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Was just checking out the Index 01 [1]: > Why can't it be recharged? > We considered this but decided not to for several reasons: > You'd probably lose th
by bArray 2mo ago
Was just checking out the Index 01 [1]:
> Why can't it be recharged?
> We considered this but decided not to for several reasons:
> You'd probably lose the charger before the battery runs out!
> Adding charge circuitry and including a charger would make the product larger and more expensive.
> You send it back to us to recycle.
I don't think this is true. The charging circuit could have been in the charger itself. To provide access to the battery, one of the terminals could be behind a transistor enabled by the micro. The charger could then send a signal to the ring to unlock the battery terminal. Then all you needed to do was expose two/three pads externally.
[1] https://repebble.com/index https://repebble.com/index
- irjustin 2mo agoYeah I agree if it was 10 yrs then I would say no need to charge, but apparently it's 2 yrs? In that time frame you could totally recharge it. I agree losing the charger is actually pretty likely but THAT'S ON ME. For a $75 product, I don't want to consider it a consumable. So 100% agreed, +$10 add terminals and a special charger.
- hennell 2mo agoWhy can't they just sell the charger separately? If you lose it you buy a new one. You could even make it a seperate item - buy one with/without the charger, then in 2 years you decide if you want the charger or an upgrade.
- bArray 2mo ago> How long does the battery last? > Roughly 12 to 15 hours of recording. On average, I use it 10-20 times per day to record 3-6 second thoughts. That's up to 2 years of usage. 2 years is optimistic I think. 3-6 second thoughts is not much, most ideas I'm having past TODOs are >15 seconds. Plus this would definitely depend also on how regularly you sync to the app. Bare in mind, these devices have not yet been used in the wild on people outside of the product creator. Maybe one of the use cases is to note down monologues, or to easily record conversations with clients for later review. 1 month battery life is also highly usable, but there at least should be a way to charge it.
- paulgerhardt 2mo agoSeeing the index in action next to an oura I appreciate how much smaller/thinner the index is (or at least how much less it seems to “spread” my fingers apart with of a width of 6.5mm vs 8mm). It’s effectively a regular ring with a button on it that’s smaller than a typical 1ct engagement ring. The oura by contrast (even the 4) is a chonker compared to “regular” wedding bands. I’ve tried in the past but personally a very thick ring is a non-starter for me. Might just be a personal sensitivity thing. Clearly the oura sells. From a V1/MVP/founder lens I am sensitive to the value in shipping a product that just works rather than doubling the complexity with a bms, custom charger, wrap around flex pcb, and associated engineering effort to mitigate ignition hazards. Especially when there’s platform risk in seeing if this thing even gets used. There’s no platform risk on the watch side which has comes miles from my first pebble/Alerta that was one day charge and blackberry phone compatible only. As for the ewaste argument? If the market demands a rechargeable product then that’s the right move. But from a weight perspective? This feels performative. Even pessimistically three-four 5g device that are 0% recyclable will generate less ewaste than a 200g phone with 55% recovery and a 5% recapture rate of obsolete devices thats turn over every 3.5 years. It’s like 10x less and probably in the ballpark of what a hypothetical “rechargeable” index would look like.
- svl7 2mo agoA piezo button would be neat, might be able to generate enough electricity for each use without having to rely on a battery at all. Not sure about the form factor here though.
- bArray 2mo agoNot sure that would work. Charging is not 100% efficient, and if I remember correctly most batteries need to reach a minimum current to start actual charging. When you're talking micro or pico amps, it barely registers as a signal in most cases.
- Tade0 2mo agoOr even a thin-film amorphous silicon solar panel + capacitor. Assuming most of the weight of that ring is the battery, it appears to be storing around 0.5Wh, so two years of operation should amount to approximately 30uW of power. It should be possible to squeeze this much from a 0.5mm2 amorphous cell in direct sunlight. Considering the ring is 6.6mm wide at the widest point, they could get orders of magnitude more power even in poor lighting conditions, by just wrapping a thin-film solar panel around the ring. EDIT: Or just slap on four of these photodiodes: https://www.sparkfun.com/miniature-solar-cell-bpw34.html https://www.sparkfun.com/miniature-solar-cell-bpw34.html They're tiny, they're light and even though woefully inefficient, they should do the trick.
- donohoe 2mo agoI’m also baffled that they didn’t do this. If I am buying something that becomes so precious to my workflow then I don’t want a hardware subscription. I also want peace of mind that the company will not be gone, or the product discontinued in a few years.
