Digital Metawatch WDS112 original debug kit from Texas Instruments
About a year and a half ago, I saw such an interesting thing as a watch with bluetooth that can work with a phone. I liked the concept itself, but the implementation was frankly lame. The watches were either able to work only with a certain phone model or had rather poor functionality and not too large displays. I continued to monitor what models appear and what they can do. I liked the watch from iVirt by Citizen, but their focus on the Japanese market and the cost did not suit me much. But 2011 turned out to be fruitful for such devices, but almost all of them either had closed software, such as Live View on Sony Ericsson (for example, I don’t have a phone on android) or had rather strange functions like InPulse (one button for controlling this isn’t not cool), and a short lifetime. But InPulse had such useful functionality as open firmware and the ability to write its own software for this watch. About the rest of the watches with a full-fledged Android, I perhaps say nothing and mail the time of their work by rising. And here at the end of the year Metawatch appears. What is this same metawatch?
This is the msp430 bluetooth debug kit with a watch case. There are two types. Digital with LCD screen and Analog with two OLED screens. From my point of view, Digital is much more interesting. To sell to everyone (except for some reason the Japanese), they began in November. And I put down my toad bought a version of Digital. Texas Instruments has already released debug kits in the form of a clock called eZ430-Chronos , but the wireless interface was not standard there and it wasn’t possible to connect it with a phone for example. Metawatch can also be used out of the box. The functional is still really poor and the operating time is not stable yet, but tests show that the average time between exercises of 3-5 days is achievable. It is possible that as a result of optimization, more impressive results will be achieved. However, back to the clock. I ordered the watch at TI eStore and sends it to FedEx, the cost of delivery is already included in the price, they are being transported quickly and by courier (do not forget to correctly indicate the mobile phone when buying). I ordered my watch on December 31 and they brought it to me on January 9, and this is in view of the holidays. If someone read about the fact that FedEx is not lucky in the regions of a parcel more expensive than 75 bucks, I can reassure. This is not true :)
As a result of the meeting with the courier, a standard FedEx box (Medium Box) was received. After unpacking, a box with a clock appears.
Look at Yandex. Photos
The watches themselves are packed pretty well.
Look at Yandex. Photos
')
On top of that, God forbid, do not beat the display is glued foam
Look at Yandex. Photos
And now the first surprise is the screen. It is reflective and the black one that is visible on all photos is actually transparent. Why is he so cool black in the pictures will be demonstrated further
Look at Yandex. Photos
The package includes a piece of paper with a guarantee, a watch, a clip for charging and connecting to JTAG, a microUSB-USB cable
Look at Yandex. Photos
Linear dimensions compared to Diesel DZ7082 , they have a classic LCD by the way.
Look at Yandex. Photos
Now back to the screen. To begin, turn on the “white on black” mode. And now focus.
Look at Yandex. Photos
Flash photography
Look at Yandex. Photos
See the screen go deep black? The secret is very simple, there is no black in this watch. There are white and transparent. In the case when the point transmits light, you can see the mirror of the substrate. If the watch is photographed in this mode with a flash, you get a deep black. So it’s better to use the watch in the “black on white” mode. But this feature has a big plus, the screen does not go blind in the sun.
In the meantime, turn the clock.
Look at Yandex. Photos
The back cover is made of steel, the semicircle contacts are used for debugging and charging. By the way, the case is also made of steel, the screen is covered with mineral glass, and the leather strap.
Debug clip with cable connected.
Look at Yandex. Photos
Contacts for charge in the clip.
Look at Yandex. Photos
And here is the process of charging or debugging, updating.
Look at Yandex. Photos
In fact, the light bulb is green, but the camera does not catch it.
Now, when we have dealt with the exterior, let's talk about what is inside. In the watch there are:
Analog model from Digital is distinguished by the presence of two OLED displays with a resolution of 1 16x80 pixels instead of an LCD screen.
The clock is running FreeRTOS version 6.0.5, which makes it easy to modify the firmware to fit your needs. But at the moment there is one problem with the modification of this very firmware. Although the firmware itself is open, it includes a closed library called bluetooth stack. The development is not owned by Texas Instruments, so it will not be opened. Because of this, you can only assemble the firmware IAR Workbench. He certainly has a trial version, but the forum immediately asked a completely logical question, but what to do in 30 days? In response, the developers said that everyone who purchased the watch will be given a free version of the development environment from Texas Instruments, and the firmware will be modified to work with it. But while the modification is still happening. But this will solve only part of the problem. For the full opening, there is not enough specification for the Bluetooth controller itself, but the truth is there is a solution in the form of BtStack. Its developers have recently announced that they managed to make their stack work with the same bluetooth controller. True, this requires some header files from the Texas Instruments SDK. But this SDK can be downloaded quite legally and for free. So in general, the future of open firmware is available.
