We have finally reached the end of the chapter, and so the end of the book. In this chapter, you learned a lot more about the Core board and how to add libraries manually to the web IDE. You also learned more about how to interface with OLED screens over both SPI and I2C and how to connect everything in a small form factor. This chapter also introduced you to some leather crafting and how to shape your project into a watch.
On the programming side, we extended the introduction made in Chapter 8, On the Wi-fly to program the Core board. While we have created a working Wi-Fi connected watch with some notifications from different online services, we have barely scratched the surface of the possibilities for your smart watch. Hopefully, you have gained enough insight to start developing the project in the future in order to meet your needs and wishes.
In fact, this to me is what wearables are all about, bending technology to the will of the user. I hope I have shown that you do not need to wait for manufacturers to eventually make something that fits your preferences. The technology already exists, and with a bit of knowledge, you can create your own devices. As with any craft, the more time you spend doing it, the better you will become at it.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, there aren't that many cities around the world that have full Wi-Fi coverage. This might be a problem for those readers who want to use their smart watch beyond the coverage of their own Wi-Fi router. In the meanwhile, you can share the Internet using most modern phones as they can act as a Wi-Fi hotspot. Just set one up on your phone, connect to your watch, and you are good to go. Remember that this watch is not dependent on any particular operating system, so it does not matter whether you are running Android, OS X, or Windows. Another potential problem is switching between Wi-Fi networks. In order to do so, you will need to use the Particle app on your iOS or Android device.
You can also use a computer to set up your Particle Core board over USB. On the following website, you can find more information on how to do so:
http://docs.particle.io/core/connect/
Before we end this chapter, I would like to suggest that you have a look at the following recourse in order to progress your own smart watch. First, there is a lot of functionality in the Particle Core board that we did not have room to cover in this book. On the following site, you will find more information on the Core board, which might be useful for your project:
http://docs.particle.io/core/start/
IFTTT still has a lot to offer in terms of notifications that can be made and just browsing through the different channels will certainly inspire new possibilities.
The watch presented in this chapter is the bare bones of what I consider to be a smart watch for you to improve on. Even if there is a lot of functionality you can add on the software side, modifying the hardware would also create some new possibilities. Many of the sensors used in this book were picked for their versatility and some could be added to this project. A natural step would be to add an accelerometer and the possibilities will multiply yet again, or maybe think of ways you can connect some of the projects to one and other. My recommendation is to not stop here, but to keep on developing all of the projects in the book.
Unfortunately, this book has to end at some point and this is it. I hope you have enjoyed the projects presented, and as always,
Happy prototyping!