PineTime's InfiniTime 0.14.0 "Green Avocado" - all about LVGL!
3rd InfiniTime update in February 2021 - I told you, the project is super hot!
So what does this version bring? Basically an update to the
LVGL version, from 6 to 7.
Cool! But concretely? Keep reading to find out!
LVGL?
LVGL (which stands for Light and Versatile Graphics Library), is an open-source graphics library allowing to create embedded GUI, with a low memory footprint - super important for a device as the PineTime.
In previous InfiniTime versions, the display was not really "crispy", and you could quite often get a "blurry" screen especially with moving items on the display, e.g. while playing pong game, or when a notification popped up.
This is all solved with LVGL7 / InfiniTime 0.14.0! :)
In action
"Enough words, I want to see it!".
Okay, so here we go:
- Main menus:
- Notifications:
I hope the pics are clear enough that you can see the difference.
This version does not bring concrete new features like we had in previous
releases, but it's really a building block for the next ones!
Naming InfiniTime releases!
When JF released InfiniTime 0.13.0 on February 14th, 2021, I joked and stated that I was nicknaming it "Valentine's Day" release, and that it would be nice, moving forward, to name the next InfiniTime releases.
JF took it seriously and pinged me just before releasing InfiniTime 0.14.0, asking for a release name 😅
I told JF that we should go for something that's easy to expand on, like Android used to do (before Google removed that in Android 10) - and suggested using fruits, starting with "Green Avocado" (yes, the avocado pear is a fruit, not a vegetable!)
Now I'll probably have to build a list of candidates for next releases, to avoid doing it in a rush every time ;)
What's next for InfiniTime?
Unleashing creativity!
Without disclosing too much, the update to LVGL 7, as stated on GitHub will allow contributors "to unleash their creativity", and come with some nice new watchfaces (like this one) and apps (like this one).
Coming soonâ„¢
If you're following the PineTime Telegram channel, you'll see that soonâ„¢, we'll have:
- ability to upload the bootloader over the air:
- that'll be thanks to an updated version of the bootloader, which will provide a "reloader" tool
- filesystem integration:
- will allow fancier graphics (like notification app icons or fancier watchfaces),
- will also allow to use the external SPI flash (8x larger than the internal one) to store data (pics, files, ...), for instance to store a configuration file with user settings (brightness, ...)
Interview with the JF
I am working on an interview with JF, the idea being to tell the story of
InfiniTime: how it started, how it's going (no pun), and what's to expect in the
future.
The release date will depend on JF's availability, but hopefully in the coming
weeks :-)
Tags: PineTime