Hopefully things like PineTime, Bangle.js, and the return of Pebble can shake up the market. There’s always neat DIY hacks like the SensorWatch too that can still make the space fun even if the major players get enshittified.
Comment on Garmin adds AI and a subscription tier to its app
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
TL;DR: They lied to us, plain and simple. The temptation of Make Line Go Up was enough to make Garmin abandon their promise of no subscriptions and no paywalls.
Nobody outside of the idiots in the boardroom wants this, especially the AI garbage. It’s disgusting that $1100 for a Fenix 8 isn’t already enough for these greedy assholes.
I am on my second Garmin watch, a Fenix 6. Previously I had a 5x. My wife has a Lily. These will be our last ever Garmin devices, and I’ll be sure to let them know it. It’s getting to the point where no smartwatch maker can be trusted, unsurprisingly, and honestly the alleged benefits they provide are probably no longer worth it in the long run. Before smartwatches were a thing I amassed quite a selection of normal watches, which I will probably just go back to using when my current watch inevitably cacks it, or the software becomes so borked that it’s useless.
neblem@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
njordomir@lemmy.world 1 week ago
If gadget bridge paired with a fully featured local analysis tool, I would love that and probably put them on my FOSS donation list too.
JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 4 weeks ago
HealthyPi will be a too option too.
refreeze@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I also just deleted my Connect account. I have had it with these greedy American corporations. To anyone looking for an alternative, I highly recommend checking out Gadgetbridge, it still lets you use your watch with almost all the same features, only the data never leaves your phone.
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Any advice for getting it to actually work with a Garmin watch? I just tried it with my Fenix 6 (solar) and it doesn’t detect the watch at all. In fact, even selecting “show unsupported devices” reveals that my watch’s bluetooth MAC address isn’t even seen by my phone. (Yes, I unpaired it and removed Connect from my phone. I also resorted to factory resetting my watch. No dice.)
At the moment I’m using it unconnected because it still shows the time and so forth with the watch face I want. But without any kind of connectivity there’s really no point to not just putting this thing back in its box for good and grabbing one of my numerous dumb watches.
refreeze@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Did you put your watch into pairing mode? On my Forerunner, I have to go Settings/Connectivity/Phone/Pair Phone on my watch.
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Yes indeed, I absolutely did. Still no joy, alas.
ProfHillbilly@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Gadgetbridge
Is this in the google app store? I can’t find it.
refreeze@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I think it is only on F-droid
ProfHillbilly@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I saw that but I don’t know what that is.
OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml 4 weeks ago
They haven’t paywalled anything that I have seen. This is a paid tier.
And009@lemmynsfw.com 4 weeks ago
I’m not putting down my fenix 6 anytime soon. If they’re half as smart and don’t want to kill their business, they’ll take that AI shit out or keep the free tier worth it.
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Capitulation leads to these corporations refusing to change and believing they can weather out the complaints and still come out the other side profitably without changing their behavior.
I can live with a dumb watch until they announce they’re walking this back.
ProfHillbilly@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I love my 5X but I will be fucked if I buy another watch if this happpens.
OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml 4 weeks ago
Not true. Simply don’t get the paid feature. Everything works as it should. This is massively overblown. Everyone’s pushing AI this and that because it’s the hot thing right now.
rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
Moving previously free features of a product you’ve already paid for should be considered theft legally. Hopefully enough people in the EU complain about it for them to do something about it.
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
The problem with that is this is software. We’ve seen this before. If the EU complains they’ll stop doing it… only in the EU. They’ll continue the fuckery in the US because it’s legal here.
rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
I don’t care if americans still lose, as long as I see the corporations lose somewhere else.
EugeneNine@lemmy.ml 4 weeks ago
If you read the announcement from them you will see that they are not moving previously free features to paid, all of the previously free features are still free, they are adding some new paid features.
rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
I have no faith in what companies say until they are legally bound to it.
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Not moving any of the previously free features yet. Don’t worry, it’ll happen.
The compute power behind their dumbass “AI” push that nobody wants will not be cheap, and when it inevitably fails to turn a profit (because we all know damn well it never will), they’ll be looking for new ways to squeeze users for revenue.