Before we get things started, I have to say that the above title is slightly misleading but not in the way you’d expect. The new Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch does indeed only have a 24 hour battery life leaving the misleading part of this title as to when Sony actually announced the SmartWatch 2. Technically, Sony unveiled their next generation smartwatch in June but knowing that the company is at times not the best at educating the public about their products, we thought it would be a good time to review what Sony’s watch has to offer. To be fair, Sony also knew that Samsung would be debuting their smartwatch at IFA 2013 and included the watch in their presentation and showed it off again on the show floor. With the backstory behind us, let’s talk details.
The Sony SmartWatch 2, as the name would suggest, is Sony’s next generation smartwatch. Designed as a companion for smartphones running Android 4.0 and higher, the Sony SmartWatch 2 includes a host of improvements over its predecessor, including a larger screen and better battery life.
The SmartWatch 2 lights up your wrist with a 1.6-inch (220 x 176) touch display with an aluminum body design that’s dust- and water-resistant (IP57). This means that you can use the SmartWatch during your daily routine without worrying about ruining your device. Connecting the device to your Android 4.0+ smartphone is easier than ever with NFC and Bluetooth 3.0 like the Xperia Z and Xperia Z1 which include NFC, and can be paired with one and other by a single tap. Once connected, you can answer calls, read email and texts, snap photos, check weather, etc. While the SmartWatch 2 works great as a control for your widely used apps, Sony is also developing custom apps for it and has opened up the device, including its full firmware, to developers to tinker with and create their own unique apps.
While there is plenty of room left for these devices to mature, Sony currently offers the most complete form of this device, especially if we take practicality into consideration. One of the biggest issues with the smartwatch category, outside of bulkiness, is battery life. People already don’t like having to charge their smartphone every night. Now add your watch to the mix and you can see why consumers aren’t that excited by this category. Sony for its part has made charging the SmartWatch 2 easy by using microUSB as its charging mechanism and with a 4-day battery life with normal usage. The Samsung Galaxy Gear instead only offers a day’s charge with light use and barely half a day’s charge with normal usage making the device useless for most people.
The Sony SmartWatch 2 will be available this month and yes, it does also tell you the time.
Discuss:
Does the Sony SmartWatch 2 interest you?