the visuals through their builder, but there seems to be no coding involved. For that repo mentioned on the first message, it's android only, so it won't be of much use for me (I'm an ios user, and, nevertheless, want to make it available for both platforms).

What appeals to me on the Versa is that their api is well defined and easy to build with (I guess having pebble people there helps a lot). But I also don't like the fact that's not an always-on screen.

I've looked into other options, but so far they're either too expensive, not customizable, or the battery life is too short. I really don't known why manufacturers don't do always-on screens. They can squeeze 3-4 days for the versa (and even the latest apple watch) with that screen, so they should at least be able to get some 5-7 days with a transflective one.

It's tough. I'm really hoping my pebble resists as much as possible for now (the rebble project gave it a bit of an afterlife) until a good option shows up :P

But I'll definitely keep you two posted if I end up finding a platform worth building for :D

[GJHmf]

+1 for a Versa/Ionic version. If one wasn't on the horizon, I was tempted to making my own as a hobby project 😉