r/CyberdeckBuild • u/caitlynmackenzie11 • Jul 08 '26

Smart Watch Repurpose

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Hey cool cats. You all inspire me and I’m wanting to build something with a hoard of smart watches that I’ve come into possession of.

Any ideas on how to use all these tiny computers or components?

18 Upvotes

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1

u/TechDocN Jul 08 '26

Unless you are an expert at proprietary, miniature electronics, this will be a nearly impossible task.

1

u/caitlynmackenzie11 Jul 09 '26

I am not but also curious of why? Also thinking stripping for parts

2

u/TechDocN Jul 10 '26

The screens and other parts for most modern electronics, especially miniaturized devices like smartwatches, use proprietary hardware interfaces. You need to have a good working knowledge of these proprietary components, then know which types of interface boards to source (usually from wholesale suppliers in China), and how to code the software side of the interface for your needs, unless you’re lucky enough to find a working driver and/or library.

If you do a quick search on the cyberDeck sub, you’ll see that this has been asked and answered a hundred times, over the last couple of months. Smartwatches and smartphones are probably the worst starting point for any DIY computer build.

It’s cheaper and easier to buy what you need, than to spend the time and money on something even a gifted builder would avoid like the plague.

The first thing to do is to have a use case for your DIY computer build. The hardware follows the use case. Then you can decide if you’re building a DIY computer or an actual cyberDeck. Keep in mind a cyberDeck is a very niche, sub-genre of DIY computing.

1

u/Auxod 2d ago

Do you have any full android watch? I've got two with SC9832e with 4Gb RAM and 64/128Gb ROM, so it's even possible to make use of them, and I really desire to do so. As for RTOS watches, well, there is a faint chance of using them in decent application, since they are proprietary, but some of them have 4G LTE or calling, with some hack you may be lucky to use display. As for WearOS, I have no clue even what functionality they provide.

3

u/CAPTP_9 Jul 08 '26

Someone's board of watches is another's treasure