Sony Announces the SmartWatch 3 and SmartBand Talk at IFA
by Brandon Chester on September 3, 2014 12:22 PM EST
Sony is no stranger to wearable devices. But today they are launching their first device that runs Google's Android Wear operating system. The first is the Smartwatch 3, pictured on the left above. The SmartWatch 3 is similar to the other Android Wear devices launched by other manufacturers. It sports a 1.6" 320x320 LCD display, and is powered by Qualcomm's APQ8026 quad Cortex-A7 part running at 1.2GHz, paired with an Adreno 305 and 512MB of RAM plus 4GB of NAND. The SmartWatch 3 is IP68 rated for submersion in water up to 2 meter deep for 30 minutes. The 420mAh battery is also slightly larger than competing watches like LG's G Watch which is 400mAh.
My concern is that the SmartWatch 3 doesn't really bring anything spectacular compared to competing devices and doesn't have the visual appeal or design of watches like the LG G Watch R. Pricing has yet to be announced but hopefully the SmartWatch 3 is price competitive.
The second announced device is the SmartBand Talk. It's more like some of the fitness bands that we've seen launched, with a 1.4" e-paper display at 192dpi that integrates into the band itself. Sony hasn't given any specifics about what's inside the SmartBand Talk, but they have said that it will have an integrated speaker and mic for voice calls when paired with a smartphone. It's not clear if the SmartBand Talk is also powered by Android Wear.
The SmartWatch 3 will be available in black and green, while the SmartBand Talk will come in black and white. Both devices are slated to launch in the fall, and pricing is currently unknown.
Source: Sony
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
6 Comments
View All Comments
PICman - Wednesday, September 3, 2014 - link
Seems like an enormous amount of computing power (and power consumption) for a watch. Does a watch really need to run Android? I'm missing something here....quiksilvr - Wednesday, September 3, 2014 - link
I agree. A Snapdragon 200 would have been more than enough for this device. Shoehorning in a 400 just seems like overkill. The processors in these watches are powerful enough to run a Moto G!nicolapeluchetti - Wednesday, September 3, 2014 - link
Also, what's the purpose of a GPU in a smart watch?teddyboyd - Tuesday, December 9, 2014 - link
The Sony Smartwatch is far from one of the better smartwatches if you ask me! /Ted from http://www.topreport.org/wearable/piroroadkill - Thursday, September 4, 2014 - link
Yeah, this is absurd. There's no need for a quad core or even dual core. It's a watch. Battery life is the most important thing.Wolfpup - Thursday, September 4, 2014 - link
I don't really understand the point of Android Wear, since you still have to have the phone anyway...Of the three, I'd buy the Sony one in a heartbeat as it's Sony, IMO looks the best, and it's WATERPROOF. (Plus larger battery.)...but I don't really see the point.
Intrigued by what the eInk device can do. The idea of a speaker and mic in it are interesting, and eink would seem to make a lot of sense for a watch. (I'd still like an eInk tablet...)