Sony set to launch smartwatch in Shanghai next week Next week Sony will unveil its latest attempt to build a smartwatch market at the Mobile Asia Expo 2013 in Shanghai, according to hints as subtle as an enraged rhinoceros on the company's Twitter feed. Sony SmartWatch slide Are you Sony's one in three? "One in three smartphone users want smart wrist wear," reads one …
Me too. My android powered pocket watch has a 5.5" screen, can automatically detect which time zone it is in, and also serves as an alarm clock, diary, address book, map, compass, newspaper, book, notebook, camera, train/bus timetable and text pager. You can even make telephone calls with it should you want to.
Trying to do all those things on a watch with a 1" screen isn't going to be so good.
A watch that looks good please.
In a recent survey it has been said that women notice they type of watch a man is wearing and make assumptions from this.
Given that so many men now do not wear a watch but rely on a mobile phone to tell the time does pulling out an S4 impress them or do they just think, here we go ugly/little man fast/big car?
It's the next step from whipping out your mobe to see what time it is and getting all caught up in all the stuff.
I've just gone back - after 5 years - to wearing a conventional analogue watch (a nice hefty kinetic powered SKA465P1). My fanmobe remains trousered much longer and I'm a calmer and cheerier person as a result.
A smartwatch will make a self absorbed twtching neurotic wreck of you.
You don't need it in your life. Resist.
"Some Apple users already have such a devices; there's many an iPod Nano seen on a wrist strap these days"
I think I've seen about one, even, and ugly it looked too.
Not that it's a smart watch - unless it runs applications, does Internet, integrates with a smartphone etc - and so isn't really wearable computing.
But yes, the idea of attaching technology is nothing new - from cassette personal stereos clipped to belts in the 1980s, to my Sansa player today that has a clip that I can clip to my clothing. I don't think of it as "wearable technology". And even as far as wearable computing is concerned, what about a smartphone in a case attached to someone's belt?
... a moderately flexible forearm band whose outer surface is the touch screen, and:
- has a usable resolution.
- is rugged enough for the average consumer to wear/use.
- can have a thin and light enough battery so the whole device is like my mp3 player - so light you don't notice you're wearing it.
I doubt that bendable screen (or battery) tech is quite there yet but I could see something like this being popular.
The whole phone-in-a-wrist-watch thing will never be be more than a niche toy because the screen will never be big enough and it'll always be onerous to interact with due to it's size.
Vast majority of people don't want "smart watches" i.e. small screen square shaped ugly mug wrist-ware.
What we want is for you to use those flexible OLED screens we've been hearing so much of and wrap that around our wrist with touch sensitive controls and put Android on.
Then we can customize our wrist-ware how we want by a simple assignment of wallpaper and assortments of apps. GPS, NFC, accelerometer, bluetooth are also a must. Camera optional.
You're welcome.
This is a great idea! For those of us that actually want a damn accurate watche that can set itself without having to buy Seiko's Astron watch at $3000-5000 up, it's what exactly I've been looking for.
I would buy it for that alone.
I just came back from Switzerland's Schaffhausen, the home of Swiss watchmaking and saw watches up to $10,000 each that lose 20 seconds (and up) a month.
If Seiko think there is a market for people willing to spend $5000 on a GPS watch, I think Sony will have a winner if the time is right.
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This is make or break. I don't think Sony can afford another just a minor upgrade, or do I think it would launch such a sustain campaign if it wasn't a little bit more than an upgrade of existing watches. This is there one and probably only chance to dominate this market before Apple, Samsung and possibly Google. An Sony needs to do something to surprise everyone.
After they humiliated Microsoft at E3, perhaps that can spur Sony to achieve another victory by dominating the Smart watch scene.
A 7 day battery life and an OLED bendable display, NFC to allow hooking up to phones easier, integration with other products such as Xperia phones, smart television, PS4. some basics sensors such as a heart beat monitor, heat sensor, a selection of high quality apps to go along with those.
Seen a few.
The arm mounted small computer terminal seen in Killzone Mercenary which happens to the the same size as a Vita.
The arm mounted computer which you can repair your weapons with and change your clothes with in Fallout series.
But then make it loook like a Blakes Seven transporter arm band and that might sell.
There are several reasons why wristwatches were successful and one of those is that it is a very convenient place to present information - often accessible while carrying out other tasks.
It's possible that this will continue to be a selling point - I backed Pebble on Kickstarter (and fourteen months later have just had a watch delivered) so I'll find out how useful / fun it is. Being able to control the music player app while my phone stayed in my pocket proved handy on a busy bus.
A quick pub-based survey of some ABC1 consumers of exactly the sort advertisers seem to love suggested that people are happy enough fishing their smartphones out of their pockets every time they vibrate but I suspect that attitude would change if Apple did release a device.
I saw no reason for one of these initially - but actually I would if it had a good Heart Rate Monitor app. You can get a bluetooth 4 heart rate sensor from Polar, for instance, for a reasonable sum - but their watches tend to be expensive for what they are. A smart watch would replace this - but do much more besides.
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