Description

SMA Q3 is an exciting replacement for the SMA Q2 (https://hackaday.io/project/85463-color-open-source-smartwatch), with an nRF52840 and SWD pins exposed on the rear. This project aims to provide info on the Q3's hardware, as well as ensuring the Bangle.js/Espruino firmware will work on it - allowing apps to be scripted in JavaScript.

This watch is now available, pre-programmed with Espruino on KickStarter! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gfw/banglejs-2-the-open-smart-watch

Details

This reverse engineering is based on efforts from Gordon Williams (Espruino), Fanoush, and atc1441

If you like this please consider supporting Espruino, or buying an Open Source Bangle.js watch (which will "just work")... Or contributions to improve the accuracy of info here or features of the Espruino build would be hugely appreciated.

The SMA Q3 can be a bit hard to get hold of - if there's enough interest I could sort out some kind of bulk purchase, so please let me know if so.

Specs

nRF52840 (BLE 5, 64MHz, 256kB RAM, 1MB Flash)
LPM013M126 sunlight-readable 176x176 8 color LCD, with full touch
One button, IP68 waterproof
8MB SPI Flash (XT25F64B)
GPS (AT6558)
Accelerometer (Kionix KX022)
Compass
Pressure/Temperature sensor (Bosch BMP280)
Heart rate sensor

Current State

There is a build of Espruino for the watch that exposes Bangle.js functionality to the point where some apps from the App Loader can but run. Pretty much all functionality now works:

LCD & terminal on LCD
Bluetooth
Compass, Accelerometer, Gestures
Heart rate monitor
GPS
Touchscreen
External flash
Bootloader and firmware updates
Power saving (now 150uA normally)
Pressure sensor implemented

The only real sticking point is compatibility with existing apps as the screen size and number of buttons is different, but a JS library is in progress to work around that.

The Espruino firmware can be built pretty easily with:

https://github.com/espruino/Espruino
source scripts/provision.sh BANGLEJS2
BOARD=BANGLEJS2 RELEASE=1 make flash

Pinouts

SWD - the 4 pads on the rear of the watch are GND, SWDIO/SWDCLK, VCC. The charge cable has wires for all 4 leads brought out to the USB connector, so the easiest method is just to attach wires from a USB socket to an nRF52DK

LCD - LPM013M126C

PRESSURE - BMP280, I2C 0x3C(0x1E)

TOUCH - Hynitron CST816S, I2C 0x2A(0x15)

Hynitron CST816S https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/PineTime#Touch_panel

Can write 0x03,0xe5 to turn off

HRM - VCare VC31, I2C 0x66(0x33)

http://www.vcaresensor.com/vc31.html

No source or datasheets. Seems to produce raw ADC values

ACCEL - Kionix KX022, I2C 0x3C(0x1E)

COMPASS - I2C 0x18(0x0C) - we have it working but we don't know what it is (It's not GMC303 even though it shares the I2C address)

Pin	Connected	State
0	32876 oscillator
1	32876 oscillator
2	PRESSURE_SCL
3	Battery voltage analog GND-[1M]-D3-[3M]-VBATT
4
5	Memlcd_CS (active high)	out
6	Memlcd_EXTCOMIN Needs to be toggled at 5ms or 250ms in sleep all the time
7	memlcd_DISP 1=disp on, 0=disp off	out, pulsed high
8	Backlight	out
13 (0x0d)	Flash_MISO	input
14 (0x0e)	Flash_CS	out
15 (0x0f)	Flash_MOSI	out
16 (0x10)	Flash_SCK	in_pullup
17 (0x11)	Button	In_pullup, edge detect
19 (0x13)	Vibrate, active=1	out
21 (0x15)	HRM_POWER, active=1	out
22 (0x16)	HRM_INT
23 (0x17)	Charge port	in_pullup
24 (0x18) 25 (0x19)	HRM_SDA Charging complete
26 (0x1a)	memlcd_SCK
27 (0x1b)	memlcd_MOSI
29 (0x1d)	GPS power, active=1	out
30 (0x1e)	GPS TXD
31 (0x1f)	GPS RXD
32 (0x20)	HRM_SCL
33 (0x21)	TOUCH_SDA
34 (0x22)	TOUCH_SCL
35 (0x23)	TOUCH_RESET (active low)	out
36 (0x24)	TOUCH_INT (active low)
37 (0x25)	ACCEL_SDA
38 (0x26)	ACCEL_SCL
39 (0x27)	ACCEL_INT	input
44 (0x2c)	COMPASS_SDA
45 (0x2d)	COMPASS_SCL
47 (0x2f)	PRESSURE_SDA

