
JavaScript in the Internet of Things: JerryScript and the Fitbit Ionic - rbanffy
https://js.foundation/blog/2018/02/07/javascript-internet-things-jerryscript-fitbit-ionic
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fortythirteen
In case you didn't know, this is the result of Fitbit's talent acquisition of
Pebble. I'm still pissed we lost a <$100 programmable smart watch.

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wlesieutre
With a week of battery life and a daylight visible screen

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fudgy73
Did you guys see this Pebble + Apple Watch clone from Xiaomi? If only they
opened it up. 30+ day battery life with a similar display as the Pebble:

[https://us.amazfit.com/shop/bip?variant=336750](https://us.amazfit.com/shop/bip?variant=336750)

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wlesieutre
Very interesting! Closed platform is a bummer, but that hardware is exactly my
wishlist for a smartwatch.

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solarkraft
A closed platform is just a hurdle to overcome - but yeah, someone has to do
it. If they make it a little more consumer friendly this could be very
impactful.

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mathgeek
> Fitbit Ionic marks an exciting evolution in the smart device market by both
> incorporating open source technologies, like JerryScript into the device
> itself, and allowing developers to build on top of the software and
> contribute apps.

I realize this is marketing copy, but what exactly is evolutionary about using
open source software and providing an SDK for a smartwatch? How does this
differ from Apple's offerings? Sounds like the evolutionary part is that you
can use JavaScript.

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pavlov
It's still incredibly limited compared to Samsung's smartwatch platform.

For the past few years, the Gear watches and fitness wearables have been
running full Linux. If you enable Wi-Fi debugging, you can actually ssh in to
the smartwatch and poke around the file system.

The UI story is a mess though. There's EFL, a C-based GUI layer of somewhat
legendary status in Linux circles (it's derived from the Enlightenment window
manager). It's plenty fast, as a smartwatch should be, but kind of a bastard
to program for.

Alternatively you can write HTML apps, but they run like sedated dogs on the
smartwatch.

Last I heard, Samsung was trying to add React Native into the mix. I'm not
very convinced that adding in yet another runtime will fix the fundamental
problem.

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tostitos1979
But isn't the crappy widget library a general problem with Linux? What would
one use if not EFL?

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pavlov
Well, there's Qt, but I guess it doesn't align with the politics because it's
owned and controlled by a private corporation.

I agree there aren't any good options. Given the choices on Linux, EFL
actually makes sense for a smartwatch.

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hungerstrike
I’d imagine that the Ionic JavaScript toolkit company are not too thrilled
about the name.

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yesimahuman
Haven't really noticed it, to be honest. There's a lot more web developers
than wearable devs right now, at any rate.

