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It Lives!

A project log for nRF52 SmartWatch

nRF52 Smartwatch from Scratch

jeff-cooperJeff Cooper 09/10/2020 at 01:012 Comments

It lives!

The problem with the screen turns out to be something with the cable, but I've found that when it's smashed into the side of the case, it's bent in *just* the right way such that it works. I'm still going to eventually replace it with a new one, but seeing as that won't ship until mid-November, I'm glad I can keep working on it until then.

The white strip on the side is a TPU (flexible filament) strip that covers all three buttons, and lets me actuate all three individually without having to have three externally-visible buttons. It also provides a nice contrast to the black plastic case. This watch is also half a millimeter thicker than the previous one I posted, owing to a 1/32" acrylic protector set into the top. The metal bead near the bottom is the side view of a magnetic USB connector for easy charging.

The next version of the flex cable is on its way, and should be here in a few weeks. Until then, I think the watch is ready for (extremely basic) daily wear.

Discussions

Matthew James Bellafaire wrote 09/10/2020 at 11:49 point

Awesome! magnetic USB charging seems like a nice feature to have for this kind of project. Nice to see things worked out somewhat given the backorder issue you ran into.

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Jeff Cooper wrote 09/10/2020 at 21:22 point

Yeah, they worked out enough. I did also order the model with the different-shaped light module, so if this one decides to give up I can swap out the other one and only lose the ability to see the time in the dark.

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