Be Excellent To Each Other

I love my Pebble because it's cheap as shit, does precisely and only what I need (i.e. put all notifications on my wrist) and it's e-ink screen gives it a hell of a battery life. However it's been discontinued and I think the servers are shut down so I'm not entirely sure if you can set one up if you were to buy it new right now. If mine dies I have absolutely no idea what to replace it with because everyone wants to sell me needlessly fancy and expensive nonsense that needs fucking charged like every day.

Get a ticwatch, I had a Moto 360, the ticwatch is better, because it's exactly the same but half the price.

I have a ticwatch e, but it looks like they have a new pro out, which combines a high rez screen with a low power screen, which is interesting.

Looks like the Fitbit Versa might be the best option, it's available to collect instore from the Currys here and it's 'only' £180.

So far my Huawei P20 Pro ownership has been a magnificent triumph.

Oh yes and it's so fucking big it doesn't even fit into the little phone cubbyhole in my car. Which the S7 did.

fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again

I know this might sound crazy, but have you thought of getting a new car?

Good point. Even my yeti has an always on display for time and mileage.

Like a few others on here, I have the Amazfit Bip and have been very happy with it so far. Simple notifications, always-on screen and excellent battery life.

The Bip is perfect for what I want but it's probably better described as a fitness tracker with some smart watch functions. But the size, weight and battery life mean it's just an unobtrusive thing that does what it's there for really well. It's only been off my wrist about once a fortnight for an hour or so to charge up.

We don't get fooled again

I got myself the Fitbit Versa in the end for the LOW LOW PRICE of £180.

I've got it all set up now and it seems to be working fine and doing what I want it to, namely vibrating on my wrist and popping up a notification when I get a WhatsApp or Facebook message, or a text message.

Feels weird to be wearing a watch again though, I stopped wearing one about 6 or 7 years ago.

Also I can count steps and shit now as well.

So this Fitbit Fucking Versa is going back today, LOADS of known issues with recent Android phones.

I've had it lose connection/sync multiple times already, notifications just stop working, the watch has hung a couple of times, it needs to be restarted several times a day. Both nights it's completely lost sync overnight and has needed repairing with the phone in the morning.

Absolute bag of shit, just Google 'Versa stopped syncing' and it's clearly been an issue for a while.

I shall take it back to Currys and upgrade to a Garmin Vivoactive 3, which will cost me another £40.

Get a ticwatch, like I told you to before.

I've got the Gear S3 Frontier. While it's not as slick as the Apple Watch I used previously UI-wise and it crashes on occasion, it looks like a proper watch and in general I'm pretty happy with it.

The S8 it's paired with is another matter.

I'm kind of limited by what Currys have IN STOCK TODAY READY FOR COLLECTION.

Because waiting until tomorrow is far too long, obviously.

If you had ordered the ticwatch yesterday, it would have been there today. You're going to take the garmin back tomorrow anyway.

Let him keep trying them all until he finds a good one.

The garmin is ok, I use the 920xt all the time.

Well, if you do buy a Samsung...

For full disclosure, I have 2 Samsung tvs, a Samsung oven and a Samsung hob, ,so nothing against the make... But their phones just aren't that nice. Every other android device I've used has been so much nicer than the Samsung phones I've had to do (frequent) tech support (for family) on, as well as the galaxy s I used to use.

I’ve got the iPhone watch. It tells the time pretty accurately so I can heartily (*guffaw*) recommend it.

Hearthily.

Fuck ruined that then.

"What smart watch should I get?"
[Recommendations A through F follow]
"I've bought G!"
[Time passes]
"G is shit!"

Standard advice:

GET A 360

I have the versa, I had issues with synchronising at first, but after I updated the watch and the app software it's been fine (I've had it since late April/ Early May).

I had everything updated to the latest versions and it was still acting like a total arse. The P20 Pro isn't actually on the Fitbit supported device list (something I wasn't even aware existed until this morning).

Anyway, Currys swapped it for a Garmin VivoActive3, after I gave them another £40.

Setup is going fine up to now although the initial pairing failed and the Connect App on my phone explicitly reported there are issues with Huawei phones and to update the firmware on the watch, so I've installed the Garmin Express software on my PC, used that to update the watch's firmware, and fingers crossed it looks like the phone and the watch are now playing nicely with eachother and getting their freak on.

Nothing that was mentioned is on sale at Currys here.

