Sony SmartWatch

Sony SmartWatch to launch by June-end for Rs. 6,299

 

  Since the days of pocket watches, wearable timepieces have had a strong pull for gadget lovers. Watches are extremely personal devices and can be powerful fashion statements, functional or not; attractively crafted, technologically sophisticated timekeepers have their own special allure. Sony's new $150 SmartWatch is no exception. Powered by Android software, this high-tech ticker promises a lot in the way of features and functionality. Unfortunately, the flashy and cantankerous gizmo feels more like a work in progress.

Unlike the heavier and bulkier 1.2-ounce Motorola MotoActv, the square, 0.55-ounce Sony SmartWatch is easily portable. Measuring 1.42 inches tall by 1.42 inches wide and 0.3 inch thick, the SmartWatch is more in line with Apple's pint-size iPod Nano (1.5 inches by 1.6 inches by 0.35 inch, 0.7 ounce).

Measuring just 1.42 inches tall by 1.42 inches high by 0.3 inch thick, the Sony SmartWatch is extremely small.

The tiny SmartWatch also sports handsome visual accents such as silver-metallic edges that are smoothly rounded. A minuscule 1.3-inch OLED screen takes up the entire front face and displays data in a low 128-by-128-pixel resolution. Even so, colors on the watch's screen are vibrant and the digits glow an attractive white. One big drawback is that the display washes out in even modest sunlight, making the SmartWatch hard to read outdoors. I feel that's an unforgivable flaw for any watch (let alone one costing $149) since most people spend at least part of their day in the sun. By contrast, this is the opposite of the experience I had with the MotoActv, which automatically flips its display to black and white for better visibility outside.

Like other watch-style gadgets, the Sony SmartWatch can be clipped to clothing or to its wristband.

The back of the device is softly rounded, with a glossy white surface coating. On the back is a flat spring-loaded clip, which you can use to pin the SmartWatch to clothes or to its wristband. Sony also sells a metal watch adapter for attaching the gadget to standard bands from other watches. While the SmartWatch comes with a conservative black band, you can buy five other more eye-catching colors for $19.99 each. I found the rubber construction of the bands surprisingly comfortable. Their stretchy feel offers just enough grip without pinching skin and flexes slightly to slip into buckling position more easily than a traditional leather strap would.
Features

Sony makes a lot of boasts when touting the SmartWatch's capabilities. Before I describe them, though, you should know this product is mostly a Sony accessory. That's a huge bummer since it was initially billed as a universal Android device able to operate with a wide range of phones and other mobile gadgets. In fact, Sony's own Web site brazenly claims the SmartWatch "works beautifully with both Sony and non-Sony Android-based smartphones alike."
Even though Sony's SmartWatch page still contained that claim at the time of this writing, the company has since pulled back from those plans at least for the moment, now saying the SmartWatch is compatible with only a few select Android handsets. These include products from competing manufacturers as well as Sony's current Xperia line of smartphones. Notable on the short list of officially approved devices are the Samsung Galaxy S II and Motorola Droid Razr (and perhaps the Droid Razr Maxx).
Even so, the SmartWatch's promised capabilities are many. Essentially this device is a fancy remote control for Android smartphones that just happens to also have a clock. In a sober work meeting and your cell begins to buzz with an incoming call? No problem; the SmartWatch's Phonebook and Missed Call app will let you see who's calling, send it to voice mail, reply with a canned text message like, "Busy. I'll call you back," or even answer the call provided there's a headset lodged in your ear. The gizmo will also let you check e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter ported from your handset.

Just like an Android handset, the Sony SmartWatch has its own app tray with multiple screens that house icons for app shortcuts.

To set up the Sony SmartWatch, you download the Sony LiveWare Manager and SmartWatch Android apps from the Google Play store. If you own a current Sony Xperia handset running Android 2.1 or higher, chances are good your device has this software already loaded. With this done, you activate the SmartWatch's Bluetooth pairing mode by shutting down the watch and then pressing and holding the unit's power button (on the right side) for a few seconds. After that you pair the SmartWatch with your phone as you would any ordinary Bluetooth accessory within the Android settings menu.

