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Sony looks set to reveal its smartwatch tomorrow

by Mark Tyson on 24 June 2013, 08:15

Tags: Sony (NYSE:SNE), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), PC

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qabxy5

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Sony has been dropping heavy hints at a Smartwatch reveal ahead of the Mobile Asia Expo 2013 (MAE 2013) tomorrow in Shanghai, China. Sony’s @sonyexperia Twitter account has published several tweets referring to a smartwatch; including posting an infographic picture and a picture of what may be one of the smartwatches it is about to reveal.

Sony Smartwatch pictured?

“Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock #itstime #MAE13”

Infographic

“One in three smartphone users want smart wrist wear. #itstime #MAE13”

200 apps ready on Google Play

Sony also added Tweets, but without an attached picture including; “The only wearable device with 200 #firstgen apps on @GooglePlay and growing…#itstime #MAE13” and “Pocket watch / wristwatch / digital watch / LiveView / SmartWatch / ? #itstime #MAE13”. A further Tweet making reference to Sony’s past successes with mobile tech and picturing the original Sony Walkman read “Wearable tech is in our DNA. Remember Walkman, now...?”

NFC, touchscreen, waterporoof

CNet has been doing a bit of digging around this weekend and a usually reliable source speaking to it has revealed a few background details about the new smartwatch. From the above Tweets we can see it will be running Android, CNet’s source says it will have three icons below the screen “just like the company's current Xperia smart phones”. Furthermore it will also “have NFC, for one-touch pairing with your mobile, and will maintain the connection using Bluetooth”. The screen on this new smartwatch is also said to be bigger than the previous Sony LiveView smartwatch and benefit from being touchscreen-enabled.

The Mobile Asia Expo 2013 is held in Shanghai 26-28 June 2013.



HEXUS Forums :: 3 Comments

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One in three smartphone users want smart wrist wear
And the other two thirds think it's a waste of time and money.

Given that I was a “mark 1” owner, what I'd want from a new device is the following:
  • Better battery life - “standby” times for the old Mk1 were pretty poor;
  • More reliable connection - the old device had an “endearing” feature of forgetting that it WAS paired, and the phone-based software was equally annoying because it'd (monthly) require you to run the whole pairing and registration thing;
  • More functionality - funnily enough what I wanted was a “watch+” and the old device didn't do a good job at being “merely a timepiece”;
  • Cross platform - although I got mine working on my Galaxy S3 and my old SE X10, there were stories that didn't work that well with other phones, especially HTC;
  • Cheaper - £90+ for a wrist ornament that doesn't even tell time particularly well is - to borrow some RegSpeak - an "instafail".

That said, mine was good for picking up RSS feeds from Hexus and the Beeb, and it's use as a controller for the music play was also a major plus point. But I don't see it being a “must have” device, then again I can't see much point other than idle curiosity in Google Glass either - so maybe I'm not “with it” enough for these kind of things? ;)
Yeah, sounds great and all, but why would I buy one when I'm still rocking one of these bad boys;
http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/265834/12-ultra-nerdy-watches-of-yore/10
I'll stick to my nice chunky metallic standard watch thanks.