[jackb4040]

Between this, the Daylight computer (I know it's RLCD), and some of the flagship Boox devices, I'm very excited for where alternative display technology is going in the next couple years. Displays that you can use outside and that drain the battery way slower open up so many possibilities for auxiliary devices. My ideal device would be an ultralight android tablet with a keyboard case and an outdoor display good enough to watch youtube on, that needs to be charged less than once per day. Hopefully this product is super successful and Modos move on to standalone devices next.

There are counter trends, like Garmin discontinuing their e-paper smartwatches. But hopefully that has more to do with that market being too narrow for viable alternatives, and not a fundamental issue with the economics of the displays themselves.

[afandian]

Pebble is back, with MIP reflective LCD. I have one. It's great.

https://repebble.com/

[abrowne]

Bangle.js 2 (https://banglejs.com/) also has a transflective LCD. It's very fun product with a great community.

Bangle.js 3 is being discussed: https://github.com/orgs/espruino/discussions/7341

[Groxx]

Bangle.js 2 is the only smartwatch I've kept since Pebble. It's definitely not a polished experience, so I can only recommend with pretty strong caveats, but it has the main things I want from a tool: notifications, long battery life, easily-visible screen in all conditions, and isn't a giant slab on my wrist that gets in the way.

Nothing else has satisfied that so far, after trying nearly a dozen. They've all had flaky connections, bad battery life, and/or screens that need me to shield from the sun sometimes. And the apps they require, holy crap are they bad. Gadgetbridge isn't shiny but it at least lets you control what you need.

I truly wish it was button-based though. Touchscreens on your wrist suck so bad.

[abrowne]

> Touchscreens on your wrist suck so bad.

I don't mind myself, and especially in winter with mittens on I can – and often do – use my nose :-D

[Groxx]

I don't really mind having a touchscreen, it's the requiring use of it that bugs me.

And in some situations I much prefer it to be disabled, otherwise it reads phantom touches. (Bangle.js 2 has an option to ignore touches, though I forget the details. iirc until button press, or tapping a very small unlock button on the corner of the screen. Works well as a preventative measure, but I've never seen that on other watches)

[afandian]

Cool! I didn’t know it was transreflective. Do you have one? How’s the contrast?

[Groxx]

A bit low when not in a relatively bright area (say a house during the day without lights on), but that's largely solved by the backlight or a small tilt to catch light better. And in direct sunlight it's excellent.

The display isn't as nice as Pebble Time (fewer colors, more directional, overall slightly dimmer) but it's more than functional enough. Transflective is obviously the right choice for watches, I don't know why everything else has gone for phone-like panels that are often unreadable and kill battery life.

[delecti]

As a defense of Garmin, even without reflective/transflective/whatever displays (which would be better in sunlight), they still manage decent battery life. I can easily go a full week without charging mine, or several days with a daily ~1hr activity which uses GPS. It's certainly nothing compared to the ~month I managed on my previous watch, but plugging it in during my shower every few days totally eliminates battery anxiety, so I'm satisfied.

[efskap]

> Garmin discontinuing their e-paper smartwatches

Wait what? Do you have a source? I can't find anything about that, and I see the Instinct 3 is still being sold. Very disappointing if so, as that line has been the perfect pebble replacement for me.

[pcchristie]

Their flagship devices used to be split into two lines - Epix (AMOLED) or Fenix (MIP). The latest Fenixs (8 series) are AMOLED like the Epix, so you can't get MIP anymore in those lines. I can't speak to their other lines, frankly I've never understood their naming and what each line supposedly does.

[efskap]

Ah, thanks for clarifying. Fenix 8 Solar is still MIPS but I can see why AMOLED is the "premium default" that they'd de-emphasize in their flagships. MIPS just shines less in the showroom, and doesn't have the phone display parity people expect.

I can't see them ever removing it from the Instinct line though, as that's the rugged one that signals tool.