- rationalist 2mo agoHopefully version two is rechargeable. This is version one, I'm not particularly worried as I will probably upgrade to version two by the time the battery runs out.
- Bratmon 2mo agoI dunno. If you need to record your thoughts often enough that you're wearing a smart-ring to do it, then it seems like you're going to burn through the 12 hours of recording time pretty quick.
- rationalist 2mo agoProbably. Also, if I/we don't buy version one, there may not be a version two.
- jasonjayr 2mo agoIIRC EU markets now mandate the USB-C charger for devices (which is not a bad thing, too many throwaway custom chargers....). Adding the port, the USB-C PD circuitry may take up too much room. I think this approach would require some kind of custom charging cradle (probably usb-c connected..). Is having a custom usb-c adapter to charge a device allowed under the rules?
- tjoff 2mo agoFor these kinds of devices, yes.
- bArray 2mo agoI think the "dock" itself could be USB C easily, it would probably also significantly reduce the cost of the dock. > Adding the port, the USB-C PD circuitry may take up too much room. You don't need PD circuitry for this. 5V 500mA over USB2 is more than enough. But the actual port and battery charging circuit is a bit ridiculous at this size. I'm not sure precisely what the EU rules are, but the requirement should really depend on the dimensions/power of the device.
- benrutter 2mo agoYeah, that's really not great at all! From their website: > Wait, it's single use? Yes. We know this sounds a bit odd, but in this particular circumstance we believe it's the best solution to the given set of constraints I don't want to be too harsh, since it seems like the pebble team are working hard at producing some exciting tech. But intentionally making a single use device is phenomenally irresponsible in today's climate. I know they say they'll recycle them, but it'd be naive to expect anything other than a tonne of these becoming e-waste.
- Dayshine 2mo agoA phone has 10-20x if not more weight of electronics. I assume you will use your phone for 20-40 years?
- NuclearPM 2mo agoWhat do you mean by “today’s climate”?
- the_sleaze_ 2mo agoWestern Europe is experiencing a record setting deadly heatwave, for one interpretation.
- t0bia_s 2mo agoCurrently in middle of Europe we have about 25°C. There was few days where we had about 38°C. Nothing deadly.
- baby_souffle 2mo ago> To provide access to the battery, one of the terminals could be behind a transistor enabled by the micro So it’s a brick as soon as the battery goes flat?
- cush 2mo agoyep, you can buy a new one
- skinfaxi 2mo agoI think it uses a silver oxide battery which is not rechargeable.
- Aurornis 2mo agoExposed terminals would need a lot more than a single transistor. It would need ESD protection and it would change the outer case from being a complete sealed over mold into something that had to seal against two exposed terminals. That’s a big change. They would also need to ship a separate charger device to go with it, which approaches the complexity of the simple ring product. These are solvable problems, but it would increase the cost, decrease their margins, or both. For a niche, low volume product with an unknown market demand I think making the simplest possible version of the product is a good idea to start, but at $99 it’s getting into the range where buyers don’t want to think of it as a disposable item. The bigger problem is that the 2 year battery life depends on the device being used for only short notes like “Add milk to the grocery list”. The people who expect to use this for taking notes or thinking out loud could exhaust the battery in a couple months.
- mbirth 2mo agoAlso ask any serious Garmin watch user about their charging/data contacts. They start to rot away after 1-2 years of being exposed to sweat.
- wartijn_ 2mo agoI don't think I've ever heard anyone complain about that, and I know a good amount of people who use Garmin watches. My own forerunner is still going strong after 5 (I think) years of use, with multiple runs a week for most of that time.
- Alive-in-2025 2mo agoI know someone whose garmin watch refused to charge after a few years, not sure if it was caused by sweat. Mine is starting to get wonky after a few years. I keep worrying I'll plug in some time and it will stop. anec-data is not that reliable of course.
- mbirth 2mo agoI've had my Fenix 5 Plus swapped once during warranty because of this. And the replacement's contacts started to corrode again when I sold the watch. It might not happen to all models, but some are very prone to it. Just have a look at Google results: https://www.google.com/search?q=garmin+watch+contacts+corroding&udm=2 https://www.google.com/search?q=garmin+watch+contacts+corrod...
- K7PJP 2mo agoCool, let me know when I can order your ring.
- LoveMortuus 2mo ago>Roughly 12 to 15 hours of recording. That seems extremely little for 100$...