Discussions

Nathan Harvey wrote 09/29/2022 at 20:32

Is the screen transflective? How well does it work in a lighted room if the backlight is completely off?

Alternatively, how difficult would it be to swap the screen out for an electrophoretic one?

Are you sure? yes | no

ravalbj1 wrote 04/19/2022 at 22:45

In the next version of the watch, is it possible to have a 9 axis IMU chip like TDK Invensense ICM-20948? If so, it would be so AWESOME, because it has everything else I need to tinker with it and make a sweet app!

Are you sure? yes | no

JVS wrote 02/26/2021 at 19:44

Sorry if this question is dumb but just to clarify: do I need a nRF52DK board to flash this on the Q3? or there are alternatives?

Are you sure? yes | no

geekahertz wrote 03/17/2021 at 17:40

Feels like a total noob here. Are there any instruction on how to flash the bootloader / firmware? Came across this page for pinetime that has similar pinout.

https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/Reprogramming_the_PineTime

If we don't have a 5v segger jlink programmer / nRf42DK, seems like we can try openocd?

https://learn.adafruit.com/programming-microcontrollers-using-openocd-on-raspberry-pi

Are you sure? yes | no

Yousef Amar wrote 01/25/2021 at 17:09

For future readers: I was able to order a sample from SMA's Alibaba page linked by @x29a (https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/2020-Best-seller-Smart-watch-SMA_60760372855.html) with no issues and it arrived in 10 days.

Are you sure? yes | no

JVS wrote 02/26/2021 at 19:43

10 days? nice, where I live its going to be 2 months.......at best

Are you sure? yes | no

h4mmaster wrote 10/13/2021 at 08:05

Is there any way to order from alibaba without listing a company? If I try to register an account it asks me for one.

Are you sure? yes | no

emeryth wrote 10/24/2021 at 09:42

Are you sure? yes | no

Matias N. wrote 01/22/2021 at 18:13

Hi again, I wanted to ask if you have an Espruino build you could share. I tried building it and it fails with lots of errors. I'm trying to figure out why the compass is not working correctly on my watch. Thanks!

Are you sure? yes | no

Gordon Williams wrote 01/25/2021 at 13:17

Can you pull and try again now? I think I just fixed the build

Are you sure? yes | no

Matias N. wrote 01/25/2021 at 20:43

Thanks. It gave some errors but eventually built the image. I managed to get into Espruino and test the compass and I think there's something not right. I'm getting:

>I2C1.writeTo(0xC,0)
=undefined
>var d = I2C1.readFrom(0xC, 1);
=new Uint8Array([128])
>I2C1.writeTo(0xC,1)
=undefined
>var d = I2C1.readFrom(0xC, 1);
=new Uint8Array([144])
>I2C1.writeTo(0xC,0)
=undefined
>var d = I2C1.readFrom(0xC, 2);
=new Uint8Array([128, 255])
>I2C1.writeTo(0xC,0)
=undefined
>var d = I2C1.readFrom(0xC, 4);
=new Uint8Array([128, 255, 255, 255])
>I2C1.writeTo(0xC,0)

Where 0x0 and 0x1 are the devid/cmpid registers which should return 0x48 and 0x05. You can also see that reading more than one byte always gives 0xFF. Should this work as is? Did you do this test and worked?

