Linux 6.6 To Add New Input Driver Used By Wearable Fitness Devices

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Linux 6.6 To Add New Input Driver Used By Wearable Fitness Devices

Queued up ahead of the Linux 6.6 cycle later this summer is a new input driver for the Azoteq IQS7210A/7211A/E controllers...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.6-Azoteq-IQS721

[Quackdoc]

when used as "fitness wearables" these smart devices are really stupid. the pedometers on them are wildly inaccurate, the heart rate monitor is too, the only real good thing these devices are used for is reading messages and GPS, changing songs, and as timers for when your phone is strapped to your arm or thigh.

oh, and the calories burned thing is just an outright joke, at least they look cool. sometimes.

[skeevy420]

when used as "fitness wearables" these smart devices are really stupid. the pedometers on them are wildly inaccurate, the heart rate monitor is too, the only real good thing these devices are used for is reading messages and GPS, changing songs, and as timers for when your phone is strapped to your arm or thigh.

oh, and the calories burned thing is just an outright joke, at least they look cool. sometimes.

And after it shows you how many calories you burned it sends the inaccurate information to Alphabet, Meta, Apple, etc who then sell the information to 3rd parties who then sell it to folks in China, Somalia, and Hollywood. Yes, Hollywood. It's called ad placement demographics.

Genuine question: How do step counters distinguish masturbation from using a treadmill?

Hopefully if it's on Linux it'll be privacy focused and the developers will have an open source algorithm that can differentiate walking and wanking.

[Quackdoc]

And after it shows you how many calories you burned it sends the inaccurate information to Alphabet, Meta, Apple, etc who then sell the information to 3rd parties who then sell it to folks in China, Somalia, and Hollywood. Yes, Hollywood. It's called ad placement demographics.

Genuine question: How do step counters distinguish masturbation from using a treadmill?

Hopefully if it's on Linux it'll be privacy focused and the developers will have an open source algorithm that can differentiate walking and wanking.

when trying to differentiate between the two, you just aggregate information it's generally not that hard,

here are a couple data points
when running, or even walking each step you generally take you general get small... call them shockwaves that ripple through your body, thats a good indication of a step, its a small and sharp movement so it's pretty easy to detect, but thats not great in isolation, so ofc you check for the motions that can be mistaken for pleasure xD.

that's a pretty decent metric when you combine the two, but some people who walk really slow might not get triggered by that. so relying on gyro alone you look for specific movements. when walking your arms would generally have a lot longer path when travelling, it's not super reliable, but unless you are one hell of a porn star, it should be good enough.

Now, that's how "good" step trackers do it, how do they do it in reality? they dont. they simply record it xD

[johanb]

when used as "fitness wearables" these smart devices are really stupid. the pedometers on them are wildly inaccurate, the heart rate monitor is too, the only real good thing these devices are used for is reading messages and GPS, changing songs, and as timers for when your phone is strapped to your arm or thigh.

oh, and the calories burned thing is just an outright joke, at least they look cool. sometimes.

I have the opposite opinion, I hate reading messages on a small screen (the only attention grabbing notification I want is if someone calls), GPS is usually better on my phone and easier to see on a big screen, changing songs you can do on your headset. Timers though are nice.

The pedometers are usually OK, for most people an inaccuracy of +-10% is good enough which most smart trackers accomplish.
The heart rate monitor is actually acceptable on some brands since a few years ago, but of course it will depend on your use-case so a seperate heartrate strap (like the Polar H10) is best if you need really accurate heartrate measurements.
The sleep stage measurements have also been decent on some brands since a few years ago, especially Apple Watch, Fitbit and Whoop have done serious improvements the past 2 generations.
Estimated burned calories are and always will be crap.

The downsides IMO are:
- All upload all stats to the cloud and very likely sells your data
- Recently, a lot of trackers started with monthly fees to unlock all features
- There is no "perfect" tracker, some are better at sleep, some are better at heartrate, some have shitty battery etc. but none is good at everything
- (because of this, I even have one crazy friend who wears 3 trackers all the time...)

I'll leave this video here if you want to dig deeper and see a summary of what recent trackers can/can't do accurately

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVhmzxpw5Gg

[Quackdoc]

I have the opposite opinion, I hate reading messages on a small screen (the only attention grabbing notification I want is if someone calls), GPS is usually better on my phone and easier to see on a big screen, changing songs you can do on your headset. Timers though are nice.

The pedometers are usually OK, for most people an inaccuracy of +-10% is good enough which most smart trackers accomplish.
The heart rate monitor is actually acceptable on some brands since a few years ago, but of course it will depend on your use-case so a seperate heartrate strap (like the Polar H10) is best if you need really accurate heartrate measurements.
The sleep stage measurements have also been decent on some brands since a few years ago, especially Apple Watch, Fitbit and Whoop have done serious improvements the past 2 generations.
Estimated burned calories are and always will be crap.

The downsides IMO are:
- All upload all stats to the cloud and very likely sells your data
- Recently, a lot of trackers started with monthly fees to unlock all features
- There is no "perfect" tracker, some are better at sleep, some are better at heartrate, some have shitty battery etc. but none is good at everything
- (because of this, I even have one crazy friend who wears 3 trackers all the time...)

I'll leave this video here if you want to dig deeper and see a summary of what recent trackers can/can't do accurately
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVhmzxpw5Gg

on the larger screened devices, the messages are mainly useful to be able to tell whether or not you should be stopping to actually check out the message or not, and GPS is mainly useful for keeping accurate when following a charted course. (guilty of this one).

I don't think pedometers are particularly useful in the firstplace and find the only benefit to them being keeping track and charting progression, in which case a decent degree of accuracy is needed which the vast majority of these devices fail to provide last I had checked, ill be sure to checkout the video for sure to get a fresh idea on them.

I largely agree on having a dedicated heart rate monitor. especially for beginner athletes, monitoring heartrate with a good degree of accuracy can be a great way to judge cycles (much better then time based cycles).

thanks for the video will check it out