Hack together your own e-paper smartwatch with this $ 50 open-source kit

If you’ve always wanted to be like Steve Wozniak and have your own bespoke geeky watch, Squarofumi (stylized SQFMI) may have the product for you: an open-source Arduino-powered smartwatch with an e-1.54-inch paper screen (via Gizmodo). It’s called Watchy, and the hardware and software are fully customizable. You can use it right out of the box, however, as the PCB acts like the body and has points for attaching a watch band. And to top it off, it’s only $ 50, on sale for $ 45 at the time of writing.

The SQFMI site has sections for watch faces and watch cases, but at the moment they both only say “Coming soon”, so if you’re thinking about this watch, you’ll definitely want to make sure you’re ready for a. DIY project. Oh, and there is also the fact that the watch is not assembled – you have to assemble it yourself, by connecting the 200×200 screen, PCB and 200mAh battery together. There’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a 3-axis accelerometer, and four buttons that can be used for navigation, or any other function you can imagine.

Graphic: SQFMI

If having to assemble the hardware yourself doesn’t intimidate you, there’s one more thing to note: Although the watch comes with preloaded software, if you want to make any changes to the watch face, you’ll need to download the Arduino IDE and program them yourself.

While some people may be put off by all the work involved in getting the watch to work, for some people the build yourself approach means that they will be able to get exactly what they want. If you want a watch with a case that looks like an iPod or Game Boy, with a matching interface, you can 3D print a case and code the watch face yourself. This is the kind of freedom you probably won’t get from most commercial smartwatches, although Tizen and Wear OS watches do offer downloadable watch faces.

The SQFMI battery life estimate depends on your use case – it says if you just keep time you should have five to seven days, but if you frequently retrieve data you don’t ‘will only see two to three. However, its open-source nature means you can always squeeze a bigger battery into it or try to do some software optimizations if there are any features you’re willing to drop.

Image: SQFMI

If you’re looking for this type of coding / DIY project, the Watchy is sold on Tindie. I just recommend that you check the SQFMI website to make sure there is enough documentation available for you to get started.