🆕 blog! “Why don't smart watches use USB-C to recharge?”

It looks like the new Google's Pixel 4 watch comes with yet another incompatible change in charging technology. This is a ridiculous situation.

The original Pixel Watch used one type of wireless charging. Then the Pixel Watch 2 & 3 removed wireless charging and swapped to a different charging mechanism. And…

👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/08/why-dont-smart-watches-use-usb-c-to-recharge/
⸻
#gadget #usb-c #watch

Got a USB-C powered smartwatch for £16 and it is… good actually?

Heart-rate and SpO2 are broadly accurate. Can make & receive phone calls via Bluetooth. Step counter is adequate. Even has a couple of games - and a wooden fish (which I don't understand).

Full review coming later. Happy to answer any questions about it.

Has a large gallery of watch faces - decided this spoke to my mood best.

@Edent Ooh, I've had my eye on one of those since I got the Colmi ring. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

@neil I am referencing your blog post extensively!
Wonder if I can actually get any data out of it.

@Edent You are an influencer since now I have one on the way too :)

@Edent Although I was ripped off as I had to pay £17.

@neil the algorithm favours me!

@neil @Edent bit harder to lose on Toronto Island after less than a week, too

@neil @Edent Neil is why I'm wearing a colmi right now

@M0YNG @Edent

I'm an Influencer :)

The sleep tracking on this £16 smart watch works. The UI isn't the easiest thing to understand - either on device or in-app - but broadly matches how I felt.

Obviously the UI is poor compared to a watch costing 20x as much - but I think this is pretty impressive.

Here's a rough and ready video review.

https://tube.tchncs.de/w/vYTnG6eKghnicdNj5nkhVx

Full blog post later this week.

Not sure how many days battery life you get on an Apple watch, but this el-cheapo unit is still at 75% after a day-and-a-half of use.

That's not bad!

Obviously, it isn't doing half the stuff of a more expensive device. But it is counting my steps, tracking my heart-rate, taking calls, and showing the time.

I'm curious - what's your favourite smartwatch function?

@Edent

> what's your favourite smartwatch function?

Notifications. If my wrist didn't buzz when I received calls or messages, or for calendar invitations, I wouldn't know about them if I was away from my computer.

For me, anything else is a bonus.

Today's task - try to connect this to #GadgetBridge.

It is a Colmi rebranded MoYoung so I think it should work, but I need to figure out how.

If you've added a new device to @gadgetbridge before, give me a shout 😃

@neil @Edent heh, whereas I have notifications fully disabled on everything and refuse/don't want my watch to be smart. (Even though it can do that)

@neil @Edent Same for me, though my smartwatch is a Garmin running watch with maps and navigation which i do use regularly. If I were to get a second non-running watch, it's be fir notifications.
(fwiw I get 3 weeks battery if I turn off SpO2, or 2 weeks with that set to monitor during sleep only)