"Rather annoyingly I will have to get a Smart Watch now. Fucking Trousers.
What's the best one to get?"

You can't just pass through a parameter without declaring it first, dude.

If only Currys wasn't the best and only shop that sold electronics.

Bah. Its all about the One X these days.

Scope Creep Hearthly, we called him.

Well, slight result in that I've flogged the S7 to a chum for £120 and one of my wireless chargers for £10, so that's a bit of cashback.

S7s are going for more than that on eBay but I fucking hate eBay so selling it to a chum for a bit less suits me fine. Also, mine is a PRISTINE example and I still have all the original packaging, including the headphones that came with it that haven't even been taken out of their little pouch.

The VivoActive3 is behaving itself very well, and everything about the software is better than on the Versa (including on the watch itself, the app, and the web based UI).

One thing that clearly spells trouble is in the Fitbit Versa app there were three little switches that effectively all said the same thing. It was like:

1) Stay constantly synced so you get notifications promptly
2) Stay constantly synced with more regular connects so you definitely get notifications promptly
3) Force sync constantly so you'll really get notifications promptly, honest

And even between them they couldn't manage it. (And also caused the phone to pop up a RED ALERT telling me THIS APP IS DRAINING YOUR BATTERY TURN IT THE FUCK OFF.)

On the Garmin app it's just 'sync and deliver notifications', and it works.

Also, I have been tweaking the P20 Pro and got it to a pretty nice place, the best tweak was to replace the soft buttons on the screen and do everything from the home button. It's built into the software you just need to turn it on, so it's:

1) Tap = Back
2) Short press = Home
3) Swipe left/right across the sensor = The running apps list thingy

So that's the soft buttons gone and it already feels really natural to do it all with the home button like that.

Overall I think I will be able to get on with the phone/watch combo.

Although it's basically £1000 to get me back to where I was with my S7, if you bring it down to brass tacks.

That said, I do quite like having a smart watch, reading and replying to messages and stuff on your wrist is rather cool and somewhat Star Trek esque.

KIRK HERE. In fact I might put that as one of the quick-response options.

Fitbit Alta fails to sync on Moto g5 *until you make the phone forget it* every time it magically reappears.

What the fuck is that about. I need to get a new phone, probably an Android One one.

Android Eleven.

Given my reading/viewing over the last couple of days, it'll be a Fitbit thing, not a phone/Android thing.

Buy a ticwatch.

I basically only use my Apple Watch for telling the time and for paying for things.

If I did more exercise, workouts etc. then I might get more use out of it, but why would I want to go and do a stupid thing like that?

Got a Nvidia Shield today.

Had some issues with Kodi, the Shield app refuses to do any SMB or in fact any sort of network protocol when trying to build a media library.

So I read up and it said to connect to my NAS's from within the Shield settings, so I did that and the folders appeared in Kodi so I guess a different way of doing things with the Shield app.

Also had another issue with one of my NAS (Both Thecus), it wouldn't accept any connections from the shield so after comparing settings on this and the one that was OK I found that the issue was Samba Recycle Bin being enabled so after turning that off all was well.

Doubt it will make it to the main TV tonight as the library will take a while to build, but very impressed overall with what it offers and how fast it is.

Looked at a couple of Youtube videos over lunch and there appears to be a lot of things to do with this.

Any tips or suggestions welcome!

Don't keep eggs in the liquid fridge.

Don't eat yellow snow

When you play as Ryu and your opponent jumps, fuck them up by doing a Dragon Punch.

Don't ask for tips on an internet forum. Or, if you do be VERY specific.

So far most of the tips make good sense

I meant any Nvidia Shield tips (apps, config etc)

The charger can be fiddly, so get one of those magnetic ones.

Something like an Nvidia shield is the best way to play Sonic 1/2, which had excellent mobile ports that are not available on consoles/PC.

I gather that the emulator PPSSPP works great on it too.

Pixel 3 announced! The XL has a notch! It has wireless charging! There's a new official wireless charging stand! etc etc

Also Pixel Slate (a ChromeOS tablet with a detachable keyboard) and Google Home Hub (a Home with a screen, focused on smart home control and photo display.)

Has it only just been announced? A friend of mine works for EE and he sent me a picture of the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL yesterday so he must have them in stock?

Yes, it's only just been announced. It was still under embargo yesterday. Your friend is naughty.

https://store.google.com/product/pixel_stand

just for hearthly