Comment by lopis
18 hours ago
Instead of a stand-alone piece of e-waste, how about this: a device with the same format (a ring and an button) but the only thing it does is trigger the pebble watch to start recording a message. This way the microphone isn't needed, just the radio (and much weaker radio at that), and the battery will last exponentially longer. Then just expose the charging terminals so that we can at least hack the device with custom made external charging controllers, or buy a charger separately.
Might as well bundle the ring with the watch at that point, and increase the price accordingly, as it's then become an accessory particular to the pebble watch. And including a charging circuit means more complexity and bulk, also leading to an increase in price. And cost is a factor they're optimizing for.
That's my point exactly. This should have been a pebble accessory, not a standalone device that sends voice notes to your phone. If this device actually has a 2 year battery, if you'd remove the microphone and turn it into a "smart button" to trigger a watch action, the battery should easily last 4+ years.
Yet a design goal is for it to also work standalone, so users who don't have/want a pebble watch can use it with their phone, something that essentially everyone has.
That could be achievable without a battery, using a Piezo button like some Hue remotes... Though not sure with the small form factor.
That's interesting. A Piezo Button generates enough power to send a radio signal?
Indeed, I have a remote doorbell where the outer button is a piezo button and the inside bell part is connected to a socket. But the button is quite thick, presumably because it needs a bit of travel to get enough energy. Granted that's for a device that sends multi-wall penetrating strength of 433Mhz radio waves. For something like this where the distance is only about 25cm you might be able to get a button small enough.
It's open source and the button is customizable. So it's very likely that could be achieved with the product as-is.
UX probably not as good in that case. I am thinking about how buggy my voice-remote is for the TV. 1/3 of the time it works, 1/3 of the time there is some lag before it starts working (and requires waiting for feedback i.e. the listening tone before I can speak) and 1/3 of the time it doesn't work at all (never hears me due to lag or booting up or whatever else).
It can't be worse than a tiny ring that records notes...
Or better yet. Use your cellphone wich most of us carry 90% of the time?
That sounds like the perfect thing to do while I'm driving.
iOS has recently added a ”trigger voice recorder” to the swipe-down screen from the lock screen.
It takes a random length of time to start recording. But it’s always too long. And it’s unreliable.
This would be much more convenient. Though I’m not sure the battery situation would convince me.
If I could press one button (and not unlock the phone) I would; my samsung even has an extra wasted button (the "bixby" button) but it isn't reconfigurable. (Still fails for the "while driving" case but I'd be using it the rest of the time)
You can do it on the iphone with the action button.
The cellphone that’s buried in my handbag? I think you missed the expressed use case (admittedly, a few paragraphs into TFA):
”Before, I would take my phone out of my pocket to jot these down, but I couldn’t always do that (eg, while bicycling). I also wanted to start using my phone less, especially in front of my kids.”
as I wondered in another comment, the button may not always be facing your thumb. so then you'd need to keep fiddling with it anyway.
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"Hey google, make a note: ..."
I just tried it, and it worked flawlessly. Now, obviously it's not great for privacy per se, but I'm not jotting down my plans for world domination or anything
Stop using your phone less in front of your kids.
Start using your ring/watch/whatever_else more in front of your kids.
Honestly, it isn't about what you use (that is just hype). You can read the paper all day if you want. I grew up with a father who was listening to radio and watching TV all the time (to be fair: he was disabled, including legally blind). It isn't about using your phone less in front of your kids. It is about being there for your kids when they need you; showing genuine interest in your kids; interacting with them. Right now, as I am writing this to you, my kids are watching Peppa Pig before bedtime. Instead of writing this, I could sit next to them and watch an episode with them.
As for cycling, with a ring you'd have to move your hand towards you or not, but it isn't much different compared to a watch, except perhaps when you'd wear a sweater over your watch.
It is also very typical that in-ear buds are expensive, small, yet hard to repair because the battery isn't user replaceable. And guess what, exactly the same for this device.
Apart from the yet another device with microphone (24/7 on, I suppose) and Bluetooth (the wireless spaghetti protocol) and it not being user serviceable the device costs 100 USD. For such a price, I expect it to last longer than two years. I mean, I'm sick of devices lasting only a few years. I wouldn't need yet another one.
TL;DR hard pass, do better.
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I'm sure it won't be able to handle wind noise well (it doesn't look big enough to have multiple microphones) so you'd have to stop the bicycle to make a good recording. Might as well grab the phone then.
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Why stop there? Why use your phone at all? Just go visit your mum instead of calling...
Sorry the sarcasm, but not everything should need you to take your phone, unlock, get distracted, open social media on a reflex and forget what you were doing in the first place.
Get distracted? I mean, are you American? Have you ever looked around you in traffic? Look at all these billboards and bullshit and tell me about distraction. If you are on a mission you do not open your social media. People do so due to boredom, I guess. The sensible thing to do is... stop using social media.
Aside from that, let us assume you won't stop with that (after all, it is free!). Smartphones have a driving mode which you can set, setting them on DnD. I take my smartphone out of my pocket when I wait before a traffic light, and that works, but I only do so when I need to and what I certainly do not need to do at that point is have a look at Facebook or Twitter. I also don't have Bluetooth on 24/7 on my smartphone (one reason being tracking concerns). On a Pebble watch, I can put this off. Sadly a software killswitch, but better than nothing.
...and face the seductive allure of all those delicious notifications trying to get me to task switch to a bunch of other things?
No, sir. I'm pretty much on board with anything that reduces the number of times I need to light up that phone screen.
Well, you could just turn off unnecessary notifications like I do, same with emails. I get like 3 notifications a day on average now, and most of those are just dms from friends.
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Then just put the button on the watch? In fact, why isn't this just a button on the watch?
Because you need to use your other hand to press that button, instead of the adjacent finger.
> Because you need to use your other hand to press that button, instead of the adjacent finger.
Funnily enough, I've used my nose to tap my watch when my hands are full
Yes, I've gotten some strange looks
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If you had read the post you would know the answer.
"This was tough to use while bicycling or carrying stuff."
That seems an incredibly limited set of use cases for the complication of adding another device to one's life.
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