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agg23 | 4 months ago

This is something you can accomplish very easily in a ESP32 form factor, streaming audio over wifi/bluetooth. However, it doesn't fully deliver the same experience; the goal was for it to replace your phone, so it needs to support a lot more functionality such as data persistence, offline support, notifications, cellular, maybe some form of visual IO (the laser projector), etc.

From my perspective I was just interested in the excellent industrial design, which is something that is virtually impossible for a DIY setup to attain.

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duskwuff|4 months ago

> From my perspective I was just interested in the excellent industrial design

Debatable. The pin ran hot and had a short battery life, often less than a day even with the extended battery. The magnetic attachment was fiddly to use, and some users had trouble with it not staying put. The laser projector had serious usability problems - it wasn't very bright or clear, and interacting with the projected image (which was required to unlock the device, among other features) was extremely awkward.

One can argue that some of these are implementation issues, but working within the limitations of available technology is an inextricable part of industrial design. Dreaming up a perfect fantasy device is easy; designing one which can actually be implemented is much harder.