Are you sure? yes | no

Gordon Williams wrote 01/26/2021 at 08:57

Did you set up I2C1? because by default it won't be connected (software I2C is used). When trying here i get:

var i = new I2C();
i.setup({scl:45,sda:44});
i.writeTo(0xC,0);print(i.readFrom(0xC, 1)); // 130
i.writeTo(0xC,1);print(i.readFrom(0xC, 1)); // 146

So not what we'd expect for sure, but not what you get. I just tested and it seems magnetometer doesn't work for me either - so I guess it's some other device on address 0x0C. I had a quick look at the original binary and it seems to be accessing 0x3e,0x4E,0x80. This code appears to work (I'll update the firmware), but it'd be good to know what the magnetometer actually is so we can find the datasheet!

var i = new I2C();
i.setup({scl:45,sda:44});

setInterval(function() {
i.writeTo(0xC,0x4E);var d = new DataView(i.readFrom(0xC, 7).buffer);
print(d.getInt16(1),d.getInt16(3),d.getInt16(5));
// reading this register seems to kick off a new reading
i.writeTo(0xC,0x3E);i.readFrom(0xC, 1);
}, 1000);

Are you sure? yes | no

Gordon Williams wrote 01/26/2021 at 09:51

Try pulling now - just added a driver for the compass based on the reverse engineering

Are you sure? yes | no

Matias N. wrote 01/26/2021 at 14:48

Thanks a lot (replying here since HaD does not support replying to nested comments?). I actually opened my Q3 in desperation, haha. But it makes sense that it was simply not the right model. I tried to look up the chip markings and did not find anything, but it is difficult to do this kind of search.

Are you sure? yes | no

Matias N. wrote 01/10/2021 at 03:37

Hi, I'm starting to work on the Q3 and I'm having trouble communicating with I2C devices. Not sure if it is an error in my code or some pin in the table is wrong. I'm currently trying to get the touchscreen working. I'm doing the reset procedure (looked various sample codes) so it should respond. I tried communicating with other I2C devices in other pins and also seems to fail. Is there any working code for Q3 that I could look to verify the pinout?

Also, it would seem that the resistor divider has values the other way around (resulting in 1/4 not 3/4). At least that way the number I'm getting makes sense (around 4.1v fully charged).

BTW, I cannot understand why there are four I2C devices each on their own set of SDA/SCL instead of sharing pins. The fact that there are only two I2C peripherals makes this quite awkward. I think some engineer dropped the ball there.

Are you sure? yes | no

Gordon Williams wrote 01/11/2021 at 08:25

Hi, I just checked and SDA/SCL were swapped on HRM and accelerometer. The actual code Espruino uses is at https://github.com/espruino/Espruino/blob/master/boards/SMAQ3.py and it seems to work fine (pressure isn't implemented yet though).

For the battery, the table is trying to say there's a 1M resistor between GND and ADC, and 3M between ADC and power - that'd give you the 1/4 scaling you're seeing.

Pretty much all these watches seem to use software I2C - you're only transferring a few bytes and then waiting for the result, so using hardware I2C doesn't really give you any huge gains. If you've got the IO available, using separate wires makes routing the PCB a lot easier.

Are you sure? yes | no

Matias N. wrote 01/11/2021 at 15:23

Thanks a lot! I found that my issues with the touch module were due to me not using the right pin numbers for PORT1 pins (d'oh). But what you find with other devices explains also other issues I had.

Regarding the resistor ratio, you're right. I was doing 3/(1+4), so also my mistake.

BTW, on the nRF51... gitter Aaron also posted a pinout and it included a pin P1.25 which indicates charge complete. I see this is missing on the table above so it might be nice to add it.

Thanks again!

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Gordon Williams wrote 01/11/2021 at 15:38

Thanks! Just added pin 25 :)

Are you sure? yes | no

Matias N. wrote 01/21/2021 at 14:58

Hi, continued testing here and found that accel pins listed on this table are swapped wrt the .py script.

Also, the accel may boot with address 0x1c, and requires special reset procedure outlined in: http://kionixfs.kionix.com/en/document/TN014%20KX022,%20KX023%20Accelerometer%20Power-On%20Procedure.pdf

Very wierd

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Gordon Williams wrote 01/25/2021 at 13:18

Thanks - that is very interesting. I'd actually noticed that happening on some Bangle.js for some reason (literally 2 out of 6000) - good to know there's a solution though!

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pata wrote 11/22/2020 at 12:33

Wow thank you for all the development you are doing here :)

I'm also very interested in getting 1 or 2 of these little beasts. I've looked for them in or shipping to Europe, but so far I've had no luck.

