Android Question Success With Smart Watches / Devices ?

[potman100]

Hi

I was wondering if anyone has had any success with with creating app's for Smart Watches / Device's ?

I have an app I created running on my phone, which I want to be able to make changes to variables from a Smart Device and looking around the forums there does not appear to be many threads related to this, so I thought I would ask if anyone has done this.

I don't really want to spend a load of money on a device, I was looking at the Sony Ericsson MN2 LiveView 2 SmartWatch or something similar.

I would really appreciate it if any user's that are using something similar will post here.

Thanks In Advance

Potman100

 

[barx]

I wouldn't get the MN2, You would have to wrap the entire of Sony's SDK (if they even released one). If anything, you would want to get an Android Wear device. I was working on a library for the communications part 'Wearable DataLayer' and although the library is finished, It's not fully documented and examples created. This is down to personal reasons with things going off in my life that haven't allowed me to keep my head in the game. Those reasons are very nearly coming to an end and so I will be getting back on it in a week or so.

Search the forums for 'wear' and 'wearable datalayer' and read some of the posts, it may or may not be what your looking for....

 

[warwound]

@barx +1

The old Sony smartwatches just like the old Samsung tizen based smartwatches are dead.
In fact they never really lived!

Android Wear is the way things are going.

@potman100
I've had success using WearPrefs in a java based Android Wear project.
It synchronizes the SharedPreferences of the Wear and Mobile parts of an Android Wear application.
If you change the preferences on either the Wear device or the Mobile device, those changes will propagate to the other device.
It shouldn't be too difficult to use WearPrefs in b4a.

 

[potman100]

Hi barx

Thanks for your reply, I have been looking a Android Wear and from the reviews I have read I was looking at getting the
LG G WATCH R, it is a choice between that and the Sony 3.

The reason I started looking at other devices is I use a Galaxy Note 1, and it current Android version is 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, and
to use a Wear device you need min 4.3, with this phone it means rooting it and loading a custom rom, and I did not really want
to go down that road, or buy another phone but then it starting to get very expensive.

I think I might have to bite the bullet, and look at rooting it !

 

[potman100]

Thanks for you ideas warwound.

I was hoping the MN2 would allow me basic access in to my phone, say just to change a value in a file !

The app I currently use it is a Barcode scanning app, the phone is paired to a unitech ms910 hand held scanner, I have written
a backend search system in VB6 that basically use's the barcode EAN number as an input to scan Ebay, Amazon, Webuybooks, CEX and Momox while I'm out
and about in Second hand shops, Charity shops ect, then the data supplied by the VB6 Search engine is then passed back to android and converted
to text to speech so I get an instant price for what the item is worth through headphones.

The Smart Device is really an addon, there are lots of other online buyers but some only buy games, others only books and others only music and DVD's,
I want to be able to tailor the online buyers I search without having to take my phone out of my pocket, so just need to make slight changes to the
http post I make from the android app to the vb6 app, well the VB6 app is a command com application that is launch from php via apache.

 

[warwound]

I went for the LG G Watch R and am very impressed with it (had it about 3 weeks now).
It was either the Moto 360 or the G Watch R and the G Watch R appealed to me more (better battery life being the main attraction).

But Android Wear is being (or has just been) updated to support wifi...
Some existing Wear devices have wifi capabilities and some don't - if a device does have wifi it's disabled in software as it's not (or was not) supported.
Have a read: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=android+wear+wifi&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&gws_rd=ssl
The Moto 360 has wifi capabilities that will be enabled by the Wear update, the G Watch R doesn't have wifi capabilities.
Initially it was thought that the G Watch R did have wifi but that is not the case.

The Sony SW3 does have wifi and it has built in GPS - it does not have a heart rate monitor though.

To be honest i don't think this is the right time to buy a Wear device, as there is likely to be a new wave of devices that all have wifi released pretty soon.
The current devices that don't have wifi will soon be bargain bin bargains.

 

[potman100]

I might wait a while then, it's not really a major thing, but would be nice to have, I will be able to work around it
for now by creating my own barcode's and scanning them when I want to change the options I send.

Will have a read of your link, probs would not go with the Moto, from what I have read the battery life is poor at best
prior to it having wifi enable I would imagine it will be unusable.

 

[barx]

I went for the LG G Watch R and am very impressed with it (had it about 3 weeks now).
It was either the Moto 360 or the G Watch R and the G Watch R appealed to me more (better battery life being the main attraction).

But Android Wear is being (or has just been) updated to support wifi...
Some existing Wear devices have wifi capabilities and some don't - if a device does have wifi it's disabled in software as it's not (or was not) supported.
Have a read: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=android wear wifi&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&gws_rd=ssl
The Moto 360 has wifi capabilities that will be enabled by the Wear update, the G Watch R doesn't have wifi capabilities.
Initially it was thought that the G Watch R did have wifi but that is not the case.

The Sony SW3 does have wifi and it has built in GPS - it does not have a heart rate monitor though.

To be honest i don't think this is the right time to buy a Wear device, as there is likely to be a new wave of devices that all have wifi released pretty soon.
The current devices that don't have wifi will soon be bargain bin bargains.

On the contrary, it 'could' be a very good time as the new wave has started with the Urbane. As a result some of the existing devices have been reduced in price. So, if your just looking for a cheap device for testing then you could pick up a bargain....

They could get even cheaper as time goes on and stocks dwindle

 

[warwound]

Will have a read of your link, probs would not go with the Moto, from what I have read the battery life is poor at best
prior to it having wifi enable I would imagine it will be unusable.

I've read that battery life on the Sony SW3 is truly awful when it's built in GPS is used for a prolonged period.
4 hours of GPS use left one user with a flat battery.

Sony says you can go jogging and listen to music via bluetooth while tracking your position - no need to take your handset.
Maybe a short jog would be ok, otherwise you'd better take a usb charger with you so you can recharge on the go.