 Once properly connected, the SmartWatch links to phones to act as a second screen for specially made apps running on your handset. In fact, the watch itself doesn't store any data locally save the time. It's basically a conduit that you configure and customize via the phone. For example, you must install applications either directly through Sony LiveWare's list of suggested apps or by searching the Google Play store. 

 In addition to the main clock screen, swiping a finger from right to left will cycle through screens of apps installed to run as widgets. There doesn't seem to be a limit to how many widget screens the SmartWatch will display, except for the number of widget-capable apps. The most I had running was eight: text messaging, calendar, missed calls, Facebook, the music player, Twitter, extra clock faces, and the weather.

Swiping the screen from top to bottom will eventually land you in the SmartWatch's app tray, where you can jump to apps as you do on an ordinary Android smartphone, scrolling left and right through multiple windows depending on the number of applications enabled. 

Performance
As you can imagine, the Sony SmartWatch's long list of features had me eager to take it for a test drive. My initial experience with the SmartWatch back in April, though, was a bit of a letdown; I could get only the watch's basic features operational. For instance, while I could view widgets, any attempt I made to open applications caused the SmartWatch to unceremoniously reboot, lose Bluetooth connection, and then reconnect. With Sony's latest refresh of the LiveWare Manager and SmartWatch software (available on May 25 and June 4, respectively), though, these issues thankfully evaporated. Even so I still ran into unstable behavior, especially when I paired the watch with unsanctioned phones.
I tested the SmartWatch with three different Android handsets, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, and HTC One S. Setup was relatively simple and most of the time I had the watch up and running with each phone in a matter of minutes. Sometimes, however, the watch wouldn't appear in the list of available Bluetooth devices. Rebooting the phone usually remedied 

 

With the new software installed, I had no trouble playing music stored on my phone via the watch's screen. Tapping the display when in the Music Player app pulled up buttons for adjusting the volume and skipping forward and backward through each track. Also nice is that I could control audio playback whether listening to my phone's default Android music player, Google Music, or even podcasts via Google Listen.
I had no problems with the Facebook, Twitter, or messaging apps, either. The watch vibrated softly to notify me when I received texts, tweets, and e-mails. I was able to both answer and accept calls when they came through, or place them using the Phonebook app. I found this especially handy when connected to my Bluetooth headset. The SmartWatch's tiny touch screen is a little tricky to manipulate, particularly for people with big hands like myself. Accurately hitting minuscule buttons for volume or tapping icons in the application tray was tough as well.
Sony's latest software adds two new watch faces to complement the default Large Digital clock. Unlike the more efficient timepiece screen, the SmartWatch will continue to display a small digital clock and more stylish analog clock as long as it detects movement. If the watch loses connection with your phone, a situation that happened to me many times, the time is still shown but is lost when it's completely powered down. This annoying behavior happened most when the watch was paired with the HTC One S. In fact, the phone periodically crashed while connected to the SmartWatch. Whether Android Ice Cream Sandwich or the HTC Sense UI is to blame is unclear.

Sony has added two new watch faces to the SmartWatch. The analog clock is particularly artistic. 

Sony says the SmartWatch will run for three to four days between charges, or 14 hours of continuous runtime, and so far my experience matches this claimed battery life. You may be tempted to attach the bundled USB cable to a spare AC phone adapter to charge up the device. I strongly recommend against this and suggest linking the watch to a PC via USB port to top off its battery. That's because the SmartWatch often had trouble kicking into charge mode when connected to the multiple AC adapters I tried.

Conclusion
Like many Android fans and gadget hounds in general, I have high hopes for the $149 Sony SmartWatch. Not only is the device technically ambitious, its distinctive good looks will attract attention for all the right reasons. It isn't the universally compatible uber-Android timepiece many, including me, were expecting, though. It's also a huge drawback that the device's display isn't legible in direct sunlight, a critical function of any watch. So is keeping track of time, something the product can't do reliably without a phone connection. Still, the recent software updates have gone a long way to address the SmartWatch's initial failings. If a real ecosystem of third-party app designers adopts this quirky gadget, it may actually become more than merely a pricey conversation starter. 

• SmartWatch

Quick specs

• 36 mm x 36 mm, thickness: 8 mm

• 15.5 g main unit
• 26 g watchband

• Operating range 10 m

Available colours