Are you sure? yes | no

Gordon Williams wrote 11/23/2020 at 07:52

I just contacted the manufacturer direct and I can't even buy from them now. Hopefully it'll end up back in stock soon

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x29a wrote 12/25/2020 at 22:07

the manufacturer delivers samples via alibaba at https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/2020-Best-seller-Smart-watch-SMA_60760372855.html - probably happy to provide higher volumes

Are you sure? yes | no

hackbot wrote 10/23/2021 at 08:16

In response to @x29a - I bought a sample “SMA Q3” from "Shenzhen Smart Care Technology" (two accounts!?) via Alibaba for about $38/€41. They have about a dozen listings with varying prices and random feature tables, but all sharing the same sales images of the watch with 4 pads. They sent an F2 instead and insisted the product is the correct one and the same as Q3. Luckily, I was able to escalate the dispute and that was automatically refunded by Alibaba. Last message received was the F-word!

Are you sure? yes | no

Gordon Williams wrote 10/25/2021 at 08:32

Wow, sorry to hear that - glad you got the money back though. I must admit I was a bit surprised the listings are all still live. For the Bangle.js 2 KickStarter I ended up ordering all the watches they had (they actually couldn't send the full amount we'd agreed on in the end) so I wouldn't have thought they had *any* stock to send out now.

Are you sure? yes | no

arthur_jordan05 wrote 11/21/2020 at 07:11

I'm wondering what the purpose of a gps module in a smartphone-coupled watch is. OK, maybe getting velocity, altitude and time in some sort of standalone mode , but anything else? Is it worth the higher power consumption?

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emeryth wrote 11/21/2020 at 12:35

So you can use the watch independently of your phone for tracking sports activity.

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Hồ Nguyễn wrote 11/19/2020 at 14:07

Can anybody show me where to purchase it please?

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emeryth wrote 11/19/2020 at 10:27

I asked around aliexpress to try to find a seller and I got this important piece of info:

> I asked the manufacturer just now. They said that there was a problem with the power-off key of this watch at present, so I can't sell it to you now. I will put it on the shelves after the manufacturer solves this problem, can I inform you?

Are you sure? yes | no

Gordon Williams wrote 11/19/2020 at 10:38

Thanks - that is very interesting. I know the watch itself does not have a 'power off' option - I guess because they figured that it was basically pointless when the watch lasted so long on a battery. But maybe that causes issues with shipping

Are you sure? yes | no

fanoush wrote 11/11/2020 at 09:53

Q3 is $30 on aliexpress today (11.11. sale) https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001501601570.html

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mik wrote 11/04/2020 at 22:06

@All: great work fleshing out the spec.

@Aaron: Checking 1MB flash = 8Mbit flash, or really 8MB?

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fanoush wrote 11/05/2020 at 06:53

SPI flash is really 8MB + internal flash in nRF52840 is 1MB

Are you sure? yes | no

jeffmer wrote 10/26/2020 at 22:57

Would also be very interested in getting one via a bulk purchase.

Are you sure? yes | no

Aaron Christophel wrote 10/26/2020 at 18:28

hey. The Memory is 8MB in the Q3 just as info.

Can you add this account to the contributors i am Atc1441 :)

Are you sure? yes | no

Gordon Williams wrote 10/27/2020 at 07:58

Thanks, just updated - and let me know if you didn't get an invite - still getting my head around HaD.io :)

Are you sure? yes | no

kwapiszon wrote 10/26/2020 at 13:10

i can login (sudo, etc) / unlogin (when leave keyboard) using this watch?

Are you sure? yes | no

Gordon Williams wrote 10/27/2020 at 07:59

Maybe. It can do Bluetooth HID so can send keypresses, although to log out I guess you'd need some specific software on your PC

Are you sure? yes | no

Matias N. wrote 10/26/2020 at 12:33

Thanks for publishing this, I would REALLY like to get a SMA Q3. Hopefully it becomes more widely available soon. If you decide to make a bulk purchase, count me in =)

Are you sure? yes | no

Hackable nRF52840 Smart Watch

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