Sony Unveils Water-resistant, NFC-ready SmartWatch 2 for your Android

Sony was one of the first companies to bring wearable computing devices or ‘SmartWatches’ in the market. Though the 1^st generation of SmartWatches didn’t quite live up to the expectation because of the clumsy user interface, lack of pre-loaded apps and high pricing, Sony has managed to cover all of those shortcomings up with the new 2^nd generation of SmartWatch – ‘SmartWatch 2’.

What’s new?

The major add-on to this SmartWatch 2 is the NFC support for one touch pairing to any Android SmartPhone running on Android 4.0 or higher. Now you have to just touch the new SmartWatch to your NFC enabled phone and all the required pairing will be done in seconds!

Display

The display is now larger 1.6” transflective LCD [old SamrtWatch had a 1.3” OLED display] which promises better sunlight visibility. The resolution is also fair 220×176 px with 176ppi pixel density which is standard for human eye from a normal distance.

Hardware and design

The new SmartWatch 2 is 23.5g in weight and looks quite stylish because of the shiny aluminium construction and thin display bezel; gone is that wide bezel seen on the 1^st generation of Sony SmartWatch. The colourful rubber wrist bands have been swapped for a stainless steel version though you can swap the wrist band for any 24mm strap. The stainless steel bold power button of Xperia SmartPhones has also been spotted on the left side of the body giving a perfect watch look. You are also getting standard Android like Home, Back and Menu capacitive keys just below the screen.

Battery

Sony claims 7 days battery backup with low uses and 3-4 days with normal uses which seems fair. This new SmartWatch 2 now comes with a standard microUSB charging port instead of the proprietary port used by the 1^st SmartWatch by Sony.

Dust and Waterproof

The new generation of Smart Watch is now waterproof [IP57] though not suitable of swimming, diving or any heavy water-related work. This is basically mild splash proof and the steel wrist strap isn’t suitable for water as well.

Compatibility

This gadget is compatible with any Android phone running on Android 4.0 [Ice-cream Sandwich] or later though there is no support for iOS and Windows Phones.

Things you can do

Here is the list of things you can do with the new SmartWatch 2 –

• Access Facebook
• Access Twitter
• Access Google+
• Access Gmail
• Read SMS
• Read MMS
• Get missed call notification
• Get calendar notification
• Read email
• Read RSS feeds
• As a viewfinder (remote camera shutter)
• Access phonebook
• Control music player on the phone
• Find phone
• Get time and date info like a normal clock with a number of background options

Price and availability in India

This new Sony SmartWatch 2 will be available globally in September, 2013 and there is no info on the pricing at this moment. The original SmartWatch retails for around 6500 Rs ~ 110 USD in the market at this moment. There are rumors of SmartWatches from Apple (iWatch) and Google as well, so looks like 2014 is going to be the year of wearable gadgets and also don’t forget the Google Glass hitting market pretty soon.