{"id":848999,"date":"2026-03-25T09:19:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T09:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/848999\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T09:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T09:19:14","slug":"pine64-teases-pinetime-pro-with-amoled-gps-and-custom-chip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/848999\/","title":{"rendered":"Pine64 teases PineTime Pro with AMOLED, GPS and &#8216;custom&#8217; chip"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>It\u2019s been nearly 7 years since Pine64 (remember them?) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omgubuntu.co.uk\/2019\/09\/pinetime-linux-smartwatch\" type=\"post\" id=\"153044\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">introduced the PineTime<\/a> (remember that?), a FOSS-friendly smartwatch priced under $30 and aimed at tech tinkerers and open hardware hackers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Now, it\u2019s time for take two.<\/p>\n<p>Revealed in a community update recapping its activities at FOSDEM 2026, Pine64 <a href=\"https:\/\/pine64.org\/2026\/03\/24\/march_2026_fosdem\/#pinetime-pro\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">has announced<\/a> an updated version is on the way, with an AMOLED display, built-in GPS, blood oxygen sensing and a rotating digital crown (with an extra button).<\/p>\n<p>The new Pro model will use what Pine64 says it a \u201ccustom chip\u201d, although it doesn\u2019t provide further detail. The original PineTime was built around a Nordic nRF52832 ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller with integrated Bluetooth, 64KB of RAM and 512KB of flash.<\/p>\n<p>Individual components can be powered down independently, something the original couldn\u2019t do, which Pine64 says will improve battery life (along with the AMOLED screen, as displaying black is more resource efficient).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.omgubuntu.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/pinetime-pro.webp?ssl=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/pinetime-pro.webp.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-329999\"  \/><\/a>PineTime and the PineTime Pro (Image: Pine64)<\/p>\n<p>While the original PineTime was not as fashionable as an Apple Watch, as capable as those low-end smartwatches sold in petrol station forecourts or popular beyond tinkering circles, it was FOSS-friendly and cheap \u2013 there to do what anyone with the know how wanted.<\/p>\n<p>Pine64\u2019s model is generally to focus on providing low-cost hardware and leave the software-side to the community. Work on the device was taking place at FOSDEM, per the event recap, which is a good sign that things are in place. <\/p>\n<p>PineTime Pro pricing is TBD<\/p>\n<p>Price and release dates are as-yet unknown. Pine64 is trying to figure out how best to approach it, noting \u201cdiscussion on if we do fund raising by baking in a small offset cost into the devices; or if we do a service with costs for fund raising\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>However it is funded, the price of the PineTime Pro is likely to be north of that tempting sub-$30 figure the original <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omgubuntu.co.uk\/2021\/07\/pine64s-open-source-smartwatch-goes-on-sale-for-27\" type=\"post\" id=\"228821\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PineTime went on sale<\/a> for. Blame global economics and component price pressures \u2013 but if it can get under $50, it\u2019d be a steal.<\/p>\n<p>The DRAM shortage has already halted production of the PineTab 2, PineNote and PinePhone, and a question mark remains over whether a newer, more capable PinePhone will ever see release. Not all products are affected, including the PineTime line.<\/p>\n<p>Also unknown is whether <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/InfiniTimeOrg\/InfiniTime\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">InfiniTime<\/a>, the open-source firmware that\u2019s been keeping the original model ticking along all these years, will run on the new version.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\">Pine64 (<a href=\"https:\/\/liliputing.com\/pinetime-pro-is-an-open-source-smartwatch-with-an-oled-display-and-gps\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">via Liliputing<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been nearly 7 years since Pine64 (remember them?) introduced the PineTime (remember that?), a FOSS-friendly smartwatch priced&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":849000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3160],"tags":[1685,242231,242232,3317,53,16,15],"class_list":["post-848999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-gadgets","tag-pine64","tag-pinetime","tag-smartwatch","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116289075252950742","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}