Also, ideally, no requirement of a smartphone to send-receive data (it's ok to need a smartphone for the initial setup of the watch, though). I know about Pebble, but it doesn't have wifi. I know about some Garmins with wifi but for the kind of apps I want to write, the communication between the watch and the server has to be mediated by a phone. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't want to pay $100/year just to be able to use my custom app in apple watches. I usually don't trust Google either (e.g., they discontinue everything in a blink of an eye).
So, what are my options?
lyaocean•23m ago
Main tradeoff: it’s very DIY (power management, UX polish, tooling). If you want less DIY, Wear OS gives a better SDK, but the platform lock-in is much stronger.