The opposite part, namely the software for working with the clock, is pretty good due to the open protocol. For linux and macosx, there are already libraries as ready-made applications. The main platform for which there is an application from the developers themselves is Android. So Android users are doing well with the watch almost immediately (unlike my N900).
This is the msp430 bluetooth debug kit with a watch case. There are two types. Digital with LCD screen and Analog with two OLED screens. From my point of view, Digital is much more interesting. To sell to everyone (except for some reason the Japanese), they began in November. And I put down my toad bought a version of Digital. Texas Instruments has already released debug kits in the form of a clock called eZ430-Chronos , but the wireless interface was not standard there and it wasn’t possible to connect it with a phone for example. Metawatch can also be used out of the box. The functional is still really poor and the operating time is not stable yet, but tests show that the average time between exercises of 3-5 days is achievable. It is possible that as a result of optimization, more impressive results will be achieved. However, back to the clock. I ordered the watch at TI eStore and sends it to FedEx, the cost of delivery is already included in the price, they are being transported quickly and by courier (do not forget to correctly indicate the mobile phone when buying). I ordered my watch on December 31 and they brought it to me on January 9, and this is in view of the holidays. If someone read about the fact that FedEx is not lucky in the regions of a parcel more expensive than 75 bucks, I can reassure. This is not true :)
As a result of the meeting with the courier, a standard FedEx box (Medium Box) was received. After unpacking, a box with a clock appears.
Look at Yandex. Photos
The watches themselves are packed pretty well.
Look at Yandex. Photos
')
On top of that, God forbid, do not beat the display is glued foam
Look at Yandex. Photos
And now the first surprise is the screen. It is reflective and the black one that is visible on all photos is actually transparent. Why is he so cool black in the pictures will be demonstrated further
Look at Yandex. Photos
The package includes a piece of paper with a guarantee, a watch, a clip for charging and connecting to JTAG, a microUSB-USB cable
Look at Yandex. Photos
Linear dimensions compared to Diesel DZ7082 , they have a classic LCD by the way.
Look at Yandex. Photos
Now back to the screen. To begin, turn on the “white on black” mode. And now focus.
Look at Yandex. Photos
Flash photography
Look at Yandex. Photos
See the screen go deep black? The secret is very simple, there is no black in this watch. There are white and transparent. In the case when the point transmits light, you can see the mirror of the substrate. If the watch is photographed in this mode with a flash, you get a deep black. So it’s better to use the watch in the “black on white” mode. But this feature has a big plus, the screen does not go blind in the sun.
In the meantime, turn the clock.
Look at Yandex. Photos
The back cover is made of steel, the semicircle contacts are used for debugging and charging. By the way, the case is also made of steel, the screen is covered with mineral glass, and the leather strap.
Debug clip with cable connected.
Look at Yandex. Photos
Contacts for charge in the clip.
Look at Yandex. Photos
And here is the process of charging or debugging, updating.
Look at Yandex. Photos
In fact, the light bulb is green, but the camera does not catch it.
Now, when we have dealt with the exterior, let's talk about what is inside. In the watch there are:
- MSP430 processor with 16kb of memory and 256kb flash
- accelerometer
- light sensor
- LCD screen 98x98 pixels (judging by the survey of people, this is a bi-stable LCD from sharp)
- bluetooth controller
- vibration motor
Analog model from Digital is distinguished by the presence of two OLED displays with a resolution of 1 16x80 pixels instead of an LCD screen.
The clock is running FreeRTOS version 6.0.5, which makes it easy to modify the firmware to fit your needs. But at the moment there is one problem with the modification of this very firmware. Although the firmware itself is open, it includes a closed library called bluetooth stack. The development is not owned by Texas Instruments, so it will not be opened. Because of this, you can only assemble the firmware IAR Workbench. He certainly has a trial version, but the forum immediately asked a completely logical question, but what to do in 30 days? In response, the developers said that everyone who purchased the watch will be given a free version of the development environment from Texas Instruments, and the firmware will be modified to work with it. But while the modification is still happening. But this will solve only part of the problem. For the full opening, there is not enough specification for the Bluetooth controller itself, but the truth is there is a solution in the form of BtStack. Its developers have recently announced that they managed to make their stack work with the same bluetooth controller. True, this requires some header files from the Texas Instruments SDK. But this SDK can be downloaded quite legally and for free. So in general, the future of open firmware is available.
The opposite part, namely the software for working with the clock, is pretty good due to the open protocol. For linux and macosx, there are already libraries as ready-made applications. The main platform for which there is an application from the developers themselves is Android. So Android users are doing well with the watch almost immediately (unlike my N900).
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/136102/
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