There’s a Dirt Cheap Smartwatch Powering This Adorably Useless Tiny Desktop PC

A contemporary smartwatch can run circles across the big desktop PCs of yesteryear with regards to processing energy, however counting what number of steps you are taking looks like a waste of all that horsepower. Why not flip a contemporary wearable right into a lilliputian PC, full with an equally tiny keyboard that appears prefer it was hijacked from a Blackberry?

That’s what the LilyGo T-Watch-Keyboard-C3 equipment is promising, and as lovely because it seems, don’t get your hopes up about what you’ll truly be capable of do with this setup. The tiny laptop is predicated across the LilyGo TTGO T-Watch 2020 V3 ESP32, and its $35 price ticket tells you what it’s actually able to. It’s actually nothing greater than a 240 MHz ESP32 twin core microcontroller powering a 1.54-inch LCD touchscreen with a 3-axis accelerometer permitting it to do fundamental health monitoring. It’s about as barebones as a wearable can get, and is basically designed for tinkerers and {hardware} hackers who need a smartwatch they will totally customise slightly than a tool with a cultured UI and out-of-the-box smartphone connectivity.

For these seeking to flip the watch right into a tiny PC (that appears like a nightmare to kind on), you should purchase the mini keyboard accent, which incorporates an extra audio module with a mic and speaker, for $19. Alternately, you’ll be able to seize it bundled with the watch itself for $55, which oddly sufficient doesn’t embody the audio bits. You’d additionally want to purchase the keyboard accent along with the bundle to get these, which form of defeats the aim.

What can it do out of the field? Not a lot. According to the CNX Software blog, LilyGo does present some Arduino pattern code for the keyboard accent on GitHub, but it surely’s extraordinarily missing, and anybody desirous to tinker with this equipment is in for some experimentation to determine what it may and may’t do. Could it run Doom? Yes, and which may truly be the very best use for this keyboard, as playing Doom on the LilyGo TTGO T-Watch utilizing its built-in gyro to manage the sport seems lower than enjoyable.